April 2012

Yancey Cooperative Extension Narratives

Ryan Wiebe inquired about the use of

NCA&T‘s equipment. Adam McCurry coordinates the

equipment with the growers and works with them in many

aspects of their agricultural needs. Stanley Holloway

works with the growers individually and also

coordinates educational classes.

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 May 9th

May 10th

May 17th

May 25

June 5th

June 19th

To be announced

3 PM CFWNC Site Visit

7 AM ALS meeting

4-H County Activity Day

6 PM Beekeepers – 1st Presbyterian Church

4-H Summer Program begins

4-H District Activity Day

Pesticide Classes

The equipment from the Community Foundation of Western

North Carolina is arriving. This equipment should help the local growers increase their production. Most of the equipment was purchased in Yancey County!

Currently working on a NC Rural Center grant to help cover the cost of renovating the building for the TRACTOR grant. NC A&T also has a grant that would help us bring some crop specialists up to Yancey County, and help instruct local producers in production of crops we have identified as being desirable to wholesale markets.

TRACTOR has scheduled two more grower meetings: May 1st, at 6 PM, and May 8th at 6 PM. The meetings will be held at the Extension Office.

4-H is partnering with Bald Creek Elementary to host a 4-H Summer Program at the school. This is an exciting partnership that will benefit all involved.

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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Stanley Holloway Spring is here as is evident in the

increase in calls and office visits for agricultural related information and assistance. During the month the Agricultural Staff conducted Cooperative Extension’s Annual Plant Sale. This year we offered a wide variety of plant material and fruit varieties for sale to local residents. By combining orders with surrounding counties, we were able to get discounted bulk quantity prices and offer the plants material at a reduced price to our clientele. In total, 800 blueberry plants, over 14,000 strawberry plants, 450 blackberry plants, 475 black raspberry plants, 575 red raspberry plants, 1100 asparagus crowns, 55 horseradish roots, and 450 apple trees were purchased by over 300 local residents. In conjunction with the annual plant sale, Extension staff provided detailed information regarding planting and care of the plant material purchased.

Later in the month, the ToeCane Beekeeper’s monthly educational meeting was held with 19 local beekeepers attending. The topic of this month’s meeting was Educational Materials, where local, experienced beekeepers shared their insight into available resources and publication related to beekeeping for those less experienced.

Fifteen (15) field visits were conducted during the month on a variety of topics including: soil testing

AGRICULTURE & NATURAL RESOURCES (3), fruit production (3), tobacco (3),

general home landscape (2), livestock (1), and home gardening (3). In addition, over 80 office visits and numerous telephone and e-mail consultations were conducted during the month regarding a wide variety of agricultural topics. Jeremy Delisle

April has been a month full of activity. Many farmers are busy making preparations for the growing season, while others are planting and harvesting various crops. One farmer has agreed to host an organic potato variety trial including 12 varieties of various kinds of potatoes. Another is experimenting with a few varieties of chipping potatoes. We have been fortunate to work with Mark Clough, NCSU Potato Researcher, on these projects.

Three more growers will grow out small trial plots of broccoli. All together, there will be 21 varieties included in these plots. Broccoli is another crop with potential for profitability in our mountain counties.

One other highlight in April has been the acquisition of our shared use equipment for Yancey and Mitchell Counties. The small-scale equipment includes a BCS walk-behind tractor with a tiller attachment, rotary plow, and a flail mower. This equipment will be shared by farmers in the two counties and will give them the opportunity to expand or try something new that they were previously unable to do. We feel this portion of our local food system plan will be quite beneficial in helping farmers to get new ventures started successfully.

NC Cooperative Extension-Yancey County Center

Stanley Holloway, Agriculture Agent

Yancey County Small Farms

Jeremy  Delisle,  Area  Agent,  Mitchell/Yancey  Counties  

  Adam  McCurry,  NC  A&T     Agriculture  Technician  

Agriculture & Natural Resources

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Growers Claude Deyton and Billy Bryant meet with our professionals to discuss ways they can improve production and decrease disease with their crops while discovering ways to deter harmful pest and insects.

