Enter the herbarium’s photo contest

Happenin’ at the herbarium
Linnea Hanson, board member of the Friends of the Chico State Herbarium, sent me a press release recently, announcing some noteworthy upcoming events.

The Friends of the Chico State Herbarium’s third annual Fall Photo Contest is seeking submissions; photos must be of California native plants, in 8-by-10-inch format, both as a hard copy and as a digital file (maximum two entries per participant). First prize is $100 (or a free herbarium workshop); second prize, $50 and an herbarium T-shirt; and third, $25 and a T-shirt. Photos will be displayed on Nov. 2 at the Herbarium Annual Meeting.

Bring entries (plus $10 entry fee) to the Gateway Science Museum ticket office, or mail them to: 2013 Plant Photo Contest, Chico State Herbarium, CSU Chico, Chico, CA 95929-0515. Email John at friendsoftheherbarium@gmail.com to send digital file. Maximum of two entries per participant; all entries must be received by Oct. 25.

And, the herbarium’s Designing a Pollinator Garden workshop—hosted by John Whittlesey and Adrienne Edwards—will take place on Saturday, Sept. 28, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., in Chico State’s Holt Hall, room 129.

“Learn how to design a garden to encourage native pollinators by using plants that provide overlapping nectar, pollen and larval food sources, providing pollinator nesting habitat, and eliminating the use of pesticides that kill non-target pollinators,” the press release said.

Cost is $100 and advance registration is required. For more info, call 898-5356 or send an email to jbraden@csuchico.edu. Go to www.tinyurl.com/pollinwk to register.

More postcard goodness
I realize I cannot include all of the wonderful recycled-material postcards I received in response to my Aug. 8 column, but I just want to mention a few more.

“Oh, I love the challenge of yours—make & send a postcard!” wrote Lee Anna, on the back of a bright-yellow postcard featuring a recycled-greeting-card photo of a yellow duckling on the front (pictured). “I, too, want to save the postcard—a small, friendly slice of homemade life. I think of it as everyday art.”

“Oh, Miss Christine! What a lovely idea—make my own postcards!” wrote Lori, on the back of a handmade card featuring a black-and-white picture of a harried-looking woman (pictured) she claims “is me a couple of years ago in a family mystery play written by a family member, produced at the family farm in Cohocton, New York.”

“Thanks for the great idea,” wrote Jamie Musser on the back of a recycled Avenue 9 Gallery postcard onto which she glued (with furniture glue) the back of a used envelope on which to write. It just so happens that I wrote about Musser’s local thrift shop on East Ninth Avenue—Lovene’s Clothing & Collectables—in December of last year (see “Thrift-shop grande dame,” Dec. 13, 2012).

“Have been saving gallery announcements and greeting cards too great to just toss into the recycling bin for ages and ages,” she continued. “Now I can begin decluttering. First, rather than [using] a jug of furniture glue, [I will] get something more suitable.”

Thanks to my mother, not a single cardboard box has found its way back into society. We receive gifts in boxes from stores that went out of business twenty years ago. —Erma Bombeck