By Bob Labozetta —  Whether you sowed seeds in late February/early March or you purchase plants from a nursery or the Mariposa Master Gardeners Annual Plant Sale, make sure your transplants are young, stocky seedlings instead of larger plants. They will establish more quickly and suffer less transplant shock, soon catching up in growth to larger plants. “Harden off” your ...

A great workout with beautiful flowers and a ton of history! This hike was right up my alley on a cooler day between raindrops. Where: Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Merced River Recreation Management Area Distance: About 9 miles roundtrip to the gate but you can go shorter or longer Difficulty: Moderate to Strenuous Elevation Range: 1,138′ – 2,835′ Date: ...

NORTH FORK — More than a dozen artists gathered in a local native garden this week, tools of their respective trades in hand, poised to capture the magic as a soft breeze blew and the Sierra sunlight gently dappled the grounds around them. When we heard that members of Yosemite Western Artists would convene for a plein air day at ...

Written by David Novell – Orangie woke up early, even though it was summer and he could sleep in if he wanted to. Today was Sunday, and the house was quiet except for the sound of his dad’s electric percolator making coffee and the occasional rustle of the morning paper’s pages being turned. And then he remembered! His best friend ...

Written by Tuolunme Winter Ranger Laura Pilewski – YOSEMITE –  The weather and ski conditions this week were nearly a carbon copy of last week. We still have not had an extended period of high pressure ridging to bring warm/dry weather to the central Sierra this ski season for more than just a few days at a time. There were ...

Puppies and poppies, both being an entirely worthwhile addiction, we loaded the former in the car and set off to see the latter. We had been told that the bloom was like nothing we’d ever seen before. But there were billions of things we’d never seen before and so we couldn’t help but wonder which one it would turn out ...

We were driving home from hiking the Moss Creek Trail but the day was still young, so we swung through the Briceburg area to check out the poppies along the way. This is one of those adventures that you can drive, hike, or a combination of both to enjoy beautiful spring flowers. Where: Bureau of Land Management Distance: About 5 ...

OAKHURST – Tim Harmon and the crew at Choppers presented Valley Children’s Hospital with a big check yesterday at the annual Spring Sale & Fundraising Event. Darrellyn Colldar, development assistant at VCH, accepted the generous donation of $3,570, raised through the sale of raffle tickets over the past two months. The tickets were $5 each and the winner of the ...

YOSEMITE — Earth Day, National Junior Ranger Day, National Park Week, and John Muir’s Birthday will be celebrated in Yosemite National Park on Saturday, Apr. 20, with activities for all ages throughout the day — and all activities are free, including entry to the park to kick it off. Visitors coming to the park should be prepared for a very ...

Written by David Novell – The sky was deep blue as Orangie walked out onto the sidewalk, a big paper bag in each arm. He found himself whistling “Blueberry Hill” by Fats Domino, including all the background stuff after each melody line, which is part of what made it such a cool song. Orangie’s very first record that was his ...