Alpine

Most of you have already planted your warm season garden (and if you haven't, now is the time!). And since you want to reap the rewards of your hard work you need to keep the bad bugs from eating all those tender young shoots.

"It ain't so much the things we don't know that get us into trouble, it's the things we do know that just ain't so."--American humorist Artemus Ward (1834-1867).

Congratulations to everyone who participated in the Central Area Presentation Day on April 7th! In order to compete at this event they had to achieve a gold medal at County Presentation Day on February 3rd, and those that medaled at the area level will be eligible to enter the State Presentation Day...

The 2018 Presentation Day and Interview Contest was held on February 3rd at Waterloo School. The results are posted below, and congratulations to all of our participants! Those who received a gold award are eligible to compete at the Are Presentation on April 7th at Madera High School.

The 2018 Food Fiesta and County 4-H Cook-Off were held on January 20th at the Cabral Ag Center, and everyone enjoyed presenting and eating delicious dishes throughout the event.

So tiny and so destructive. It's about the size of a grain of rice but it's a killer. That's the walnut twig beetle, Pityophthorus juglandis, which in association with a newly described fungus, Geosmithia morbida, causes thousand cankers disease, wreaking havoc on native black walnut trees.

The news is disturbing but not unexpected. Scientists are linking global climate change to one reason why the worldwide population of bumble bees is declining. An article published Sept.

Look out, Franklin's bumble bee, they're coming for you! The question is: Where are you? Have you managed to "hide" all these years or are you extinct?

Weed management strategies in California are as diverse as the cropping systems grown in it, which cover over 400 commodities and $47 billion in revenue (California agricultural production statistics, 2015).

Sometimes when you walk through a bee garden, you feel Mother Nature tugging at your arm, pulling you from one breathtaking area to another. You resist the tug and want to linger, to admire the diversity of bees, to marvel at the colors and patterns of the flowers.