 THE BUTTERFLY GARDEN -
An Exclusive ongoing Plymouth School Garden series
By Michael & Little Amber Spinetta
Plymouth Elementary School Gardens - Summer 2008
(August 08 issue)
PLYMOUTH, CA - Amber and I welcome you to read
this, the first in a series of articles about the Plymouth
Elementary School Gardens. Since my daughter is just two years old,
she'll dictate and I'll take notes. Here is some background
information to introduce you to the project.
In the early nineties, a wire fence was put up
around the school. Though the garden wasn't even a mere thought
back then, without that fence the deer would have free reign. A
decade passed, and a couple of teachers thought about having an
outdoor lunch and activity area with a little garden near it. With
some effort, grants, and donations, their ideas came to light. The
Swason family built the newly dedicated shade pavilion that the
garden is centered around (and it's a pretty neat building for
those of you who appreciate architecture). Bruce Peccianti, the
former principal, put the older kids in charge of the upkeep of the
garden, and made time for them during school hours to work in it.
I've begun to apply the concept of an art/butterfly garden to the
entire campus, and it looks like it's going to work.
I'm utilizing various organizations for
materials and guidelines to establish these gardens correctly, and
to secure a good future for them. For example, the gardens are
registered with the National Wildlife Federation as a Certified
Backyard Garden habitat. This was earned because the gardens
provide food, water, cover, places to raise young for wildlife, and
have somewhat sustainable gardening practices.
It's also known as Monarch Waystation #1544
because of the natural and manmade nectar sources, milkweed
varieties, sunning rocks, and other attractants for monarch
butterflies. The project is a fledgling member in the Farms of
Amador and registered with the Ag Department so the kids may sell
what they raise at Farmer's Markets. This garden has the potential
to fund itself if kids take the initiative to sell cut herbs,
seeds, cut flowers, and baby plants to local businesses and the
public. I'll write more about all this in future articles.
The intent of the gardens is NOT to have a
perfect display: 40% of crop damage is due to butterflies and
moths, so some plants will look ragged. We are all learning how to
raise "pests" in this garden, while raising mantises that may eat
those pests, near a shade pavilion that is home to birds that will
eat both predator and prey. There's even a cat that sleeps in a
tree that eats the birds - one of the many cycles of life in this
garden.
Some teachers take the kids on insect hunts.
Amador County Waste Management has visited to talk about worms and
composting (a popular session!) Once the gardens are more
established, guests will give lectures about nature-related topics.
We visit the school most Mondays and Tuesdays and come up with
projects that involve the kids. Amber is the boss of these
projects, and points to where we need to work next. The best loved
job was when tons of sand, soil, manure and mulch were shoveled
into the flower beds - because of all the worms, of course. The
students help install the drip line, set up the arbors, and even
weed (though they sometimes  extract good plants, too.) They choose
where the plants go, and some plants will surely have to be
trans-planted one day soon.
It's never ending - just watch those weeds grow
- but it's for the kids to help maintain, and that's where their
pride comes from. Two eighth graders came up to us the other day
and asked how the cedar tree they planted was growing. They
remember. During the summer, we got the opportunity to work with
the preschoolers who were taking a three-week course that readies
them for kindergarten. When we first met up with them, they sowed
some seeds on the ground and into containers. A couple weeks later,
they saw their seedlings and now they're anticipating some blooms
when school starts. We also brought in all the kids from Sweet Pea
Educare to eat daylilies, taste different kinds of mint, and drink
butterfly juice.
In July, we planted a dozen flowering trees and
shrubs with the help of one of the students and some of the
neighbors. We traded plant stories and methods of tree planting
during those (long) days. Amber got to enjoy a movie in an
air-conditioned room while we worked outside...the luxuries of
being the boss. In all, this area is much more active than the pile
of puncture vine-laden soil that it used to be. The dream of it is
to speed up the students' minds and to slow their hectic world down
in general. It is special to them because this garden is not one
for the general public's viewing - it is all theirs.
Hopefully, these articles will encourage the
gathering of support, grants, and maybe even volunteers. We need
parents or adults who really know plants (so we don't kill the good
seedlings) to weed right now. Questions regarding donations of art
(we REALLY need some sculptural artists!) or materials or
volunteering to work or teach a lesson can be sent to
michaelspinetta@yahoo.com - That reminds me - thanks to
Renee at The Wild Goose in Plymouth for her work with the arbors.
Thanks are also extended to Jeff, the president of the Grape
Growers, for his help with the new trees. Last, thanks to Jim in
the Plymouth-Foothills Rotary Club for raising funds for the murals
through the Farmer's Market in Plymouth.
Donations are tax deductible
to the fullest extent allowed by law. Checks should be written to
“Amador Community Foundation” and note in the lower left corner
"Plymouth Elementary School Gardens Fund" and send to ACF, P.O. Box 1154, Jackson, CA
95642.
Photo at top: The shade pavilion surrounded
by a "cover crop" of tithonia, teddy bear, and other varieties of
sunflowers and butterfly attractive plants in the summer. Photo
by Michael Spinetta
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#2 Plymouth
Elementary School Gardens (October 08 issue)
PLYMOUTH, CA - Amber and I welcome you back to read
this, our
series of articles about the Plymouth Elementary School
Gardens. This month was all about preparing for the future. A while
ago, Amber and I visited Hallberg Butterfly Gardens in Sonoma
County, and Louise there said that a project like this has to be
sustainable. She is in charge of a butterfly garden planted in the
1920's by her mom, and we learned quite a bit from her. The least
important of which was not to touch stinging nettle, but what's in
a name? That plant will not be in this garden, unfortunately, but
Dutch Pipe vine likely will be. 
The most important was how to try to establish
the gardens in the social spectrum of a community. As a result of
biding by Hallberg's wisdom, we've spent time putting in order the
grants, wildlife groups, and people that best suit the school's
needs, and what to ask from each of them. There's a twist that we
learned with this initial research.
Pictured left to right: Lydia Clem, Little Amber
Spinetta, Adrian Leal, Everardo Lopez, Gary McGehee, Gracie
Goldsmith-Ding and Laura Spinetta. Toni Linde's second graders
harvest sunflower seed to plant next year around the fence line of
Plymouth Elementary School. Photo courtesy to the Gold Country
Times
Many school gardens focus on fruits and
vegetables as their main output, and those funds are readily
sought. A garden like this, where pollinators, flowers and herbs
are the focus, has different sources from which to draw support. We
are pretty lucky to live in California where many experts in
wildlife reside.
For example, a few of them in the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, U.C. Davis, and other places are offering their
services for this project based on what we have so far - how
exciting! However, there are things to do to properly utilize the
expertise and funds of these resources. For example, in between
dressing up dolls and cleaning up spilled milk, I am typing up a
master list of the plants on campus. Hundreds and hundreds of
plants, what they attract, and what products come from them for
potential fundraising.
This list will be used by John, a talented
fellow U.C.C.E. Master Gardener, who will draw up a map showing
these plants at maturity. This map will get used by the Weed
Warrior volunteers so they know what's where rather than guessing
at every leaf coming out of the ground. And, most important, the
men and women in maintenance will be able to see what's happening
and lend their personal knowledge of the campus to the project.
In late summer, I traveled with my 2 year-old
daughter in our quest for lepidopterical ideas. That required going
to a few zoos — for research, of course. The Sacramento Zoo
horticulturalist, Renee, showed us a butterfly garden project that
was changed into a xeroscape/local flora and fauna project. Along
with two heads full of info, she gave our school dozens of plant
signs used on the former project. Thanks, Renee - they look really
cool. We also went to the California State Fair and met Viola from
Fish and Wildlife, and talked to fellow U.C.C.E. Master Gardeners
about a possible field trip up here. Most fortunately, Amber and I
met Judy, the executive director of the Farm Bureau’s California
Foundation for Ag in the Classroom. She was promoting CFAITC's
"Imagine This: Stories Inspired by Agriculture" annual school
writing contest publication. We talked about the California School
Garden Net-work and other resources while Amber sat and ate an
apple. To be fair to her, we then went and rode the midway rides
for the first time in her life!
With school starting again, so too did our agrieducation
sessions as well as the grape harvest. Agriculture is important to
local families, as Amber attests to in these quotes from her field
notes: "Grandpa's grapes got harvested by all of Grandpa's friends.
Everybody was singing and we ate cookies. I like grape juice from
the press." We visited Mrs. Carson's kindergarten class the
following day. Amber pretended she was a grape vine and held
bunches in her hands while I picked them off. I never knew a vine
ate its own fruit, though. A girl there said that her father was
picking that day, and that it was very hard work but he liked it.
The next week, Amber, my mom and I recruited
Ms. Linde's second grade to harvest sunflower seeds (photo
below). The kids learned about seeds - the uglier flower, the
better - and the prettier, the worse. Kind of opposite the general
aesthetic of a garden. A couple of kids clipped, another threw
detritus in the barrow, another wheeled it out, and another played
with Amber. In spring, we will plant sunflowers and pigweed along
the fence line and sell 100’s (1000’s?) of cut flowers later.
On another day, Mr. Peterson’s third graders
planted a row of flowering pears outside their classroom. Anne, a
representative from the National Association of State Foresters,
fielded dozens of questions and showed everyone the right way to
plant a tree. In those couple of hours, the kids formed their own
teams and took pride in their work - and got to run through the
sprinklers to cool off.
And thanks - to Village Nurseries for help with
a plant list and more; to Barbara and Becky and ‘Anonymous’ for all
the plants; to Amador Flower Farm for all their help and niceness;
to Skip and more people for volunteering to weed - any time you're
ready; to the mystery person who put plants on our porch again;
special thanks to Brian, our Supervisor, for help with the trees,
too; and to the skateboarders for protecting the gardens (enjoy the
quarter-pipe, guys.)