Adam McCurry Spring is finally here (I hope). Local

farmers and gardeners are hard at work preparing for the upcoming growing season. There were a lot of questions during the recent cold weather concerning crop damage. There appears to be more damage to the earlier blooming crops and also in difference altitudes of the county. A local apple grower reports he lost almost his entire crop. Yancey Extension held our annual plant sale this month. Although the numbers were down from recent years it was still a good sale. This is a great opportunity for us to interact with the community. As part of the TRACTOR project, Mitchell County received a grant to purchase shared use specialty farm equipment. The grant fund came from the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina. This equipment is here and we have been working to contact the local farmers in both Yancey and Mitchell Counties. This is a huge benefit to local farmers preparing to participate in the TRACTOR project.

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Richard Chuvala

Mtn. Challenge has continued to go strong through this past month. I was invited to present a team-building workshop at the West District Teen Retreat. I did two sessions and both were filled to the max. We had over 50 participants attend the team-building workshop where they learned how to think outside of the box, communication and leadership skills.

The afterschool programs have focused on team building and have continued to learn valuable life skills. We are getting ready to wrap up for the year. Those students who have worked hard throughout the school year will be getting to go with us to Fun Depot as a reward for all of their hard work.

This semester we did not meet regularly with the Mtn. Heritage SOAR class, however, we still have partnered up to work with the SOAR

Jo Simpson

4-H EFNEP Program Associate

Richard Chuvala 4-H Mountain Challenge Coordinator

such as papaya, artichokes, star fruit and mango. Students love trying new foods. They are always given a challenge for the week such as trying a new whole grain, fruit or vegetable.

At the first of the month I traveled to Raleigh to conduct the North Carolina Association of Program Assistants Associates and Technicians (NCAEPAAT) state board meeting. This year I am the State President for our association and it has kept me busy. It is a rewarding experience but will be much delighted when my year is finished.

I also had a good time playing with the hundreds of children that attended Childfest. Childfest was held on April 21st in Spruce Pine. I estimated around 350 children attended the festivities.

During May I will complete my program at Burnsville Elementary and begin planning my summer programs.

Club. The SOAR Club consists of former SOAR students and they still have opportunities to learn social and life skills. This month we have gone to Mtn. Air Golf and Country Club where 20 students were taught proper etiquette at a formal dining establishment. The students then got to practice their lessons while eating lunch at Mtn. Air.

Our court referred youth have done fabulous throughout this past month. They have continued their healthy eating lessons with Jo Simpson and we are going to a horse farm to help work with some of the horses. We will be continuing these classes until the 18th of June.

Jo Simpsom

The 4-H Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) graduated around 100 students from Burnsville Elementary this month. Each student received 6 fun hands-on nutrition lessons. They made whole grain trail mix, fruit salad and fruit kabobs. The 3rd grade students enjoyed trying exotic fruits

2012 Teen Retreat

Youth doing team building

critical thinking skill games taught

by Rich Chuvala

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School program. As usual, we are continuing with

snack, homework, and physical activity. The outside activities are very important at this time due to End of Grade testing.

Bee Log Afterschool

The Bee Log 4-H Afterschool ended the month of March with a trip to Riverside Roller Rink and then had an Easter Party at the school just before leaving for Spring Break. They each received Easter Baskets filled with all kinds of goodies. Jo Simpson came out after we returned from Spring Break and made No-bake Cheese Cake with the children's help and they each took a recipe for the Cheese Cake home with them. We have a field trip planned later this month to Kid Mountain in Burnsville, which is a very popular trip for the children. Linda Semon is scheduled to do a project with the children April 24th. We look forward to more fun for the rest of this month.

Bald Creek Afterschool Even though April has been a

short school month due to Spring Break, the Bald Creek After School program has been busy. Don Pedi teaches dulcimer lessons each month and the kids are doing very well. The After School tutoring program ended with the EOGs.

