Serving Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Benito and San Luis Obispo Counties
February 2014
Second Saturday on the Farm By TARMO HANNULA
of the REGISTER-PAJARONIAN
WATSONVILLE — The Agricultural History Project continues their monthly Second Saturdays On The Farm on Feb. 8. Kids will also be able to try early-day water pumps, play hoops, string cranberries, popcorn and create paper chains, puppets, bird ornaments and other decorations. The Gift Shop, Museum and other exhibitions will all be open as well. Second Saturday was created to allow people to get a taste of early-day farm life in the Pajaro Valley. Each month a new theme is explored at the event. There will be plenty of free parking and the entire event is free. Donations are appreciated. The event runs Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds, 2601 East Lake Ave. For information, call John Kegebein at 724-5898. Right: A young boy gets a taste of driving a real tractor at the Agricultural History Project. The “drive-a-tractor’ will be on hand Feb. 8 at the Second Saturday On The Farm Event. Contributed
From the publisher
Why The Land?
Two crews of spinach cutters were hard at work on eight acres farmed by Tony Costa in the Soledad Mission District. “You have to go slow and do a great job, “ Sylvestre Mateo of Gonzales noted. Workers must make sure their bunches are free of weeds before wrapping a twister seal around them, which further adds to the lengthy harvesting process. A crew of around 20 can cut 1 1/4 acres of spinach a day. The Land May 1980
From the Publisher, For me this is a tribute to one of the great editor’s of the Central Coast. Norm Nuck was not only talented but an all around great person. I only knew Norm for a short time when he would come by the King City Rustler office every Wednesday for his paper. When Norm passed away my staff and I were looking through the archives and came accross an amazing special section. It was called the Land and its people. As you read some of the background below, you will note that this was an award-winning special section. I know that my staff will honor his name and do the best possible section we can do every month. It will start slowly and then build and build as support warrants. This mondern day rendition of the Land features a new logo and expanded reach. I will be inserting this into most of the papers on the Central Coast bringing a circulation of 20,000. Please enjoy this first edition that I call a soft launch or market test to see the interest in the publication.
Best in State Published Wednesday, February 20, 1980 King City Rustler The Land judged best in the state. Once again “The Land and its People” was judged the best among all weekly newspapers in California for service to agriculture in the state newspaper contest sponsored by California Newspaper Publishers Association. The first place award was accepted by Nuck, editor of the Land and associate publisher of Casey Newspapers, which published the monthly section for the four Valley weekly newspapers. Judges comments were simply stated. “Great, was the comment which cited The Land for its agricultural features, photos, informative articles and general news. Criteria of the contest is to evaluate which publication do the best job of explaining the aims and problems of all phases of agriculture to the general public as well as inform farmers. The Land was started on 1956 as a Please turn to Page 3 - The Land
Here is the orginal cover of the first issue still in the archives at the King City Rustler Office 522-B Broadway King City, CA.
Mike Orradre (right), secretary of the Monterey County Cattlemen’s Association, presents a $250 check from Emmet Eaton. Eaton supplied information to the county sheriff’s department that led to an arrest and conviction after the killing of a cow belonging to Lester Patterson Jr. of Lockwood. The Cattlemen’s Association offers the reward as a deterrent to cattle theft and killings. The Land, March 1980
CDPH to assist communities with most vulnerable drinking water systems SACRAMENTO — With the state in its driest year on record, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) recently announced that it has identified and offered support to 17 rural communities with vulnerable drinking water systems due to drought conditions. The effort follows Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr.’s emergency drought declaration in January. “As the severe drought continues, we’re working with impacted communities to identify alternative water sources and additional resources,” CDPH Director Dr. Ron Chapman said. The 17 rural drinking water systems identified serve communities that range in size from 39 to approximately 11,000 Californians. There are approximately 3,000 community water systems (systems that have at least 15 service connections) that provide water in California. The announcement follows the governor’s drought state of emergency, which directed CDPH’s Drinking Water Program to identify communities that may run out of drinking water and “provide technical and financial assistance to help these communities address drinking water shortages” and “identify emergency interconnections that exist among the state’s public water systems that can help these threatened communities.” CDPH will work with the impacted systems to ensure that they have implemented required conservation measures (this could include no outside watering or rationing in addition to proper noticing of system customers of the required conservation measures); identify any possible additional sources (nearby water systems or hauled water); and provide guidance on the possible construction of additional wells to meet the system’s needs. CDPH’s Drinking Water Program has Please turn to Page 3 - CDPH