Hopefully these articles will attract support,
grants, and volunteers for this and other school gardens. Questions about art donations, materials,
lectures, e-mail to
michaelspinetta@yahoo.com any time. Visit Michael Spinetta's
website at
www.michaelspinetta.com
PESG is officially
a 501(c)(3) under the care of Amador Community Foundation! ACF’s
President, Shannon and I decided that this project’s purpose is to
“create and maintain art and butterfly gardens with a theme of gold
mining on the contiguous lands of Plymouth Elementary School.”
Because of this fund’s formation, the method for making a donation
has changed. Donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent
allowed by law. Checks should be written to “Amador Community
Foundation” and note in the lower left corner "Plymouth Elementary
School Gardens Fund" and send to ACF at P.O. Box 1154, Jackson, CA
95642.
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Plymouth Elementary School Gardens - November 2008 - #3
By Michael and Little Amber Spinetta
PLYMOUTH, CA - Amber has decided that tea
with her dollies is more important than writing this article, so I
will take her place. Some very good news to begin - PESG is
officially a 501(c)(3) under the care of Amador Community
Foundation! ACF’s President, Shannon and I decided that this
project’s purpose is to "create and maintain art and butterfly
gardens with a theme of gold mining on the contiguous lands of
Plymouth Elementary School." 
Because of this fund’s formation, the method for
making a donation has changed. Donations are tax deductible to the
fullest extent allowed by law. Checks should be written to "Amador
Community Foundation" and note in the lower left corner, "Plymouth
Elementary School Gardens Fund", and send to ACF at P.O. Box 1154,
Jackson, CA 95642. Photo: Cazandra Lozano watches Emily
Platt, Cyrus Newton, little Amber Spinetta, and Ana Tarvin help
Michael Spinetta plant a jujube tree in the Kindergarten Garden.
This land was historically the garden site for the Ming Store,
visible in the background. Photo courtesy to the Gold Country
Times
Some of the first monies to enter this fund are
earmarked for art projects because they come from the sale of
paintings. The Plymouth Library (on Main Street) is graciously
displaying my acrylic on canvas images of flowers, grapevines, rock
walls, and more right now. Stop by to see what is still available.
This month at school, the ELP and State Daycare kids adopted the
lone baby sycamore tree that will one day shade their playground.
When the third graders planted this tree in September, it went into
shock. It was truly sick-a-more than it should-a-been. But, with
TLC and one gallon of water every day, a new batch of lime green
leaves decorates its branches.
A fellow volunteer gardener, Betty, taught me
how to train butterfly bushes into trees. She said to braid the
branches from the base, but I am too lazy, so I had Sid (a student)
hold the branches together while I wrapped an old rag and some wire
around the plants about 3’ off the ground. The bark will grow
together in the next ten years and form a solid trunk. The fourth
graders, first graders, and friends, Amy and her son Cyrus, planted
the Kindergarten Garden. The seeds sown by the Bridge kids in
summer were planted alongside dusty miller, daisies and more. The
bed is centered around a jujube tree, and gives way to a "grove" of
various fruit trees along the north fence line. It was messy, but
the muddy knees, dirty new shoes, and worms will be worth it in
spring when the first grader’s Tigger and Pooh Seeds bloom.
The Weed Warriors took over the school one
bright Tuesday morning, armed with muffins, watermelon and apple
juice. We got three beds weeded - and boy does it look great. But,
sorry guys, we’re gonna have to do it again - the best thing is to
call each other, show up and weed while the gates are open - you
know where the compost pile is back by the shed. On another day,
Amber and her cousin Sierra supervised while her Aunt Becky and I
planted agapanthus in the daycare’s Pineapple Guava Bed. They got
to ride in the wagon and have a pasta lunch -- all their effort and
hard play was recognized. Special thanks to American Meadows for
always having good seed, and their generous gift to us is going to
look great when it grows - we’ll send you guys pictures of the
different plots.
Thanks also to Lindsay from the Pentecostal
Church in Plymouth - the shed is finally organized with that new
shelf. Thanks to Sid who said there should be a representative from
each class and two backups to organize class activities. Thanks to
Jamie for volunteering your father-in-law’s land to house our
compost piles - he’ll enjoy the healthy soil and flowers that come
from it! And a big whopping thanks to Mike and the other teachers
at Amador High School. If some seniors sign up for community
service for the garden, we’ll appreciate it -- and in the spirit of
reciprocity, we have lots of goodies here for the culinary, floral
design, art, welding, FFA, and other kids to use to your school’s
benefit, too!
Hopefully these articles will attract support, grants, and
volunteers for this and other school gardens. Questions can always
be e-mailed to me at:
michaelspinetta@yahoo.com
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Plymouth Elementary School Gardens -
December 2008 - #4
By Michael and Little
Amber Spinetta
PLYMOUTH, CA - Amber finally agreed
to type something for all of you this month: merry
cjhhhhhristtttmas.
Chris Taylor was PESG’s original UCCE Master
Gardener four years ago. One of her intentions was to have the kids
keep records of plant growth and cycles. Back then, the fifth and
sixth graders learned plant care from visiting MG’s, with the idea
being they’d pass it along to their younger peers. Currently, we’re
mostly working with 3rd graders and below, but there was a
playground rumor that the gardens belong to the fourth graders and
no one else could work in them. That’s almost the kind of spirit we
want. It’s a kind of pride, I guess.
That spirit really came out during California
School Garden Week, a program launched by California First Lady
Maria Shriver back in 2006. This year, A.G. Kawamura, Secretary of
Food and Agriculture; and Karen Baker, the Secretary of Service and
Volunteering, planted wheelbarrow and windowsill gardens with
students from another elementary school. What did we do locally for
CSG Week? A dead Chinese Pistache was cut down and its rings were
counted. Anna and Allison installed an aerial drip line for the
flowering pears. The first graders revived some wooden flower beds
with hummingbird/butterfly attractive seed - that sprouted a few
days later, thanks to that rain! An alligator lizard was passed
around at lunch time and later stashed away where all the toads
live. We also bought some bedding forks to pitch compost - a little
differently - we spread the compost thin so the seeds might take
root.
Photo: Toni Linde’s (far left, back
row) class hopes to paint the 2013 Sixth Grade Mural. Murals, like
the 2008 project shown, are sponsored yearly by the
Plymouth-Foothills Rotary Club from sales at the Farmer’s Market.
Photo courtesy to the Gold Country Times
Speaking of compost, Jim at Waste Management
called upon the MG’s for help. Jim is planning good ways to promote
composting to the residents of Amador and neighboring counties. A
couple years ago, Jim gave a class about worms here at PESG - and
asking around last week, no one forgot that class - it’s worms,
what do you expect with kids? He’s been invited back to give that
and another class on composting techniques. If all works out, we’re
hoping parents might be invited to the classes on campus, and there
may be a class at the MG’s plant sale in spring - but it’s all
tentative. In the meantime, I’m just letting the cat out of the bag
of leaves here so we’re all aware. Check out more resources and
Recycler Ricky at
www.co.amador.ca.us/depts/waste before you throw something
away! Amber and I visited our friends Linda and Elizabeth at the
school admin building in Jackson to check up on an
extension of the butterfly garden. A couple years ago, Hometown
Radio personality Jim and his son helped plant a bunch of butterfly
bushes there, and they look spectacular. There’s a neat old sundial
there, too - we’re going to work with local glass artist Dave, to
envision what to do with our sundial and other pillars at PESG.
Afterwards, we had lunch at Mel’s where Amber
got to see the picture of her Grandpa (#17) and his undefeated 1957
Jackson High football team. The Oro Madre Moose Lodge in Fiddletown
offered its resources to help build "Selby’s Rock Garden." We want
to put small metal sculptures and a gold mining cart upon a track
on a berm in the middle of a pile of quartz and other rocks. If
you, the reader, know anyone who has a cart that might donate or
sell it, please contact us!
Toni Linde, the 2nd grade teacher, and I went to
a school gardens class at Taylor Mountain Gardens in Douglas Flat.
Wendy, the coordinator (see
www.creec.org for info) and gardening reps from Mountain Oaks,
Waldorf, Michelson, Mark Twain, and Copperopolis elementary schools
joined us. Christine and Eric guided us through their acreage, and
we discussed plans to coordinate school gardens in the tri-county
area into one coalition. There was talk of a seed bank, and
curriculum from Life Lab, TWIGs, CFAITC, CSGN and other resources -
we’ll see what happens.
Special thanks to the inventors of the acronym
and Internet for making our lives more complicated through
simplification. Thanks to Jennifer and Susan for doing an
incredible amount of work in the garden. Thanks to
http://butterfliesandmoths.org for the use of Amador County
sightings to know "who" to expect to visit.
Thanks again to Ray and the other Moose. Thanks
to the scientists who invited us to create electron microscopy
photos of butterfly scales for an art project. Donations are tax
deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law. Checks should be
written to "Amador Community Foundation" and note in the lower left
corner, "Plymouth Elementary School Gardens Fund", and send to ACF
at P.O. Box 1154, Jackson, CA 95642.
Hopefully, these articles will attract support,
grants, and volunteers for this and other school gardens. Questions
can always be e-mailed to me at:
michaelspinetta@yahoo.com
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Plymouth Elementary School Gardens #5 January 2009
'Not a Bed of Roses'
By Michael and Little Amber
Spinetta
Instead of writing this, Amber’s
eating a homegrown pomegranate at the site of a rock wall I built
for her in December.  The construction had not
yet commenced in the photo, and that thirty-year old Manzanita tree
now has hundreds of narcissus under it. Mostly sand and gravel were
added to the inside area of the wall to allow drainage for the
roots. The site is about 28' x 12' and is on a hill crest, directly
in front of the moon rising above the Sierra Nevadas in fall. We
buried a secret time capsule there, too. Onto the 'real' article,
now.
