Last week, the annual 4-H Agriculture Awareness Days finished up at local schools. This spring, fourth grade students from Amsterdam, Broadalbin-Perth, Canajoharie, Fonda-Fultonville, Gloversville, Johnstown, Mayfield, Northville and Oppenheim-Ephratah participated in 4-H Agriculture Awareness Days.

The 2011 Agriculture Awareness Days included five to 12 stations at each event. Each station featured a different segment of the local agriculture industry. In addition to farm owners and agribusiness representatives, several 4-H youth and volunteers serve as presenters. In the below video, 4-H member Dayna Peck discusses goats with the students.  

Effective July 1 the Cornell Cooperative Extension office in Canajoharie will be closed to the public on Fridays.

The 50 E. Main St. extension office will remain open to the public 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

The new office schedule is in response to reductions in staff. While the office will be closed to the public on Fridays, local extension staff will continue to offer community programming at various locations. The change is not seasonal and will remain in effect indefinitely. Reducing staff attention paid to unscheduled, walk-in visits and telephone calls one day a week will help maximize every dollar in the local extension budget and every hour of employee time.

Local residents are encouraged to plan ahead and contact the office Monday through Thursday. Messages can also be left on the extension office main phone number, 673-5525. Calls will be returned as soon as possible.

The 2011 4-H Environmental Field Days have wrapped up for the season for the students at six school districts in Fulton and Montgomery counties. Additional schools will participate in the fall.

Annually, for more than 46 years, 5th grade students and their teachers have participated in 4-H Environmental Field Days.

Students attend these events in outdoor settings to learn about different environmental topics from experts in the field.

In the above video, Patrick Clear, executive director of the Environmental Clearinghouse of Schenectady, discusses invasive plants with students during one of the many Environmental Field Day events held this year.

Have you seen these strange purple things hanging in trees yet?

Wonder what they are?

Well, they are scent traps for an insect called the Emerald Ash Borer. They are being used in a survey to track the EAB. They are set out by the United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, to track where the beetle is spreading to since its introduction into the US from China and other parts of Asia, mostly on wood crates used for shipping. Traps are generally placed in a one and a half mile by one and a half mile grid around ash trees that are within a 100-mile band of known EAB infestations. The survey detection tool is a 24-inch corrugated purple plastic prism-shaped trap that is coated with non-toxic glue on all three sides and is baited with an oil lure to attract the adult beetles.  

The natural dispersal of EAB in North America is assumed to be five miles from its hatch site since adults are not strong fliers. So the rapid spread of the beetle since its North American introduction is thought to be caused by the unintentional transportation of infested ash nursery stock, firewood, unprocessed ash logs, and other ash products. In an effort to slow the continued spread of EAB, both federal and state governments have instituted various quarantines of infested area and to regulate the continued transport of ash products. 

Emerald Ash Borers are a small but destructive member of the metallic wood boring beetle family. The adults feed on leaves but the larvae are laid by the females in crevices and holes in Ash trees. The larvae burrow into the wood creating ‘galleries’ that cause the damage to the tree by disrupting the normal flow of nutrients to the rest of the tree.

The National Academies Press last week made all their PDF books free to download. Now, more than 4,000 titles, ranging in topic from agriculture to space and aeronautics, are available all readers.

National Academies Press is the publisher for the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council.

In addition to free books the National Academies Press website also offers informational booklets, periodicals, e-newsletters, podcasts, videos and more on a wide range of science and research topics.

Cornell Cooperative Extension in Fulton and Montgomery Counties is offering  lessons to summer youth programming sites in Fulton and Montgomery Counties including libraries and town youth recreation programs. Each 60-minute, hands-on lesson is geared for youth ages 5 to 12. There needs to be a minimum of five youth participants to schedule a lesson and a maximum of 25 youth can be accommodated for each lesson. There is a limit of one lesson topic per programming site.

The lesson topics for the summer of 2011 include Lost Ladybugs and Re-think Your Drink. Youth participants in the ladybug lesson will learn about these helpful insects and how to become citizen scientists through the Lost Ladybug Project based at Cornell University. Youth will play Lost Ladybug BINGO and take part in a “What Part Am I?” insect relay. In the beverage lesson, youth will learn about personal drink choices, the amount of sugar in popular beverages and the importance of calcium and drinking milk. Youth will play “Bone Builders and Bone Robbers” tag and “Look at All that Sugar” relay.

