Lifestyle
Kaia I Kan Ski and Snowboard - Kaia on the Mountain
Submitted by Carson Now Reader on Fri, 01/08/2016 - 3:38pmCome join the KaiaFIT girls for our monthly Ski and Snowboard day. All current and past Kaia Girls are welcome - bring your friends and family too. This is a non-coached event full of outdoor fun and a great time to Share the Kaia Love. We will be meeting in both of the Heavenly parking lots at 10:30am on January 21st. Please RSVP on our Facebook event or email carson@kaiafit.com so we know to wait for you.
Nevada Humane Society begins 2016 with 'Happy Neuter Year' campaign
Submitted by editor on Mon, 01/04/2016 - 11:58amNevada Humane Society wants you to ring in the New Year by making a resolution to neuter your male dog or cat during their Happy Neuter Year campaign. At this time, the only appointments left are for small, male dogs and male cats.
JoAnne Skelly: The Alocasia Gift Plant
Submitted by editor on Fri, 01/01/2016 - 2:59pmI received an unusual foliage plant for Christmas. The leaves look like elongated elephant ears about 12 inches long. They are glossy dark green with silvery-white veins and reddish-green undersides.
They are narrow and wavy. After extensive searching online, I found out it is Alocasia sanderiana, commonly called Sander’s Alocasia, elephant ear or Kris (after some kind of foreign dagger). This plant originates in the Philippines. It is a beautiful and unique looking specimen.
Column: Greenhouse Project beneficials at work
Submitted by editor on Fri, 12/25/2015 - 1:52pmWhenever I go to The Greenhouse Project at Carson High School in Carson City, I learn something new. This week it was about which kinds of beneficial insects work best in a greenhouse at this time of year. Pests can be a constant challenge in the optimum environment of a greenhouse.
JoAnne Skelly: Gardening dreams as we prepare for winter
Submitted by editor on Sat, 12/19/2015 - 1:15pmA warm December day has me dreaming about gardening. My book My Garden Helper – What to do each month and How to do it, circa 1933, caught my eye. The first line reads “Gardening is easy. The beauty of it is that you can do the job on as small or as large a scale as you like, from a flower pot to a park.” I like the illusion that gardening at the park level is easy.
JoAnne Skelly: Tips to be gnat free
Submitted by Leonard Wyatt on Sat, 12/12/2015 - 9:37amIf you have houseplants, it is likely that you occasionally have little black gnats flying around the house. Although these tiny pests are barely visible, they become annoying as they buzz around your face. The gnats are actually short-lived flies that infest the potting soil of houseplants. They can go from egg to adult in about 17 days, depending on temperature, with larvae emerging from the eggs in four to six days. They develop more quickly with higher temperatures. There can be multiple generations in a year. Adults live approximately one week and may lay up to 300 eggs
JoAnne Skelly: Gift Idea for the power trimmer gardener
Submitted by Leonard Wyatt on Sat, 12/05/2015 - 3:24pmI have a confession to make. For years, I have spoken disparagingly about people who prune their plants, particularly junipers, into little green meatballs with power hedge trimmers. However, recently I borrowed my friend Roni’s electric hedge trimmer and I think I’m hooked. I had seen her pruning her lavender plants with it last year. It took her about 15 minutes to prune all the dead flowers off her plants while it took me hours to do mine by hand, cut by cut.
JoAnne Skelly: Indoor houseplants can host winter hitchhiking pests
Submitted by Jeff Munson on Sat, 11/28/2015 - 2:15pmJust when you thought your summer battles with insects were over, I have to remind you about insect infestations on houseplants. Your houseplants may be at risk if you recently brought outdoor container plants into the house. Usually containerized plants pick up hitchhiking insects while they are outdoors and these travelers start breeding when brought into a warm interior.
NDA encourages to 'Shop Local Saturday' and 'Buy Nevada' this holiday season
Submitted by Carson Now Reader on Wed, 11/25/2015 - 11:15amThe Nevada Department of Agriculture (NDA) released the Buy Nevada Holiday Gift Guide for the 2015 holiday season.