Photo courtesy Michael Spinetta - Amber
 One task of a UCCE Master Gardener is to
diagnose other people's garden bugaboos. In this article, I'll
tackle my own problems that I'm contributing to and am delinquent
in solving. Weeds. Birdhouses and bird seed feeders are
banned within twenty feet of the garden beds. Not all bird seed
from stores is treated and noxious weed free. If we are to sell
plants, they must be weed free. Plus, birds eat our baby
caterpillars. Also, more than once, the hummingbird/butterfly
attractive plant seed was used to fill the feeders. That seed
mixture is planted far away from the beds because it has morning
glory in it. The beds were not originally lined with weed cloth nor
were they filled with 3/4" - 1" large wood chips to allow for easy
weeding. However, a lack of cloth lets flower seeds like daisies
and Echinacea spread easier.
Photo: close-up of Amber
One theory of weed maintenance is to choke them
out with ‘good’ plants. On top of all that, or rather, under all of
that, most of the drip line is buried and breaking - that drowned
one tree this year. Thankfully, more fellow MG’s are helping, like
Heidi, who will organize student volunteers for this and other
tasks. We wish to avoid paying a gardener to per-form simple
short-term maintenance, and better use said money for materials.
Fundraising. 600 narcissus, 200 crocus,
150 Bella donnas, 50 Egyptian Onions, and 50 calendulas were
planted recently by the third graders, fifth graders, and by Shanel,
an Amador High School senior. The pathway between the two small
arbors will be gorgeous in spring, and we can cut half of the
flowers for two to four bits each to raise some money. There also might be an opportunity through First
Five to get a mini grant to get parents (along the lines of "Dad
and Me") involved more in this project. A local plant group has
also invited PESG to ask for donations of books, loupes, and more.
Butterfly Habitat. One MG, Larry, found
butterfly farmers - Lish in Buena Vista, and another raising
Monarchs in Woodland. With them and Kathy, an MG from El Dorado
County who works at a butterfly garden, we are going to build an
enclosed outdoor butterfly habitat kinda vivarium thing.
I have photographs of indoor habitats, but this
structure must protect the butterflies from the elements,
especially wind and rain, while providing view ability. Small
out-door butterfly houses (essentially, birdhouses with slits
instead of holes) from what I’ve read tend not to work as well as
building eaves and woodpiles. Ours currently has milkweed, a water
fountain, large rocks, while elements like sand, a screen or net
under the roof for chrysalises, natural cedar planks and other
things are being thought about.
Drought Plants are off schedule. Before the freezing
weather, there were little sunflowers starting to bloom. Some seeds
were shocked and we’ll probably lose some established plants. We
have three buckets of various seeds in the shed, and we’ll sow more
in March. (Visit http://drought.unl.edu and
www.proquestk12.com/curr/snow/snow1002/index.htm
and many other sites)
The water is rationed via the timer on the
drip line, and all the leaks are fixed. (Oh look, a soapbox.)
Droughts are normal - we all must care more about impacts on
agriculture and the needs (not wants) of an increasing population.
For example, way up in the Great White North only flowering plants
and crops are allowed to be watered, and lawns are brown - will we
do that? Studies of long-lived, drought-sensitive
bristlecone pines show "Mega-droughts" - 20+ year events like those
in the U.S. around the years 1000, 1300, and in the 16th century -
evaporate alarmists’ theories and show even worst case scenarios
are part of nature. We now have increased population and pollution
demands intermingled with weather patterns, but at least we’re
trying to improve some technologies and adapt as a result. And
let’s remember, California isn’t known for being cold and wet.
Zero Budget. More manipulatable than a
drought. In a time of naught, plan for a bounty and realize the
value of the good seed possessed now. One pro-verb says: "A society
grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they
shall never sit in." As the epicuric/stoic poet Jon Quil might have
penned, "Spend less time on computers and learn to work outside for
fun, for survival, and for each other." Maybe that’s too
daffidyllic for modern monitor-headed narcissists to pick up on, or
maybe it’s too many puns to make the situation lighter. No matter,
I’m a hypocrite for publishing this online - it’s all Greek to me,
anyway.
Donations are tax deductible to the fullest
extent allowed by law. Checks should be written to "Amador
Community Foundation" and note in the lower left corner, "Plymouth
Elementary School Gardens Fund", and send to ACF at P.O. Box 1154,
Jackson, CA 95642. Hopefully, these articles will attract support,
grants, and volunteers for this and other school gardens.
Questions can be e-mailed to:
michaelspinetta@yahoo.com any time. Michael Spinetta.
www.michaelspinetta.com
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Plymouth Elementary School
Gardens,
#6 February 2009
Art and
Arboretums
By Michael and Little Amber Spinetta
Amber has something more important to do than earn her byline this
month - she’s starting to read! Oh, oh, oh. Funny, funny Amber.
Art and Gardening with Kids. There’s a
speaking engagement Amber and I will put on at the Main Branch of
the Amador County Library at 530 Sutter Street in Jackson on
Monday, February 23, 2009 at 11:00 a.m. I’ll be giving it under my
two hats as a UCCE Master Gardener and representative of the
California Foundation for Ag in the Classroom. It’s about how it’s
fun to pursue one's hobbies with a little buddy there to help.
We’ll bring "co-created" paintings and show how landscaping can
turn into life lessons for kids. We’ll have bookmarks and goodies
to hand out, too!
A "co-created painting" is sort of like this. At
some point in each of my paintings, Amber does some of the work,
whether it ends up a painting we do together or a painting I do "by
myself" after she helps. For example, I hate wasting paint, and I
use little 5" x7" canvasses as palettes for my larger paintings - I
get one, and she gets one. Our Valentines to each other are two of
these little canvasses.
I’ll bring many little canvasses and glue sticks
and each parent and child will choose a picture from a
nature-related book to create a scene with construction paper and
other materials. On the back of each piece, the parents will write
their family name and the title and author of each book. Afterward,
I’ll combine these canvasses into one big piece and hang it at the
library with a list of the names and titles for people to see. See
you there!
Arboretum All-Stars 
I’m excited to write about the involvement of
the UC system in our school garden. The UC Davis Arboretum approved
our site as a field trial for their program called "Arboretum
All-Stars." These plants are currently not in widespread use, and
field trials will lead to their commercial introduction in regions
appropriate to each plant.
 Quoting their website: "The horticultural staff
of the UC Davis Arboretum have identified 100 tough, reliable plants
that have been tested in the Arboretum, are easy to grow, don’t
need a lot of water, have few problems with pests or diseases, and
have outstanding qualities in the garden. Many of them are
California native plants and support native birds and insects."
Photo: the arboretum all-stars plot - in front of Toni
Linde's classroom: 'A' Plot
Our plants have a high level of pollinator
attraction, and bloom from early March till November. They are as
follows: Acacia boormanii, Snowy River wattle (tree - spring
bloom); Ceanothus 'Marie Simon' (shrub - spring, sometimes again in
fall); Pacific Iris 'Canyon Snow’ (perennial - spring);
Leucophyllum 'Lynn's Legacy’ (shrub - fall); Mexican Deergrass,
Muhlenbergia dubia (perennial - summer); Santa Margarita Foothill
Penstamon Penstemon 'Margarita BOP' (perennial - all year!); and a
Hybrid Soapwort, Saponaria 'Max Frei' (perennial - spring to fall.) Visit online to download the pdf booklet. Learn about "valley-wise gardening" at
www.arboretum.ucdavis.edu/arboretum_all_stars_redirect.aspx
Emily, a fellow UCCE Master Gardener, and I are
required to keep monthly observations for at least one year, and
hopefully two. For example, this means I’ll have to keep track of
the gallonage emitted from our drip lines, and that I’ll have to
finally listen to my brother Jim about proper watering. Our own
twist on the experiment is that we are training one fourth grader
(and a third grader for next year) to work side by side with us for
our observations. If all things work out, the fourth grade class
will make quarterly observations and see how closely they correlate
with ours.
The El Dorado County UCCE Program Coordinator,
Christie, is going to check out what we do with this and the rest
of our gardens, and see what they can do with a couple of community
and school gardens. There is a long-standing relationship between
our two counties’ ag departments, and this’ll hopefully ‘hybridize’
us once again. And here’s a shout out to Amador County’s new UCCE
PC, Sean! Thanks to Chris at the Sutter Gold Mine - we’ll need your
advice on gold mining related art projects in the future, too.
Thanks also to Suzanne, a PTA president from San Juan Unified for
her input and resources. Thanks to Linda for helping me shop and
figure out the best way to use landscaping fabric.
Thanks to Lynda and Rey at the Library for the
opportunity to speak and teach - it should be fun and messy!
Special thanks to Rosalie, Erika, Emily, Christie, Marissa, and Amy
for partnering up with the AAS experiment. Double thanks to Karrie
and Lorence for whatever happens in the future with this
experiment! Donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent
allowed by law. Checks should be written to "Amador Community
Foundation" and note in the lower left corner, "Plymouth Elementary
School Gardens Fund", and send to ACF at P.O. Box 1154, Jackson, CA
95642.
Hopefully these articles will attract support,
grants, and volunteers (right now we need people and groups who
want to perform community service!) for this and other school
gardens. Questions can be e-mailed to:
michaelspinetta@yahoo.com.
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Plymouth Elementary School
Gardens, #7 March 2009
Nectar and Lectures
By Michael and Little Amber Spinetta
Amber isn’t writing the column this month - she’s
sitting in her new "princess" chair telling dolls and monkeys what
to do. The Mardi Gras-themed chair was hand painted and upholstered
by Millie the art teacher and her students at Amador High School.
