|
|
Iredell Informed August 2022
|
|
|
| To view the entire newsletter, please click "view entire message" at the end of this email
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Iredell County fair opens Friday, September 2 and runs through Saturday, September 10. We will be taking in entries Tuesday & Wednesday, August 30 & 31, at the fairgrounds, from 4:00-8:00 PM. Categories are Field & Garden Crops, Honey, Flowers & Plants, Canning, Culinary, Furnishings, Clothing, Arts, Crafts, Antiques, and Photography. Poultry entries will be made on Thursday, September 1, from 4:00 - 7:00 PM. Premium book and entry forms can be found at http://www.iredellcountyfair.org. If you have any questions about entry information, please call Iredell County Cooperative Extension office at 704-873-0507, we'll be happy to assist you! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4-H Super Summer is a collection of educational workshops, field trips, and hands-on activities planned especially for youth and presented by Iredell County 4-H, Club Leaders, and Extension Staff. This program is sponsored by 4-H, the youth development program of the Iredell County Center of North Carolina Cooperative Extension. These activities are open to all young people ages 5-18. This year we have visited area farms, hosted a variety of classes including; sewing, cooking, gardening, archery and much more. We also have taken field trips to ballgames, and area parks. To get your child involved in 4-H please contact Kelly_pierce@ncsu.edu.
|
|
|
Staying Connected: Participation in 4-H Club Helped Teen Weather Pandemic
BY KARISSA MILLERLike many teens, Quincy Sherrill has had to work hard to stay connected to the people who are important to her during the past two years.
Staying active in her 4-H Club has helped her weather the COVID-19 storm.
Sherrill, a rising sophomore at Crossroads Arts & Science Early College, spoke publicly about her experiences with 4-H during a recent Iredell County Board of Commissioners meeting.
“Do you think it is possible to be so connected that you’re actually disconnected?” Sherrill asked. “I know I do.”
“This is the situation our world finds itself in right now. We’ve never been so connected technologically even more disconnected from each physically and emotionally. This is not an ideal situation for any age group,” she said.
“As a teenager,” Sherrill continued, “I know firsthand how hard it is to navigate life when there is an overarching feeling of disengagement from others. A sense of belonging in something people in society generally look for.”
That’s why she’s glad to be a part of 4-H, whose members strive to be “full contributors to their community and to make a commitment to the 4 Hs.”
The 4Hs are: Head, Heart, Hands and Health.
“The 4-H pledge is: I pledge my Head to clearer thinking, my Heart to greater loyalty, my Hands to larger service, and my Health to better living, for my club, my community, my country andmy world,” Sherrill said.
When you think about those words in the context of our connected but disconnected world, Sherrill explained, they take on a bigger meaning. Through the words’ I pledge my head to clearer thinking, “members, pledge to shift their focus on discernment of the truth,” she said.
Head, heart and hands are a pledge to put others before themselves, Sherrill explained. Health is the only part of the pledge that examines the individual before others, she added.
“With the focus on service to others, 4-H members realize their health to be the best version of themselves to others,” she said.
Sherrill said her experiences in 4-H have been beneficial to her self-confidence.
“It’s really helped me to put myself out there more and trust myself in public speaking,” she said.
Sherrill won gold in her age category during a speaking competition. She has also served as vice president of her 4-H Club.
She will be representing Iredell County 4-H as the youth representative to Youth Voice 2022, which is held in conjunction with the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners’ Conference in August.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Vegetable Planting Calendar for the NC Piedmont
|
|
|
|
Check the average first fall freeze date for your location
|
|
|
|
Home Horticulture Calendar AUGUST- Overseed thin or bare areas in the lawn in western region for cool season grasses
- Strawberries will
benefit from a nitrogen fertilizer
- Build a leaf compost bin
- Cool season grasses are best seeded from mid August to mid October, depending on location
- Treat for bermuda grass and tough weeds in preparation for new lawn
- Remove dead flower heads
- Check lawn for brown patch disease
- Remove rotten fruit and broken limbs in orchards & vines
- If grubs were a problem in lawn last year, apply insecticide to kill newly
hatched grubs
- Remove bagworms from needled evergreens
- Continue regular fungicide sprays for roses
- Vegetable gardens need at least one inch of water each week
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAMILY & CONSUMER SCIENCES
|
|
|
|
|
Build a Better Lunchbox
Packing a balanced lunchbox doesn’t have to be a daunting task. A good mix of fruits, veggies, protein and whole grains will help keep kids nourished and focused at school.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
PEACH & AVOCADO GREEN SALAD
INGREDIENTS
Green Salad
- 1/2 small red onion, very thinly sliced (about 1/2 cup)
- 10 to 12 ounces baby arugula (12 to 15 lightly packed cups)
- 2 medium ripe peaches or nectarines, pitted and thinly sliced, peels on or off (about 2 cups)
- 2 medium ripe avocados, diced (about 2 cups)
- 2/3 cup unsalted sliced almonds
- 2/3 cup crumbled mild blue cheese*, such as gorgonzola (about 3 1/2 ounces)
Lemon Dressing
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (from 1 to 2 lemons)
- 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 clove garlic, pressed or minced
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt or a heaping 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black
pepper
INSTRUCTIONS
- Make the salad: Place the red onion in a small bowl and cover with water. Let it rest while you prepare the rest of the salad. (This will keep the flavor of the onion but remove some of the harsh after-bite.) Place the arugula in a large serving bowl.
