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Events
Texas A & M extension agents visit Red River Research Station
Twenty-four extension agents from Texas A&M Extension Service participated in several activities during their visit to North Louisiana Aug. 26.
Their first stop was at the Red River Research Station where they were introduced to Troy Menard, Jeannie Crnkovic and Dr. Patrick Colyer. They participated in a “riding” tour of the station, which included observing research plots and the constructed wetland.
They then returned to the meeting room where each scientist gave a brief overview of his research project.
After lunch, Menard escorted the group to Hummer and Sons Honey Farm and then on to a lawn sod farm in north Caddo Parish. The following day, the group traveled to Lafayette and Baton Rouge where other tours and educational sessions were planned.
Cookery contest moves to NSU
Gwen Taylor Fontenot, FCS extension agent in Natchitoches and Sabine parishes, has been instrumental in forming a partnership with Northwestern State University to host the 2009 Area Cookery Contest.
The Department of Family and Consumer Science will assist in its new state-of–the-art facility, complete with a commercial foods, merchandising and computer lab and student lounge. Even though the actual contest will not be held at the FCS building due to size constraints, it will still be available for tours during the contest.
Dr. Pat Pierson, department head, and Connie Jones, assistant professor, are eager to show off their jewel to the youth of 4-H. Currently, the department offers a B.S. in Family and Consumer Science with five concentrations, including nutrition and food systems management.
Fontenot will chair the Area 5 Cookery committee and looks forward to the positive change and promoting the university environment to youth and parents alike. The event will be April 15.
Cotton Bale Sale a success
The first bale of cotton harvested in Caddo Parish was sold to a group of bidders for $3,775 on Oct. 6 in the Caddo Extension Office.
The cotton was produced by second-, third- and fourth-generation Volentine family farmers. Ray, Mike and Mike’s sons, Kevin and Wesley, are still on the farm producing cotton as it has been done since 1941. Another historical fact is that an ancestor produced the first bale of cotton in Claiborne Parish in the 1920s.
The cotton was planted April 15 and harvested Sept. 18 at the Volentine Partnership/Soda Fount Plantation in Dixie. It weighs 496 pounds.
Johnny LeVasseur, county agent, said cotton was a tough crop this year. Jack Dillard, who served as auctioneer, said, “Cotton belongs in the Red River Valley. There is a whole lot to be said for King Cotton. If you’re going to sweat in the summer, you want a cotton shirt.”
Dillard was presented a pair of Rios of Mercedes boots by LeVasseur.
Seminars, Conferences, Exhibits
Lunch and Ag Discovery praised by news media
The topic of preparing food safely for tailgating, presented by Joan Almond and Connie Aclin Sept. 17, was a fun-filled, outdoor program that included recipes for grilling, a fan and many door prizes, including artwork from Tiger Island.
Aclin appeared on the KTBS morning show, and Maura Pugh wrote about the event in her food column in The Times. Adam Causey, also from The Times, attended, as did Rep. Henry Burns and a couple who evacuated from Hurricane Ike.
SAIL with Your Haynesville Shale Dollars
A community forum to address the financial issues facing persons receiving Haynesville Shale monies held on Sept. 9 at Airline High School attracted a panel of experts with a wealth of information.
The panel included attorneys, real estate agents, investment brokers, financial planners, bankers and accountants.
Biodiesel good for environment, pocketbook
About 40 people attended a biodiesel production program presented by Dr. Bill Carney, LSU AgCenter environmental educator, who told them they can make their own fuel to run in diesel engines for a fraction of what regular petroleum costs.
The fuel is made by chemically altering animal fats or vegetable oil through the use of a catalyst and an alcohol. He said the biodiesel that runs in his Passat is more environmentally friendly, gives his vehicle the same power and get up and go, and quite possibly a quieter engine.
4-H News
Doyline High 4-H paints wall
Doyline High School 4-H members Jessica Corke, Beau Cook and Rachael Sparish painted the “4-H Wall” in the classroom of their leader, Susan Addington.
Cook, 4-H president, and other members keep their records and information organized, produce fliers and organize enrollment and participation information, helping to keep the club going strong and stay organized.
Employee News
Warm welcome to Laura Haley, Administrative Coordinator 3, Caddo Parish
Leona Camel, Nutrition Educator I, Caddo - Nutrition Office
Cynthia Murray, Nutrition Educator I, Caddo - Nutrition Office
Awards/Recognition/Training
Newsweek features school helped by LSU AgCenter
Oil City Elementary Magnet School, which receives assistance from the LSU AgCenter through Project Learning Tree, was featured in a story on eco-education in the Sept. 15 issue of Newsweek.
PLT is an environmental education program of the American Forest Foundation, according to Ricky Kilpatrick, an LSU AgCenter area forester who is state chair for the organization. Other Louisiana partners are the Louisiana Forestry Association and Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry.