Art and Gardening with Kids The
presentation at the Jackson Library went well. Folks working on Victory Gardens, the
Children’s Art Association, and School Gardens at Sutter Creek
Primary, Sutter Creek
 Elementary, Pine Grove Elementary and
others showed up. Even my first grade teacher was there! The 5" x
7" canvasses the kids drew on will be combined into one piece and
hung soon in the Jackson Library to promote a six-week summer
reading course at the Plymouth Library on Tuesdays - dates TBA.
Photos above:
Art and Gardening with Kids, the
Jackson Library presentation. 'Amber's Portrait #3 - Two Years Old'
is visible in the foreground of the uppermost photo (painting
dimensions 3' x 4'. Photos by Tim Dunn
Raising Butterflies
PESG-acquired caterpillars from somebody
local for our  upcoming dedication ceremony. Toni Linde, the 2nd
grade teacher, Larry, a fellow Master Gardener, and we two visited
the supplier to learn how the butterflies are raised properly with the
utmost care. We brought each other up to date on the status quo of
butterflies, bees, birds, and blossoms, and brainstormed about the
outdoor vivarium/screenhouse. When we left, we exchanged seeds, and
got a heaping helping of white ginger, aloe, and more. We'll visit
again in late summer to see if the little buggers will be dressed
in their winged formals for the ceremony!
Chrysalis photo by
Toni Linde
Toni handed out flyers for butterfly nectar (a
recipe from our butterfly friend) at Amadoropoly. Here it is: 2
lbs. granulated fructose in saucepan with about a pint of water.
Boil for a few minutes then add 2 teaspoons of rich dark soy sauce.
Allow to cool, then bottle in a sterile glass bottle. This will
last forever in the refrigerator. When ready to use in feeders -
Dilute 10% of nectar base to 90% water. You can also do a taste
test. If the sweetness is close to that of about 2 teaspoons of
sugar in a cup of coffee, it will be the correct dilution. Get a
yellow plastic scrubby (with all the holes in it) or sponge and put
it and the nectar in a tall glass garden flower, and clean it
often.
Arboretum All-Stars
Karrie from the UC Davis Arboretum visited, gave
a presentation to Toni’s class, and talked to Maritsa, Amy, Amber
and myself about the project's methodology. We’re supposed to let
the plants remain more "natural" than manicure them. We’re to give
subjective ratings, like how pretty or healthy each look, and
objective observations like measurements, precipitation, etc.
Hopefully the girls can stay on for the entire two years of the
project, and acquire many community ser-vice hours while learning
real-world science.
Unbeknownst to us, at the exact time Karrie was
here, her cohort (plant pun!) Missy, the program coordinator
for the UC Davis California Center for Urban Horticulture, did a
presentation for MG's on AAS in Jackson.
Read more online at
www.arboretum.ucdavis.edu and at the newspaper's site,
www.goldcountrytimes.com to see our list of
plants in last month’s article.
Thanks
Helping pollinators is so important - I’m
talking with folks everywhere from Victorville (thanks Christie) to
BC, Canada (thanks Gail) about water policies regarding flowering
plants in times like these. Our drip lines are repaired from the
state they were in last year (thanks Emily).
Thanks for the loads of plants to a
butterfly friend and to UC Davis. Thanks to the sky for its
outpouring of support - though it’s not a record year like '06-'07
with 60" of precipitation (Shenandoah valley and Ply-mouth
records), we’ve beat the dozen or so 22" years since 1892 (Jackson
records.)
Thanks to those who read the studies on
droughts from a previous article -- we’re not having a crisis of
epic proportions, just one that challenges what people believe
their means to cope are.
Donations are tax deductible. Checks should be
written to "Amador Community Foundation" and note in the lower left
corner, "Plymouth Elementary School Gardens Fund", and send to ACF
at P.O. Box 1154, Jackson, CA 95642. Hopefully these articles will
attract support, grants, and volunteers (!) for this and other
school gardens. Comments to:
michaelspinetta@yahoo.com
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Plymouth Elementary School
Gardens, #8 April 2009
These Flora Grows (Where my Butterfly Goes)
By Michael and Little Amber Spinetta
Amber’s playing an April Fool’s semantics joke somewhere in
this article...
Arboretum All-Stars
Maritsa and Amy are up to date on the plans for the
plants while student volunteers are vigorously turning the new
com-post into the ground to meet the April bed prep schedule! Soil
sample results soon! Busy, busy times!
Steiner Road Daffodils
Check out the spring 2009 bloom of Steiner Road’s
narcissus laden route. The display is accented by fiddleneck (must
be a good year for it!) and more wildflowers. Check out the growing
collection of photos at:
www.charlesspinettawinery.com/Wine/
WineNewsletter/SN2009/shenandoahvalleynarcissus.html and visit
other pages of the site to read about more flower- related
projects. Lilacs are blooming in April; gladiolus, Red Hot Pokers
and more bud out in summer every year.
Photo: Facing North at the Manzanita Wall (shown in article #5
Jan. '09) just before the last storm in March. Tens of thousands o
every spring along Steiner Road in Shenandoah Valley. Photo
courtesy Michael Spinetta and Copyright © Spinetta Family
Vineyards.
Flora from Farms of Amador for the Fair
Local UCCE Coordinator Sean Krilitich through the
Farms of Amador donated 18 trees and all the materials to get water
to them to PESG’s neighbor, the Amador County Fairgrounds. These
trees are located on both sides of the Main Gates of the grounds.
Sorry, they won’t fruit out this year or next, but you will be able
to view them when you get your tickets for the Fair (the days have
moved - check it out - July 30 through August 2:
www.amadorcountyfair.com)
and have "A Grape Time to Hukilau."
This mini orchard is the first of a few
farming-related projects meant to enhance the fair’s agricultural
theme. More of these projects, including the future category of
completive host plant and nectar butterfly gardens, will be
explored in following articles. Something to note, though -
within 24 hours, a quarter of the trees were vandalized - it’s up
to everyone, not just the kids, to take care of this kind of
resource.
Plymouth Parks
A dozen new butterfly attractive
shrubs and trees are grounded at Sharkey Park on Main Street,
Plymouth. Eight different color buddleias, various crepe myrtles, a
cottonwood, and narcissus will give a good show. Fellow Master
Gardener Bernice, and City Hall friend Gloria are in charge of
these, other plants, and of the memorial rose garden here. It might
be a nice site to hold the future MG rose pruning demonstrations!
Soon, new photos will be posted online at this site:
www.michaelspinetta.com/PlantProjects/sharkeypark.html.
I’m waiting for the roses to bloom before they’re online. Veteran’s
Park along the scenic Highway 49 corridor is in full bloom with its
iris, California poppies, narcissus, and more showing their
fluorescence. Little cuttings of PESG’s biggest flowering buddleias
are there.
CFAITC Dinner
Flowers were cut from PESG to make
gorgeous arrangements at the annual National Agriculture Week
Dinner in Sacramento for the Farm Bureau’s California Foundation
for Agriculture in the Classroom. See the flowers and the signing
of the student-written and illustrated 2009 contest winners in the
Ag themed book "Imagine This" at
www.cfaitc.org/gallery/index.php?year=2009&e=naw&k=dinner
UCD Experimental College
Garden
There's a 4+ acre organic community
garden on the UC Davis campus where anyone may rent a 200
square-foot garden plot. The EC Garden has been at its present
location since 1970, and its coordinator is Tim. The plot
 (that is 6 plots combined) I'm working at off and
on for Russell Park Child Development Center is directly across
from Student Farm. Teachers ("Hello!" to Judy and all of you),
parents, and kids there helped erect an arbor of branches cut from
Amber's Manzanita on our ranch. They've also planted annuals,
wildflowers, bulbs, and have done much to make it a potential
wonderland. Read more about it at:
http://asucd.ucdavis.edu/experimentalcollege.
Photo: UCD Experimental Garden Coordinator Tim Quick and Little
Amber Spinetta in Front of the Manzanita Arbor of the Russell Park
Plot at the EC Gardens in Davis. The wood is from the above
pictured shrub and some of its large relatives.
Thanks
Thanks to more City of Plymouth workers and to volunteers
that keep our local parks beautiful. Thanks to the Fair for
everything and the compost, too - when they are mature, the two
cherry trees closest to the exit will be ripe around fair time - a
good snack for you! Thanks to Carol at Arrow Magazine and
Rick at the Sacramento Bee for their recent articles on the
local flowers. Thanks to Amador Flower Farm - the Stella d’Oro
daylilies are for erosion control on the south slope near the
library’s lawn. Thanks to Ione and Jackson parents interested in
starting school and community gardens. Special thanks to the
Painted Ladies for migrating right at the start of spring -- in
like a lamb, out like a butterfly?
Amber wants to say hello to a tuber and also
say, "Less ‘E’! Mor ‘D’! Hola, potato name of A.Ted Eli! Ms. Ava
took a lid off a daffodil? A kootava smiled! Eat, foe man! O, tat
o’ pal’ oh drome." Happy April Fool’s, palindrome fans.
Donations are tax deductible to the fullest
extent allowed by law. Checks should be written to "Amador
Community Foundation" and note "Ply-mouth Elementary School Gardens
Fund", and send to ACF, P.O. Box 1154, Jackson, CA 95642.
Hopefully, these articles will attract support, grants, and
volunteers for this and other school gardens.
Send to:
michaelspinetta@yahoo.com comments any time.
Back to Top
Plymouth Elementary School Gardens, #9 May 2009 The Stories of
Rosemary, Stella and Charlotte
By Michael and Little Amber Spinetta
Amber has something to say about the garden this month.
"It’s my favorite place to play with the kids!" Arboretum
All-Stars - We're laying out the weed cloth and getting
everything "pretty" for Open House on May 12th. Only one plant was
killed while preparing the plot - a Texas Sage - but we had a
replacement. The frost kissed the plants, too, but they’re okay.
