Cornell Cooperative Extension Community Horticulture

ScienceDaily (Apr. 19, 2007) If you are looking for a way to encourage your children eat their fruits and vegetables, search no further than your backyard, suggests new Saint Louis University research.

Preschool children in rural areas eat more fruits and vegetables when the produce is homegrown.

“It was a simple, clear finding,” said Debra Haire-Joshu, Ph.D., director of Saint Louis University’s Obesity Prevention Center and a study author. “Whether a food is homegrown makes a difference. Garden produce creates what we call a ‘positive food environment.’”

Researchers interviewed about 1,600 parents of preschool-aged children who live in rural southeast Missouri. They found that preschool children who were almost always served homegrown fruits and vegetables were more than twice as likely to eat five servings a day than those who rarely or never ate homegrown produce.

The American Dietetic Association recommends between five and 13 servings of fruits and vegetables a day.

In addition, children who grow up eating fresh-from-the-garden produce also prefer the taste of fruits and vegetables to other foods, the parents told researchers.

The study, in the April issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, found the garden-fed children were more likely to see their parents eating fruits and vegetables.

A greater variety of fruits and vegetables — more tomatoes, cantaloupe,broccoli, beans and carrots — also were available in the homes of families who nearly always had homegrown produce.

The implications of the research are important because they point to a simple way of getting kids to eat healthier, Haire-Joshu said. Plant a garden or encourage your school to do so.

“When children are involved with growing and cooking food, it improves their diet,” Haire-Joshu said. “Students at schools with gardens learn about math and science and they also eat more fruits and vegetables. Kids eat healthier and they know more about eating healthy. It’s a winning and low-cost strategy to improve the nutrition of our children at a time when the pediatric obesity is an epidemic problem.”

Adapted from materials provided by Saint Louis University.

Want to get started growing vegetables? Check out what working well for other vegetable gardeners at Cornell’s Vegetable Varieties for Gardeners

Check out the site: http://www.extension.org/

Background factsheet (pdf)

Background on the gardens, lawns and landscape section (pdf)

Press release (pdf)

Check out the gardens, lawns and landscape section in the right column and come back here and tell us all what you think…and if you want to be a part of the ask an expert let Lori know.

If you have an event there is an on-line calendar and all CCE educators can add their local items to this calendar. It is very simple, just go to http://events.extension.org/ , register, log in and fill out the form to log your event. People who go to this site register with their zip code so if they are in your county your event will be directed at them. Let Lori know if you use this feature. Curious to know if it is effective marketing tool.

Sisters in Health is a program out of Cornell’s Division of Nutritional Science.

Sisters in Health – A Nutrition Program for Women is a research-based and community-grounded food and nutrition education program that encourages women with limited incomes to eat and enjoy more fruits and vegetables through active experiences with foods in a positive social setting.

I heard about this program and thought it might be a great opportunity to us horticulture folks to partner with nutrional folks. Community horticulture could certainly provide the education and skill to help women in this program grow their own vegetables.

Sisters in Health website

Is anyone already partnering with their local nutrition people on this program or any other programing effort?

Do you give quizzes or exams as part of your MGV training?

Some counties do and here is an example of an exam from Holly Wise, Extension Educator Cornell Cooperative Extension of Oneida County. Exam.

Do you have exams or quizzes you are willing to share with your colleagues around the state? send them to Lori (bushway@cornell.edu)

Western Finger Lakes ReLeaf in Collaboration with the City of Rochester
Forestry Division to Provide a Workshop on Emerald Ash Borer Preparedness and Response Plans

A workshop is being held on March 19, 2008 from 9:30 – 12:30, Ontario County Training and Safety Building, 2914 County Road #48, Canandaigua, New York. The target audience is primarily municipalities and green industry professionals, however, all are welcome.

The Emerald Ash Borer, (Agrilus planipennis, Fairemaire), is an invasive, exotic insect that is believed to have been transported to America byway of shipping pallets from Asia. This insect was first discovered in S.E. Michigan, near Detroit in July of 2002. The Emerald Ash Borer, (EAB), had never been detected in North America prior to this time, (which means no natural predators for the EAB are here, either). The EAB is responsible for an estimated 20 million ash tree deaths since its arrival.

The Emerald Ash Borer larvae are the real problem. As they develop in the cambium of a tree, (just underneath the bark), they feed on the treeÂ’s phloem and outer sapwood. In doing so, the treeÂ’s vascular system is destroyed, thus killing the tree.

The Emerald Ash Borer ONLY attacks ash trees.

The infestation range has spread from Michigan, Essex County, Ontario and Indiana in 2004, to include Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia as of January 2008.

The Emerald Ash Borer has NOT been detected in New York State to date.

However, it has been found in areas which lie, “less than 50 miles to the north, less than 75 miles to the south and less than 100 miles to the east”, of New York, (Jerry Carlson, Research Scientist, Chief, Forest Health and Protection, New York State Lands and Forests).

