February 2012

Yancey Extension Narratives

February 2012

James Edward Magner, III County Extension Director

North Carolina State University and North Carolina A&T State University commit themselves to positive action to secure equal opportunity regardless of race, color, creed, national origin, religion, sex, age, or disability. In addition, the two Universities welcome all persons without regard to sexual orientation. North Carolina State University, North Carolina A&T State University, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and local governments cooperating.

Date to Remember

9AM & 6PM

March 1 & 6

March 8

March 13

March 22

March 23

March 27

March 30-31

*Apple tree grafting workshops

*Yancey County Extension

*Mitchell County Extension

*Madison County Extension

Burley Day – Marshall

TRACTOR Grower Meeting

Toe Cane Beekeepers

2012 WD 4-H Teen Retreat Swannanoa 4-H Center

TRACTOR is moving ahead. Final bylaws will be complete by the last of this month. The first appointed Board will convene in March. The first growers meeting will occur Friday, March 23rd. The final report of the feasibility study will be complete by the end of March. Equipment has been priced and ready to be ordered as soon as grant funds are released. Extension has actively been meeting with potential wholesale markets, and working to develop a CSA for Yancey County. TRACTOR will roll out this summer and begin doing business. The goal is to grow slow and steady. This approach will help make sure the center becomes sustainable and builds key relationships. The County support has been instrumental in getting this project rolling.

North Carolina Cooperative Extension Yancey County Center 10 Orchard Dr. Burnsville, NC 28714 828-682-6186 www.yancey.ces.ncsu.edu

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AGRICULTURE & NATURAL RESOURCES

NC Cooperative Extension-Yancey County Center “Like” us on facebook

Stanley Holloway  

February has been a very busy month for the Agricultural staff. Our annual Extension fruit plant sale was kicked off in late January and is still in full swing. This year we are offering a variety of strawberry, blueberry, and brambles as well as asparagus, horseradish, and apple trees. Since five counties combine orders to bulk order plant materials, we are able to offer these plants to local residents at less than the retail prices they would pay through mail order nurseries. A number of educational workshops were conducted during the month. Early in the month we completed the

3 part Tier 1 Fresh Produce Safety Good Agricultural Practices(GAP) training with 18 participants completing all three training sessions. This training is required for producers to proceed with 3rd party GAP audit for certification. Also early in the month we conducted the Blueprint for a Profitable Mountain Farm Workshop at Mayland Community College’s main campus with over 40 participants from Yancey, Mitchell,

and Avery Counties. Attendees received information on basic farm management principles as well as attend informational sessions on a variety of potential crops and agricultural enterprises suitable for our area. Later in the month, an Apple Pruning and Training workshop was held at David Duncan’s Shady Lane Farm off Arbuckle Road. We had over 50 folks attend the Saturday afternoon event where proper apple tree pruning and training techniques were demonstrated. Also during the month, four local vegetable producers and I attended the two day Winter Vegetable Conference held in

Agriculture & Natural Resources Stanley Holloway, Agriculture Agent

Asheville. In addition to the above, I also participated in an Agricultural Summit conducted by Mayland Community College looking at potential opportunities for the various organizations in the region to work together in the development and promotion of agricultural opportunities for our producers. Also during the month we met with the working group for the agricultural products aggregation and distribution center (TRACTOR) to further discuss

issues such as potential bylaws, floor plan, etc. as we get ever closer to seeing the project come to fruition. At the end of the month, I will be participating in the locally led Western Carolina Quality Deer Management Program’s (WCQDMP) 9th Annual Deer and Habitat Management Expo to be held at the Hickory Metro Convention Center. My participation in the 3 day event has been requested by the WCQDMP leadership. I will be presenting information on food plot and wildlife habitat management options for outdoor enthusiasts. The ToeCane Beekeepers will also be kicking off their 2012 education program with their first meeting of the

year on Feb. 28 at the Yancey Extension Center. In addition to the above, 5 farm/site visits were conducted on a variety of topics including fruit tree pruning (2), forage/livestock feeding management (1), soil testing (1), and landscaping (1). Over 40 office visits and numerous telephone/e-mail correspondences were conducted regarding a wide array of agricultural topics.

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AGRICULTURE & NATURAL RESOURCES

Yancey County Small Farms “Like” us on facebook

Jeremy Delisle Finished GAPs tier 1 training with 18 completing the course. Working with many growers on production planning in both counties to make sure we have a profit and know production cost. This will be important for grower making decisions about marketing to retail outlets as well a wholesale markets. This month has been an important one for networking with individual growers and market representatives. Our goal for 2012 is to develop relationships between growers, buyers and the Ag Center.

Agriculture  &  Natural  Resources          Jeremy  Delisle,  Area  Agent,  Mitchell/Yancey  Counties  

Agriculture  &  Natural  Resources     Adam  McCurry,  NC  A&T  

Agriculture  Technician  

Adam McCurry & Jeremy Delisle working with individiual members of the Apple Grafting class during the practice session.

Adam McCurry This is a busy time of year for local farmers as well as Extension. Growers are making plans for this years production and getting ready to begin field work. Extension has been working with these growers in their preparations. Extension has also offered some trainings this month that will help local growers with this years crop. Eighteen local growers completed the tier one

Good Agriculture Practices (GAP) training in February. We also had approximately fifty participates attend an apple tree pruning workshop on Saturday February 18th. Work is continuing on the Ag center project with the goal of having it up and running by late spring.

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Jo Simpson EFNEP Program Associate

Richard Chuvala February was a fantastic month for

Mountain Challenge. I attended the North Carolina Volunteer Leaders Conference and learned several new activities to use with our participants. I have used the “Spelling-B Relay” at both Burnsville and Bald Creek Elementary. Participants work together in teams to spell a word using index cards that have a letter of the alphabet written on them. The first team to correctly spell the word using their index cards receives a point. The participants really enjoyed this activity and at the same time developed their spelling skills.