Efforts are underway in the city of Gloversville to plant a community garden. Local agencies and volunteers were on the grounds of the city’s long shuttered public pool last week preparing and planting raised beds.

CCEFM is assisting with the efforts to create the community garden at the Littauer Pool site on West Street. The effort is made possible thanks to a grant from the Adirondack Rural Health Network Community Health Planning Committee.

Nathan Littauer Hospital’s HealthLink program initially pursued the grant and then approached CCEFM and its team of volunteer Master Gardeners to get the project up and running. The Fulton County Public Health Department and the Gloversville Boys and Girls Club are also working on the garden. The Nathan Littauer Hospital Engineering Department constructed the three raised beds and the city of Gloversville provided composting material.

Plantings will include tomatoes, peppers, basil, broccoli, cucumbers, marigolds, peas, green beans, zucchini, squash and lettuce. CCEFM Master Gardeners selected the plants with first-time gardeners and children in mind.

Local 4-H member Sara Orlowski of the town of Perth is also assisting with the project organizing, facilitating and assisting the volunteers.

Warmer temperature already here and soon air conditioners and fans will be going full blast.

With that in mind the U.S. Department of Energy has released this list of energy efficient tips to stay cool this summer:

> Change to More Efficient Light Bulbs. Change out incandescent light bulbs with more energy-efficient lighting choices. Energy Star qualified lighting not only uses less energy, but also produces approximately 75 percent less heat than incandescent lighting, so cooling bills will be reduced, too.

> Find the Best Thermostat Settings. If you have a programmable thermostat, program it to work around your family’s summer schedule—set it a few degrees higher (such as 78 degrees) when no one is home, so your cooling system isn’t cooling an empty house.

> Use Ceiling Fans Optimally. Run your ceiling fan to create a cool breeze. If you raise your thermostat by only two degrees and use your ceiling fan, you can lower cooling costs by up to 14 percent. Remember that ceiling fans cool you, not the room, so when you leave the room make sure to turn off the fan.

> Maximize Shade. Pull the curtains and shades closed before you leave your home to keep the sun’s rays from overheating the interior of your home. If you can, move container trees and plants in front of sun-exposed windows to serve as shade.

> Reduce Oven Time. Use a microwave instead of an oven to cook, when you can. Ovens take longer to cook food and can make your house warmer, requiring your AC system to turn on to keep the house at a comfortable temperature.

The Memorial Day holiday is already upon us and Flag Day and the Fourth of July are not far away. For these and other events, American and 4-H flags, as well as the Chris Clover mascot outfit, are available to 4-H clubs on a loan basis from the 4-H office.

Here are some pointers on how to treat and display the flag in parades and on other occasions:

>The American flag, when carried in a procession with other flags, should be on the marching right or if there is a line of other flags, in front of the center of that line. The flag should never be carried flat or horizontally, but always upright and free.

>No other flag or pennant should be placed above, or if on the same level, to the right of the American flag.

>The American flag, when it is displayed with another flag against a wall, should be on the wall’s right and the staff of the American flag should be in front of the staff of the other flag.

>The flag should never touch anything beneath it, such as the ground or the floor.

>The flag should never be fastened, displayed, used, or stored in such a manner as to permit it to be easily torn, soiled, or damaged in any way.

CCEFM nutrition educators will present “Cooking with Diabetes,” a two-part nutrition education series Thursday, June 9th and 16th. The classes will run from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Cornell Cooperative Extension office, 50 East Main St. in Canajoharie.
This workshop-style program will provide practical, hands-on learning activities designed to help participants understand how portion size and nutrient content impact overall health.

Topics will include label reading, the importance of physical activity and tips for eating while dining out. An overview of diabetes will cover basic concepts and recommendations. People who have been diagnosed with Diabetes, people who are living with persons with Diabetes and people who are cooking for people with Diabetes are encouraged to register and attend the two-part program.

Thanks to the sponsorship Hero-Beech-Nut this program is free to participants.