Grapes and Fed Cattle

Speakers Bring Expertise to Fruit Growing Workshop

Franklin County Extension is holding an educational workshop on selecting cultivars of fruit trees, small fruits, and grapes for northern Iowa, Saturday, March 28, at the Franklin Farm Bureau Office in Hampton. General care, such as: planting, pruning, pest control, and harvesting will presented by graduate students and staff from the Department of Horticulture, Iowa State University. Barb Ristau, Franklin County Extension Families Program Assistant will demonstrate how to preserve harvested fruits.

Cost is $10.00 per person, $15.00 per couple. Please pre-register by calling the Franklin County Extension Office at 641-456-4811 or go on-line at www.extension.iastate.edu/franklin The workshop is approved for Master Gardener recertification training hours. Participants are asked to come dressed for an outdoor demonstration of pruning. The program will run from 8:30 -11:30 a.m.

Two of the speakers featured are Lee Goldsmith, who will be demonstrating proper pruning techniques and Dennis Portz, discussing fruit tree and plant care, pest control and harvesting.

Goldsmith received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology, with an emphasis on Ecology and Systematics, from the University of Northern Iowa (UNI). While at UNI, she also studied the anatomical development of the Vitaceae (grapes) and plant biology. Currently, she is in her second year of graduate study, in horticulture, at Iowa State University (ISU) where she continues to pursue studies in viticulture. Other functions that Lee has held have involved public events and programming. At ISU, she has been employed as a Master Gardeners program aid, leading greenhouse tours at ISU’s Horticulture greenhouse and conservatory. She has also written and implemented public programs as a conservation educator.

Portz, an Agriculture Specialist in the area of small fruit, specifically grapes, at the ISU Horticulture Research and Demonstration Station near Ames, IA.

Portz received his Bachelor of Science degree in 2004 double majoring in Horticulture and Plant Health and Protection while working as a student in the departments of horticulture, entomology, and plant pathology. He then received his Master of Science degree in horticulture from Iowa State University in 2008. Dennis’s graduate research primarily focused on using cover crops as a rotation with strawberry, while completing a secondary study looking at the effects of replant disorder in grape when rotated with different weed management techniques. Dennis was recently hired on as an Agriculture Specialist in the area of viticulture and small fruit at the Iowa State University Horticulture Research and Demonstration Station in July 2008. Dennis will be assisting with viticulture research projects in the vineyards at the four ISU farms around Iowa and will be stationed in Ames. In addition, Dennis will be co-teaching the “Understanding Grape and Wine Science” course offered in collaboration between the Horticulture and Food Science and Human Nutrition departments this spring open to all ISU students interested in learning more about viticulture and enology, including the new Iowa industry.

Fed Cattle Margin Manager Workshop to be held in Charles City

Contact: Russ Euken, Extension Livestock Specialist, Hancock County Extension, Garner, IA (641)-923-2856

A workshop that will simulate using available tools to manage the price risk of corn, feeder cattle and fed cattle will be held on Wednesday, March 11 from 9:45 am – 3:15 pm in Charles City at the NIACC center. Participants in the workshop will use computers to make pricing decisions through a set time period with the focus on trying to maximize the margin between the inputs of feeder cattle and corn and revenue of fed cattle.

Participant’s pricing decisions will be tracked and their strategies compared at the end of the workshop. Discussion on use of the risk management tools such as options, futures, insurance will also be included during the workshop. Shane Ellis, Extension Economist and Russ Euken, Extension Livestock Specialist will lead the workshop.

The workshop is sponsored by ISU Extension. Those wishing to participate need to register on or before Monday, March 9 by calling the Mitchell County Extension office at 641-732-5574, Floyd County Extension office at 641-228-1453 or Russ Euken at 641-923-2856. 10 participants are needed to conduct the workshop. There will be a $10 per person charge for the workshop payable at the door. Meals cost is not included and will be paid separately. 

picture of cows by iLoveButter at flickr.com

Get Along, Food Safety, PQA

GETTING ALONG WITH OTHERS ON THE JOB

Perhaps the most important skill you can develop for your job is the ability to get along with others. No matter how good you are at your job, if you can get along with others you will be a much happier and contented person.

The ability or skill can be learned by anyone who really wants it. Although some folks seem to have a natural skill at getting along with others, the reality is that they have worked at it so long and so conscientiously that it has become a habit.

Here are some suggestions to consider:

1. The most important thing you wear is your facial expression and to a significant extent you can control that.

2. Learn to like people. Recognize that every person has good qualities and characteristics from which you can learn or profit.

3. Be willing to share with others your knowledge, skills, and experience. Assume a “we” attitude, realizing that no person can make it alone.

4. Be mature and willing to admit your mistakes, and learn from them. Everyone at every level makes mistakes.

5. Be willing to accommodate the ideas and ways of others and to compromise.

6. Try to accept criticism gracefully. You do not have to enjoy criticism in order to accept it for the truths that it may hold.

7. Encourage the positive rather than emphasize the negative. But if you feel it is necessary to criticize, try to criticize the behavior or the act. Avoid criticizing the person.

8. Be polite and courteous. Show a genuine, humane respect for each person.

9. Try to control your tongue: that little organ has strength and influence all out of proportion to its size.

Food Safety Quality Assurance Workshop for Youth Livestock Exhibitors

The next FSQA workshop for Franklin County youth involved in livestock production is scheduled for Monday, March 16, 7:00-9:00 pm. at the Hampton State Bank. These sessions are open to all 4-H livestock exhibitors in Franklin County. Members will learn the importance of proper nutrition and health care for their animals. Ethics and handling livestock safely will also be covered. Members need to attend only one of the sessions. Certificates of completion will be kept on file at the Franklin County Extension Office.