Another exciting thing this month was the beginning of our Mtn. Challenge Program working with court referred youth. Participants completed interest inventories and we are currently working on developing skills in the work place, with Sybil Chapman, cooking and eating healthy, with Jo Simpson and the curriculum Peaceful Living, with myself. We have three participants so far with several more that are going to be referred. Our participants seem to be enjoying their time and I have already had a parent who has approached me and told me how much their son has enjoyed being in the program.

With all of our great weather we are meeting our participants on a

regular basis and I really believe we are making a difference in their lives and futures! I am looking forward to another awesome month in March!

emphasized during food prep. This month I began programming

for the first time at the Mt Heritage Day Care serving 17 students there. I am having a wonderful time with these little ones. I have also begun working with Rich Chuvala’s Mt Challenge program. I am working with some of his high school boys at the office. We are hoping to meet once a month teaching them the basics of cooking and planning healthy meals and snacks. These boys find themselves responsible for doing their own cooking a lot and I hope to help them with this situation. My plans thus far are to teach them how to read recipes, food safety, and etiquette. I am looking forward to working with them. I have finished my Plan of Action for this year and have began reporting to the State ERS system.

Expanded Food Nutrition & Education Program

Richard Chuvala Mountain Challenge Coordinator

Jo Simpson February has been a busy month

for the 4-H Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP). We had graduated around 90 students at Bald Creek Elementary and formed 9 more classes at Micaville and Burnsville Elementary; this would be an estimate of around 180 students. Children had fun participating in my nutrition lessons. As part of their hands on experiential learning we made several healthy snacks and incorporated some of them in our meal and snack planning. Food safety is always

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Jo Simpson made carrot salad with the students, Richard Chuvala did teambuilding and played a spelling game, Sybil Chapman began a Character Counts curriculum on Fridays to reinforce the Positive Behavior taught in the schools, Linda Semon taught kids how to predict the weather, and Sylvia came by with the bookmobile.

Bee Log Afterschool The Beelog Afterschool Program continues to stay busy. Linda Semon gave the children a demonstration on wind and they made "straw rockets" that the children thoroughly enjoyed. We also took a field trip to the Yancey County Humane Society and each of the children brought a donation of dog or cat food to give to the shelter. They had a lot of fun playing with the cats and the dogs and learned about the need for donation and volunteerism. We welcomed 4 new members this month and we are looking forward to our upcoming events for March.

Bald Creek Afterschool This month at Bald Creek, a more concentrated effort has been made towards tutoring in an effort to improve EOG scores. Grades 3 & 5 have tutoring Monday – Wednesday. Grade 4 has tutoring Tuesday – Thursday. Each day we try to allow time for all of the grades K – 5 to continue with their homework time since this is very important to the parents. The school has also started the Girls on the Run program on Monday and Thursday and reading with the Literacy Council on Tuesdays. As always, we continue to have a snack, outside physical activity, and extra events. This month the students have gone on a field trip to the Riverside Roller Rink. They enjoyed that very much, got lots of exercise, and are looking forward to going again before the year is over. They have also built and painted bird feeders. One student said she was giving hers to her grandparents since her cats “did not like birds”.

4-­‐H  Afterschool  Program  Assistants  

Bald  Creek  Afterschool  Susie  Hedrick  K-­‐2                                        Glenna  Taylor  3-­‐5  

Bee  Log  Afterschool  Elizabeth  McIntosh  K-­‐2                              

Gail  England  3-­‐5      (Not  pictured)            

4-­‐H  AfterSchool  

 

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Yancey 4-H - “like” us on facebook

Linda Semon 4-H Discovery

Program Associate

Sybil Chapman

School Enrichment 4-H Program Assistant

Discovery Horse Judging

practice started this month. Chad Ayers and I have partnered to train over twenty youth grades 6 -12 to evaluate and give oral reasons when judging groups of horses. Competition will be held in Williamston in April.

Daniel Semon is volunteering out at the CRMC Magic program by teaching three electric workshops this month. Youth are learning how to solder and build a circuit board. They have made a soil continuity tester and an attitude adjuster.

Eight adults attended a new 4-H Volunteer Leader Training on the 21st.

The CRMS 4-H Tech Team, Nelda Phillips and I went out to the Micaville After-School Magic program and conducted some fun activities about the weather and helped the participants practice being amateur Weather Forecasters.

I joined Bee Log After-School 4-H Club at the Yancey County Humane Society. They brought food and adoption toy& treat bags to donate and socialized with the dogs and cats. 4-H Clubs are earning badges and completing community service projects.

School Enrichment The year began with 7th grade

students at Cane River Middle School beginning CareerSmarts.

There are nine students in the class, and each will learn about entrepreneurship and the steps to start a business, as well as life skills. The skills learned in this class are essential helping youth become responsible adults. They can be used on the job, in making responsible decisions, communicating with others, and in realizing and reaching their full potential.

I am looking forward to teaching this class for the remainder of the year.

We are 4-H

Mtn. Challenge

EFNEP

Discovery Clubs

School Enrichment

Afterschool

Norma Chrisawn Administrative Assistant

Brenda Wilson

Extension & 4-H Secretary

An unusual rooster

at Robin Smith’s Bee Log Farms

Bald Creek After School

EFNEP Activity

Bald Creek After School Special Event

North Carolina State University and North Carolina A&T State University commit themselves to positive action to secure equal opportunity regardless of race, color, creed, national origin, religion, sex, age, or disability. In addition, the two Universities welcome all persons without regard to sexual orientation. North Carolina State University, North Carolina A&T State University, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and local governments cooperating.