From the Desk of the Director | |
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by Marlin Bates
County Extension Director
Our role in community is twofold – one is to do what most of you will recognize as the outreach and engagement activities that are more publicly-visible, the other is to listen and understand the needs of our communities. While those roles certainly go together, the degree to which organizations’ efforts are grounded in validated need varies. Our structure uniquely demands this validation of effort.
It often comes as a surprise that there are 24 Extension Council Members who are elected in Douglas County to guide our work. Every year, 12 Douglas County residents are elected to a 2-year term to the Douglas County Extension Council. The state statute that established Extension Councils in Kansas is deliberate in ensuring that the voice of the community is abundant in guiding our work.
These 24 Extension Council Members represent interests across the thematic program areas established by state statute: Agriculture and Natural Resources, Family and Consumer Sciences, 4-H and Youth Development, and Community Development. Together with our staff, volunteers, and other members of the public our goal is to ensure our efforts are not only grounded in need, but also appropriate, timely and proactive whenever possible.
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Sarah Farlee
Secretary
Why did you get involved in extension services?
I got involved with extension because I think it's a valuable part of communities, and I was looking for a way to get further involved in Douglas County.
What has surprised you the most about being on the Extension Board?
The collaborative spirit! The board all has a genuine interest in making Douglas County thrive and has worked together to direct exciting strategic initiatives for future growth and development. The diverse backgrounds and experiences of the board are a valuable part of driving toward a successful future.
What other community activities are you passionate about?
My background is in agriculture. I grew up on a multi-generational family farm, and I'm passionate about educating others. I currently serve as the marketing chair on the board Kansas Agriculture and Rural Leadership (KARL) board of directors and was a graduate of Class XII, so I also am a believer in leadership development and connections through experiences. This all funnels into another passion of mine, which is education. Our communities rely on education, especially K-12 public education, to help parents and communities develop the foundation of a well-rounded future labor force and community leaders. I support K-12 teachers and staff and have been a past volunteer with the Boys and Girls Club at Woodlawn Elementary.
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Claire Harding
Treasurer
Why did you get involved in extension services?
In my community of Eudora, I've been volunteering in our schools and with our schools foundation for many years. As a result, when Kaitlyn Peine, the 4H Youth Development agent at the time, was looking for people to fill an opening on the Youth Development Program Development committee, she found me. I was familiar with extension since I'd been a 4-Her in my youth and knew the strength of extension services in community and youth development, agriculture and horticulture.
What has surprised you the most about being on the Extension Board?
I was most surprised to learn how few staff people there are working in Douglas County extension services. This indicates, to me, the incredible people we have and the amazing volunteers they galvanize to assist them in their endeavors. The impact of the programs and initiatives is incredible!
What other community activities are you passionate about?
I serve on the school board in Eudora and am passionate about making our schools the very best. I volunteer with the summer reading programs, in our libraries and with the food pantry as well. You can find me in the seats cheering during my children's music, theatre and athletics performances. As a family, we also like to get out into nature- kayaking, hiking, camping, biking.
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FOOD | NUTRITION | HEALTH | FOOD SAFETY | |
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The summer months are a busy season for our programs reaching youth audiences. From May through the beginning of August, Douglas County K-State Research and Extension hosted three summer engagement interns. It has been several years since K-State Research and Extension has offered a statewide paid internship program.
The summer engagement program placed 60 interns in local Extension units across Kansas. Douglas County was fortunate to host three interns.
The Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE) funded the summer engagement program.
The Kansas 4-H Program provided leadership and administrative support. The primary goal for the program was to make up for COVID learning loss by providing direct educational programs for youth. Our three interns, Kalen Dressler, Rachel Pratt, and Hannah Riedy did exactly what we set out to do through their 12-week internship experience. This summer our intern team reached an astounding 1,480 youth through our healthy living and S.T.E.M. (science, technology, engineering, and math) programs.
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Field to Fork: Youth get up-close look at food on the farm
by Pat Melgares
K-State Research & Extension News Service
As America’s communities grow more urban and the number of family farms continues to shrink, Kaitlyn Peine has a pretty good idea that an increasing number of youth today are not aware of where their food is grown.
“Most families are now two to three generations removed from a family farm,” said Peine, a community health and wellness agent with K-State Research and Extension’s office in Douglas County.
Peine recently organized an effort to help kids learn about and appreciate food production. The three-day program, called Field to Fork, allowed 30 kids ages 6-11 an opportunity to see food being grown on a farm – and even get their own hands dirty.