At the 2009 Franklin County Fair all 4-H youth exhibiting beef, bucket calf, dairy cattle, dairy goat, meat goat, sheep, swine, poultry, and rabbit must be FSQA Certified. This is following the Iowa State Fair 4-H livestock rules for 2009.

Certificates are good for one year. Franklin County members age 12 and older may contact the Franklin County Extension office for a test out option. Testing is scheduled for Tuesday, April 14, 5:00-6:00 p.m. at the Extension Office in Hampton.

PQA plus certification session offered

A regional PQA plus certification meeting will be held in Garner at the Hancock County Extension office, 327 West 8^th St, on Thursday, March 12 from 1-3 pm. There is a $25 per producer fee for the class payable at the door.

PQA plus is a National Pork Board program that emphasizes good production practices aimed at pork quality, safety and animal welfare. PQA plus certification replaces PQA Level 3 certifications which are being phased out as those certifications expire. This meeting is one of several regional certification meetings being offered by ISU Extension and the Iowa Pork Industry Center on a rotating basis.

If you have questions about the March 12 meeting or the PQA plus program you can contact Russ Euken at 641-923-2856 or email reuken@iastate.edu

always on the job photo by chad k over at flickr.com 

ELEVEN RULES FOR GRADUATES (and all of us)

I received this in an email. I don't know if Bill Gates really wrote it – but whoever did was one smart cookie! Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

If you can read this - Thank a teacher!

If you can read this in English - thank a Soldier. 

News You Can Use

They say that home is where the heart is, but unfortunately, it's also where everyday products pose health dangers to you and your family. More than 33 million people are injured by common consumer products each year, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which oversaw 563 recalls of 60.8 million individual consumer products in 2008. (Make sure your home is safe by checking Recalls.gov.)And those are just the documented hazards. What may be the hidden ones?

The slinky little dryer sheets that keep clothes fresh are chock full of chemicals, including scary‐sounding ingredients like ethanol and alpha‐Pinene. Industry representatives says the exposure levels are too low to impact people but we think better safe than sorry. If only for peace of mind, try a few drops of essential oil on a washcloth instead.

Household bleach contains a concentrated form of chlorine. When people use chlorine bleach and an acidbased or ammonia‐based cleaning product together, or even one after the other, they produce a cloramine gas that can be fatal. Short term effects of chlorine exposure include vomiting, difficulty breathing, coughing,and eye, ear, nose, and throat irritation. Experts say the single most important thing to remember about cleaning products is that you need good ventilation when using them.

Scientific tests have shown that fragranced home products, everything from spray disinfectants to scented candles, contain known carcinogens and other dangerous additives. Some fragrances can contain 100 or more different chemicals ‐‐ none of which are required by law to be listed on the label ‐‐ and can cause nose and throat irritation, headaches, shortness of breath, nausea, and dizziness. Experts recommend making your home fragrant with scents straight from the source, such as mint leaves or cinnamon sticks.

In addition to containing known harmful ingredients like ammonia, lye, phosphate, and chlorine, the majority of home cleaning products (just about everything under your kitchen sink) contain a vast array of chemicals, including toxic ethylene‐based glycol ethers and noneffects of "second hand scents" in everything from air toxic terpenes that become dangerous when they interact with ozone in the air. Experts say the single most important thing to remember about cleaning products is that you need good ventilation when using them.

Dr. Anne Steinemann, a professor of engineering at the University of Washington, has long warned about the fresheners to laundry detergent, spray disinfectants to scented candles. In 2007, she performed a chemical analysis of 30 of the bestselling scented household products and found that they contained known carcinogens and other dangerous chemicals. (The study appeared in 2008 in the Environmental Impact Assessment Review.) The products she studied contained more than two dozen volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, which the EPA says can cause nose and throat

irritation, headaches, shortness of breath, nausea, and dizziness. Together, the products Steinemann tested contained more than 100 different chemicals, none of which were listed on the labels. "The labels look benign," Steinemann says. "But some of these chemicals are classified as toxic under federal laws and can be affecting you even without your knowledge." She recommends making your home fragrant with scentsstraight from the source, such as mint leaves or cinnamon sticks.

The slinky little dryer sheets that keep clothes fresh are chock full of chemicals, including ethanol and chloroform. The ingredient benzyl acetate has been linked to pancreatic cancer and benzyl alcohol is known to cause upper respiratory irritation. When it reacts with ozone, the ingredient limonene can form formaldehyde, a known carcinogen, or cancer‐causing agent. "We have gotten used to these wonderful lifestyles with 'better living through chemicals,'" says Kathy Loidolt, a consumerhealth advocate and author of the Shopper's Guide to Healthy Living. "But our bodies are being overloaded with toxins. We don't need to be scared of everything. We just need to get different habits."

"Watch warning labels," says Robin Kay Levine, the founder of Eco‐Me green cleaning products. No one expects consumers to be experts, however, or to know which funny‐sounding chemicals are known carcinogens. Levine advises, "Look for products that give away the ingredients. Stay away from anything with a color in it. Labels that say 'keep windows open' and 'use in a ventilated room' are a dead giveaway."

reprinted from Advancing With Us Newsletter written by Dr. Skip Feinstein  picture courtesy of Dr Joolz at flickr.com 

For more information about safer products to use in your home, contact Deb Brown at 641-458-1114 or visit www.debthinksgreen.com