Cornell Cooperative Extension Community Horticulture

The 2007 Selected list of Vegetable Varieties for Gardeners in NYS is now available via the Vegetable Varieties for Gardeners’ info page.

We are eager to recruit lots more vegetable gardening enthusiasts to submit their opinions at the Vegetable Varieties for Gardeners project website about the vegetable varieties they have grown.

As it stands now we have 1,304 registered vegetable gardeners, nearly 400 from 59 of the 62 NYS counties. Collectively NYS gardeners have submitted 640 of the more than 2,000 total vegetable varieties reviews we have collected. Our Ontario County takes the lead in the number of reviews posted at 129. Second place is a tight race among Tompkins County (60 reviews), Ulster County (57 reviews) and Oneida County (48 reviews). Tompkins County takes the lead in the number of registered gardeners at 48.

Click on the link below to find some additional figures on participation from each NYS county and from across North America (we have participants from all 50 states, D.C. and 6 Canadian provinces).

We do hope someday soon to generate our recommended varieties list from gardeners’ opinions shared on this site so please help us build some depth across NYS by spreading the word in your county.

Email Lori (ljb7@cornell.edu) if you have a core group of volunteers that are vegetable enthusiasts. I’d love to visit and recruit them to lead a special vegetable varieties effort of their design in their communities.

VVfG 2006 update

Here is the report we submit for our Community Horticulture PWT:2006 PWT report

We welcome your thoughts about our past efforts and your ideas for needs.

The National Garden Bureau gives their top ten reasons to garden.

Why Garden? Top Ten Reasons

What are your Master Gardeners Volunteers’ reasons for gardening?

How can this be used to direct programming?

Fuel grant proposals?

Baby Boomers: the untapped resource. How many baby boomers could potentially volunteer in programs serving at-risk children and youth? How large is the need for volunteers? Child Trends’ newest Research-to-Results research brief does the numbers. Baby Boomers

Teens who volunteer reap personal rewards. Learn about who volunteers and what benefits they gain through their volunteer experiences.Teens as Volunteers

Tree Fruit Field Guide to Insect, Mite and Disease Pests and Natural Enemies of Eastern North America is out from NRAES. See promo: tfpromohigh-res.pdf.

Purchase direct from NRAES at the Cornell rate of $19.20/copy plus $4.25 shipping and handling. They will retail for about $32.

Written for the Albany Times Union by Jennifer Wilkins a Food and Society Policy Fellow at Cornell University. http://timesunion.com/opinion/localcolumns/jwilkins.asp

Options for Authors.

Authors can work with Gemma Osborne (gro2) in Geneva to have copies of their CALS publications printed. The work is high quality and they even have an Online Store. Geneva has a print press and has done this type of work with authors before.

Authors can work with Cornell Digital services to have publications printed. Digital Services can then offer print-on-demand copies and hard copies available for purchase. For example: Educating the Net Generation. The contact at Digital services is Chad O’Shea (ceo8).

Authors/Departments can host publications digitally, for example The Pest Management Guidelines can all be viewed online, and users can read the entire publication or print a single page that meets their needs.

Authors/Departments can set up a community in DSpace and offer publications for download from the University Library System. This can be combined with the Digital Services option above, for example see: Enhancement of Wildlife Habitat on Private Lands.

For high quality editing and printing (expensive) Publications and Marketing is the surviving group from Media and Technology Services still offering this service to the Cornell Community.

Cooperative Extension publications are being digitized and uploaded. To date these files have been accessed over 12,000 times.

If an inventory and distribution is desired Cornell University Press is always an option (CUPS). http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/

PDF: http://www.na.fs.fed.us/stewardship/pubs/forest_regn_hndbk06.pdf

Form the USDA Forest Service Northeastern Area

1952 Yearbook of Agriculture Pest Illustrations

Wal-Mart to Use Preferred Substances in Chemical Intensive Products
Source: GreenBiz.com
BENTONVILLE, Ark., Oct. 31, 2006 – Wal-Mart Stores says it plans to begin implementing its “Preferred Chemical Principles” to establish a clear set of preferred chemical characteristics for product ingredients.

The purpose is to drive the development of more sustainable products for “mother, child, and the environment,” according to the company. The first three of these priority chemicals are being announced at the Molecule-to-Molecule meeting, a two-day event hosted by the Chemical Intensive Product Network (CIP), a group designed to engage suppliers, NGO’s, government, academics and other subject matter experts on issues and opportunities around product sustainability.

“One of our environmental goals at Wal-Mart is to sell products that sustain our resources and our environment,” said John Westling, senior vice president and general merchandise manager, Merchandise Division, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. “We are excited about how this set of principles will help move us toward more sustainable products for mother, child and the environment, and the three priority chemicals we are focusing on are a first step in implementation. We plan to extend this effort to 17 additional chemicals over the next two years. We anticipate that our efforts will encourage our suppliers and their suppliers to innovate new product formulations that will be better for our customers and for the environment.”

The company has adopted a three-stage process to drive innovation and inspire suppliers to find substitutes for chemicals of concern. The three stages include, (1) Awareness – where participating suppliers will be given a period to identify for Wal-Mart any of their products that currently use one of the priority chemicals as ingredients, (2) Development of an Action Plan – where suppliers communicate to Wal-Mart their plans regarding the Priority Chemicals in their products, and (3) Recognition and Reward – where Wal-Mart acknowledges the suppliers who participate in this effort.

The first three chemicals include two pesticides: propoxur and permethrin (both used in household insect control products) and an ingredient in some cleaning products: nonyl phenol ethoxylates (NPE). The company’s preference is to move to alternative chemicals that meet the Wal-Mart Preferred Chemical Principles in its efforts toward a more sustainable future.

http://www.greenbiz.com/news/news_third.cfm?NewsID=34194