We’ve planted and numbered the plants, had an informal inspection
by Karrie Reid, drawn up a map, started the experiment on May 1,
and it’s time to grow! So you know, the closest nursery carrying
AAS plants is Amador Flower Farm in Shenandoah Valley.
Charlotte's Story - Every spider in the
school gardens and at home is Charlotte. Amber got to watch
kids from Plymouth Elementary School act in the opening night
production of "Charlotte's Web" at Sutter Creek Theatre. After
reading the book with me, she wants to join 4-H and raise her own
pigs and rabbits (easier than the horse she wanted after watching
"National Velvet") To note, if this were a non-fiction account of
"Zuckerman’s Famous Pig," we'd be witnessing the fiftieth
generation of Charlotte's grandchildren - that's 514 to the
fiftieth power of babies! The World Wide Web might be something
else altogether with all those literate spiders. Maybe it would
exemplify E. B. White’s notions of clarity, clarity, clarity in all
things written.
Stella's Story - The following Monday, we
saw kids leaving by the busload to a matinee showing of the play.
Only the kindergartners were left -- there wasn’t room enough in
the theater. Amber led groups past aromatic freesias and clover,
and planted Stella d’Oro daylilies, sunflowers, and more with them.
One of the kindergartners is named Stella, so everyone laughed when
they were told not to step on Stella, to put Stella in the ground
feet first, etc. Later, everyone laughed when I lost my cell phone
after moving six truckloads of compost. Imagine, ten of us
listening for it to vibrate underneath fresh compost. We found it,
eventually.
Rosemary and Costmary's Story
 Plymouth Elementary Good News Club
(sponsored by Sutter Creek Church of the Nazarene) is an outreach
ministry that teaches boys and girls about the Gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ through exciting Bible lessons, songs, Scripture
memory, mission stories, and review games. GNC helps children grow
spiritually - including having a positive impact on their personal
and home life, school performance and decision-making skills.
Photo: Left to Right: Front Row: Ulises
Romero (1st), Phillip MacClanahan (1st) Justin Cain (2nd). 2nd
Row: Hanah Elliott (1st) Chealsea Stringfellow (K) Little Amber
Spinetta (Special!!) Corinna Newell (2nd) Jessica Stringfellow
(1st); 3rd Row: Faith Poor (5th) Jacob Crocker (4th)
Angelina Grubb (4th) Andrea "Andy" Romero (4th) Lydia Clem (2nd)
Michelle Culver (GNC Teacher); Last Row: Michael Spinetta.
Photo by Cory Culver
GNC got to place two Bible-related plants in the
garden. A butterfly friend let me divide her costmary (chrysanthemum
balsamita), and boy, the fragrance of the chopped roots was so
strong, it took my breath away. I read descriptions of costmary and
white rosemary to the group, quoting from "The Rodale Herb Book."
The book states, "In Colonial times, the costmary leaf served as a
bookmark. When the long sermon grew boring and drowsiness set in,
the sleepy listener treated herself to the minty flavor...in an
effort to stay awake." Apparently, it is also good for German
sausage. It is a rarer plant nowadays, and is used to take over
weedy places.
The White Rosemary we planted is used
traditionally at Christian weddings as a symbol of fidelity; and at
funerals, "as a pledge that the life and good deeds of the departed
would not soon be forgotten." The legend of the flower’s color
goes, "Mary draped her azure cloak over a white-bloomed rosemary
bush during the flight from Egypt, whereupon the noble plant
embraced the hue of the Virgin’s garment." More likely, the name is
a derivative of the Latin "ros" (dew) and marinus (of the
sea) "I also remembered hearing legends of how Roman scholars
rubbed rosemary behind their ears to pay attention and clarify
their thoughts. Wonder if E. B. White did, too?
In a related theme, there was a double rainbow
in Plymouth on Good Friday,  and I got a really nice picture of a cross on a
mausoleum in the Catholic cemetery with the rainbow behind it. The
photo is visible here.
Thanks and No Thanks
Thanks to Rosa and her family for weeding
all those beds - and building up the compost pile. Thanks to
Jennifer at True Value Hardware in Jackson, who donated so many
seeds! And to Gracie’s mom who donated some, too!
No thanks to mealy bugs and wind-borne frost,
topics at Grape Day on the Fairgrounds. Thanks to Steve in the
California Native Plant Society for the Jepson Manual and other
media; we’re making a special place for them at school. And no
thanks to the heat and frost for toasting the lilac blooms at our
winery last week; they’ll come back next April.
Donations are tax deductible to the fullest
extent allowed by law. Checks should be written to "Amador
Community Foundation" and note in the lower left corner, "Plymouth
Elementary School Gardens Fund". Send to ACF at P.O. Box 1154,
Jackson, CA 95642. Email
michaelspinetta@yahoo.com; send your comments any time.
Back to Top
Plymouth Elementary School Gardens
#10 June 2009 Little Blue Eggs and Painted Ladies
By Michael and Little Amber Spinetta
Amber is busy waiting for her
painted lady chrysalises to hatch, so she will not be writing the
column this month.
Arboretum All-Stars
The experiment for UC Davis is continuing
well, mostly. Somehow, I killed the replacement Texas Sage, and a
fragile Santa Margarita Penstemon couldn’t take the old falling
stepping stone test. An unidentified flying object, possibly a
basketball, broke the back halves off of two other plants. We had
to prune back the plants to remove natural and man-made damage. We
also installed some multicolor solar LED lights that look like
butterflies from Plymouth Hardware. With all the moving around and
manipulation of the plants, the first readings we took are junk,
since most gardeners wouldn’t have done what we did. Now that the
plants are established, the June readings will be the first
"accurate" assessments – and a better month to start for our
curricula's sake.
Amador Community School Food Garden
Speaking of curricula, it looks like the
goal of more agrieducation is expanding into Amador Community
School on the outskirts of Plymouth on E16/Shenandoah Road. The
site, formerly my kindergarten back in the day, is shared by the
Sierra Boys Ranch School from El Dorado County with our local
school district. The Sierra Boys really want to utilize a 33’ x 33’
raised garden plot there, and since they're in class nearly
year-round, they can care for it well. So, while you are reading
this, I am e-mailing a request to Farms of Amador for funding,
based on an itemized list and plan that my brother Jim drew up.
Farms of Amador is a marketing and education program designed to
assist agricultural producers promote their products. Visit
www.farmsofamador.ucanr.org and buy an FOA T-shirt!
6th Grade Mural 2009
 In 2006, the "F-Los Murales" bed was full of
puncture vine. In 2007, miniature squash, sunflowers, yellow
buddleia, yellow mums, yellow violas, fish mint, poppies, Stella
D'Oro, and more plants were introduced. In 2008, "Ms. Marchand"
and that 6th grade class painted the right hand side of the mural.
Two rare, expensive Buddleja Globosas (hopefully orange when
they bloom), and a goldenrod buddleia were added that year, too.
Now in 2009, my nephew Matthew's class completed this formerly
nondescript flower bed with a mural and made it the most colorful.
It is hard to take a photo of – dozens of 14-foot tall, white
hollyhocks in the "G - Goldie" and "H - 4H" beds block the view.
May 2009 Garden Photos
You can view the newest photo survey of the
gardens at
http://michaelspinetta.com/PlantProjects/butterfly-garden02.html.
Then again, I’m not faster than a speeding publisher. Give me until
mid June to post them online, okay?
Butterfly Farmer, Pig Farmer
A woman who is most patient, Alicia "Lish"
Baylor, owner of Buena Vista Butterfly Farm, will likely run the
school’s booth at the Amador County Fair – which will be a
butterfly vivarium! Toni, Amber, and I purchased many "cups" of
Painted Lady caterpillars from her in early May. Some hatched on
Open House night in Toni's classroom, which was full of butterfly
life cycle exhibits the kids made! Many others that were tiny blue
eggs, born on May 6, have been released in the gardens onto the
first blooming butterfly bush. You can purchase educational
caterpillar kits and butterflies from Lish if you call her
209-274-2538. It is smart to purchase these kits locally because
you are supporting neighborly agrieducation, it is less travel
stress on the caterpillars, and it's a much better value than those
"as seen on TV's." kits.
Next month's column will be split between an
interview with Lish and an FFA girl raising a pig – Mmm, bacon
(don’t faint, this pig is not named Wilbur.)
Thanks... & No Thanks...
Thanks...To UCCE Master Gardeners for the
water meters and timers–think conservation! Thanks to people at the
school for letting this whole thing go on for another year somehow.
To my personal editor for saving my publisher some time, and for
making me find the right way to italicize plant names last month at
http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ldplants/sci-names.htm. To the guys
who brought over the loads of com-post. To the Plymouth-Foothills
Rotary Club for sponsoring the mural again.
No Thanks... To the light brown apple
moth for showing up in California (yes, we don't have to like all lepidoptera.)
Donations are tax deductible to the fullest
extent allowed by law. Checks should be written to "Amador
Community Foundation" and note in the lower left corner, "Plymouth
Elementary School Gardens Fund"; send to ACF, P.O. Box 1154,
Jackson, CA 95642.
We need a big financial supporter to "catch" us
right now. Hopefully these articles will attract support, grants,
and (!) volunteers (!) for this and other school gardens. Send
michaelspinetta@yahoo.com comments any time.
Back to Top
Plymouth Elementary School Gardens
#11 July 2009 The Good, The Bad, and the Piggly
By Michael and Little Amber Spinetta
 Not only is Amber taking
a break from writing (again) this month, so am I. Counting on my
sprained fingers, I have at least four good excuses to relax with
ice tea in my left hand and a bag of ice on my right.
Light Brown Apple Moth - Part One
The bad news first. This column and the school gardens are
connected in many positive ways with the city of Davis: i.e. the
UCD Arboretum All-Stars experiment. Now, that city is under
quarantine because of an invasive species of moth.