FULL ARTICLE
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Cooking Connected is Back!
by Enrique Ortiz
SNAP-Ed Nutrition Educator
Food prices around the country are on the rise so having the ability to cook affordable well-balanced meals is more crucial than ever. More and more people are trying to cook at home, but many are unaware how to or were never properly taught how to cook. With this being a massive problem in our community, I would like to highlight one of our upcoming programs called Cooking Connected!
SNAP-Ed has hosted Cooking Connected in the past and will be returning shortly! Cooking Connected comes from our SNAP-Ed curriculum Create Better Health. The course was developed and evaluated by a team of SNAP-Ed program specialists, registered dietitians, and Utah State University Extension nutrition faculty. The goal of Cooking Connected is to educate families on nutrition and have them practice their cooking skills to reinforce how to lead a healthy life. We want our SNAP-Ed audience to have the self-efficacy to cook easy, affordable, and well-balanced meals.
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Hello, my names Makenzie. I’m a Kansas native who just moved from Wichita and am the new SNAP-Ed Educator for K-State Research and Extension Douglas County. I’m a registered dietitian and attended Kansas State and Cornell. I LOVE connecting with people and view cooking & eating together as a big connecting factor. I also see food as a connecting factor between the environment and people. At the end of the day everyone deserves to eat and I’m very passionate about food accessibility, helping people find health-promoting recipes that they enjoy & feel confident making, and helping people cultivate a healthy relationship to food.
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A Word From LiveWell Douglass County | |
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by Marty Scott
LiveWell Douglas County Executive Director
LiveWell Douglas County coalition is grateful to have the opportunity to work with and collaborate with K-State Research and Extension Douglas County. They are one of only a few agencies in the county that provides hands-on nutrition and environmental education to residents in town and in rural areas. Like K-State Research and Extension Douglas County, LiveWell is actively engaged in achieving health equity and promoting the well-being of residents. The Cooperative Extension’s model for Health Equity and Well Being is shown below:
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In 2021, the model was updated to guide Cooperative Extension’s health-related work (Burton et al. (2021) Cooperative Extension’s National Framework for Health Equity and Well Being. [Report of the Health Innovation Task Force] Extension Committee on Organization and Policy: Washington, DC.). The outer ring of the diagram lists many of the root causes of structural inequity. Additionally, the framework includes the nine social determinants of health identified by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM, 2017). Cooperative Extension added access to healthy food as a tenth determinant because of its centrality to its work. | |
More Information & Updates: Food | Nutrition | Health| Food Safety | |
HORTICULTURE & NATURAL RESOURCES | |
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Did you catch the headlines in the local papers about water utility rate increases that may be in store for Lawrence residents? Regardless of where you live, using water costs money. More importantly, water is a critical resource we can’t afford to waste.
If you have a lawn and/or a garden, nearly one-third of your water consumption is likely for irrigation (nationwide average according to the EPA). By watering your lawn efficiently, water consumption for irrigation can be reduced by up to 50 percent with only a 10 percent reduction in turf quality. The baseline recommendation for a healthy lawn is to apply one inch of water once a week. It takes approximately 624 gallons of water to apply one inch of water to 1,000 sq. ft. This is enough water to soak the soil down to about 6 inches to encourage strong root growth. So how can you judge when you are achieving this goal for your lawn?
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- Figure out what 1 inch is by running your sprinkler until it fills up a 1-inch deep tuna or pet food can – this will be a good approximation of how long you need to run your sprinkler to get one inch of water. If you’ve got heavy clay soils, you will likely need to do this across multiple soakings to give water time to soak in without running off the landscape onto the sidewalk or street.
- Use a long screwdriver to measure the depth of soil that is moist after watering. The screwdriver will move through moist soil relatively easily and stop when it hits dry soil.
- Buy a rain gauge and measure precipitation so that you know when you should water your lawn. If you have an irrigation system, consider installing a soil moisture sensor for proper watering. Don’t rely on a regular schedule or timed irrigation system to water your lawn.
- Water in the morning and do not use a sprinkler that produces a fine mist (otherwise, not much water will make it to the soil surface in the afternoon heat and wind).
You can take steps now to reduce the amount of water you use for your lawn next year. The goal is healthy soil because healthy soil retains more moisture.....
