Chenopodium Album, also known as Goosefoot, Pigweed, or Lambsquarters, is a member of the amaranth family that has become endemic to much of California up to 5900 ft in elevation. It's originally native to Europe and Asia, where it has been known to be grown as a food crop for people and livestock.

Lambsquarters' distinguishing features include soft, arrowhead-shaped, gently toothed, dark green foliage that appears silvery-gray on the underside of the leaf; the leaves also can have a fine, white powdery substance dusting their surfaces; the plant is an annual that has a large, shrub-like growth habit that I've seen grow to roughly seven feet high under good conditions, though most top out around four of five feet; it has strong stems that, as the plant ages, get streaked with purple and dry to a woody texture when the plant has died; in the late summer and early fall, the plant manifests inflorescences from which very small, black seeds will eventually fall.* The plant prefers disturbed soil, and is a common sight in agricultural and untended urban settings.

*Some sources indicate that Lambsquarters can start flowering in May. I have spent a lot of time around these plants and I can't remember ever having seen that, but it's possibly down to regional variance.

Like many other invasive species endemic to California, Lambsquarters is extremely drought tolerant. This is probably one of the more aesthetically pleasing endemic invaders come August or July, as it's one of the few remaining wild plants that appears healthy, happy, and green. I have some experience foraging Lambsquarters; its flavor is just sort of an unimpressive green flavor, though the leaf has a nice bite. Apparently, the leaves are very high in protein, and I think it'd probably do swell in a soup (though, again, I'd recommend boiling the leaves in a change of water first, as some sources suggest that Lambsquarters has oxalates that'll mess you up over the long run). I have no experience using the seeds as a food source, but it seems fairly straightforward, winnowing aside. The seeds are extraordinarily small and likely won't lend themselves to milling, but would probably make for a good supplementary grain to a porridge or something like that.

So, how bad is Lambsquarters?

Well, the California Invasive Plant Council doesn't have a page dedicated to Lambsquarters. That said, it has been known to be a reservoir of viruses for crop species also in the Amaranth family. It's likely that Lambsquarters, like the other invaders from the Amaranth family, are both practically impossible to be rid of while also being generally self-limiting, in particular given the plant's preference for disturbed soils.

Hello, everyone!

I'm going to start profile common invasive species to the central valley to help people recognize them, know which are good, bad, and ugly, and distinguish them from true natives. I'm starting with a special guest the central valley drivers will soon be getting re-acquainted with: the Tumbleweed (Salsola sp.). The tumbleweed, also known as Russian Thistle, was first introduced by Russian immigrants to the Dakotas in the late 1800s. The plant spread aggressively, and was in California before the turn of the century.

In terms of physical characteristics, Salsolas tend to have a darker, olive green appearance, with the larger stalks taking on purple-hued streaks later in the season. The leaves are sort of clusters of feathery spines (with some not so feathery spines mixed in for good measure). Later in their growth season, they have small, purple-hued flower like structures (though I don't think they're true flowers) at the nodes. They have an erect habit that forms a small, oblong sphere of a bush, about two to three foot high (there's a lot of variety there, but I'd say that about two foot is average) and a little wider than it is tall by the end of the growing season.

Salsolas are hardy plants that thrive in disturbed souls and hot, dry conditions. In fact, they have a root structure that's designed to release the stalk of the plant and let it tumble once it comes into contact with water, which is why you generally start seeing them jump out in front of traffic around the time of the first rains. Salsolas are safe to eat in small quantities, and I have some personal experience with this. You really only want the new growth from very young plants, anything else is going to be tough as boots and half as appetizing (nevermind the spines). Young plants have smaller, softer spines and the new growth tastes of spinach when boiled (which is how I prepare it, I never eat it raw. As I recall, it has some quantity of oxalic acid in it that will wreck your kidneys with enough exposure, boiling removes the oxalic acid). I'm not personally fond of foraging Salsolas because their preference for disturbed soils generally means a high likelihood that they've been exposed to some pretty nasty stuff, and they're really only acceptable for cooking while the plants are less than a month old.

So, how bad are tumbleweeds?

Well, as far as I can tell, in the way of invasive plants, you can do a whole lot worse than tumbleweeds. According to the California Invasive Plant Council, Salsolas actually seem to help native grasses by stabilizing disturbed soil and introducing phosphorus. They're not very competitive, and rarely dominate anywhere long term. In fact, they note that Salsolas tend to be the first thing that will grow in disturbed soil, and are usually followed and eventually squeezed out by other plants and grasses that benefit off the shelter, phosphorus, and stabilized soil that the Salsola provides. Additionally, native animal species (in particular small lizards and reptiles) have been observed to use the Salsola for both shelter and hunting grounds. Salsolas don't have a significant impact on ecology in terms of fire risk or water patterns, either. Probably the worst thing about them is that they can be kind of a pain in the butt for humans when they swarm streets or highways or pile up on fences.

I'm considering planting some Salsolas in my back yard to try and stabilize the loose soil this winter, and I'll cut them back once other plants start to take over.

This is a list of reputable brands, seed dealers, and nurseries for acquiring native plants, both online and offline. If you'd like to add one to the list, just post it below, and I'd appreciate a little blurb about your experience with them or why you find them reputable.

The list is currently pretty sparse, but with everybody's help, we can make a great list!

Nurseries

Online

Offline

SoCal

NorCal

Bay Area

Central Valley

Sierra Nevada

Mariposa

Creekside Nursery

Address: 5047 Stroming Rd, Mariposa, CA 95338

Phone: (209) 742-5107

Web: https://www.creeksidemariposa.com/

Blurb: Small nursery, literally by Mariposa creek. Known to carry several native shrubs including Ceanothus sp. and California Rose, as well as seeds for California Poppies.

