A couple times over the last few weeks the term ‘excellence' has come up, in the context of an aspirational goal. I'm not sure one ever achieves excellence. After all, who defines what excellence is? I wonder if, instead, the quest for excellence is really more about providing the motivation to keep one on a path of continuous improvement.

There's no doubt UC ANR is comprised of many on that quest to achieve excellence. And many are fortunate to have their accomplishments recognized. John Kabashima, Emeritus Environmental Horticulture Advisor was recently selected as just the third of the Urban Tree Legacy Award by the California Urban Forests Council. John will be honored in San Diego on October 26th. Congratulations John!

The UC Cooperative Extension Department in San Luis Obispo County and the Agriculture Department (UCCE's home department) in Santa Barbara County received a joint merit award for the UCCE Youth, Families, and Communities Program's Co-Creating Youth Advocacy for Healthy Communities. This award from the California State Association of Counties recognizes UCCE's unique programming and impacts, as well as the meaningful partnership with county government. Congratulations UCCE in SLO and Santa Barbara Counties!

Striving for excellence is a full-time job and then some. Many, if not most, of us don't turn off on Friday. Take the group who spent a Saturday morning helping Governor Brown and his wife troubleshoot their olive orchard. Franz Niederholder, Allan Fulton and Dani Lightle met with Gov. Brown and his wife Anne who had transplanted olive trees in hopes of producing olive oil. The team identified an appropriate irrigation schedule. Allan was able to calculate the approximate water use required by the planting and help determine the system run time per week. A few trees weren't thriving, possibly a result of transplanting the trees in the heat of the summer last year. Franz and Dani came up with a management game plan to help baby the trees along and give them the best shot at survival. Way to go team!

It was hard to be motivated to get much work done this weekend given how nice the weather was. I certainly appreciate that a few took the time out of their fun to send me photos of what they were up to. I didn't see any indication that the photos were shot from the Lodi Grape and Wine Festival though there was clearly a big crowd in attendance. But now it's time to get back to the work week. I hope it's an excellent week.