Photo: Kalea Henderson, second grader, helped
release sixty Painted Lady butterflies from Buena Vista Butterfly
Farm on the last day of school. Photo courtesy Lish Baylor.
Jay Van Rein, spokesman for the California Department of Food and
Agriculture (CDFA) says the negative impacts of the Light Brown
Apple Moth (LBAM) include a quarantine of approximately 38 square
miles
 in Davis following the
detection of a second Light Brown Apple Moth in the area. The
quarantine applies to residential and public properties as well as
plant nurseries, farms and other commercial enterprises. Residents
are asked to consume fruits and vegetables from yards and gardens
in the area rather than removing them from the property.
Landscapers and yard maintenance companies are among the businesses
placed under compliance agreements to allow for inspections and to
ensure that yard waste is disposed of properly.
Photo: Adults.jpg: Invasive Light Brown Apple
Moths. Photo courtesy CDFA.
What’s going on in Amador, El Dorado and
Calaveras counties? These counties are not in the
infested/quarantined areas of the state. State and county officials
in the non-infested areas focus their efforts on early detection so
that any new infested sites can be discovered quickly and
eradicated or controlled in the smallest possible area. In these
counties, officials are monitoring an intensive array of insect
traps, and are also looking for LBAM and other pests during regular
inspections of nursery plant shipments, harvested crops, commercial
shipping ports (airports, package facilities, etc.) and so on. CDFA
works to keep LBAM out of these areas altogether, but it is the
nature of an infestation to tend towards spreading over time, so
officials perform a lot of inspections and set a lot of traps to
keep track of it and stay ahead of it. If you think you have caught
an LBAM, identify it using the site
www.cdfa.ca.gov and call your
local ag department. More information will appear in next month’s
article, including strategies to fight this pest from a soon to be
released Environmental Impact Report.
Buena Vista Butterfly Farm - Part One
Now the good news. In past months, this column has referred to
a helpful “butterfly friend” – it’s time to pull back the wings and
see who’s fluttering around back here! Alicia “Lish” Baylor and her
husband Daryl have resided in Amador County for 29 years. As a
child, Lish's family raised dairy cows, corn, and soy on their farm
in Iowa. Her parents were 4H leaders, encouraging her participation
in girl's 4H for cooking and home furnishings, and boy's 4H raising
baby beef, dairy cows, and more. In her youth, she was the Tama
County 4H representative at state meets. To pay her way through a
double major of Family Environment and Art at Iowa State (class of
'75), she was part of the 4H staff, utilizing her knowledge of
sociology at nursing homes as an aid and working with the
developmentally disabled. Lish honed her photography skills Ohlone
Junior College in Fremont -- and she sure has some beautiful, yet
impatient subjects for her art fluttering about her home. Lish and
Daryl, married 23 years, live among the thousands of residents of
Buena Vista Butterfly Farm (BVBF).
Lish will have a 6' x 6' outdoor “butterfly
vivarium” (in this case, a pop-up tent) in Plymouth Elementary
booth at the Amador County Fair (July 30 - August 2). Kids – and
only kids – will be allowed to walk around the tent and closely
observe the fragile creatures. The booth will promote PESG's goal
of pollinator education, and it will be located between the wine
gardens and the bunny building. Educational caterpillar kits will
be for sale, and butterflies will be on sale for on-site release
(if they smartly choose to direct themselves) into our neighboring
school gardens. Sean Krilitich, of Paloma Pollinators, will have an
observation beehive on display in the booth, too. To note, the
butterflies (not the bees) will be spending each night in the
refrigerator at my house, so I will be cautious with my midnight
snacking. For orders, contact Lish at (209) 274-2538. BVBF is not
open to the public. More about the BVBF butterflies next month.
Get Yer BLT at the Fair 15 year-old
Argonaut High School student Leanne Weese writes the following:
"I am showing a pig at the fair in Plymouth. BLT is my very first
pig and he is the pick of the litter from Power House Farms in Los
Banos. He is a cross between Yorkshire and Yorkhamp which makes him
a Bluebutt. He is so loving and cute, and likes to be soaked with
the hose -- not sprayed -- and he loves to suck on my fingers. The
thing he loves most is to get his nose dirty and put it up against
my cheek.
"I'm the first ever Historian for the Argonaut Future Farmers of
America (FFA) and my advisors are Mr. Mendosa and Mrs.Clark. The
FFA was founded in 1928 by 33 delegates representing 18 states at
the Hotel Baltimore in Kansas City, MO. The FFA has over 500,000
members that strive for premier leadership, personal growth, and
career success through agricultural education. The national
convention held in October is the nation's largest student
gathering. The Historian is a "hidden officer" who puts together a
scrap book, rights reports, and keeps kinda like a record of the
FFA and how much fun we have had and what we are going to do. Being
in the FFA has made me go towards my goal a whole lot more -- that
is -- to become a vet. I want to attend Columbia Junior College,
and after that, UC Davis, and from there I am going to be a small /
big animal vet. "My supporters are my parents Jim and Kelli Branyan.
If you want to bid on my pig, you write me a letter at: 1631 Goose
Creek Road, Ione, CA 95640 or call me at (209) 663-0656. I will
send you a "yellow card" and a letter stating why I want you to bid
on my pig."
B. Troy Bowers, Amador County Fair CEO, calls on us to get into the
spirit of "A Grape Time to Hukailau" and buy a pig to roast in a
pit oven. So, go and participate in the auctions at the Fair! You
can't beat local food raised by the kids in the 4H, Grange and FFA
- there's pride and care there that no one can beat. Support them
all!
Thanks...
To all of you who typed this for me. To
www.serve.gov for promoting
better volunteerism - and for using a California elementary school
as its prime example. From June 22 to September 11, "United We
Serve" will begin to engage Americans from coast to coast in
addressing community needs in education, health, energy and the
environment, and community renewal.
Donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law.
Write checks to "Amador Community Foundation", note in the lower
left, "Plymouth Elementary School Gardens Fund", and send to ACF at
P.O. Box 1154, Jackson, CA 95642. Hopefully these articles will
attract support, grants, and volunteers for this and other school
gardens. Send
michaelspinetta@yahoo.com comments any time.
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Plymouth Elementary School Gardens
#12
August 2009 CSI: Caterpillars’ Secret Identities
By Michael and Little Amber Spinetta
After a year's worth of bylines, Amber wants to
learn to write words! Candy corn incites her to scribe her
important words like “Pebbles,” “Cat,” and “Supergirl.”
Buena Vista Butterfly Farm - Part Two
Lish Baylor reveals the secret lives of her friendly
neighborhood butterflies. The Red Admirals were moody in their
‘mating cage’ this year. These strong flyers needed their wills
tempered with soft music and a change of ambience. One week after
mating, the eggs on stinging nettle cuttings were moved into the
‘hatching container’. One morning when Lish went to clean the
container, she was surprised to see over 500 of buggers wriggling
around. (This year, Lish plans to raise 3-5,000 total butterflies,
and maybe double next year.)
 Tiger Swallowtails are
very, very patient. A chrysalis may take three years to hatch. One
way to tell its viability is to touch it to your nose – if it’s
cold, it’s alive. (I agree, that’s weird.) In the School Gardens,
we have a spot the kids can stand as the Tigers drowsily float from
fennel to fennel in circles. Lish wants to raise Buckeyes as her
late-season livestock. I’ve told her a great attractant for
Buckeyes are the fallen grapes on the ground after we harvest our
family’s vineyards, especially on the perimeter of the fields. One
can see hundreds fluttering the very evening the winegrapes are
harvested – obviously, these enthusiastic Lepidoptera have the most
distinguished taste of all.
Photo: Dubbed “Survivor” – the mourning cloak. Photo courtesy
Buena Vista Butterfly Farm
Short lived (about a month) Painted Ladies are widespread
throughout the world. They love cheeseweed, and are very easy
caterpillars for kids to raise. Mourning Cloaks play dead when
threatened. They can have a long life span (over nine months) and
over winter here as a butterflies beneath loose bark (they like
eating tree sap). They are survivors. Lish was featured in the
Stockton Record on July 12 - visit
www.recordnet.net and
search “Madame Butterfly.” For orders, contact Lish at (209)
274-2538. BVBF is not open to the public for the safety of the
butterflies.
Arboretum All-Stars, etc.
The weeds (!) are beneficially shading the newly established UC
Davis All-Stars squadron of plants to get them through summer. The
soapworts had a nice bloom, but their seed pods are somewhat
bulbous and grotesque. The deer grass and sedum we expect to
perform the best of all over time. 22 more months...!
Something inspiring to glean from the experiment’s intrinsic
benefits. The AA-S program applied for a USDA grant that valued
basic volunteer time at $21 an hour; gave more value to more
sophisticated work; and accounted for the value of the land the
plot is upon. This means that school garden volunteers contribute
more than the children’s agrieducation and the aesthetic – they
perpetuate the economic life of the garden and projects therein.
Thousands of hours of work are documented on the PESG / PEP Club
Pavilion project, and many thousands since 2004 (and before!) are
not. Our school district can take advantage of opportunities like
the Lowe's Outdoor Classroom Grant Program, or others from
Starbucks, Wells Fargo, the Junior Federal Duck Stamp Program, and
many others we’ve found available from our immediate corporate
community. Costs (i.e. drip irrigated water) and conflict will
occur, and we can try our best to mediate.
To utilize those corporations’ social responsibilities, volunteers
and the school need to coordinate. By forming a chain of command to
ask permission for public, Cooperative Extension, and scholastic
garden projects to occur; by having a good means of communication
including phone lists, workable email communication between
volunteers and school staff (many government based email systems
bounce private emails); by applying similar volunteerism structures
from other districts; by utilizing
www.csgn.org and
www.cfaitc.org for standards and curricula application;
and by communicating with parents in the students’ weekly packets
of the garden’s needs – a collective structure can be achieved.
