Busy But Satisfying Work

The last few weeks have been busy at the Powell County Extension Office.  During that time, I have had the fun responsibility of composing the weekly news articles that go into our local paper, The Clay City Times. In my articles I write about any pressing or timely news that producers in the community may use. One prime example was the article from the week before last. In that article I warned home and commercial gardeners about the need to apply fungicides to their tomato plants to prevent early and late blight from setting in. It was pleasing to hear from a couple of producers that they had read the article and heeded the advice I relayed on to them. Hopefully the harvest this season will reflect the benefits of applying these fungicides to tomato plants, but with some things, we just have to wait and see.

In my articles I also relay dates and times for any events that we may be hosting at the Extension Office, such as our up coming beekeepers field day and the daylily field day in the upcoming weeks. Oh and how could I forget the promotions for the Powell County Farmers Market. This week I made a Facebook page for this group and even though there really isn't any produce available for sale yet, the citizens of Stanton and Clay City have been asking when produce will be available for purchase. It is exciting to see the work I've done result in more community awareness and getting more of the public that may have never heard of the Cooperative Extension Service involved in our programs and groups.

During the last few weeks, I have also been working very closely with the Powell County Livestock Producers and helping them with their fundraising events. This is one thing that I really can say that I love and truly enjoy doing. The men and women in this group have accepted me as their own from my very first day at the office and all of them have made it a point to let me know how much I have helped them. It has truly been a complete joy to get the opportunity to work with these men and women in the community and have fun while learning together and supporting their organization.

Now to get to this week so far. Yesterday when I got to the office I realized that I was somewhat on my own. Mike, our agent was on vacation in Hawaii, that rascal didn't even invite me. Oh well, work goes on! So I checked in with one of the office workers only to find out that we had a message from a home owner. They needed someone to visit the property and access a potential issue with some bugs on conifer trees. So here I go into a remote part of the county and find the residence. Once there I came to the conifer trees in the front yard and I can say the sight I found made me take a step back. These two giant trees looked as if the bark was continually moving. Upon further inspection I found that the tree in fact was not moving but the insects that covered it were!

This was the first time I had ever seen anything like this. So I took a sample of the bugs back to the office and began the search for the identity. After about an hour of searching I finally found out what they were. After talking to an entomology specialist I was certain. These curious creatures were Barklice that feed on moss and lichen growing on trees. The funny thing was when I got another call with the same description. After going to that property, I found my second case of bark lice in one day! To the relief of the landowners though I found that Barklice are not harmful to the tree or to people and can be considered a curiosity.

So even in something as simple as identifying a curious bug or writing an article and maybe even this blog it is possible to easily help others in our community and also educate them and ourselves along the way. With all of that aside though, there are not two identical days while working in extension, and simply put, I love it.

Barklice found in Clay City, Ky


Patrick M. McCoy, ANR
Powell County, KY