Weeks 5 and 6!!

    Since my last blog I’ve been incredibly busy!! We have been on several local farm visits per day and I have really learned a lot during these visits as you may know we are in full swing with garden production and its also that time of year for home invaders and creepy crawlers to get into your homes so its time to spray!  The big question that we have been faced with in the last weeks have been the issue of centipedes entering peoples homes in mass numbers and although they can’t cause any physical harm they do an awesome job of making things look bad.  Having little experience with this problem before now I have been doing extensive research on the creatures and how we can best combat them.  I have learned that these insects may be worse this year due to a abnormally wet late spring going into the early summer and moist low lying areas are a perfect breeding ground for them to reproduce.  So what I have learned that if you do a good job of removing old leaves and other organic matter that will hold moisture away from your home and spray bifenthrin products around your door facings, windows, and cracks this chemical is normally found in ortho home defense max which is a good control for these pests.
    On top of all these visits me and my agent Chad have been working extensively with a local summer program and have done two different activities with the students last week we held a workshop with them on how to build popcan birdhouses and it was a riot!! You can see home of the completed birdhouses that I have posted in our extension intern facebook page.  This week we did model rockets with the group the kids are very well mannered and were extremely excited to be building these rockets and launching them on the next day.  On shooting day I was so proud of my rocket I volunteered to launch first to test the wind and see how they were going to drift in the wind.  So I launched and first thing I lost my rocket on top of the school building ha!  And mine was the only lost rocket all day the rest flew straight and true and had little to no drift.  I could tell that the students were really having a good time which made me feel better about my job and programs like that make me really want to pursue this path later!
    Over the last few weeks I have observed that this job only gets more rewarding as you go.  I love helping people and this job continues to challenge, and reward me with the satisfaction of knowing that I have been a help and have been a positive influence on someones day and the products that they wish to produce.  I also have been busy planning my program that I will be having this coming Tuesday at the office it will be a one hour interactive workshop for local growers outlining some of the disease and insect issues that you will see this time of year and what you can do to prevent these issues and ultimately increase your yields.  So I will leave a update in the facebook page letting you guys know what the turnout was.  Its been an awesome summer and I hope that I can stay busy!!!