 These articles Amber and I write are
about communicating this learning experience to the public, working
together in tough times, and showing how you can support your
schools by teaching kids fundamentals of life like growing your own
food while creating wildlife habitat.
Photo: Little Amber Spinetta and Little Mitchell Kendrick
Received Medals for their costumes in the Kids Parade at the Amador
County Fair
Thanks and No Thanks
To you for visiting the "Pollinators in Paradise" fair booth – and
esp. to Sean  Kreilitich’s bees who almost made it there – he
was unloading his beehive when a passing truck stirred a rock up,
breaking the glass hive, loosing the bees into Sean’s vehicle – the
bees were "not to bee", no question. To the buyer, at $6.50 per
pound, of Leanne Weese’s 258 pound BLT and to all who support FFA,
4-H, and The Grange. To Arthur Shapiro at
www.butterfly.ucdavis.edu for the future conversations I hope
to have with you. No thanks to my cell phone (and Sean's) for
breaking.
Photo: Leanne Weese and BLT compete in a Showmanship Event.
 Donations are tax
deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law. Write checks to
"Amador Community Foundation", note in the lower left, "Plymouth
Elementary School Gardens Fund", and send to ACF at P.O. Box 1154,
Jackson, CA 95642. Send
michaelspinetta@yahoo.com comments.
Photo: Little Amber Received First Place for her costume in the
Kids Parade at the Amador County Fair
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Plymouth Elementary School Gardens
#13 September 2009 Danaus Plexippus
By Michael and Little Amber Spinetta
Amber is very busy with the fly swatter evicting the
unwanted guests that show up about a week after the Fair comes to
town, so she can’t help write this month’s column.
School’s In
And so we begin again. We’re digging most of the cannas out of
the "Cafeteria Bed" so there’s a better line of sight for the
teachers to see the kids -- those things were growing over nine
feet in the air. I should say a friend, Ian, is doing the work, My
hand is still sprained so I’m the good supervisor leaning on a
shovel. ELP (Extended Learning Program) is getting a bunch of seeds
to plant in pots, too.
Going into the Wayback Machine
A short time ago, I got to wondering why all this interest of
mine about butterflies. So I asked my mom. When I was just starting
school, I raised Monarch butterflies for a handful of years.
Although my kindergarten teacher in Plymouth was June Vaira, I did
this as an extra-curricular activity with Ruby Anderson at the
Sutter Creek primary school. Apparently, I wrote a paper about it
for the GATE (Gifted and Talented Education) program, of which I am
told I was the first person at Plymouth Elementary School to be in.
I do remember Gretchen Kingsbury teaching us quite a bit,
especially the great literature, but I sure didn’t remember the
butterflies. Now a little bit is coming back.
Raising Monarchs
 From memory, so you’re gonna have to look this up online,
there’s a good way to harvest Monarch butterfly eggs from the wild
and raise them. One can also order the eggs. Whichever way, the
funny thing is un-knowingly, the same patch of milkweed that I
monitor now is the one that my mom harvested from when I was a kid.
I’m not going to say exactly where, but it is near the Dean
Family’s South River Lavender farm between the Shenandoah Valley
and Fair Play wine regions. I remember having a cardboard box,
about two feet tall, 16" deep and 16" wide, standing tall with all
of the flaps folded in. A piece of plastic wrap was its face so I
could look in and watch the little buggers grow.
The box was always in a window that let in the
morning sun, enough to enliven the critters but not get them too
hot. It’s important to clean out the frass - the solid waste from
the caterpillars. Still one of my favorite objects in nature is the
Monarch’s chrysalis with its curious little gold dots at its neck
and base. (There is a cool pendant online where the artist used 24K
gold on jade colored glass to replicate its beauty.)
 It’s great when the butterflies hatch – they are
so slow, weak, and precious, and more delicate than when aloft.
Don’t be alarmed by their meconium - that weird gooey stuff that
comes out when they hatch. Also, if you happen to be a bird that
can read, the reason why Monarchs taste so foul is that
cardenolides don’t set too well with you. Reading some more from
Field Guide to Butterflies by Arthur M. Shapiro and Timothy D.
Manolis (a recommended buy for all birds with cash) one finds the
myriad of plants Monarchs are attracted to. So when you release
that butterfly from your box (or beak) deposit it near a thistle,
goldenrod, zinnia, marigold, or buddleia.
Some tips from Lish Baylor of Buena Vista
Butterfly Farm. "Anyone can create their own habitat for Monarchs.
Monarch Watch will certify all "Monarch Waystations" in the United
States. If you order eggs, the confusion is the USDA regulations
that restrict shipping Monarchs across the Rockies. There is a
belief that Monarchs don’t cross the Great Divide – however – there
have been tagged Monarchs which have not followed those rules.
Anyway, Plymouth Elementary School Garden’s Monarch Waystation
Program plaque is perfect. The organization here in California is
Monarch Alert. Its primary focus is research of the migratory
patterns of the Western Monarch – they are more involved in the
tagging and recovery of tagged Monarchs."
Web sites to visit:
http://www.calpoly.edu/~bio/Monarchs/index.html;
www.ventanaws.org/conservation/monarchs.htm;
www.xerces.org/california-monarchs; and also this site:
www.butterflyschool.org/teacher/raising.html
– whew!
Thanks
To the Ilich family for the money raised at
your annual Kentucky Derby "Fun"draiser for school gardens. I will
try to make it next year and bring a bunch of stuff to show all of
you. To Heidi especially for the help! To the grapes for once again
ripening. Amber and I munched on orange Muscat through the whole
first day of harvest, August 24. To assemblywoman Alyson Huber and
folks from her office for touring the garden. And to mom.
Donations tax deductible to the fullest extent
allowed by law. Write checks to "Amador Community Foundation"; note
in the lower left, "Plymouth Elementary School Gardens Fund". Send
to ACF at P.O. Box 1154, Jackson, CA 95642. Comments/questions,
please e-mail me anytime at:
michaelspinetta@yahoo.com
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Plymouth Elementary School Gardens
#14 October 2009
PEP Club’s Playground
Project
By Michael and Little Amber Spinetta
 Here is an idea for everyone who sits in
front of a computer, strains their eyes to see their Smartphone,
and still tells their kids it’s bad to sit close to the 3D, HD, LCD
TV. Leave the closed captioning on for the grandkids to read
while they watch – that is my dad’s idea. Amber is busy watching,
and reading Between the Lions right now so she won’t be
writing this month’s column. In fact, I’m busy right now with
harvest, so I won’t be writing either. Sara Dentone is writing to
let the public know about our school’s dire need for an updated
playground.
Help the Kids Play
The PEP Club (Plymouth Elementary Parent
Club volunteer group) is raising funds for a new play structure and
other playground amenities. Our community pulled together twenty
years ago to erect a play structure for the children and we would
like to accomplish this again.
The current one has been well loved, and it is
definitely not broken nor worn out, nor was it built incorrectly,
but it is out of compliance with California state safety standards
and is thus not insurable. Compliance standards have changed
radically since about 1995. For example, the top of the structure’s
posts are flat, but the State maintains they should be rounded so
kids don’t climb on them. A retrofit is not a cost effective option
because the only parts that could be reused are the main posts...
which would have to be relocated anyway. We estimate at least
$60,000 is needed to meet our goals.
PEP Club actively fundraises to support programs
like music and the arts, busing and sponsoring children for field
trips, and helping with general needs at the school. The immediate
necessity and high cost of the playground project overshadows these
regular goals. (As a side note, Amador School Arts Foundation, a
nonprofit, fields the goal to support the arts in all the County’s
schools.) Play structures are not seen by law as a necessity, so
they do not get funding through the district and state.
Our play structure is the only playground that
some of the elementary children will ever play on. With the need of
physical activity everyday for proper growth and stimulation,
parents and educators at Plymouth Elementary see these grounds as a
vital need for our students. The area is also utilized by the
community before and after school hours.
We have a vision for how the plan can be
accomplished in three phases. PEP Club almost has enough money to
have the first phase finished over Christmas break. With support
from the community, the second phase could simultaneously be
achieved, saving money to go towards the third phase which includes
replacing the swing set that was torn out last year, not because of
wear and tear, but due to compliance standards.
Other ideas we are thinking about are replacing
the (recently torn out) handball courts and the dilapidated tether
ball court. We also envision more active games painted on the
asphalt and we have other great ideas being discussed. We have
hopes our plans are the best we find through our research, and that
they, too, do not fall out of compliance in the near future. If the
school can procure non-matching playground grants and other
funding, we’d be exceptionally grateful.
If you would like to donate to this project,
please mail a check made out to "PEP Club" and send it to PEP Club
c/o Plymouth Elementary School, P.O. Box 847, Plymouth, CA 95669.
You may also drop it off at the school office located at 10601
Sherwood Street, Plymouth.
For more information and to become involved in
the playground project, please call the school at (209) 257-7800
and leave a message with your information and someone from PEP Club
will contact you. Thank you! Sara Dentone, PEP Club President,
and Proud Mommy.
Lucky Lorquin’s Admiral
When the "fun and yummy" Zinetta grapes were
harvested a month ago, a Lorquin’s Admiral showed up at the crush
pad. It glided along low to the concrete for a few hours that day
until we cleaned everything up. For the next four weeks, it showed
up every day we harvested - it was the same one because a small
piece of its right forewing was broken off. Some butterflies have
excellent taste, even though they do taste with their feet.
Thanks
To the anonymous family who dropped off a
donation to Amber and me - it went to buy some gardening tools for
the school. And thanks to Rosalie, the principal, for taking over
the job of having volunteers weed the gardens – just give me a call
to supervise!
