Gratitude Gourmet

04/24/2026

Happy Arbor Day 🌲❤️

Each year, Arbor Day arrives with a familiar call: Plant a tree. It’s a gesture we’ve come to see as symbolic – something we do to show we care about our planet. But planting a tree isn’t symbolic at all; it's essential.

04/24/2026

I started Gratitude Gourmet in 2008 sharing science and business cases that human-caused climate change will impact our Earth and radically change what we know from a Food and Agriculture standpoint. I introduced USDA people to the World Resources Institute WRI sharing with both that WRI needed a Carbon Accounting Protocol for Agriculture. (I was already advising WRI on Information Computing Technology ICT). Now WRI has a Food and Ag. component. Here’s a new Bloomberg Article showing more news on the extreme changes happening

Economists and central bankers are getting better at linking temperatures to price increases.

04/22/2026

Many varieties can withstand hot, dry conditions.

04/22/2026

Happy Earth Day 🌎

Every day, UC Master Gardener volunteers are working in communities across California to protect our environment and help it thrive.

From planting pollinator-friendly gardens and conserving water, to teaching sustainable gardening practices and helping people grow their own food, their work adds up to real impact.

This Earth Day, we celebrate the small actions that grow into lasting change.

Want to make a difference in your own space? Start with your garden. We’re here to help.



Photo credit: UC Regents
Photo description: Sunlit landscape of rolling green hills and oak trees with mountains in the background. Blue text overlay reads “Happy Earth Day.”

04/22/2026

Plant Tomatoes Deep

Tomatoes are one of the only plants that will grow additional roots (called “adventitious roots”) along the stem when you plant the stem deeply.

Notice the area on the stem where the gloved pointer finger is touching. That’s about as deep as you should plant a tomato. There’s no need to remove the lower leaves. Just plant them deep, especially if they are long and leggy plants.

Some people pinch out the shoots that appear where tomatoes branch, but we don’t recommend that in our climate. Because it is hot and dry, and the sun is intense in our low humidity, the more leaves you have to shade developing tomatoes from the sun, the better! Pinching out those tomato “suckers” is a technique used in more humid parts of the country where staking (rather than caging) tomatoes is common.

https://ucanr.edu/sites/ucmgplacer/files/158610.pdf

Photo description: a gloved hand touching a tomato plant roughly half way up the stem, marking the depth to plant the tomato.

04/22/2026

04/22/2026

Imagine a world where every child has access to gardening education in an outdoor space designed specifically for them.

The UC Master Gardener Program of Sonoma County is working to make that image a reality!

Following the 2020 Glass Fire, UC Master Gardeners restored the Children’s Garden at Los Guilicos and transformed it into an ADA-compliant outdoor classroom. Expanding access to hundreds of students at no-cost.

Their inclusive approach recently earned them 3rd place in the statewide Search for Excellence competition. It’s a great example of how UC Master Gardeners expand access to gardening education

Read the full story and learn how they did it: https://ucanr.edu/blog/uc-master-gardener-program-statewide-blog/article/restoring-childrens-garden-expanding-student



Photo credit: Clio Tarazi
Photo description: An adult demonstrates an activity to four seated children gathered bedside a bed of flowers in a garden. The children, wearing colorful clothing and hats, watch closely. A sign on the left illustrates seed germination stages. Another adult stands nearby observing. The area includes flowers, raised beds, and wooden structures, with dappled sunlight filtering through trees overhead.

04/22/2026

A friendly dog helping to dig holes in the garden.

04/22/2026

Earth is our one and only home. Wherever we live, protecting the planet is a shared responsibility.

Mother Earth has given us everything, yet we have repaid her with reckless destruction, said UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Wednesday’s International Mother Earth Day.

“We must break our dependence on fossil fuels, protect and restore nature at scale, and deliver climate justice for those who did least to cause this crisis yet suffer the most,” he urged, calling on governments and businesses to step up ambition on climate action.

From reducing food waste to saving energy and buying local, we can all take action and make every day Earth Day.

04/15/2026

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death for men and women combined in the United States. Which dietary factors may play a role in our cancer risk?

🔴 Foods we should avoid:
Processed meats are cancer-causing, classified as a Group 1 carcinogen. The risk of colorectal cancer is 18% higher for every 50 grams eaten a day, which is about one hot dog, two breakfast links, or two slices of Canadian bacon or ham. Processed meat may also increase the risk of prostate cancer, breast cancer, and pancreatic cancer.

🟢 Foods we should eat more of:
A high-fiber diet (one with more than 50 grams a day) is beneficial not just for our overall gut health, but for chronic disease prevention, too. When our friendly gut flora ferment fiber, they produce beneficial compounds like butyrate, which appears to have anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. Fiber may also help improve cholesterol, immune function, and blood sugar control, as well as lower blood pressure, reduce cancer risk (specifically colon and breast cancer), and more.

Fiber is found in whole, unrefined plant foods, such as beans, whole grains, nuts, seeds, fruits, and vegetables.

✅ Overall lifestyle:
Up to 71% of colon cancer cases appear to be preventable through simple diet and lifestyle changes. In addition to eating more fiber and cutting out processed meats, not smoking or drinking alcohol, maintaining a healthy weight, and regular exercise may be beneficial for colon cancer prevention.

See our colon cancer videos see.nf/switchdiets and see.nf/preventcoloncancer to learn more.
Visit AICR for even more cancer prevention tips: see.nf/4uSHOLe

PMID: 31198660, 29949327, 22063824, 28450127, 25382817, 25919227, 19857053, 26757481, 104901, 27916707, 10977102

04/13/2026

🐾 Kitten Season Fundraiser at Pet Food Express🐾

💛 March 30 through May 3 in-store and online! 💛

✨ Funds raised will be shared among participating rescues. Like us😊

Together, we can make a huge difference for kittens in need this season. 🐱💕