Last month Jo Simpson, EFNEP nutritionist, asked the kids what healthy snack they wanted to make this month and they suggested cheesecake. With that suggestion, Ms. Jo found a healthy low-fat cheesecake recipe that she and the kids enjoyed making this month. It was very delicious especially with the fresh fruit mixture of strawberries, mango, and blueberries. The kids loved it.

As an early Mother’s Day gift, Linda Semon and Debi Erickson made terrariums with the kids. Debi supplied the plants and we used recycled 2-liter bottles for the container. The plants included

Sedum, Dragon’s Blood, Angelina, Blue Spruce, and Hen and Chicks. The students like working with dirt and plants. The students have also been very helpful in working with Mrs. Miller, the fourth grade teacher, and other teachers in the green house project at school. They will have a green house, raised garden beds, and other plants. The 4-H After School will have their own raised beds to use.

As a special treat, the kids attended the movie “The Lorax”. This was appropriate since Earth Day was Sunday, April 22.

Taylor Tipton, a senior at Mountain Heritage, has begun her internship at the Extension Office. She will be assisting us in our After

4-­‐H  AfterSchool     Bee  Log  Staff:                                                                                Bald  Creek  Staff:     Gail England Susie Hedrick Elizabeth McIntosh Glenna Taylor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bee Log Afterschool gathered for an end of year picture! What a Kodak moment.

After having a

spring celebration,

the youth went outside to play in

the fresh air. They enjoy the

swings and other equipment

Bee Log School allows them to use as part of

their afterschool program.

Thank you to the Yancey

County School System for

allowing Yancey 4-H to help in all

the schools.

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Yancey 4-H facebook page, “like” us.

Linda Semon 4-H Discovery

Program Associate

Sybil Chapman School Enrichment

4-H Program Assistant

Linda Semon Chad Ayers and I took the Junior

and Senior 4-H & FFA Horse Judging teams to Williamston, NC on April 13-14. We are pleased to announce that both the Senior FFA Team and our Junior 4-H Team placed second overall in the State.

Discovery Club and after-school 4-H members took part in a Tree-mendous lesson this month. Smokey the Bear reminded them to help people not start forest fires. They figured out their age by tree rings, learned the parts of a tree and made a necklace out of a tree cookie.

One of our adult 4-H Volunteers and I spent three days at the NC 4-H State Project Record Judging to help other volunteers judge over 900 record books that were entered from across the state.

The 4-H Green Team has gone out twice this month to work in the Dig-in Garden.

I have been conducting workshops to help 4-Hers prepare their 4-H Presentations for District Activity Day in June.

Debi Erickson came out to our 4-H After-school sites this month to make Container Gardens with the students. They learned that you could easily propagate some fast growing ground cover plants in containers.

Will be completing the year by giving badges to all the Discovery Club youth members. Thanks to all the many volunteers who helped. Sybil Chapman April began with a class at Montreat

We are 4-H Mtn. Challenge

EFNEP Discovery Clubs

School Enrichment Afterschool

College for two nights. Project Learning Tree was a really good experience with a great teacher and is something I can use with school enrichment. Besides the class instruction, each student was given curriculum used to teach in the classroom.

I attended the Governor’s Award Ceremony at the Commissioner’s Meeting where awards were presented to the Firemen, Rescue and EMS for volunteerism for school enrichment.

I have been able to work on my paperwork for reporting this month. I am always busy and sometimes get behind entering my numbers.

Since January I have taught CareerSmarts to a total of 65 seventh grade students. Soils Solutions has been taught to 157 students in third grades. Magic of Electricity has been taught to 79 fifth grade students. Bug Out has been taught to 117-second graders.

Debi Erickson volunteers with 4-H to demonstrate how to make a container garden. Hope Robinson also volunteers as a Green Team member to help with the project.

4-H Horse Judging Team Making the container gardens was a fun and useful project.

Yancey County Center North Carolina Cooperative Extension

10 Orchard Dr. Burnsville, NC 28714 Phone (828) 682-6186

Fax (828) 682-7680 www.yancey.ncsu.ces.edu