LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council this week will hear an update from Pacific Gas and Electric and also consider grant agreements and projects.
The council will meet in closed session at 5:15 p.m. for an evaluation of City Manager Kevin Ingram before the open portion of the council meeting begins at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 4.
To speak on an agenda item, access the meeting remotely here or join by phone by calling toll-free 669-900-9128 or 346-248-7799. The webinar ID is 973 6820 1787, access code is 477973; the audio pin will be shown after joining the webinar. Those phoning in without using the web link will be in “listen mode” only and will not be able to participate or comment.
Comments can be submitted by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. To give the City Clerk adequate time to print out comments for consideration at the meeting, please submit written comments prior to 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 4.
Indicate in the email subject line "for public comment" and list the item number of the agenda item that is the topic of the comment. Comments that read to the council will be subject to the three-minute time limitation (approximately 350 words). Written comments that are only to be provided to the council and not read at the meeting will be distributed to the council prior to the meeting.
Tuesday’s agenda includes a presentation by PG&E about its Community Wildfire Safety Program and a proclamation recognizing May 9 to 15 as Police Week.
Ingram will ask the council to approve a memorandum of understanding between the city and the Lakeport Main Street Association for the period of July 1, 2021, through June 30, 2022.
Finance Director Nick Walker will present an update on the utility rate study and seek direction to staff on next steps.
The council also will consider a waiver request for accrued interest in the amount of $9,041.57 for the parcel located at 2403 Hartley St. in exchange for the full payment of the parcel’s base assessment in escrow, and the denial of a reduction in the AB1600 water expansion fee for that same parcel.
Community Development Director Jenni Byers will present a resolution approving an allocation of funding and the execution of a grant agreement and any amendments from the Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Relief.
Byers also will take to the council a draft resolution authorizing the city manager to sign the statement of assurances and submit an application for the State Community Development Block Grant Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, Rounds 2 and 3.
Public Works Director Doug Grider will discuss with the council items regarding the 2021 Sewer Main Rehabilitation Project.
Councilmembers will be asked to terminate the construction contract with AFelix General Engineering, Inc. dba WestPac Construction under Section 6-5 of the contract’s standard specifications, and award a construction contract to Ghilotti Construction for the 2021 Sewer Main Rehabilitation Project subject to the previously-approved budget adjustment.
On the consent agenda – items considered noncontroversial and usually accepted as a slate on one vote – are ordinances, minutes of the special council meetings on April 15 and 20, and the regular meeting on April 20; approval of event application 2021-004, with staff recommendations, for the 2021 Home Amateur Winemakers Winefest on Sept. 18; approval of event application 2021-008, with staff recommendations, for the 2021 Memorial Day Parade on May 29, 2021; approval of a resolution authorizing examination of sales or transactions and use tax records and authorize the city manager to sign an amendment and novation agreement.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
“Ruby” is a female domestic long hair in cat room kennel No. 120, ID No. 14475. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. ‘Ruby’
“Ruby” is a female domestic long hair with a brown coat and gold eyes.
She is in cat room kennel No. 120, ID No. 14475.
“Moxi” is a female domestic longhair in cat room kennel No. 133, ID No. 14483. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. ‘Moxi’
“Moxi” is a female domestic longhair with a calico coat and blue eyes.
She is in cat room kennel No. 133, ID No. 14483.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
Strawberries, in season now, can be as much a part of a Mother's Day celebration as roses. Photo by Esther Oertel. In medieval times strawberries were associated with love, so it’s appropriate that they arrive at local farmers’ markets close to Mother’s Day.
My heart skips a beat or two when I see their luscious red color in the stalls and – joy of all joys! – taste their sweetness.
Strawberries grown close to home – with their fresh, delicate flavor and burst of lush juiciness – are so unlike their supermarket counterparts that it’s worth a trip (or two or three) to the farmers’ market during the brief season that they’re available.
I have it on good authority that the season is now, so don’t hesitate!
Strawberries are actually not berries at all, at least not by botanists’ standards. True berries have their seeds on the inside (think blueberries or cranberries) and, as you know, strawberry seeds are on the outside.