Newsweek reports PLT has helped increase Oil City enrollment and raise test scores.
In 1999, when Louisiana first began assigning an academic rating, the school’s score on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills was 26 points below the state average. The school has now reached a score of 89, an improvement of 48.6 points, surpassing the state average.
Principal Mike Irvin is quoted in the article as saying, “Our students are good stewards of the Earth, but more than that, we really train them to be good citizens and good thinkers.”
For the last five years, the school’s fifth-grade students have visited the constructed wetland project and the greenhouse tomatoes at the LSU AgCenter’s Red River Research Station to learn how a wetland can improve the water quality of runoff coming off agricultural land. Second-graders have toured the LSU AgCenter’s Pecan Research Station.
Kilpatrick, who has been a part of PLT since the program was introduced in Louisiana in 1985, worked with the Oil City school to make PLT a part of its curriculum. He built a classroom in the greenhouse, trained teachers and helped obtain native trees and lay out the nature trail.
He has been a presenter at the school’s last four environmental festivals – held instead of a traditional field day – and has played a part in each Arbor Day program the past five years.
Grace Peterson, LSU AgCenter Family Nutrition Program garden coordinator, has conducted a junior Master Gardener program for fourth-graders at the school.
Cindy Kilpatrick, the science facilitator at Oil City, says the PLT-certified school is receiving national recognition for its turnaround in school performance as a result of an environmental science magnet and use of PLT across the curriculum, both indoors and outside.
The Kilpatricks and Brenda Smith, a fourth-grade teacher and National Outstanding Educator for PLT, presented information on outdoor learning and were the keynote speakers at the first Tennessee Outdoor Classroom Symposium in April.
Developed in 1976, PLT has an international network of more than 500,000 trained educators using PLT materials that cover the total environment.
Kilpatrick attends LFA meeting
Ricky Kilpatrick attended the 61st annual meeting of the Louisiana Forestry Association in Marksville, where topics included global forces in shaping the forest economy, the role of tree farmers in carbon banking, improving return on oil and gas leases and entertainment by comedian Greg Hahn.
Walker and Menard go to Hammond Research Station for training
Two Northwest agents attended Agent In-Service Training in Landscape Horticulture for Commercial and Consumer Application Aug. 28 at the Hammond Research Station.
Calvin Walker, Webster extension agent (ANR/4-H), and Troy Menard, Bossier agent, toured the ornamental pepper garden, learning the way they are ranked as far as pungency (heat), pest and disease resistance, fruit and foliage. They also toured the roses before moving into the classroom to discuss weed research and consumer herbicide products.
They met two gentlemen who built a plant and garden enthusiast Web site, onlineplantguide.com. One can search the common name and traits of a plant. The site has about 10,000 different photos.
Also discussed were palms found in Louisiana and ways to prune them and urban/shade tree recommendations for Louisiana.
LAE4-HA elects Menard
Troy Menard is vice president of the Louisiana Association of Extension 4-H Agents for a two-year term. He was recently elected in Baton Rouge.
LAE4-HA announces award winners
Award winners were honored at the Louisiana Association of Extension 4-H Agents annual state convention Aug. 19-22 in Baton Rouge. Excellence in Team Work Awards were presented to Diane Uzzle for her program on Jurors Empowering Teens, where she partners with the Bienville Police Jury, and to Laurie Lafollette, Becky Kelley and Laura Brumbaugh for their Tri Parish Junior Leadership Retreat. Winners will present sessions on their work at the 2009 LAE4-HA Convention. Brumbaugh is assistant extension agent in Natchitoches Parish.
Robinson attends Joint Council of Extension Professionals
Cathryn Robinson, assistant agent for Caddo-Bossier EFNEP, returned from the Galaxy III National Conference Sept. 15-19 in Indianapolis, Ind., having served on the awards and recognition subcommittee and Happy Faces.
Happy Faces involved agents who agreed to bring a camera and take pictures of the smiling faces in attendance. Pictures were downloaded and shown during closing ceremonies.
JCEP promotes communication, cooperation and professionalism among extension educators. This year’s focus was on marketing extension, advocacy, professional development and capacity building, fund development and balancing work, family and personal time.
Calendar
Oct. 10
Today is AgCellent Expo for third graders at the Zwolle Tamale Festival. Also, Chuck Griffin will conduct a dairy milking demonstration at the festival.
Oct. 22 to Nov. 9
Louisiana State Fair!
4-H Day at the Fair is Oct. 29. The Caddo/Bossier EFNEP Office will present “The Platoon Patrol” that day and Nov. 5 starting at 9:30 a.m. and ending at noon. This educational show will be presented in the Louisiana State Exhibit Museum Auditorium. The show is designed to appeal to ECE, Head Start, kindergarten, first-grade and second-grade school children.
"It's not so much how busy you are, but why you are busy. The bee is praised. The mosquito is swatted."— Mary O'Connor, author