Food For People and your humble freeform DJs are coming to your community to raise food & funds for one of HumCo's food bank Food for People.

And honestly, you knock it out of the house™ every year.

Since the 90's, you've donated literally tons of food and thousands of dollars to hungry people in your own community during this drive.

When you hear KHUM broadcasting from your local grocery store, stop by! Bring some canned good or cash so the less fortunate can have a healthy, dignified holiday season.

And if you're out of town, you can donate right here, right now. 

Thank you so much for doing the right thing with such consistency & flair. We'll see you next week! Each day we'll be at our designated store beginning at 10am (unless the live broadcast starts earlier) and we'll stay until 6pm. 

• Monday       12/9     Eureka Co-op              2p-6p  Larry
• Tuesday      12/10   Wildberries                  6a-10a Cliff
• Wednesday 12/11   Eureka Natural Foods    10a-2p Mike
• Thursday     12/12  Ray's - McKinleyville       6a-10a Cliff
• Friday         12/13   Grocery outlet              2p-7p Larry and Amy

You know the big man in the red suit can't be far away. We awoke this morning to a light dusting of snow at our new place in Cutten. Thought LoCo readers might enjoy a few pictures without needing to go out in the cold and snap their own. NWS says to expect near record lows this weekend and a hard freeze tonight. Bring in the dogs!

Cliff talks with Gabrielle Parkinson about the VITA program to help low and moderate income individuals prepare their taxes and take advantage of the earned income tax credit. About 20 more volunteers are needed to help with the program. If you are good with number call 211 for training or to take advantage of the program.

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Today on KHUM's Coastal Currents, Jessica Hall of Humboldt Baykeeper introduces you to a regular guy whose moral compass points to Arcata's lowlands.

It also led him to smash up three abandoned cars with a sledgehammer. "But that's nothing compared to player pianos and walk-in safes and the other stuff," he told KHUM today.

Of that list above, Fish and Game (now Fish and Wildlife) made only one arrest, said Halstead. (He explains at 8:19 below.)

Hear today's Coastal Currents:

CoastalCurrentsAudio

For almost two decades, Ted Halstead has been removing garbage from the slough on the north side of Arcata bay. A lot of garbage. And with today's King Tide (read: extra high tide, see photo below), a lot of that would've been swept out into the bay. 

Halstead's impact extends well beyond general decency. "I don't think people realize how incredibly abundant these sloughs really are, and how critical they are to the fisheries industry here," said Hall. 

"If you're a fan of salmon, halibut, the herring, the sardines, the baitfish, [a clean slough] is critical to being able to have those things," added Halstead.

He noted that at the peak of juvenile dungeness crab season, he observed about 1,500 crabs per hour making their way out to the bay.

Halstead's mild-mannered crusade has been documented thoroughly by the Arcata Eye and the Mad River Union. Check those links for more photos. 

What KHUM is  doing: live-cataloging Humboldt's smells, from best to worst. 

What KHUM is looking for: Your suggestion for best/worst smells in Humboldt county. Specifically, current smells that are unique to our fair county. [I.e. Waffle cones smell great. But Arcata Scoop's cones have a sublime palette of odoriferous emanations that only a local could discern.]

Methodology: Most of these have been crowdsourced by KHUM listeners, with spectral ranking loosely moderated by frequency of suggestion. We'll adjust the list below periodically throughout the day.

Leave your best/worst smell in the comments. Extra credit for crisp descriptions. 

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BEST

• First rain of the season in the redwoods (LoCO Commenter's Choice award)
• Old growth forest ("burnt blackberries, with a note of forest litter" - KHUM Listener 'Macho Dan')
• Lost Coast cedar trees near Petrolia
• Woodsmoke trapped under a fog layer 
• Mad River Brewery: ("hops, barley, malt all stewing in the Blue Lake sun")
• Porter Street BBQ
• Eureka Books: that rich, antiquarian musk
• Waffle cones at Arcata Scoop (also nominated: Redwood Yogurt & Living The Dream)
• Botchie's Crab Stand in Field's Landing
• Pierson's Garden shop at Christmas time
• Blue Ox ("smells like the ghost of redwoods", says Viviana)
• Larrupin's BBQ Brisket
• Old Town during coffee roasting

• Ocean

• Freshly washed-up eel grass

• Marijuana
• Humboldt Bay during crab season
• Arcata Marsh at low tide.
• Your neighborhood grow house(s)
• Dairy air of Ferndale
• Samoa Drag Strip on race day
• Oysterfest Portolet (because alcohol & oysters)
• Reggae on the River Portolet (because heat)
• Hammond Trail, north of Mad River footbridge, where excrement-enhanced water is sprayed o'er the pasture
• Patchouli mixed with non-deodorized body odor smell on an HSU student
• Fortuna's wastewater treatment plant. (s/0 to Puff n' Tuff)
• Retail rabbit urine from the rabbiteer who sells rabbit-fur stuff at the Arcata Plaza Farmer's Market
• That fish guttery on the waterfront in Old Town (LoCO Commenter's Choice award)
• Solids-settling tank at Arcata Marsh on a hot day 
• Pulp mill (extinct, honorable mention)
• Eureka Tallow Company, once located by the mouth of the Elk River (extinct, honorable mention)

WORST

Friends of the Dunes' Suzie Fortner, mud advocate and tour guide, told KHUM exactly why. It'll all make sense in under two minutes.  

Fortner

[Rain photo: Kym Kemp, all others courtesy Lance Drill]

Cliff talks with Oona Smith, Senior Planer and Susan Ornelas, Chair of H.C.A.O.G. They explain what the organization is and their involvement in trail development.

Audio

KHUM listener Paintsville asks how we're doing on that front. The answer is an easy "yes." In fact, we're making new instruments faster than ever before both inside and outside of the digital realm.

This BBC story has a pretty cool one.This one below is alright, too. So what new instruments should we all be aware of?