Over the past several months, periods of increased earthquake activity and ground deformation in the summit region of Kilauea volcano indicate that magma is accumulating beneath the surface. Where does magma reside, and how do we know?

Our islands have few dangers except for rare volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and hurricanes. Excessive exposure to the sun can be dangerous, and carelessness can cause accidents while hiking in the mountains or swimming in the ocean. Although there are few poisonous native plants, some common exotic landscape plants are toxic such as oleander, crotons and angel trumpets. Some people can experience skin reactions like exposure to poison ivy from cashew and mango trees.

In January, many folks eat salads and vegetarian items as the eating frenzy that started at Thanksgiving, and continued through Christmas and New Years has people watching their food intake for the beginning of the new year.

Whether they originate above or below the Earth’s surface, a wide array of signals appear on the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory’s earthquake-detecting (seismic) data streams. Part of a seismic analyst’s duty is identifying normal versus irregular seismic activity.

This year’s avocado defoliation due to the avocado lace bug continues to raise havoc with fruit production. Exposed fruit are quickly sunburned and that affects the quality.

On a recent visit to a friend in Kohala Ranch, we talked about installing some fire-resistant plant species. A friend of hers had recommended elephant bush (Portulacaria afra), known in the Afrikaans language as spekboom in its native South Africa. Her friend, Bernard Moret, had written about his experience with this plant for the Kohala Ranch Report and gave me permission use his story here.

Hawaii’s Master Gardeners are helping islanders improve the environment by sharing what they have learned in horticultural classes through the University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources. By spreading gardening information with interested members of the community, everyone benefits.

For centuries even before we celebrated Dec. 25 as the day Jesus was born, earlier cultures celebrated the passing of the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. The days will now get longer even though it is technically the beginning of winter and will last until the beginning of spring. Spring officially occurs when the sun reaches the equator as it appears to move northward. Of course what is actually happening is that the Earth is tilting toward the South Pole and will continue to do so until June 21. Then it is officially summer. Since we are roughly at latitude 19 degrees north, the sun will appear to move northward for a short time and then move toward the south until Dec. 21. Many plants respond to day length, including plants that form bulbs.