The yellowish seeds covering the outside of the berry are considered individual fruits, with the sweet, fleshy part of the strawberry being the receptacle for the roughly 200 tiny fruits that cover it.
They’re members of the same family tree as the rose, another connection to Mother’s Day. In Italian strawberries are known as “fragola,” derived from the Latin word for fragrant.
Speaking of Mother’s Day, strawberries can be elevated in a variety of celebratory ways – dipped in chocolate, floated in champagne, skewered for a fruit bouquet, or incorporated whole in a centerpiece-worthy fresh strawberry pie.
Quite a few years ago (11, to be exact), I taught an early May cooking class where mothers and their young sons or daughters made one of these strawberry-themed items together.
The focus of the class was strawberry pie-making and the end result – glistening whole strawberries shining bright red in handmade crusts – was a testament to the beauty of this fruit.
The loveliness of these take-home masterpieces was eclipsed only by the joy I witnessed as family teams worked together to create them. (I have such a soft spot in my heart for parents and children cooking cooperatively!)
The strawberry pie recipe from this class is below so you can create your own maternal bonding experience, whatever the age of your mother or children.
In addition to being tasty and visually delightful, strawberries are surprisingly nutritious. Only eight medium-sized berries provide 140% of our daily requirement for Vitamin C. They contain high amounts of antioxidants, which account for their bright red color.
And they’re not just great in pies! As we all know, they’re wonderful eaten out of hand, sliced on cold cereal or yogurt, or tossed into fruit smoothies.
You can also serve them sliced on a sandwich with cream cheese and fresh mint, pair them with a nice balsamic vinegar and freshly ground black pepper, chop them and add to port wine to reduce for a sweet sauce, or toss them on a spinach salad (for which I’d recommend a poppy seed dressing or balsamic vinaigrette).
And now for some practical tips to keep your berry bounty fresh.
Strawberries should be stored in a cool, humid place; namely, your refrigerator with some special precautions. They’ll dry out without moisture but will go bad when sitting in too much dampness.
To store your strawberries, place them unwashed in a tightly covered plastic container or zipper sealed plastic bag with layers of paper towel between the berries. Make sure to remove any bruised or moldy berries first.
The sealed container provides a humid environment and protects them from the drying effects of the fridge, while the paper towel soaks up excess moisture.
I learned this method years ago from a strawberry grower at a farmers’ market and it hasn’t failed me yet!
If you’re not going to use your berries within a day or two, they should be frozen.
To do this, stem, wash and dry the berries. Line a baking tray with waxed or parchment paper and place the strawberries on it with some space between them. Cover with plastic wrap and pop the tray in the freezer till the strawberries are frozen solid, then store them in zipper sealed plastic bags.
Some folks roughly chop the berries and freeze in plastic tubs. That works well, too.
Frozen berries are fantastic in icy smoothies or pureed to make healthy popsicles for the kids. I like to make a fruity topping for pancakes or waffles by cooking frozen berries with a bit of water and sugar till it liquefies and then thickens into a syrupy consistency.
Whether or not they’re able to influence human love, tasty, healthy strawberries are well worth your affection! I hope you have a chance to enjoy them while the enjoying is good.
Fresh strawberry pie
Pastry crust:
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour ¼ cup sugar ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon Pinch of salt 1/3 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces About 2 (or more) tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Combine the dry ingredients (through salt) in a bowl.
Cut the butter in using a pastry blender or two knives (even your fingers will do!) until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
With a fork, stir in just enough lemon juice for the dough to form a mass.
Gather the dough into a ball, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
When your dough has chilled, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Then sprinkle flour on a surface, like a cutting board or countertop.
Using a floured rolling pin, roll out the pie crust to an 11-inch circle and transfer it to a 9 inch pie plate.
Trim the dough so it has a 1-inch overhang. Fold the overhang back toward the inside and crimp the edge decoratively.
Prick the bottom and sides with a fork and line it with aluminum foil (shiny side down). Fill the pie plate with dried beans or pie weights.