Available online, the Buy Nevada catalog highlights Buy Nevada members. With more than 100 businesses from around the state, showcasing the many food and agriculture products produced or processed in Nevada to help consumers shop local on “Shop Local Saturday.”
JoAnne Skelly: Preventing 'Sierra cement' winter frost injury to plants and trees
Submitted by Jeff Munson on Sat, 11/21/2015 - 1:47pmSnow flurries have begun. The first storm dropped heavy “Sierra cement,” that wet slushy snow whose weight often damages plants. Here are a few tips for preventing winter injury to plants.
JoAnne Skelly: Gratitude for red trees among the fall colors
Submitted by editor on Sun, 11/15/2015 - 2:13amThe long warm fall gave us a particular treat this year. The lovely weather let the red color in leaves completely develop, providing us with an amazing vibrant display. Too often cold weather hits in a flash, killing off leaves before their autumn pigments are revealed.
JoAnne Skelly: Fall leafhopper home invasion
Submitted by editor on Sat, 11/07/2015 - 2:34pmIn the last week, leafhoppers have invaded our house both inside and out. Suddenly I’m seeing dozens of brown wedge-shaped insects crawling all over my windows and screens. They are even on the kitchen walls. These annoying critters, also called planthoppers, are less than a ¼-inch long, and they keep me busy squishing them each day. I decided to find out more about them.
JoAnne Skelly: The Aging Apple Tree
Submitted by editor on Mon, 11/02/2015 - 1:32amLast week I spoke with Cory, The Greenhouse Project manager about aging apple trees at his house that an arborist suggested he cut down and replace with dwarf varieties.
Although the apples have always been fruitful, the arborist thinks these trees are almost at the end of their productive years. Cutting down these old, yet healthy, trees may be acceptable from the standpoint of apple production, but since they also serve as shade trees, they would be a great loss in the overall landscape.
Happy Birthday Nevada: 'You Know You're A Nevadan, If...'
Submitted by editor on Sat, 10/31/2015 - 7:03amAs most column writers will tell you, reader reaction to columns you're particularly proud of can range from crickets to complaints to an occasional "good column" e-mail, phone call or comment.
And every so often, you catch lightning in a bottle.
Rush hour pedestrian traffic
Submitted by Carson Now Reader on Tue, 10/27/2015 - 5:09pmGold Hill Lecture Series: Comstock bonanzas and the global gold industry from Comstock Mining Inc.
Submitted by editor on Tue, 10/27/2015 - 10:16amComstock Mining Inc. CEO Corrado De Gasperis will speak on “Comstock Bonanzas and an Overview of the Global Gold Industry on Thursday, Oct. 29 at the Thursday Night Gold Hill Lecture Series. The series features local historians and performers to present the topic of their choice.
JoAnne Skelly: Expert advice on fruit tree care and maintenance
Submitted by editor on Sat, 10/24/2015 - 1:53pmIn the 1990s, I was the coordinator of the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension Master Gardener program for four counties. Volunteers signed up for 45 hours of horticulture classes in exchange for a fee and 45 hours of volunteering.
I had one very dedicated volunteer, Michael Janik, now of Michaels Apples, who went on to become a leader in Northern Nevada in raising, training and pruning apples and other fruits.
Tahoe’s own cartoon bear reeducates residents by subtle suggestion
Submitted by editor on Mon, 10/19/2015 - 10:07amFirst-time author Jake Willers was inspired to write this children’s picture book after spending the past seven years filming urban bears. He recently produced a film entitled Urban Bears: Keeping Nevada’s Bears Wild! for Washoe County Health District and has presented wildlife programs as a wildlife expert filming around the globe for the National Geographic Channel International and for UK’s Channel 5. Jake currently resides in Reno.
JoAnne Skelly: Sure it’s October but you can go ahead and plant ahead anyway
Submitted by editor on Sat, 10/17/2015 - 12:46pmPeople look at me funny when I say “Plant now” in October. This is the best time of year to plant trees, shrubs and even perennials. While this goes against common sense with winter’s low temperatures coming, trust me, plant anyway.