The objective of this workshop is to provide people with the knowledge of what to expect when the Emerald Ash Borer arrives and how best the handle the situations in which we mayfind ourselves. The City of Rochester, alone, has an approximate 15% of ash tree species which are located between the sidewalks and curbs. We need to pay attention to this insect.

Speakers for the workshop include:
· Jerry Carlson, New York State Department of Conservation
· A representative from New York State Agriculture and Markets
· Mark Gooding, New York State Department of Conservation Forester,Region 8
· Thomas Dilley, United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Evanston, Illinois.

There is no fee for the Emerald Ash Borer Response and Preparedness Workshop. Registration is requested. Please contact Carol Kodweis, 585-428-7710 or ck@cityofrochester.gov

CNLP, ISA and SAF credits available.

Fruit Tree Pruning Workshop
March 15, Spencer, NY
Learn how to prune apple trees at Cornell Cooperative Extension’s ‘Fruit Tree Pruning Workshop’ on Saturday, March 15, 9:00 a.m to noon, at Brian Caldwell’s Orchard, 303 Gunderman Rd, Spencer, New York.

Instructors Rick Reisinger and Brian Caldwell will demonstrate pruning techniques and discuss the theory of how apple trees grow. Both instructors have decades of fruit tree experience on their own orchards and at Cornell’s orchard in Ithaca. The focus of this year’s workshop will be on establishment and maintenance pruning of an apple orchard, rather than on renovating overgrown trees. The workshop will be held outside the orchard so dress for the weather.

The $10 fee includes light refreshments. Pre-registration is required by 4:30 p.m. March 14. For questions, driving directions and to pre-register, call 607-687-4020.

Introduction to Growing Stone Fruit
June 7, Watkins Glen, NY
Learn how to grow peaches, plums and cherries at Cornell Cooperative Extension’s ‘Introduction to Growing Stone Fruit’ workshop on Saturday, June 7, 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., at Reisinger’s Orchard, 2750 Apple Lane, Watkins Glen, New York.

Orchardist Rick Reisinger will discuss site selection, planting, and fertilization. Cornell fruit pathologist Kerik Cox will teach how to ID and manage diseases, and there will be a small scale sprayer demonstration. The instruction will be geared towards serious home gardeners and people interested in starting a small scale commercial orchard. Emphasis will be on sustainable production practices.

The workshop will be held in the orchard so dress for the weather. The $10 fee includes light refreshments. Pre-registration is required by 4:30 p.m. June 5. For questions, driving directions and to pre-register, call 607-687-4020.

Molly Shaw
South Central NY Ag Team
Fruit and Vegetable Specialist
CCE Tioga
56 Main St, Owego, NY 13827
ph: 607-687-4020
f: 607-687-3619

UMass Extension’s
WEED MANAGEMENT FOR GARDEN RETAILERS
MARCH 27, 2008 – 8:30am to 12:30pm
Sheraton Hotel, Milford, MA

Customers commonly ask garden retailers questions about weed identification
and the control of weeds in lawns, landscapes and gardens. This program with
UMass Extension Specialist Randy Prostak will help retailers answer many of
these common questions.

 What can I use to control weeds organically?
 Will corn gluten meal control crabgrass effectively?
 What time of year should I spray my weeds?
 If I seed my lawn in the spring, how do I stop crabgrass from taking over?
 What is the best way to control bittersweet, poison ivy and brush?
 How do I get rid of Japanese knotweed (Japanese bamboo)?
 Will this herbicide get in the groundwater and into my well?
 Does laying down weed fabric or newspaper improve weed control?
 How do I control weeds in my vegetable garden?

A wide range of weed control strategies and retail products will be discussed
in-depth. Tips and resources for weed identifi cation will be covered. There
will be plenty of time for questions and discussion on topics that are
important to the participants – bring your questions!

COST: $50.

Four pesticide contact hours for categories 29, 36, 37 & 00;
MCLP and MCH credits requested.

For a registration form, go to http://umassgreeninfo.org/ and scroll down
under Conferences and Workshops or call 413-545-0895.

The growing season not too far away…your gardening audiences might be interested in supporting local food…

NOFA NY has compiled a comprehensive directory of CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farms in New York State. The directory is NOT all-inclusive. To add additional operations, e-mail office@nofany.org To view the guide, visit: http://nofany.org/dbapplet/csadirectory.html

Seed-saving, once an essential skill passed from generation to generation by traditional farmers, is almost a lost art. By growing and saving seeds, each person can become a link to restore food and farming traditions in their own community.

From Generation to Generation is a40 page activity guidebook in the living tradition of seed saving you can download at this site: http://www.growseed.org/seedstewards.html

And if you are growing and saving seeds be sure to tell us what working well or not so well in your vegetable gardening at:

Vegetable Varieties for Gardener

This PowerPoint feature might be of interest to you if you feel better with a few extra notes…

Read more about how to make it work at this site: http://michaelhyatt.blogs.com/workingsmart/2005/01/powerpoints_pre.html

I have personally found that even if I get this feature to work on my laptop computer if I am using an older LCD projector it doesn’t seem to work so you might not want to be too dependent on it if you are not familiar with the equipment you’ll be using.