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Composting Improves the Environment & Home Garden
by Taylor Jamison
K-State Research & Extension
News Writer
Composting is a simple way to keep the home garden healthy while also helping the environment, but there is a certain art to doing it right, said Dennis Patton, a horticulture agent in K-State Research and Extension’s Johnson County office.
“The science is making sure the composting process works,” he said, “and the art part of it is figuring out what works for you.”
Patton said compost can be any dead plant or animal matter, but don’t be fooled by the definition. “We put dead stuff in the compost, but the compost is very much alive,” he said.
“We put dead stuff in the compost, but the compost is very much alive,” he said.
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More Information & Updates: Horticulture & Natural Resources | |
Solar Flares, other Activity may disrupt GPS Signals
by Pat Melgares
K-State Research & Extension
News Service
Among the many issues farmers must balance when planting or harvesting crops, one would think that the sun’s energy is not one of those.
Terry Griffin thinks differently.
That’s because Griffin – a precision agriculture economist with K-State Research and Extension – has studied the potential impact of space weather on agriculture, and specifically how solar flares and other activities in the solar system affect GPS signals to farm equipment.
Full Article
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More Information & Updates: Agriculture | |
Citizenship Washington Focus 2022 | |
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Twelve Douglas County 4-H Youth traveled to Washington D.C. this last summer, as they took part in one of the premier 4-H Youth citizenship programs, Citizenship Washington Focus (CWF).
4-H Citizenship Washington Focus (CWF) is an extensive citizenship and leadership opportunity for teens ages 14 - 18. Youth gain a better understanding of the legislative process at the local, county, state, and national levels. They also learn how their voice and participation in decision-making can make a difference in their local community.
CWF not only strengthens young people’s understanding of the government’s civic process, but also boosts their leadership skills, communication skills, and overall confidence.
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4-H Summer Engagement Interns | |
Eudora Summer Academy Experience
by Hanna Riedy
4-H Summer Engagement Intern
Over the course of the summer, I served as one of Douglas County’s Summer Engagement Interns, teaching both science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM), and healthy living to local youth. The largest program I organized was STEM programming for Eudora Summer Academy which was a free summer program for the students currently enrolled in the Eudora School District.
Participants learned many new concepts including the basics of coding, how to build a circuit, the engineering design process, and how to encrypt and decrypt data. This program positively impacted the Eudora community by providing age-appropriate, hands-on learning experiences. The students were able to use creative problem-solving skills that will serve them for the rest of their life. During the four-week program, many students were able to recall what we had done the previous week and a few even said they told their parents about the activities.
Full Article
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My 4-H Summer Engagement Experience
by Kalen Dressler
4-H Summer Engagement Intern
Being a Summer Engagement Intern at Douglas County Research and Extension was a really great experience. I am very blessed to have had this opportunity.
While interning this summer, one of our tasks was to travel around the community and teach Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM), and differing Science topics. The programs that were the highlights of my experience as a Douglas County 4H Summer Engagement Intern were Field to Fork and our Douglas County Fair Booth!
Full Article
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Greenbush & Feeding Eudora Experience
by Rachel Pratt
4-H Summer Engagement Intern
The summer has brought along many new challenges for me, but ultimately the opportunity to reach more kids than I thought was possible in a real and meaningful way. While all of the interns worked with each program to some extent, we were asked to take the lead on different ones.
For me, the first of these were two day-camp programs at Greenbush Academy Resource Center. Douglas County Research and Extension put on a two-day program called Fun and Fitness that presented real-world healthy living practices and easy homemade recipes using the Teen Cuisine curriculum at Greenbush Academy Resource Center.
The camp reached 13 students, and 70 percent of students reported that they learned something about healthy eating choices, being active, making healthy food, serving sizes, and MyPlate.
Full Article
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For More Information & Updates: 4H of Douglas County | |
UPDATES & IMPORTANT EVENTS | |
*Click above/below links & images to access more information and/or registration pages.* | |
*All Livewell Douglas County Enterprise Training Sessions are email registrations only. Please contact Marty Scott at [email protected] to register for any of them. | |
Kansas State University is committed to making its services, activities, and programs accessible to all participants. If you have special requirements due to a physical, vision, or hearing disability, contact K-State Research and Extension Douglas County, 785-843-7058. Notify staff of accommodation needs as early as possible. Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service K-State Research and Extension is an equal opportunity provider and employer. | |
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Douglas County K-State Research and Extension
(785) 843-7058
2110 Harper Street
Lawrence, KS 66046
| Monday - Friday | 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM |
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