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StumbleUponPosts Tagged: California Agriculture Day
Fly Away Home
"I'm a ladybug. Please, take me home. I want to live in your garden.
I like to eat aphids. Aphids are tiny green insects that are harmful to plants."
"Just like the Grange, I'm a friend to the farmer and you."
Those visiting the California State Grange booth at the California Agriculture Day on Tuesday, March 23 on the state capitol grounds received that welcoming note, two ladybugs, and information about them.
It was an excellent idea--giving away ladybugs, aka ladybird beetles (Hippodamia convergens). These brightly colored beetles with the familiar black spots eat aphids, moth eggs, mites, scales thrips, leafhoppers, mealybugs and other small insects.
We took home two ladybugs and released them on a rose bush in our patio.
They went right to work.
It reminded us of the two ladybugs we received last year from the UC Davis Department of Entomology at the annual UC Davis Picnic Day. They also found a home in our garden.
This year's Picnic Day, the 96th annual, is set April 17. Look for entomological events at Briggs Hall on Kleiber Drive, and at the Bohart Museum of Entomology at 1124 Academic Surge, California Drive.
The Picnic Day theme? "Carpe Davis: Seizing opportunities."
Including the opportunity to take home a couple of ladybugs.
Bugs and kisses.
Just Released
Crawling
The Buzz on the State Capitol Lawn
When the annual California Agriculture Day took place yesterday on the state capitol grounds, thousands of visitors buzzed the booths learning more about the food they eat and the agriculturists that provide it.
But that wasn't the only buzz.
The California State Beekeepers' Association (CSBA) booth included a bee observation hive, a glassed-in hive where visitors could watch colony activity.
Brian Fishback of Wilton, president of the Sacramento Area Beekeepers’ Association, pointed out the queen, worker bees (sterile females) and the drones (males) to the visitors, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and California Secretary of Agriculture A. G. Kawamura.
"Look," Fishback told a group of young children. "There's a boy bee. See him? And look, there's a bee ready to enter the world."
"One-third of the food you eat is pollinated by bees," he said.
The beekeepers' booth was staffed with bee experts, including UC Davis Department of Entomology faculty members Lynn Kimsey and Eric Mussen. Kimsey, a former beekeeper, directs the Bohart Museum of Entomology and is a professor and vice chair of the Department of Entomology. Mussen, an Extension apiculturist or bee specialist, is active in national and state honey bee organizations. He currently serves as the CSBA parliamentarian.
Roger Everett of Porterville, president of CSBA, was there, along with CSBA secretary-treasurer Carlen Jupe. So was Jackie Park-Burris of Palo Cedro, chair of the California State Apiary Board and past president of the California State Beekeepers’ Association. Mike and Donna Tolmachoff of Madera represented the Central Valley Beekeepers’ Association; in fact, Mike serves as the president this year.
They handed out free honey bee sticks, "I Love Honey" stickers, recipe booklets, and bee fact sheets, and answered questions about bees. Crystal Hubbard of Häagen-Dazs distributed free ice cream. Some 40 percent of the ice cream brand’s flavors depend on honey bee pollination. Häagen-Dazs strongly supports honey bees. Their financial support includes bee research at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at UC Davis.
So, how busy was the beekeepers' booth? They handed out 2600 honey bee sticks and 1500 individual servings of Häagen-Dazs.
Meanwhile, the bees in the observation hive just kept working, too.
California Agriculture Day
Fascination
Government Officials
Bee Observation Hive
