UC Master Gardeners of Inyo & Mono Counties

10/14/2026

Excellent teamwork!

09/30/2026

Let’s support our local students and shop their Farmers Market tomorrow!

09/27/2026

Manzanar Orchard

Orchards have been part of the landscape at Manzanar from the early 1900s. The incarceration camp was placed at Manzanar partially to utilize leftover infrastructure from the orchard town that had existed for a short time at the same location.

When Japanese Americans were forced into incarceration here, they started caring for the orchards and incorporating them into the lives they lived behind barbed wire. In an oral history, Sue Kunitomi Embrey recalled, “ But [my mother] never talked about what happened, until many years later when we were talking and she said, ‘You know, the first couple of weeks we were in Manzanar, I used to walk all the way up to the orchard and I used to sit there and cry, but after a couple of weeks I decided that was not very productive and stopped doing that.’ “

People used the fruit produced by the orchards for all sorts of culinary purposes. Though there were rules around the harvest. Kenji Suematsu, who was incarcerated at the Manzanar Children’s Village, shared this story, “And the other incidents that I recall was going into the orchard and grabbing pears on a tree and then getting punished for it because we were supposed to stay out of the orchard and not take any pears…I don’t know what the rules were but for the children, we were supposed to stay out of there…But when we got caught our punishment was to get a spoonful of cod liver oil. I don’t know if you know of cod liver, well, some people do but it’s a horrible taste.”

You can learn more about the Manzanar Oral History Program on our website at: https://www.nps.gov/manz/learn/historyculture/manzanar-oral-history-interviews.htm

Today, the National Park Service cares for orchards at Manzanar to honor their importance in the story of Japanese American incarceration. If you visit and fruit is in season, as pears are now, feel free to safely collect small amounts of fruit around the site for your personal use.

Image text: A pear tree, loaded with fruit, in one of Manzanar’s historic orchards. [NPS Image]

09/16/2026

09/03/2026

Several of our Master Gardeners volunteered to work in the agriculture and Food Preservation area at the Eastern Sierra Tri-County Fair which opens today. Pay us a visit while you are there! This Hawaiian scarecrow should keep the birds off our crops!

09/03/2026

So far I have made raisins from 30lbs of Thompson's seedless grapes in the last 10 days. All organic - never sprayed. I am hoping that the that the 6 resulting jars will last me through the year. I also made 6 jars of raspberry jelly using 2025 raspberry harvest. That is really delicious!

09/03/2026

♥️

Lulu tricked us by lambing first . Quads were not on our fall Bingo card . So far everyone is thriving .

08/29/2026

Amazing!

Warning: Hawk-led Farm Tour.
Once a month it's good to get a hawk-eye view of the farm. It allows us know if everything is getting water evenly, if there are any soil fertility issues that a hawk would notice, and helps us plan where things will grow in the future.

We now have three field blocks named after famous farmers open now. From left to right is Carver (George Washington Carver), Carson (Rachel Carson), and Coleman (Eliot Coleman). Coleman just got planted with Sonora Wheat for the bread project. The rest needs more tarp, till, and terminate to get rid of some stubborn Bermuda grass, but should be ready for spring planting. Carver has tomatoes, peppers, corn, kohlrabi, radishes, cucumbers, and two freshly planted beds of carrots. Carson has toms, cucumbers, peppers, corn, carrots, beets, and that trellis thing in the middle has seven varieties of melons growing over it. In about one-two weeks when they ripen, a stroll under the melons will be treat for senses, particularly the nose.

Over in the far left, shaped like an eye is the native plant garden featuring plants from the Owens Valley. Further left still is Indigenous Agriculture Demonstration Garden highlighting crops like Taboose, cotton, 3 kinds of corn, wild tomatoes, beans, squash, gourds, and amaranth grain. And of course fruit trees and grapes ringing the whole enterprise, and the composting operation on the far left.

Inside the hoop house you get a feint glimpse of tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, turnips, chard, all cooled by our new fans and misting system. In this challenging growing environments of extremes in temps, a hoop makes a big difference.

But most important thing is found in the low right corner by the backstop. That's the most precious thing we're growing. That's CJ and a first grade class learning how plants grow. By the time this cohort gets to 5th grade they will have eaten hundreds of pounds of fresh food, tried new flavors, grown their own food, learned how Culture connects to Agri (land) and be well-versed in how food systems work, all while enabling them to make better decisions about the one thing we all do three times a day. (To name a few.)

08/17/2026

08/09/2026

There are just a few days left in the 2026 Monarch Blitz!

From now through Sunday, help us find monarch butterflies! How many observations of monarch butterflies and milkweed plants can you share between now and the end of Sunday, Aug. 9?

Your observations provide a valuable snapshot of the monarch butterfly activity during one of their peak breeding periods. Don’t miss this opportunity to have fun outdoors with family and friends while helping provide data for monarch community science.

Get involved by reporting your observations of monarchs and milkweed plants on the Journey North website!