By David Goldstein July 30th, 2025 Special to Ventura County Star After your summer barbecue, did you regretfully throw away burgers and hot dogs that had been sitting out for too long, but then diligently save watermelon and veggie leftovers and store them in your refrigerator? How long will it be before you look at…
By David Goldstein July 7th, 2025 Special to Ventura County Star • Follow the two hour, 40/140 rule to keep food safe. • Store cold food 40 degrees or below and hot food 140 degrees and higher. • Waste less by freezing foods and making use of what of scraps like celery ends and…
Citizen Portal May 20th, 2025 This article was created by AI using a video recording of the meeting. It summarizes the key points discussed, but for full details and context, please refer to the video of the full meeting. Link to Full Meeting In the heart of Ventura County, a vibrant celebration unfolded as the Board…
VC Star May 3rd , 2025 By David Goldstein On vacation in Mexico last month, I thought, at first, that our neighbor to the south has a great recycling system. Looking into it a little deeper, I found Mexico has the same problems we are trying to overcome, but they are approaching it differently. In…
The Acorn March 28, 2025 By David Goldstein Composting, a form of organics recycling, has taken on greater importance with the state’s recent push to reduce the amount of food waste going to landfills—where it is known to release deadly methane gas—and turn the organics into a nutrient-rich soil amendment that helps yards and plants…
VC Star April 12, 2025 By David Goldstein The original Earth Day celebration, on April 22, 1970, was organized in response to a disaster off our coast. In 1969, an oil platform’s spill in the Santa Barbara Channel created an 800 square mile slick, from Santa Barbara to Ventura County, and the resulting environmental destruction…
VC Star By David Goldstein March 22nd Ojai Valley Organics opened earlier this month and C&M Topsoils, another mulch-and-compost-making business, will open soon near Simi Valley. Meanwhile, Peach Hill Soils near Moorpark and Agromin, with locations near Oxnard, Simi Valley and Santa Paula, continue to make mulch and compost every day from the discards of…
VC Star By David Goldstein March 20th Are you bugged by bugs, but want to avoid poison in your garden that could harm your pets or kids? Do you want to stop pests from entering your home and weeds from competing with your vegetable plants, while protecting critical pollinators? UC Master Gardeners of Ventura County…
VC Star By David Goldstein March 8th The public is invited to attend the grand opening of Ojai Valley Organics at 11 a.m. Monday. The county-owned site, past the trailhead of the Ventura River Preserve at the end of Old Baldwin Road, has, since the 1950s, served as a burn dump, a garbage transfer station,…
VC Star By David Goldstein March 1st With two simultaneous grand openings Monday on opposite sides of Ventura County, local carpet recycling capacity will triple. The Simi Valley Landfill and Recycling Center, with a public event Monday afternoon, and Gold Coast Recycling and Transfer Station in Ventura, with a private event in the morning, will…