Gratitude Gourmet

09/14/2025

09/13/2025

“Every thought that has ever passed through your brain was made possible by plants.”

09/12/2025

Join Nordic Naturals, the California Coastal Commission & Save Our Shores to help keep our beaches clean.

09/12/2025

Did you know?

We have about 200 species of ladybugs (more correctly called lady beetles) that live in California?!

Most are predators as adults and also in their larval stage, when they look a little like tiny black and red spiky alligators.

Attracting these lady beetles and other beneficial insects can help with garden pest problems.

We also have some native ones, including the California lady beetle, which has no spots on its wings and has two widely spaced white spots on its thorax.

As we all know, they love to eat aphids. They are like jelly beans to them! They can’t eat just one!

But… here’s what some of the others help with:

The twenty-spotted lady beetle eats powdery mildew fungus spores and conidia.

The black lady beetle (Rhyzobius forestieri) eats scale insects.

The vedalia lady beetle eats only cottony cushion scale, which is a pest of citrus trees.

The Asian lady beetle eats aphids, scales, psyllids and other insects.

Learn more so you can recognize them:
https://ipm.ucanr.edu/QT/ladybeetlescard.html

09/09/2025

The largest municipal health system in the United States is training clinicians to discuss climate risks with patients

09/02/2025

Young children often love wildlife and nature but find them boring, uncool or ‘icky’ in their teens