August

    By: Cole Bell 

Calloway County Ky.

 The last several weeks I have spent a considerable amount of time helping 4-H kids prepare for State Fair Contests.  Mostly I have worked with Horticulture but I have also helped some with poultry contests.   I was not in 4-H when I was in school, it is amazing to me how much some of these kids know about Horticulture and Poultry.   Some of them know more about horticulture now than I knew in middle school.  They will have an advantage over many students if they someday choose to pursue a degree in an Agricultural field. 

     One day I got to meet with Mr. Daniel Becker, the Fruit and Vegetable Specialist from UKREC in Princeton.  He was meeting a farmer interested in pursuing commercial fruit and vegetable production.   Mr. Becker was very informational and eager to help in any way that he could. 

     Today I spent about half a day organizing our new “Reinforcements”, with such a small office we have to make a puzzle with all of the boxes to make them fit in our closet space.  It was neat to see all of the different tools of reinforcement and see how they will help people of our community.  I really don’t think we could have fit anything else into the closet space we have available, maybe soon we will get some metal cabinets for additional storage space.

     Some of the highlights for my upcoming last week are one more radio appearance and teaching a class on cover crops for home owners, and gardeners.  I hope to send them away with some valuable information that they can apply on their properties.  There are many benefits to soil quality including: water holding capacity, addition of organic matter, reduction of erosion.