Lunch Box Winners Workshop at Earthfare

If you missed the "Lunch Box Winners" Workshop in March, when the Playhouse was Earth Fare's Friend of the Quarter, you have another chance to attend. Lunchbox Winners will be offered from 1:45 to 2:30, Wednesday, May 12th at the Earth Fare Café, King Street, Boone. Learn quick and easy recipes for nutritious lunches even picky eaters will like. Extension Agent, Registered Dietitian and Mom Margie Mansure, will share tips for reducing waste and getting kids involved. There will be lots of free samples, plus recipes and coupons to take home and a drawing. Presented by Two Rivers Community School in cooperation with the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service and sponsored by Earth Fare.
Two Rivers Community School is Earth Fare’s Friend of the Quarter for April, May and June. When you shop with a re-usable bag at Earth Fare, they will make a donation to the school.

Kids In the Creek

Since 2001, Wendy Patoprsty with the Watauga County Cooperative Extension and Dick and Joan Hearn of the Watauga River Conservation Partners have been playing in the creek water with all the 4th graders in the county.  Kids in the Creek is a program that was developed to create water quality awareness in the high country's youth.   The program delivers participatory education on water testing, watersheds, non point source pollution, and of course live creek "critter" identification. Patoprsty and the Hearns recently visited the 4th graders of Parkway Elementary School and helped them find stoneflies, mayflies, crayfish, and salamanders.

Pond Management Seminar, May 13

Do you have weed problems in your pond? Would you like to learn more about how to better manage your pond for fishing, swimming, aesthetics or other interests? A Pond Management Seminar will be held on May 13, 2010 from 9:00 am – Noon at the Watauga Agricultural Conference Center. The seminar will be hosted via Extension’s web-based Elluminate system.

Topics to be covered include: pond construction, stocking rates, fish species, managing water quality, balancing fish populations, recreational trout ponds, feeding fish, aquatic weed identification and control methods.

For commercial pesticide applicators, pesticide education credits have been approved for 1 hour in the categories of A N D X. To receive credit, attendees will need their pesticide applicator license number.

There is a $5 fee to attend the session. To register, please contact Jim Hamilton at the Watauga Cooperative Extension Service at 264.3061.

4-H Plant Sale in Full Swing

Several volunteers and 4-H Agent Karee Mackey tagged and bagged blueberry plants, apples, azaleas, and a cornucopia of other plants that arrived fresh this week from nurseries across the state. Close to $5,000 worth of fruit plants, native plants, and apple trees were sold to help support 4-H club activities throughout the year. Thank you to all of the volunteers and Extension staff that helped make the 2010 plant sale a huge success!

Ramp Research with National Agroforestry Center

Spring is the season for many forest herbs. From a culinary perspective, ramps are high on the priority list this time of year! On Thursday, April 15, the National Agroforestry Center visited several sites in Watauga County to gather environmental data on ramp habitat. They collected elevation & aspect, forest & soil type, and associated plant data. The National Agroforestry Center is interested in putting together information for private forest landowners on suitable site considerations for ramp production and cultivation. Extension, NRCS, and Watauga Soil and Water district identified several sites around the county for inclusion in the database and accompanied the group to several locations in the county.

Forestry Students Visit High Country

Jim Hamilton, Watauga Extension Director, and Brian Chatham, Watauga Soil and Water District, recently hosted a class of 14 forestry students from Haywood Community College. The students are participating in a soils and hydrology class and toured the Beech Creek Bog, the Boone Stormwater Wetland, and other sites in the county. Harry Yates of Yates Christmas Trees and Landscaping provided the class with a background on the Christmas tree industry and soil fertility issues.