In the past, this job was handled by the 4th -
6th graders as a means of instilling school spirit, and there is no
way the school nor faculty can afford to pay someone to do this job
right now... so...give her a call!
Donations for the garden are tax deductible to
the fullest extent allowed by law. Write checks to "Amador
Community Foundation", note in the lower left, "Plymouth Elementary
School Gardens Fund", and send to ACF at P.O. Box 1154, Jackson, CA
95642. E-mail
michaelspinetta@yahoo.com
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Plymouth Elementary School Gardens
#15 November
2009 Mr. Tarantula, The Wolf, and the Ballerina
By Michael and Little Amber Spinetta
Amber did help with this month’s column because
she reviewed a ballet!
Arboretum All-Stars
That wind thrashed a half dozen AA-S
plants. The iris is winterizing, the "Texan" narrowly escaped
death, the soapwort is blooming again, the deer grass is crazy, and
the penstemons a beautiful ground cover. During the great winds, I
was chopping back, staking, and tying up every butterfly bush in
the garden as they all blew over. We’re also dealing with
line-of-sight for security, so that will affect some things.
Mr. Tarantula
I spotted a tarantula crossing the road
and brought him to the Extended Learning Program. Amber named it
Mister Tarantula – it has hooks on its forelegs. At soccer practice
after school, one of the mom's had a pet tarantula. It likes to be
warm, have mixed vermiculite/peat/ potting soil for burrowing, and
needs a smaller terrarium, since bad falls can kill it.
It likes to have a rock or stick to hide under,
and feasts on store-bought crickets. Tarantulas have urticating
hairs (they make you itch) on their abdomens, and they do bite, so
respect them as any other wild animal, and maybe let the native
ones back into the wild, one day. A good book on local wildlife is
The Laws Field Guide to the Sierra Nevada by John Muir Laws,
available at my family’s wildlife art gallery in Shenandoah Valley.
The book shows plants and animals coordinated by color, not
necessarily by relation; check it out.
Pollinator Ponderable
From a discussion with a student.
Basically, a bee and a butterfly do the same job. The bee gets
saluted for honey and the butterfly gets praised for beauty. Is it
best to be known for how one looks doing a job, or to be feared but
known for a job well done? If honey tasted bad, would we admonish
the bee for stinging us and making sticky messes? If butterflies
were all dull and camouflaged, would they be as loved? Hmmm...
Peter and the Wolf
Amber has seen or heard at least a dozen
different versions of Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf,
including: Disney’s Make Mine Music; Suzie Templeton’s animation;
David Bowie’s narration; a live puppet/orchestral show, and the
Sunnyvale Public Library performance online.
We have toys that correspond to each of the
characters with one vital difference – the stuffed wolf (from her
dentist, Susan) is mute. When the Sacramento Ballet performed at
the Crest Theatre on October 24, she was in heaven. Right before
the ballet, Amber asked me if this duck would live or die. We
scrutinized the events on stage: the duck made the sign of the
cross (the prey prayed), got eaten whole, the wolf spit out
feathers, the duck returned with a halo on its head – but we
listened closely, and still heard it in the wolf’s stomach.
Conclusion: she died.
 Amber’s Review: "When the Wolf was
playing with Peter, they were playing jump rope with the lasso with
the kitty cat; that was really silly. And when the hunters were
dancing. My favorite person was all of them. I think the bird
[Nicole Haskins] was dressed the prettiest and she danced the
nicest. It was really silly when the Wolf ate the Duck alive. I
liked when he [Jeffrey Callison] talked about the bird." After
Peter, other short bits were performed. "When the kids danced, I
liked Clara." About Kirsten Bloom’s Sugar Plum Fairy dance, "I
don’t know." Amber talks about the Sugar Plum Fairy all the time.
As for Jump Jive, "They wore bloomies!"
Photo: Nicole Haskins as Bird with other dancers and Amber (L),
photo by Adevia Mackes
Dad’s Review: Children’s games
like jump rope, patty cake, and rochambeau were used in the action
- to really make it for kids. Each player was active at all points
in time, spread around the entire stage. Everything Heidi Zolker,
as the duck, was hilarious, and she even made a duck’s waddle
graceful. Amber and I talk about the different kinds of conflict in
each version of Peter. Here, the lightheartedness made me forget
that. I believe since there was no live music playing, the oral
introduction of each character and ‘their’ instrument was dismissed,
though that’s just my conclusion, I forgot to ask. After Peter, the
Sacramento Zoomobile brought a macaw, hedgehog, and desert
tortoise.
 The Sugar Plum Fairy and Cavalier
showed some moves on stage for kids to see up close.
Dancers were dressed up at the coloring table and all around. Like
other plays by the Sacramento Ballet, generally everyone involved
mingles with the crowd afterward – check that out at The
Nutcracker in December. Amber took home a slipper autographed
by Haskins and a magic wand. What will she dream about tonight?
Photo: Noah and Nicole Mackes in their Nutcracker costumes, photo
by Adevia Mackes
To help buy new playground equipment: write a check to "PEP Club"
and send to PEP Club c/o Plymouth Elementary School, P.O.Box 847,
Plymouth, CA 95669 or call (209) 257-7800.
Separately, donations for the garden are tax
deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law. Write checks to
"Amador Community Foundation"; note in the lower left, "Plymouth
Elementary School Gardens Fund", and send to ACF at P.O. Box 1154,
Jackson, CA 95642.
michaelspinetta@yahoo.com.
Back to Top
Plymouth Elementary School Gardens
#16 December 2009
Monarchs in Space
By Michael and Little Amber Spinetta
Amber is too busy writing her letter to Santa
and will not be co-writing the column this month.
The Portrait
 Amber went to bed very early a few weeks ago. Dumb-founded, I
sprung at the chance and painted until 2:30 a.m., using Star Trek
episodes online as my muse. This concluded a multi-media art
project you can follow in the column online at www.goldcountrytimes.com.
One better memory happened last December. While building the rock
wall around the Manzanita, Amber pretended the rows of grapes were
shopping aisles – and that I was her baby – and she bought me
imaginary candy and milk. Three portraits and paint encrusted photo
studies will be on display in the library on Main Street, Plymouth,
from December through spring.
Monarchs in Space
 The November 16th Space Shuttle Atlantis launch carried three 4th
instar stage monarch caterpillars to the International Space
Station (ISS) in a small rearing chamber. This chamber was placed
in an incubator onboard the ISS and the developing monarchs are
monitored with still and video cameras. The most interesting part
of the experiment are the ‘five major challenges’ the monarchs face
in the nearly weightless environment. Observers will notice how
the monarchs deal with crawling and clinging, selecting their
pupation site, emerging from their chrysalis, and more challenges.
A partner in the project, the University of Kansas outreach program
Monarch Watch was founded in 1992 by Chip Taylor. (Our gardens are
Monarch Waystation #1544 – another Monarch Watch project you at
home can join in!) Mr. Taylor answered a few comments some students
and I had about whether the monarchs would meet all their
challenges. “No, not all five. Space is a challenge and most
gravity dependent organ-isms are going to have difficulty adjusting
to conditions in which normal gravity is not present. The purpose
of a project such as this one is to see how the organisms adjust to
the near weightlessness of space and how they are limited by these
conditions. The final challenge - emergence and full extension of
the wings is certainly going to be difficult in space, particularly
so in this case, since two of the chrysalides are now free
floating.“
Happily, on December 3, the first monarch emerged! More will be
gleaned from the butterflies when they return in February 2010. The
entire experiment, Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus
Science Insert - 03 (CSI-03) allows the K-12 community to care for
and examine the same organisms on Earth that are simultaneously
studied in space. Scientific objectives include the comparison of
the life cycle of the painted lady butterfly on Earth to the life
cycle in micro-gravity. Also looked at is the comparison of the
ability of an orb weaving spider to spin webs and catch food on the
ground to its ability to perform the same tasks in the
microgravity. Educational goals include that students will conduct
controlled experiments, practice humane animal handling and
experi-mental procedures, and compare their control experiment
results to those obtained in the flight experiment. Visit Online
www.monarchwatch.org/space
www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/science/experiments/CSI-03_prt.htm
Merry Christmas from Earth
Santa Claus visits the Shenandoah Valley Community Club every year.
My job is to go out and take care of his reindeer. I never get a
chance to take pictures of Amber on Santa’s lap, but Rudolph and
company really work up an appetite and get to eat the potluck
dinner leftovers! Otherwise, they’d try to look for food in the
vineyards, and ten foot fences don’t keep flying deer out! Well,
and least when I come back in, Amber tells me all about Santa and
how he knew everything that she wanted for Christmas.
Please Help the Gardens
For new playground equipment: write a check to "PEP Club" and
send to PEP Club c/o Plymouth Elementary School, P.O. Box 847,
Plymouth, CA 95669 or call (209) 257-7800. The school carnival was
great fun – Tim’s music for Mrs. Carson’s Cake-walk took the cake.
Separately, donations for the garden are tax deductible to the
fullest extent allowed by law. Write checks to "Amador Community
Foundation"; note in the lower left, "Plymouth Elementary School
Gardens Fund", and send to ACF at P.O. Box 1154, Jackson, CA 95642.
Thanks, Kelly, for those tools!
Send holiday cheer to
michaelspinetta@yahoo.com or you’ll get coal in your stocking
and grapevine moths in your figgy pudding.
Back to Top
Enjoy these links
to articles on Plymouth's Elementary School Gardens (PESG):
http://ucce.ucdavis.edu/datastore/detailreport.cfm?usernumber=119&surveynumber=236
http://www.charlesspinettawinery.com/Wine/WineNewsletter/SN2008/plymouthbutterflygardens.html
Published in Sutter Creek, our paper is a positive
example of journalism with an eclectic assortment of articles and
reviews ranging from health and wellness to the arts.
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