January Extension Newsletter

Happy New Year! from Lee County 4-H. We have a great year planned in clubs and county. Sewing, hatching and poultry, livestock, arts, STEAM, cooking, leadership....It will be a great year.....
but 4HO enrollment is down 100% due to the yearly rollover and re-enrollment process. The system shows zero enrollments at this time. Lee County 4-H is entering the season of chartering. 4HO will be closed to us in the first part of January as the system managers migrate the 2023 data into 2024. Clubs will be re-charting, and members should be finishing their 2023 projects and project record books. All due on January 15: Re-enrollment, Chartering, and Project Record Books.
We welcome a new club, Homeschool Rocks 4-H Club, which will charter this month. Joy Chiles is the current 4-H volunteer leader and is looking for a partner.
Serenity Burks, a Crazy Quilters 4-H Club member, won an honorable mention in the Kim Ingold photo contest for her picture of a butterfly.
Congratulations to our Egg-cellent Egg Contest Winners: Uriah Hulstedt, who won first place in the Junior Division Brown PeeWee, Small or Medium Sized Category; Uriah Hulstedt, who won first place in the Junior Division Brown Large, XL, or Jumbo Size Category; Corbin Perry, who won second place in the Intermediate Division Brown Large, XL or Jumbo Size Category; and Corbin Perry who won first place in the Intermediate Division Brown Large, XL or Jumbo Size Category.
The Clover Council plans for the 2023 Awards Banquet to be sometime in March. Stay tuned for more information. They will meet on January 16 at 4:00 to plan this event and other 2024 4-H activities.
The 4-H Volunteer's yearly conference will be held February 2-4. This event provides valuable training for our volunteers to support their club and county programs.
The summer adventure camp at Betsy Jeff Penn 4-H Camping Center is on the calendar now. If you have a youth ages 8 to 14, mark your calendar for our week, July 7-12, AND let me know so I can reserve your spot.
Crazy Quilters 4-H Club has new project leaders, Walt and Gini Farnham. Welcome to 4-H, Ms. Gini and Mr. Walt!
The 4-H Electric Project for 2023 culminated at a Christmas Craft Day for a local homeschool group. We hosted a table teaching basic electric circuitry while making a light-up Christmas Tree Card.

Professional Landscapers

January 9, 11, 2024

Business Classes For Landscape Professionals

NC Cooperative Extension- Lee County Center with CCCC’s Small Business Center and the Sanford Area Growth Alliance are hosting a series of business classes for Landscape professionals in January 2024. January 9th - Marketing for Landscape Contractors with Dr. Michael Barbera, Chief Behavioral Officer of Clicksuasion; and January 11th - Basics of Bookkeeping for Landscape Contractors with Crystal Wambeke, Certified Bookkeeper and Accounting Consultant, Crystal Wambeke, LLC. These classes will count towards NC Landscape Contractors License Business Credits, as well as Certified Plant Professional credits. Cost of the class is $20 per class, to be paid as cash or check at the door or prior to class to NC Cooperative Extension- Lee County Center.
Register:

January 15-19, 2024

Green & Growin’ 24

In addition to the many great educational sessions going on at Green & Growin' 24, there is a new Certified Plant Professional (CPP) Review hosted by Extension professionals on Monday all day and Tuesday morning, January 15-16. The CPP Exam will be given on the afternoon of January 16. This session is designed to be a final review on plant identification for those that have already studied the manual and the plant list to help candidates make the final push in preparation. It can also serve as an introduction to the CPP program to help those interested in understanding the effort needed to prepare.