JoAnne Skelly column: Watch the Weather!
Submitted by editor on Sat, 10/10/2015 - 2:04amSince the microclimate around our house has temperatures similar to those at South Lake Tahoe, we are more likely to freeze than Carson City or Minden. Cold air is trapped on our property. At this time of year, I pay attention to the weather or lose my plants.
Is Carson City the end or the beginning of the Loneliest Road?
Submitted by editor on Tue, 10/06/2015 - 1:55pmNow celebrating nearly 30 years, one of the most successful and enduring campaigns ever to come out of the Nevada Commission on Tourism is the “Loneliest Road in America” promotion designed to attract visitors to the very interesting rural cities found along Nevada’s Highway 50 corridor between Carson City and Baker. Or does it run between Baker and Carson City? Depends on where you begin, I suppose.
Nevada Travel Network wins first place press association awards
Submitted by editor on Mon, 10/05/2015 - 12:25pmIn its first entry into the Nevada Press Association‘s annual awards competition the Gold Hill-based Nevada Travel Network was awarded first place in two of the three categories it entered.
The blue ribbon for ‘Best Writing Online’ was awarded to the monthly NevadaGram and First Place in the ‘Best Feature Story Online’ category went to David Toll for “A visit to the Belmont Mill and Hamilton."
JoAnne Skelly column: Banner year for Black Widow spiders
Submitted by editor on Sun, 10/04/2015 - 6:22amI’m fairly tolerant of most insects and spiders. I try to move them outside if I find them in the house rather than kill them. However, I do kill black widow spiders. It seems as if this was a banner year for black widows. I never used to find them in the house, only in the detached garage. Lately, I have found quite a few indoors.
Airstream rally promises to return silver to the Comstock
Submitted by editor on Sat, 10/03/2015 - 9:40amRobert and Cecelia Stansbury had always planned to travel once they retired, but they had no idea where the journey would take them.
In preparation of leaving their jobs in the Bay area — he as a high school biology teacher and she as a legal assistant — they sold their share in a cabin in Hope Valley. With the proceeds, they bought an Airstream trailer.
JoAnne Skelly: Save Water and Your Landscape
Submitted by editor on Wed, 09/30/2015 - 11:59amCooperative Extension’s Dr. Heidi Kratsch is a specialist in water efficient landscaping and has written a book on the subject – Water Efficient Landscaping in the Intermountain West. In a recent class, she provided techniques to conserve water without damaging the landscape.
Sunset over Wellington, Nev
Submitted by editor on Tue, 09/29/2015 - 11:31pmCarson Now reader Kyla Foster sent us these sunset photos from Wellington.
Column: More 'Grow Your Own, Nevada' workshops this week
Submitted by editor on Mon, 09/21/2015 - 2:15amEach year in spring and fall, the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension horticulture program offers a series of classes called “Grow Your Own, Nevada.” Different topics are offered this week on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6 to 8 p.m.
JoAnne Skelly: When to Harvest Vegetables
Submitted by editor on Thu, 09/17/2015 - 4:19pmReaders often ask me when vegetables are ready for harvest. Some veggies have a long harvest window, but others may be tasty one day and bitter the next. Of course, if a freeze is expected, many of our vegetables end up being harvested early. I’ve ripened many a green tomato on the windowsill.
JoAnne Skelly: Earwigs are creepy, but are they bad?
Submitted by editor on Sat, 09/05/2015 - 1:08pmMary, a reader from Gardnerville said, “I have a terrible time with earwigs, my most dreaded pest; and the sight of them makes me cringe.” Yes, earwigs do look alarming with pincers at their hind end. They even bother seasoned gardeners who normally have an attitude of “live-and-let-live.”
Column: Elm leaf beetles common this time of year
Submitted by editor on Sat, 08/29/2015 - 10:24amLast week I wrote about root weevils eating leaves. This week’s pests are the elm leaf beetles. While elms are hardy drought tolerant trees for arid Nevada, they are plagued by elm leaf beetles every year. By this time of year, the trees look half-dead with white to brown ragged leaves.