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Category: August 2018

Food Preservation Workshop

Posted on by Marci Metz

Join us on August 21st, 2018 at the Lebanon Community Center from 9-4 for a hands on Food Preservation workshop! Participants will learn food preservation basics and will can meat, peaches, and jams and jellies. Ashley Svaty, Post Rock District and Anna Schremmer, Phillips-Rooks District will teach the workshop. Cost is $25, which will include lunch.  Each participant will leave with their canned items, materials, and door prizes! Please bring a box to the workshop to carry your jars. Workshop flier can be found here https://bit.ly/2L7WMeh

Register at this link https://goo.gl/forms/n04wR1D2v6ZbdrtP2

Or by calling (785) 524-4432 or visiting any Post Rock District office. Registration and payment is due August 14th. *Financial scholarships available.

By:  Ashley Svaty

Everyday Mindfulness

Posted on by Marci Metz

The term, “mindfulness” seems to be everywhere — it’s touted as the new yoga, the answer to stress, or the alternative to prescription drugs. But beyond the buzz, do you understand the concepts of “mindfulness”? With the Everyday Mindfulness fact sheet, K-State Research and Extension professionals aim to provide a definition of mindfulness, share some of the benefits of practicing mindfulness, provide samples of simple exercises, and provide resources to explore. View the entire resource at: https://www.bookstore.ksre.ksu.edu/pubs/MF3424.pdf. Contact Nora Rhoades if you want to learn more about mindfulness or to explore ways you can practice mindfulness in throughout your unique lifestyle.

By:  Nora Rhoades

Back to School Tips

Posted on by Marci Metz

Whether you are making your own lunch for work or packing your child’s school lunch, keep these tips in mind for a safe and nutritious to-go meal!

  • Keep it cold and safe. Choose an insulated lunchbox, or always pack an ice pack if the contents contain an item that needs to stay cold.
  • Focus on colorful vegetables. Pack more dark green, red, and orange vegetables. Pack a healthy dip such as hummus to add more flavor and fun.
  • Fuel up with fruits. Choose whole fruits or fruit packed in 100% juice. Oranges, pears, peaches, berries, and unsweetened applesauce are a few great choices that will easily fit into a lunch box.
  • Shoot for whole grains. Choose whole grain foods, such as whole-wheat bread and whole wheat tortillas or crackers.
  • Pack Calcium-rich foods. Choose low-fat milk, yogurt and cheese for your child. Remember to keep these foods cold.
  • Vary the protein and healthy fats. Peanut butter, tuna, or a lean turkey sandwich are great to pack for lunch. Nuts or a hard-boiled egg are also great.

By:  Ashley Svaty

Fall Gardening

Posted on by Marci Metz

Do you wish you could have a second chance on your garden this year? Lucky for you many cool-season garden crops in Kansas can be planted again for a fall harvest.  Probably the last thing most gardeners are thinking of now is planting vegetables. However, fall gardens will often produce higher quality, tastier cool-season crops as the vegetable mature during cooler, less stressful temperatures.

Plant slightly deeper than you would in the spring so the seed stays cooler and the soil around the seed stays moist longer. Plant more thickly and thin later. The plants may need to be protected from rabbits through the use of fencing.

Fall Gardening Calendar

Mid-July: Plant potatoes if you can find or have saved back seed potatoes. Do not use freshly dug potatoes as they have a built-in dormancy that will prevent growth. Also, grocery store potatoes are often treated so they don’t sprout.

Cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower can be started from seed at this time. Choose a protected place where the soil can be kept moist and rabbits will not bother them. This will not be where they will grow the entire season but these crops will be transplanted about mid-August.

Late July: Seed beets, carrots and beans.

Late July to Early August: Seed spinach and long-season maturing lettuce. Leaf lettuce will be seeded later.

Second Week of August: Transplant cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower to their final location.  Mid to Late August: Seed radishes and leaf lettuce.

Use light amounts of fertilizer before planting. For example, apply 1/4 cup of a low-analysis fertilizer (6-7-7) per 10 feet of row. Side-dress two weeks after transplanting or four weeks after sowing seed by applying 2 tablespoons of a 16-0-0 or 1 tablespoon of a 27-3-3, 30-3-4 fertilizer, or something similar per plant.

Watering must occur more frequently because seed should not be allowed to dry out. Overhead watering often causes soil to crust, making it more difficult for young, tender plants to emerge. Prevent this by applying a light sprinkling of peat moss, vermiculite or compost directly over the row after seeding. Even better, use a soaker hose or drip irrigation right next to the row to allow water to slowly seep into the ground.

By: Cassie Homan

Dividing Your Daylilies

Posted on by Marci Metz

If you were disappointed in the quality of your daylily blooms this year, it may be time to divide. Daylilies need to be divided every three to four years to maintain vigor. This is the best time of year to divide them, but they can also be divided in early spring before growth starts. Many gardeners cut back the tops to about half their original height to make plants easier to handle.

Daylilies have a very tough root system that can make them difficult to divide while in place. Dividing in place is practical if it hasn’t been long since the last division. In such cases, a spading fork can be used to peel fans from the existing clump. If the plants have been in place longer and are well grown together, it is more practical to divide them after the entire clump has been dug.

Use a spade to lift the entire clump out of the ground. Although it is possible to cut the clump apart with a sharp spade, you’ll save more roots by using two spading forks back-to-back to divide the clump into sections. Each section should be about the size of a head of cauliflower. An easier method involves using a stream of water from a garden hose to wash the soil from the clump, and then rolling the clump back and forth until the individual divisions separate. Space divisions 24 to 30 inches apart, and set each at its original depth. The number of flowers will be reduced the first year after division but will return to normal until the plants need to be divided again.

By: Cassie Homan