Recently I had the opportunity to visit Catalina Island on a field trip with my school. Catalina Island Marine Institute (CIMI) had so many activities for us to do during our week-long trip. I was able to enjoy snorkeling, kayaking, hikes, squid dissection, team building exercises, learning labs, hand on activities with some of the sea life in tanks, rock climbing andGaga Ball. My favorite activities were snorkeling, squid dissection and rock climbing.

Have you ever wondered what a fully vegetable dessert tastes like? A dessert made of vegetables sounds weird. But, if you make it the right way, it can taste amazing.

There’s a weed that has invaded our desert, and it’s called buffelgrass. Each plant lives for 20 years and grows 5,000 seeds a year. In its lifetime, it can grow 200,000 seeds in all. It was brought here from Africa in the 1930s by the farming industry to help feed cattle and control erosion.

However, buffelgrass is the villain to our native land. It fights plants for their water, nutrients and sunlight. Even if it gets caught in a fire, it can grow back while the native plants cannot. Buffelgrass can burn the size of a football field in only three minutes.