Foothills Sentry May 2024

Foothills Sentry Page 6 MAY 2024 Family. Friends. Community. We’re all in this together. State Farm, Bloomington, IL 1801073 Ron Esparza, Agent Insurance Lic#: 0C79663 827 S. Tustin Ave Orange, CA 92866 Bus: 714-505-3400 ron@ronesparza.com Spring summer concert The bands Sky Island Ramblers (“cosmic acoustic”) and Hillbilly Crutch (“outlaw country”) will kick off Silverado’s 2024 sum- mer concert series on Saturday, May 18. Monthly concerts through Sep- tember will feature everything from “jams for the masses” to “rarely heard big hits,” “biggest, baddest hits of the 70s,” “acous- tic Dead tunes,” “original rock & gold,” and “music of Paul Si- mon.” (After the “all types of music” band, presumably now you’ve heard everything.) See smrpd.org for more information. Concerts begin at 6 p.m. at the Silverado Fairgrounds (“commu- nity center”). There is no admis- sion charge (“free”), though do- nation of a can of food for char- ity is encouraged. The Silverado- Modjeska Recreation and Park District (“SMRPD”) will sell BBQ hamburger plates (“food”) from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. SMRPD will also provide ice cream sun- daes (“desserts”) for free, but any tips will help keep these events going. Choose your own art adventure May 18 is also the date of the 2024 Spring Canyon Artists Stu- dio Tour. Visit 20 or so studios in any order between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., where paintings, sculptures, prints, jewelry and other creations will be on display and for sale. Pick up a map at the Silverado Canyon Market or at any studio. View example artwork at canyon- artists.net. Home sweet home Finally, on May 18, OC Parks will host an open house at the his- toric Modjeska House and Gar- dens. Enjoy a Shakespeare perfor- mance or music between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Admission is free, but reservations are required. Visit ocparks.com or email heritage- hill@ocparks.com. Mother Nature The Environmental Nature Cen- ter will have native plants for sale on Mother’s Day, May 12, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary in Modjeska. Friendship and Franship Friends of the Library will sponsor a June luncheon to honor former committee chair Fran Wil- liams, and to raise money for pro- grams at the Library of the Can- yons. Chili at the home of Geoff and Sarah Sarkissian will be fol- lowed by an auction of home- made desserts baked by local pas- try chefs. Time: Sunday, June 2, 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Place: 28592 Markuson Road, Modjeska Canyon. Please bring a $25 per person tax-de- ductible contribution for the Inter- Canyon League. To attend, volunteer, or donate a dessert, contact FoL Chair An- drew Tonkovich at atonkovi@uci. edu or (949) 235-8193. GSOB story If gold spotted oak borers (GSOBs) have attacked oak trees on or near your property, now is the time to have them sprayed. . Particularly worrisome is Mike Boeck’s report that the Cleveland National Forest apparently has no plan to treat its infested trees that aren’t near a road. Besides poten- tially wiping out the forest and throwing the rangers out of work, could this also make the govern- ment liable for damage to oaks on neighboring private land? Fire and rain One of the canyon Easter morn- ing traditions in both Silverado and Modjeska is a community pancake breakfast served by the local volunteer firefighters. The Silverado breakfast takes place at the community center because there is not enough room at the fire station. The Modjes- ka breakfast takes place at the fire station because there is not enough room at the community center. This year, cooks in Silverado worked outdoors while the crowd ate indoors. But in Modjeska, the threat of rain led to cancellation of the entire event. Ironically, the too-small Modjeska community center used to be the fire station. Silverado originally held Eas- ter breakfasts at its fire station, too. Technically, though, that was a different station, destroyed by a fatal mudslide in 1969. Caused by rain. A wort to the wise A California figwort plant con- sists of a spindly stalk up to six feet tall, supporting tiny maroon flowers at the top and toothy tri- angular leaves below. It is native to several areas of California, including our local coastal sage scrub and chaparral. The small (quarter-inch) Cali- fornia figwort flowers attract small native bees. Native people formerly used the plant to treat fever and infections. Today, some people use plants in the figwort family for skin conditions like ec- zema, itching, hemorrhoids, and acne, although “there is no good scientific evidence to support these uses” according to webmd. com. Hemorrhoids, though, are where the word “figwort” comes from: “Wort” is Middle English for “plant” or “root,” and hemor- rhoids were once called “figs.” If you’d rather not think about that, you can call California fig- wort by its other common name: bee plant. Note: The particular plant in the photo no longer exists because someone in Silverado could not tell the difference between a wild- flower and a weed. More sensitive gardeners can avoid this mishap by downloading a smartphone app like the free one at plantnet. org, enabling you to identify many plants just by taking their picture. Technology can be impressive, but choose wisely. Gardening with a Weed Wacker is like fish- ing with a machine gun. The Orange Elks Lodge 1475 donated $2,800 to help Handy Elementary School purchase much-needed supplied and office equipment. Left to right, Orange Elks Exalted Ruler JC Cortez, Handy Elementary Office Manager Nicole Rostom, Handy Principal Erika Krohn, Elks Kelley Martinez, Tom Wilkerson and Steve Cearley California figwort