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In Memoriam
Jerry Baker
June 19, 1931 – March 2, 2017
Jerry Baker was an American author, entrepreneur, public speaker, and product spokesperson, who wrote numerous books on gardening, home hints and health topics. He called himself America’ s Master Gardener ®, creating his famous DIY tonics using common household products like beer, baby shampoo, castor oil, and mouthwash.
Baker began his career in the 1960s as an undercover cop in Detroit, Michigan, posing as a gardener, tree trimmer, landscaper and seed salesman. He left the police force and eventually went to work as a horticulture buyer for S. S. Kresge Corporation. His interest in gardening led him to local radio and TV appearances in the Detroit area. He eventually became a frequent guest on Dinah Shore’ s daytime TV show, Dinah’ s Place. The exposure he received prompted him to write his first best-selling book, Plants Are Like People, in 1972. Baker also began the national craze of talking to your plants with the publication of his second best-selling book, Talk to Your Plants, in 1973.
In the 1990s and 2000s, Baker had his own series of gardening shows that ran on public television stations in the U. S. and Canada. PBS used them as pledge-drive specials; the programs featured Baker’ s down-home wisdom and commonsense solutions to gardening problems. From 1987 to 2007, Baker hosted his own national call-in radio show called On the Garden Line.
— From jerrybaker. com
William Riley Marken
September 2, 1942- August 11, 2017
William( Bill) Marken, 74, of Los Altos, California, died August 11, 2017, at home surrounded by his family and listening to Bob Dylan. He lived life to its fullest until the end, especially after his diagnosis with pancreatic cancer in November 2015. A lifelong Californian, Bill was born in Morgan Hill to Harry and Emma Marken, and grew up down the street from his future wife of 52 years, Marilyn Tonascia Marken. Early jobs in the orchards of the Valley along with visits to his father’ s plant nursery inspired a lifelong love of gardens and nature.
After attending Occidental College and graduating from University of California-Berkeley in 1964, he applied for a job, any job, at Sunset Magazine. Somehow his application caught the eye of the magazine’ s gardening editor, who placed Bill temporarily on the landscaping crew while waiting for an editorial job to open up. After a while, Bill moved over to the editorial side and was assigned the massive revision of Sunset’ s Western Garden Book( which came out in 1967), while still working half time in the garden. From those humble beginnings, Bill had a 30-plus-year career at Sunset, eventually becoming the Editor-in-Chief in 1981. During his term as Editor-in-Chief, from 1981-1996, Sunset had its highest ever circulation.
Upon leaving Sunset, after it was purchased by Time, Inc., Bill remained involved in magazine writing and editing, but also enjoyed delving into the new( then) online world, working for Garden. com and eHow. com, among others. Until last week, Bill was consulting for Garden Design magazine, as well as writing the occasional article— most recently“ Lessons from a Three Generation Edible Garden” for the summer 2017 issue.
Despite a full professional life, Bill made time for many other interests. Having traveled to Lake Tahoe since a young boy, he felt strongly about preserving the lake and was on the Board of the League to Save Lake Tahoe for 16 years and served as its president for 4 years. Bill went back to school at the age of 65 and received his Masters of Liberal Arts from Stanford University in 2012.
Bill is survived by his wife Marilyn, daughters Catherine Marken Boyle and Liz Marken Fiorentino, sons Mike and Paul Marken and 12 grandchildren— all who live nearby.
— Shared from the 2017-08-15 San Francisco Chronicle eEdition
Additional areas for up and coming demand for jobs and opportunities are:
• Performance-based landscapes for highway infrastructure
• Integrated Pest Management( IPM) growers for organic operation
• Aquaponics for residential and commercial use
• Composting productions and the diversity for new and improved products, including mushroom compost and its other byproducts
• Vermiculture, developing more pleasing designs of the bins and housing for these systems
• The production of biochar for the improvement of soil and regeneration for fire-dependent species
This list is by no means complete, but it shows very strong areas of interest from scientific professionals and students. I can’ t wait to see what is coming next.
RESOURCES
• Mushroom Market Analysis
• American Mushroom Institute
• Philadelphia Orchard Project
• 20 Urban Food Forests Around the World
• Rutgers’ Rain Garden Certification Program
• National Association of Realtors’ Field Guide to Green Property Management
• Green Property Management
• Philly Urban Creators
• Greenville County Soil and Water Conservation
• North Carolina Certified Rain Garden Specialists
Eva Monheim is an assistant professor of horticulture at Temple University. When she’ s not in the field with her students, she’ s on the grounds of Longwood Gardens teaching woody plants and arboriculture to professional garden students. Her commitment to education is tireless, and her dedication to mentor students is paramount. A former newspaper columnist, she is an award-winning artist who loves dabbling in photography.
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