If you are interested in Bees, join the Bee Hotel Webinar on January 30, 2024 at 10:00 am

January 4, 5, 2024

Extension Master Gardener Program Interest Meeting

Are you interested in becoming an Extension Master Gardener volunteer? Do you know what the program really entails? Join Horticulture Agent Amanda Wilkins to learn more about the Extension Master Gardener Program and the Lee County Master Gardener volunteers during this informal interest meeting. There are two options: Thursday, January 4, 6:30-7:30 p.m.; Friday, January 5- 10-11 a.m. Fill out the Interest Form Here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc3ziYDw7g7vk5hYFT2ke7983RyuHDuSgukfTvYGHTpems6NA/viewform?usp=sf_link.

Call for Vendors for the Sanford Farmers' Market 2024 Season!

Happy New Year's from the Sanford Farmers' Market! It's 2024, and it's time to get ready for our markets to come back in downtown Sanford!

At the Sanford Farmers' Market, we create space for local food producers and artisans to connect with the community. We strive to help new and beginning farmers and food entrepreneurs while providing access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food to all members of our community. We are looking forward to another great year of local food and fellowship ahead!

We have officially opened our 2024 market vendor application! If you are a local farmer, rancher, nursery owner, baker, beekeeper, fisherman, food entrepreneur, or artisan, submit your application today! You can visit our new website and learn more about our market. We would love you to join us for the 2024 season!

Mark your calendars for the return of our market season and stay tuned for updates as we get closer to April. We look forward to seeing you once again at the market!

2024 Sanford Farmers' Market Season

Saturdays, 8:30AM - 12:00PM

April 20th - November 9th

115 Chatham Street, Sanford NC

Upcoming Programs

Applications due this Friday, January 5th!

Are you thinking about starting a farm and have land, but not sure where to start? Are you already farming but want more expertise on the business side? Or are you interested in trying a new idea to diversify your farm? We want to invite you to apply for NC Farm School!

Composed of 8 sessions, NC Farm School is an immersive program to help you formulate your farming business. Sessions will be held every other week in the evenings covering topics such as goal setting, resource development, financial management, risk management, and effective marketing strategies to give you the knowledge and tools you need to succeed in creating and sustaining a farm business. These farm business sessions are accompanied by six, daylong field trips at working farms led by innovative, experienced farmers, and agricultural professionals to help you generate ideas, networks, and supplement your plans by seeing successful farming operations in action.

NC Farm School is being held in several location across the state, including Randolph and Johnston counties this year. Our Lee County Agents are partnering with the Southeast team based in Johnston County, which will host the program from February 12th to May 21st. You can learn more about the program and signup using the link below. Applications are due by January 5, 2024.

Learn more and apply today!

We are excited to host an Extension Master Food Volunteer training in 2024!

The Extension Master Food Volunteer (EMFV) program provides citizens with an opportunity to continue the work of N.C. Cooperative Extension by providing unbiased, research-based information on food systems, cooking, and food safety to our community. Under the guidance of Lee County Extension Agents, volunteers will complete a 30-hour training program to become Extension Master Food Volunteers. These volunteers are similar to Extension Master Gardener Volunteers, but for food-based programming!

Please fill out this form to express your interest in joining the EMFV program in Lee County. We are offering two opportunities on February 1st to attend an in-person interest meeting where we will dive deeper into what it means to be an EMFV, the expected responsibilities & the level of commitment from volunteers and program managers, including a time to ask any questions. If you are unable to attend the interest meeting, we encourage you to still express your interest in applying through this form. We will follow-up to make sure you have no further questions!

Read more at: https://lee.ces.ncsu.edu/extension-master-food-volunteers-of-lee-county/

Online Webinars

North Carolina Small Ruminant Improvement Program Winter Webinar Series

The Small Ruminant Workgroup and North Carolina Small Ruminant Improvement Program have planned a webinar series for this winter. This series will cover a variety of management topics and is hosted from 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. via Zoom.

Topics

Breeding Management - Jan 16th
Nutrition and Grazing - Feb 13th
Genetic Selection - Mar 5th

Visit this webpage to learn more and register!
https://smallruminants.ces.ncsu.edu/2023/11/ncsrip-2023-2024-winter-webinar-series/