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Better Kansas – Ideas for Living, Growing and Succeeding

Tag: physical activity

Better Kansas – April 2, 2020

Posted on by Mary Lou Peter

Header image for the Better Kansas BlogIn the latest Better Kansas, we explore alternatives to in-person learning, staying active at home, information for small businesses, online food safety workshops for produce growers, corn seeding rates and beef cattle research reports. This is a small glimpse of what K-State Research and Extension across the state has to offer. Share on social media and subscribe! – Mary Lou Peter mlpeter@ksu.edu

Better Living, Better Communities

IN-PERSON CLASSES ARE A NO-NO RIGHT NOW, BUT THE LEARNING ISN’T STOPPING! In some cases, it’s just in a different format. Check out this video on YouTube with good, practical information on preparing dried beans in an electric pressure cooker. Take a look at your county or district extension office and on the K-State Research and Extension homepage for other ways we’re delivering research-based, practical information. Many of us are working from home right now, but we’re still here for you, figuring out new ways to do things and planning more good educational outreach when we are finally able to meet again the old fashioned way.    

 

HUNKERING DOWN AND STAYING AT HOME does not mean we should stop moving! In fact, my friends and I have shared on Facebook and text messages about how the refrigerator and pantry are a little too convenient right now and overeating is a definite possibility. Those butter croissants (so tasty, but oh so fattening) keep calling to me! In my defense, the store was all out of regular bread that day. Take a look at Move More, Sit Less: Tips for Staying Active While at Home. Fortunately, the cookies that were whispering to me from the pantry are no longer a temptation … because … you know … I ate them!

 

SMALL BUSINESS ALERT: There’s no better time to take advantage of free monthly online informational sessions called First Friday e-Calls occurring on the first Fridays of the month. The calls feature presentations and speakers with the goal of making small business owners and community leaders aware of experts, education and economic resources available to them. Each call is archived. The Friday, April 3 call features the Kansas Secretary of Labor, Kansas Secretary of Commerce and Kansas Director of Unemployment Services, all speaking to the COVID-19 pandemic with information pertinent to small businesses and their employees. Previous calls addressed such topics as cybersecurity, Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), filling empty buildings and many more.

Better Farming, Ranching and Gardening

COVID-19 MAY BE SLOWING OUR DAY-TO-DAY ACTIVITIES, BUT THE CROPS MUST GO ON or should I say in? To keep fresh produce growers up on food safety requirements, particularly those who sell their fruits and vegetables, a number of online workshops are planned in April and May, including free Produce Safety and COVID-19 Updates via Zoom. Workshops on USDA’s Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and Introduction to Fresh Produce Safety Training are also available. Take a look at the On-Farm Produce Safety page for all the scoops, as my lovely sister-in-law used to say.

 

AND SPEAKING OF CROPS GOING IN, the state’s corn growers are eager to get out there and start planting. Check out Optimal corn seeding rate recommendations in a recent Agronomy eUpdate for details about different hybrids, plus how planting date, row spacing and crop rotations factor in. While you’re at it, this might be a good time to review the Corn Production Handbook, which includes hybrid selection, optimal planting practices, insect, weed and nutrient management and more.

 

 

K-STATE’S CATTLEMEN’S DAY 2020 HAPPENED IN EARLY MARCH, but even if you missed the camaraderie, great food, presentations and keynote speakers, you can still access reports on 12 research projects in Cattlemen’s Day 2020 Beef Cattle Research. Topics include research results on management practices, beef cattle nutrition and meat science. Now, if only we could arrange a delivery of that lunchtime smoked brisket for you!

