Columns

The back-to-school season can be a time of excitement and anticipation, but can also bring anxiety and stress for children. As parents and caregivers, supporting kids through these transitions is crucial, especially when it comes to their mental health. Why are transitions hard for kids? Transitions...

If you’ve been waiting to plant a cover crop, wait no more. The soil is now moist and still warm enough to germinate seed easily. Remember that every drop of rain that hits bare soil is destructive. Over 3,000 years ago the Chinese protected...

Fitness is not just for the younger community. As you age, moving your body daily is one of the most important things you can do for your physical and mental health. It can prevent or delay many of the health problems that seem to...

Wearing something green on St. Patrick’s Day has been a tradition since emigrants, particularly in the United States, transformed the holiday into a largely secular event celebrating all things Irish. Cities with large numbers of Irish immigrants staged parades going back to 1737 in...

On Jan. 14, Scotts Valley joined other local jurisdictions when City Manager Mali LaGoe issued a Proclamation declaring a local emergency, to be ratified by the City Council. This declaration was based on the presence of flooding, downed trees, power outages, retaining wall failures,...

In the movie Independence Day, we heard “….We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight! We’re going to live on! We're going to survive! So today, we celebrate our Independence Day!”  We did fight, we did struggle, and we...

Mulch is not a very exciting subject, but it sure is important to the health and productivity of your garden. It’s great that everyone has accepted the value of covering the soil with organic mulch. Organic mulches- such as bark chips, treated sawdust, straw or...

In Santa Cruz County there are seven separate water agencies that serve our community, each with different sources of water, customer demographics and infrastructure ages. As a result, each agency has different needs and approaches to operations and, until recently, operated largely independently of...

Benjamin Franklin, during the late 17th century, coined the phrase, “A watched pot never boils.” I am sure each of us has uttered that phrase at least once in our lifetime. I know I have, more than once this last month during our, let’s...