Bake the pastry for 15 minutes or until fully baked.
Pie filling:
6 cups (about 3 pints) fresh strawberries 1 cup sugar 3 tablespoons cornstarch ½ cup water Grated zest of ½ orange Optional flavorings: fresh lemon juice to taste, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, ½ teaspoon vanilla
Optional for the bottom of the crust (to prevent sogginess):
3 oz. cream cheese mixed with 1 or 2 tablespoons milk OR 3 oz. melted chocolate
Wash and stem strawberries.
Crush enough berries to make 1 cup of puree and mix with water and orange zest in a pan.
Mix sugar and cornstarch together and mix with liquid ingredients in the pan.
Add fresh lemon juice and/or cinnamon (or not) to taste. If berries are overly tart, leave out lemon juice. If using vanilla, add at the end when removed from heat.
Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Boil, stirring, for one minute, then remove from heat and allow mixture to cool.
If using optional cream cheese mixture, spread on bottom of baked pastry crust. If using melted chocolate, spread on the bottom of the baked crust and allow chocolate to cool and harden.
While the mixture is cooling, cut tops off remaining strawberries and arrange cut side down in pastry crust.
Spoon cooked mixture over the berries, covering them and dispersing it evenly.
Refrigerate pie for several hours and garnish with lightly sweetened whipped cream.
Esther Oertel is a writer and passionate home cook from a family of chefs. She grew up in a restaurant, where she began creating recipes from a young age. She’s taught culinary classes in a variety of venues in Lake County and previously wrote “The Veggie Girl” column for Lake County News. Most recently she’s taught culinary classes at Sur La Table in Santa Rosa. She lives in Middletown, California.
Larkspur. Photo by Kim Riley. LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Rising above a field of grass or on rocky outcrops on slender stalks waving in the breeze in deep shades of violet (Foothill Larkspur, Delphinium hesperium) or red (Red Larkspur, Delphinium nudicaule) is commonly just called larkspur and both varieties are native to Lake County.
Often grown and used as cut flowers (but don’t pick the wildflowers if not in your own yard), both varieties of these larkspur are classified within the genus Delphinium because the flower buds on the plant look a lot like a dolphin.
Regardless of the genus classification, the plant earned the common name of larkspur because the elongated petals on each bloom look like spurs- typically, the hind claws of a lark.
Foothill larkspur, or also called western or coastal larkspur, is endemic to California, where it grows in woodland and grassland in the northern half of the state including Lake County.
It is well adapted to serpentine soils and grassy areas, and rises like a banner of deep violet above the surrounding grasses but can sometimes be found with lighter pinkish to white flowers.
Red larkspur, or also orange larkspur and canyon delphinium, sends up long, stringy thin stems with the flowers in shades of red and orange towering above the leaves near the ground.
Native to the lower elevation canyons, foothills, and slopes, it is often found along the banks of streams and roadsides in Lake County.
Both red and foothill larkspur attract hummingbirds in droves; so if you want more hummers in your yard, larkspur is a great choice of wildflower, with both larkspur varieties reaching up to three or four foot tall, blooming mid-spring, and can grow in full sun to part shade.
Red larkspur prefers moist, heavy clay soils with some shade while foothill larkspur prefers open, grassy areas with full sun; both are well adapted to Lake County in the right spot and will bring joy to your garden – as well as the bees and hummingbirds.
Terre Logsdon is an environmentalist, certified master composter, and advocate for agroecology solutions to farming. An avid fan and protector of California wildflowers, plants, natural resources, and the environment, she seeks collaborative solutions to mitigate the effects of climate change. Kim Riley is retired, an avid hiker at Highland Springs, and has lived in Lake County since 1985. After 15 years of trail recovery and maintenance on the Highland Springs trails, she is now focused on native plants, including a native plant and pollinator garden on her property as well as promoting and preserving the beauty of the Highland Springs Recreation Area. Karen Sullivan has operated two nurseries to propagate and cultivate native plants and wildflowers, has lived in Kelseyville for the past 30 years, rides horses far and wide to see as many flowers as possible, and offers native plants and wildflowers for sale to the public. You can check her nursery stock here. They are collaborating on a book, Highland Springs Recreation Area: A Field Guide, which will be published in the future. In the meanwhile, please visit https://www.facebook.com/HighlandSpringsNaturalists and https://www.facebook.com/HighlandSpringsRecreationArea.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Animal Care and Control has several new dogs waiting to be adopted.
Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of Belgian Malinois, boxer, German Shepherd and pit bull.
Dogs that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are either neutered or spayed, microchipped and, if old enough, given a rabies shot and county license before being released to their new owner. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.
The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption (additional dogs on the animal control Web site not listed are still “on hold”).
“Sophie” is a female boxer-pit bull mix in kennel No. 18, ID No. 14356. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. ‘Sophie’
“Sophie” is a female boxer-pit bull mix with a short red coat.
She is in kennel No. 18, ID No. 14356.
“Rocky” is a male pit bull terrier in kennel No. 19, ID No. 14506. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. ‘Rocky’
“Rocky” is a male pit bull terrier with a short black coat.
He has been neutered.
He’s in kennel No. 19, ID No. 14506.
This young male Belgian Malinois is in kennel No. 20, ID No. 14521. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Male Belgian Malinois
This young male Belgian Malinois has a short black and tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 20, ID No. 14521.
This female pit bull terrier is in kennel No. 22, ID No. 14486. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Female pit bull terrier
This female pit bull terrier has a short blue and white coat.
She is in kennel No. 22, ID No. 14486.
“Ella” is a female German Shepherd in kennel No. 25, ID No. 14510. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. ‘Ella’
“Ella” is a female German Shepherd with a medium-length tan coat.
She is in kennel No. 25, ID No. 14510.
“Brutus” is a male pit bull terrier in kennel No. 28, ID No. 14507. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. ‘Brutus’
“Brutus” is a male pit bull terrier with a short gray and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 28, ID No. 14507.
This male pit bull terrier is in kennel No. 32, ID No. 14509. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Male pit bull terrier
This male pit bull terrier has a short brown and tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 32, ID No. 14509.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
Warmer weather brings the emergence of rattlesnakes. Photo courtesy of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Spring is here, and with it comes warm weather and hot, dry conditions in many areas of California that create an ideal atmosphere for rattlesnakes.
Human encounters with snakes are more likely as these elusive animals become more active this time of year. Most native snakes are harmless.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife recommends avoiding the rattlesnake, a venomous species, and knowing what to do in the rare event of a bite.
Rattlesnakes may be found in diverse habitats, from coastal to desert, and are widespread in California. They can be attracted to areas around homes with heavy brush or vegetation, under woodpiles where rodents may hide, as well as well-manicured landscapes to bask in the sun.
Rattlesnakes are not generally aggressive, unless provoked or threatened, and will likely retreat if given space.
“Snakes are often misunderstood. They provide significant ecosystem benefits, such as rodent control, and are an important part of California’s unique biodiversity,” said CDFW’s Conflict Programs Coordinator Vicky Monroe. “Snakes prefer to avoid people or pets and are not naturally aggressive. We encourage people to be rattlesnake safe, take time to learn about their local wildlife and take appropriate safety precautions when enjoying the outdoors.”
Most bites occur when a rattlesnake is handled or accidentally brushed against by someone walking or climbing.
Most bites occur between the months of April and October when snakes and humans are most active outdoors.
On occasion, rattlesnake bites have caused severe injury – even death.
The California Poison Control System notes that the chances of being bitten are small compared to the risk of other environmental injuries. The potential of encountering a rattlesnake should not deter anyone from venturing outdoors.
In 2019, CDFW confirmed the state’s first case of Snake Fungal Disease, or SFD, a newly emerging disease in snakes. SFD can cause significant mortalities in species of conservation concern. There is no evidence that SFD is transmittable from snakes to humans.
You may assist CDFW’s efforts by reporting sightings of snakes with skin sores or unusual behavior. Do not attempt to touch or handle.
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