Community Calendar

Hey there: Are you a wanna- be gardener, but have no yard, or place to cultivate a garden/vegi garden ,or exercise that passion? Well look no further, then to our very own Community Garden here in" Happy Willits," located next to the Recreation Grove; (adjacent to the Social Service Dept.) A Non Profit Project. With once a year fee (like renting a plot) grow whatever you want, but must commit for a year, no abandoning it. Serious gardeners welcomed. There's limited spaces-sign ups begin in March. Contact Mike Adair, Garden Manager, at 707-456-4395. Hope to see you there!!

REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED (Online or by phone)
Register at https://www.firesafemendocino.org/chipper-day
The Mendocino County Fire Safe Council (MCFSC) is offering Regular Chipper Days on the 2nd Monday of each month for the Sherwood Firewise Communities.
To qualify, your area must be registered with MCFSC and cover a minimum of 5 properties with 10 piles minimum (up to 30 piles) per Chipper Day. Get neighbors to participate to keep sites closer together. Call to set up a schedule for chipping. Contact the MCFSC office at (707) 462-3662

COLD WEATHER CLOTHING DRIVE
At the Ukiah Branch Library
November 2025 to February 2026

The Ukiah Branch Library is hosting a Cold Weather Clothing Drive starting in November 2025 and continuing through the month of February 2026.

Donate your clean and lightly used coats, sweaters, scarves, hats, and belts to the Ukiah Branch Library. These items will be set out for individuals to find new-to-them clothing during this cold and wet winter season.

For more information, please visit www.mendolibrary.org or contact the Ukiah Branch at 707- 463-4490.

COLECCIÓN DE ROPA PARA EL FRÍO
En la Biblioteca Sucursal de Ukiah
Noviembre de 2025 a febrero de 2026

La Biblioteca Sucursal de Ukiah está organizando una colección de ropa para el frío, comenzando el noviembre de 2025 y continuando hasta el febrero de 2026.

Dona sus abrigos, suéteres, bufandas, sombreros y cinturones limpios y poco usados a la Biblioteca Sucursal de Ukiah. Estos artículos se distribuirán para que los miembros de la comunidad que lo necesiten puedan obtener ropa esencial para el invierno.

Para más información, por favor visite www.mendolibrary.org o póngase en contacto al llamar 707-463-4490.

Celebrate your visit to Anderson Valley with Goldeneye’s signature sparkling wine tasting. Savor the delicate bubbles and nuanced flavors of two exceptional vintages of our Methode Champenoise sparkling wines; both a testament to our winemaking artistry.

Pair your glasses of Brut Rosé with reserve caviar, accompanied by thoughtfully selected accoutrements that elevate every sip and bite. Effortlessly embodying the California lifestyle, this luxurious experience promises a memorable journey through the refined tastes and textures that define Goldeneye.

In January Partners Gallery is showing work exploring the use of black and white. Pieces by gallery members include mushroom spore prints, solarplate etchings, Kabbalistic Tree of Life images, Pygmy Forest paintings using local soil, a tiny house with a forgotten occupant, photos of unusual trees looking back at us, an acrylic painting called “Bone on Bone,” a polka dot wet felt bag and much more.

The show opens January 8 and continues through February 9 with a
Second Saturday Meet the Artists January 10 from 5 to 7pm.

Gallery hours are Thursday through Monday 11-4pm.
The gallery is located at 45062 Ukiah St in Mendocino.
www.partnersgallery.com

Free Pool Monday!

Stop by for a free game of pool (we also have darts, corn hole, giant Jenga, shuffleboard, and a host of board/card games).

The non profit organization, Mendocino Coast Jazz Society, hosts a “Jazz Jam” every Monday evening, from 6 to 9pm, at Tall Guy Brewing Admission is free, and there is a Swing Dance lesson at 5pm

The non profit organization, Mendocino Coast Jazz Society, hosts a "Jazz Jam" every Monday evening, from 6 to 9pm, at Tall Guy Brewing, 362 N Franklin St in Fort Bragg. Admission is free, and there is a Swing Dance lesson at 5pm

"Bring your ax, your voice, your dancin' shoes, or just your ears!"

This is a Zoom only event. Please visit the MCAS website for the Zoom link.

UNCOVERING THE EVOLUTIONARY ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENTAL FOUNDATIONS OF BEAK SHAPE IN THEROPODS USING A UNIVERSAL RULE OF GROWTH, by Kathleen L.S. Garland, Melbourne, Australia

Bird beaks come in almost every shape and size – from the straw-like beak of a hummingbird to the slicing, knife-like beak of an eagle. In her talk, Kate will discuss her PhD research into how, despite this incredible diversity, there is an underpinning mathematical rule that governs the growth and shape of beaks in nearly all living birds. She as also found that this rule even describes beak shape in the long-gone ancestors of birds – the dinosaurs. This mathematical rule, called the power cascade, describes the relationship between the beak radius and the distance from the tip. Kate measured the rostra of 127 bird and other non-avian dinosaur species and found that 95% of them follow the power cascade model of growth.

Among living birds, variation in power-cascade parameters is associated with distinct ecological adaptations, including feeding and foraging. Developmental comparisons across several bird groups show that species whose adult beaks follow the cascade also grow in a predictable way through development (from embryo to adulthood). However, species with specialised elongate beaks (including the royal spoonbill Platalea regia) deviate from the growth pattern in later stages of growth.

Overall, the findings from her PhD demonstrated that, from the developmental to the macroevolutionary level, the power cascade may govern the shape of most theropod rostra.

Kate is a PhD candidate at Monash University, Melbourne. She has a Bachelor of Science from the University of Queensland and a double degree from the Erasmus Mundus Master Programme in Evolutionary Biology. Throughout her education in science, Kate became fascinated by growth processes underpinning the evolution of the diverse morphological adaptations across the tree of life. For her PhD, Kate is studying how one such universal model of growth may determine the evolution of bird beak shape.