 

 

 

 

 

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For more resources and activities, contact the K-State Research and Extension office in your area. Check out our other blogs and subscribe to our weekly emails here: https://www.ksre.k-state.edu/news/blogs/

Better Kansas – Feb. 20, 2020

Posted on by Mary Lou Peter

Header image for the Better Kansas BlogIn today’s Better Kansas, we bring you eight weeks to better health, soup sense, birds disappearing – Part 2, an online tool for farmers, and prescribed burning – all events, resources and other information designed to make your life, businesses, communities and state better. This is a small glimpse of what K-State Research and Extension across the state has to offer. Share on social media and subscribe! – Mary Lou Peter mlpeter@ksu.edu

Better Living, Better Communities

THE DAYS ARE GETTING LONGER AND THE WEATHER A BIT WARMER, so walk your way to better health by signing up for Walk Kansas! The eight-week, team-based program that promotes physical activity and healthy eating starts March 15 and runs through May 9. This year, in addition to support to help get us moving, we’ll learn about the shared lifestyle traits of people in the Blue Zones, those areas of the world where people tend to live longer and healthier, plus the benefits of the Mediterranean diet. For a $10 per person fee, you and your team (usually six people) can report and track your progress online, receive weekly emailed newsletters with tips and recipes and information about local activities. Your team can be made up of neighbors, friends, co-workers or family members… or people you barely know. They can even be on the other side of the state … or in different states. To learn more, take a look at the Walk Kansas website or check with your local K-State Research and Extension office. Trust me, you can be the most rookie walker in the world and still benefit from this. LET’S GET OUT THERE!

 

WHETHER YOU’RE A TOMATO SOUP KIND OF GUY OR A CORN CHOWDER KIND OF GIRL, we’re still in what I consider soup season. (We’ll get into cold summer soups another time :).  Anyway, I came across this Soup … Versatile Comfort Food that offers good tips and reminders about making healthy, yet satisfying soups and stews. Yum! I can almost taste that vegetable soup right now! And if you’d rather listen, here’s an audio version. There’s even a Mexican soup recipe you can make in your slow cooker, compliments of Iowa State University! That’s the way the cooperative extension service across the U.S. works – we share! Still smarting from that last basketball loss to ISU though 🙁

Better Farming, Ranching and Gardening

LAST WEEK I LINKED TO ‘DID WE ACTUALLY LOSE 3 BILLION BIRDS’ Part 1 that centered on why we have fewer bird populations in North America than we did in the 1970s. Today, in Part 2, a longtime K-State Research and Extension birder goes over what we as humans can do to help reduce bird fatalities. Hint: It looks like keeping cats indoors is a really good idea. Plus, I learned that cats are not native to the North American ecosystem! Who knew?!

Slightly off topic (my way of saying this is not a completely smooth segue), but since I’ve had birds on my mind over the last few weeks, I’ve thought about the 1960s movie The Birds, one of those unforgettable films. A classic in my book….95% on Rotten Tomatoes.

IT’S AN AWESOME SIGHT TO SEE – PLANNED BURNING OF THE KANSAS PRAIRIE.  There’s still time to attend a prescribed burning workshop with three coming up soon: Feb. 26 in Hamilton, March 4 in Phillipsburg, and March 5 in Fredonia. Each workshop is about five hours long and includes materials and lunch. Topics include planning and conducting a burn, safety, liability, fire weather and more. In addition, numerous publications and fact sheets about prescribed burning are available from the K-State Research and Extension bookstore. Type in “prescribed burning” in the search function.

Other workshops in cooperation with other agencies are also in the works.

IT’S STILL BASKETBALL SEASON AND ALL, BUT K-STATE AND OKLAHOMA STATE set aside rivalries long enough to come together and produce the OSU-KSU Decision Tool for crop producers. The online tool can help growers look at different options when it comes to crop insurance election decisions that must be made by March 15 under the 2018 Farm Bill. The tool helps farmers compare Price Loss Coverage (PLC), Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC), and the Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO). It’s a lot of alphabet soup, I know, but worth the effort. The information is on the AgManager.info website which also has more information about the most recent Farm Bill and other educational resources for farmers and ranchers.

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For more resources and activities, contact the K-State Research and Extension office in your area. Check out our other blogs and subscribe to our weekly emails here: https://www.ksre.k-state.edu/news/blogs/