- To toast the almonds, place them in a small
skillet over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring frequently (careful, they can burn), until the almonds are fragrant and starting to turn golden on the edges, about 4 to 5 minutes. Set aside.
- Make the dressing: In a small bowl or large liquid measuring cup, whisk together the dressing ingredients (the oil, lemon juice, mustard, garlic, salt, and pepper).
- Drizzle half of the dressing over the greens, then toss to coat. Drain the red onion, then scatter it
over the arugula. Top with the peaches, avocados, almonds and cheese. Just before serving, drizzle on a bit more dressing and give it a final, gentle toss to combine. Enjoy, with additional dressing as desired.
NOTES
*Blue cheese alternative: If you don’t enjoy blue cheese, I think your next best bet would be goat cheese. Feta might be nice, too.
Change it up: Seasonal swaps: In the fall and winter, replace the peaches and almonds with thinly sliced apples and walnuts. In the spring and early summer, try a mix of sliced strawberries and pecans.
Storage suggestions: This salad tastes best the day it is made. If you don’t mind slightly wilted arugula, it can be stored in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 additional days. Wake up the leftovers with an extra squeeze of lemon juice.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has confirmed the first established presence of the invasive spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) in the state. Initial surveys indicate the known distribution of the pest is within a 5-mile radius in Forsyth County near Interstate 40 in Kernersville extending to the Guilford County line. Survey efforts are ongoing.
“We have been actively looking for this pest for years and had ramped up surveillance when it was detected last year near the North Carolina-Virginia line,” said Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler. “Members of our Plant Industry Division and the N.C. Forest Service are moving quickly to eradicate this brightly colored pest, and we ask members of the public to be on the lookout for more spotted lanternfly and report any finds.”
Spotted lanternfly poses a serious threat to the state’s wine and grape industries and can feed and cause damage on over 70 species of plants including apples, roses and other landscape plants, said Dr. Bill Foote, director of the NCDA&CS Plant Industry Division.
When spotted lanternfly populations jumped from the northern end of Virginia to an area just over the North Carolina state line, NCDA&CS increased its outreach and surveying, particularly to the state’s most vulnerable wine-producing regions. This pest has been rapidly spreading since it was first identified in Pennsylvania in 2014.
Concentrated spotted lanternfly surveys are continuing in the initial Forsyth County discovery area to determine if the pest is in additional locations. Treatments are planned this week before mated females begin laying eggs.
Early detection and rapid response are critical in the control of spotted lanternfly and the Plant Industry Division has been preparing to provide the most effective response to slow the spread of this invasive pest in our state, Foote said.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
NC State Now Home to All Major Dairy Breeds
As a student, Pendry enjoyed learning about the different breeds. “I thought it’d be really neat to have all of them here. Most people know the black and white Holsteins, but what they don’t realize is that’s not the only dairy breed. There are others out there.”
When Pendry became herd manager, the herd only consisted of Holstein and Jersey cows. She later added the Red and White Holsteins to the herd through breeding.
Continue Reading
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CONTINUE TO CATCH EXTENSION ON WAME
|
|
|
Extension has daily slots on the local radio station, WAME
92.9FM/550AM!
Check them out at 6:40am and 6:40pm
Mondays- Taylor Jenkins and Kelly Pierce for 4-H/Youth
Development
Tuesdays-
Andrea Sherrill for Family & Consumer Science
Wednesdays- Melinda Roberts for Horticulture
Thursdays- Laura Elmore and Jenny Carleo for Crops and
Livestock
Fridays- Nancy Keith, Dairy and Extension Director NewsNeed to get in touch with Extension Staff?
--Just click on the person below--
Agents/Associates:
Associate Support Staff:
NC Cooperative Extension
Iredell County Center
444 Bristol Drive Statesville NC 28677
704-873-0507 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
NC State University and N.C. A&T State University work in tandem, along with federal, state and local governments, to form a strategic partnership called N.C. Cooperative Extension.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