Brands

Online

Offline

SoCal

NorCal

Bay Area

Central Valley

Sierra Nevada

Seed Dealers

Online

Offline

SoCal

NorCal

Bay Area

Central Valley

Sierra Nevada

Make sure you're planting a native species for your area first! Milkweeds have a very wide range, and there's been issues with tropical milkweeds being planted here in California, since they don't go dormant during the fall and winter. That means that:

• Along the coast, they're more likely to be exposed to high levels of moisture that will promote disease growth that can be spread to Monarchs

• Monarchs might lay their eggs on the non-dormant plants instead of migrating, which will likely cause the caterpillars to die, being out of season.

California has some 15 species of milkweed that are native, with one of the more common being the narrowleaf milkweed. You can buy seeds for narrowleaf milkweed online, and now's the time to do it if you plan on directly sowing the seeds, since they need to get cold in order to germinate reliably.

Some fast facts about milkweed:

-It's a perennial, and once established will continue to spread through tubers.

-It's very drought tolerant once established

-The flowers are said to be highly fragrant and are known to draw in a lot of pollinator species besides monarchs.

If you've ever thought about planting some native plants, early fall is usually the ideal time to start planting for California natives. I'm considering picking up some more California Poppy seeds, as well as some milkweed. I have other ambitions for some larger shrubs, like Manzanita or Flannel Bush, but I don't know how well that's going to go. The biggest battle I'm currently fighting is that I'm lobbying to replace our crepe myrtle with a Toyon shrub.

Do you guys have any natives that you're considering planting?

In case you're interested in learning more about or advocating for native flora, it's definitely worth checking out the CNPS. They've got chapters all over California, and many of them regularly do relatively easy hikes for educational purposes. Also, October is the month that most chapters participate in a native plant sale, so your local chapter may have some native plants available for you right now!

Hello, everyone! I thought I'd share this really neat in-depth presentation on how to make a garden with native trees and shrubs that requires very little to no irrigation and doesn't look deep fried by July.

My personal favorite genre of ghost story is the healthcare ghost story. Nurses have told me some stories that have made my eyes water, though that's not the tale I came to tell, because for all of my later attempts, I've never been able to do it justice. Let's share our medical spooks

I have 13 years of experience working on an ambulance as a paramedic. I've seen a lot of things, some horrible, some funny, some downright bizarre, but nothing I'd really classify as paranormal. This story was told to me by a co-worker on another ambulance shortly after it happened to her, while she was wrapping up documentation at the hospital.

They'd been dispatched to a sick person, which is sort of the catch-all complaint when dispatch doesn't have a more applicable complaint. When they arrive at the house, they find that the patient is a man in his late fifties who's gone unresponsive. Thankfully, the man's parents are able to let them inside the home and provide them with the information they need. Suspecting Sepsis, they try to hustle and get the guy out and down to the hospital. He dies shortly before arriving at the ER. Despite the efforts of both the crew and the emergency room, they can't get him back and the man is declared dead. Law enforcement comes by to start writing up their report and starts asking for information that the crew didn't obtain. It's no problem, though, the crew tells law enforcement to just do a 911 callback to the house and ask the guy's parents. So, the officer tries it, but gets no response. Having exhausted the easy stuff, the officer goes out and decides to visit the guy's parents. When he arrives, however, the doors are locked up tight, and there's no sign of anyone else. As the officer's poking around, a neighbor notices and goes to ask if he can help. The officer tells the neighbor what's happened and asks if he can help him contact the man's parents. The neighbor looks very surprised and says that the guy's parents have both been dead for years. And that's the story of how a co-worker got medical history from a dying patient's dead parents.

One thing I've recently seen be a point of contention is whether it's appropriate to disrupt sleep hours of 24 hour units for non-urgent transfers. That is, should 24 hour units have a time in which they're protected from being sent on non-urgent transfers? When this came up in the past, the consensus of "no" seemed to be coming from people whose systems weren't mixed 911/transfer systems and didn't do 24s. On the other hand, most of my 13 years in EMS has been with mixed-service 24 hour systems, one system of which was also a system-status deployment model (yes, I know that system status and 24 hour shifts are supposed to be mutually exclusive, but that fact never bothered company leadership). So, suffice it to say, I've had my fair share of riding 2 hours at 0300 on 30 hours without sleep for what could be an outpatient consult or because the local ED doc really wanted some other doc to take the liability for the discharge. A small company that I work for (mixed service, consecutive 24 hour shifts) recently started turning down overnight transfers for non-urgent reasons. The local (rural) ED was pissed and threatened to call other ambulance companies, but all the other companies got a good laugh when they heard where the hospital is. And in all fairness, they've laid some real stinkers of transfers in their time, including transferring due to CT glitch and transferring an 17 year old to the children's hospital two hours away for uncomplicated strep throat.

To me, it seems clear that 24 hour shifts are still well-suited to rural EMS, and I don't think it's at all unreasonable to not gamble with the lives of your crew, patients, and fellow drivers for what essentially amounts to the convenience of the ED staff. I don't think you can even argue that it's about patient convenience, because if it's ed-to-floor, then the patient realistically isn't going to see the specialist until business hours anyway (and there's a decent enough chance that the transfer is urgent at that), and if it's ed-to-ed, then there's a good chance (in my experience) that they're just travelling 2 hours away for a discharge, and where's the convenience in that? Stranded two hours away with an extra hospital bill and an ambulance bill so that they could get an outpatient appointment; now that's what I call service. The industry has had a nasty habit of pretending that people can just choose not to be affected by lack of sleep for too long, and there's been a lot of unfortunate consequences because of that. I don't have a problem with formalizing it and making sure that it doesn't get abused, but I just don't see the benefit in rawdogging your crews on non-urgent transfers.

What do you guys think?

Coming to you live from San Diego