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Better Kansas – Ideas for Living, Growing and Succeeding

Tag: child care

Better Kansas – April 9, 2020

Posted on by Mary Lou Peter

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Welcome to Better Kansas! Today we touch on new resources for teens, tweens and anyone taking care of younger children, cooking with in-season fruits and vegetables, another look at First Friday e-Calls for small businesses, Growing Growers, antimicrobials in cattle and the developing wheat crop. 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

THIS PANDEMIC AND THE CLOSURE OF SCHOOLS AND PRESCHOOLS HAS MANY PARENTS SCRAMBLING TO FIND CHILD CARE. If you know a family with older siblings looking after younger siblings or maybe taking care of a friend’s or neighbor’s kiddos, let them know about a new resource, Suddenly in Charge. Resources added to the new web page will support teens or tweens … really anyone who’s taking care of young children, coronavirus or not. The first item under the “Safety” tab, Baby Sitter Information, features a downloadable, printable list that can be helpful for anyone taking care of children. It includes space for parents’ names, contact information, physical address where you’re caring for the child, child’s doctor’s contact information, a section for rules, screen time, naptime and more. Helpful tools I wish I’d had when I had child care for my own children and later when my children helped care for others’ kids. And don’t forget to check back. New resources will be added in the coming weeks.

 

I’VE BEEN FOCUSING A LOT ON FOOD LATELY, maybe because like many of you, I’m working from home and am about 10 paces from my kitchen :-0 ! I’ve come across a resource, Simple Seasonal Meals that comes with suggestions for cooking what’s in season, complete with a few recipes to get you started. Soon that will be asparagus, strawberries and spinach! And don’t miss page 8 that features a great harvest calendar. It shows what and when fruits and vegetables are typically harvested in Kansas. You know what that means, right? You’ll likely find them on sale during that time at your favorite market!

 

LAST WEEK I TOLD YOU ABOUT FIRST FRIDAY E-CALLS AVAILABLE FOR SMALL KANSAS BUSINESSES. We had 190 people on last week’s call that featured several speakers from key state agencies addressing COVID-19 and resources available to Kansas’ small businesses and their employees. Unfortunately, we were one of the many recent victims of Zoom bombing, so the public side of the call was ended quickly. The good news is that the speakers stayed on and recorded their good information. If you’re a small business owner or employee affected by the pandemic, take a look at the First Friday e-call information. It’s hard to know what motivates Zoom bombers, but we’ve taken steps to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Better Farming, Ranching and Gardening

GROWING GROWERS IS GEARING UP! Wichita and Kansas City area produce growers, not only those who sell or have thought about selling to the public, but also those who are simply interested in growing fresh fruits and vegetables, have resources available to them through Growing Growers Kansas City and Growing Growers ICT (Wichita/southeast Kansas area). Both programs have workshops available to help hone your skills and for more hands on training, apprentice farmer education programs so you can learn from veteran farmers.

MENTION CATTLE, BEEF AND ANTIMICROBIAL MEDICATION IN THE SAME CONVERSATION, and you’ll likely get all kinds of opinions on antibiotic resistance in humans and animals. But just like humans, cattle do get sick and sometimes need to be treated with antibiotics to fight the infection and return them to health. There are strict requirements for how much time must pass between when an animal is treated with an antimicrobial and when they can go to the packing plant – that first step in the process that ends with beef on your table. To learn a lot more about this topic, take a look at FDA-Approved Injectable Beef Cattle Antimicrobials

 

JUST LIKE GROWING CHILDREN, THE WHEAT CROP HAS CERTAIN NUTRIENT NEEDS AS WELL. Yellow spots in the field may be linked to the developing crop’s need for nitrogen, which could be for a myriad of reasons, including insufficient fertilizer, application problems, leaching from heavy rains and more. For a lot more on this topic, check out an article on What are the Causes of Yellow Wheat from the Agronomy eUpdate. BTW, as of Sunday, April 5, the Kansas wheat crop was rated 3% very poor, 10% poor, 38% fair, 41% good and 8% excellent, according to the USDA-National Agricultural Statistics Service. It still has a ways to go until the harvest this summer. Let’s hope for great weather.

https://webapp.agron.ksu.edu/agr_social/article/what-are-the-causes-of-yellow-wheat-381-1

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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. 27, 2020

Posted on by Mary Lou Peter

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In this week’s Better Kansas, we take a look at child care considerations, pets and your budget, the spring weather outlook, Cattlemen’s Day, and the most recent issue of the AgReport – my way of shedding light on events, resources and other information designed to make your life, businesses, communities and state better. It’s 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

MORE THAN HALF OF MOTHERS WITH CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF FIVE work outside the home, and that means many of those kiddos (12.5 million as of 2011) are being cared for by grandparents, child care centers, or others. It’s incredibly hard for moms and dads to go off to work every day if they’re not confident their child is in a supportive, nurturing and safe environment. A short article on the topic goes over some of the factors most important to young children’s development and may help provide food for thought when determining what the best child care situation is for your young child or grandchild.

 

TURTLES AND GERBILS AND BIRDS, OH MY! A few months ago, I posted information about pets and our budgets and decided to revisit the topic in view of a recent article about pet ownership. According to the underlying survey, 69% of Americans have a pet of some sort in their home. Not surprisingly, dogs came in No. 1 at 45%, cats No. 2 at 35% and fish No. 3 at 9%. Having pets can bring so many benefits, but does come at a cost. This fact sheet takes a helpful look at various considerations when it comes to pet ownership and our money. I’m right where pet owners find themselves sometimes, figuring out the right decision financially and quality of life-wise with my pet after getting a diagnosis from the vet that’s hard to hear.

 

Better Farming, Ranching and Gardening

IT LOOKS LIKE WE MAY STAY A LITTLE CHILLIER THAN NORMAL INTO MARCH, according to the Kansas Climate Office, but the outlook for precipitation is somewhat less clear. The potential for spring flooding is greatest in eastern Kansas, while counties on the western side of the state could use some moisture. We have a big state! Take a look at the latest article on March weather and the spring outlook, complete with information and precipitation maps showing where we are compared with average years.

 

K-STATE’S ANNUAL CATTLEMEN’S DAY 2020 IS COMING UP MARCH 6 in Weber Hall on the Manhattan campus, where attendees will find presentations and information about research results on everything from forage sampling and analysis to calving to genetic and reproductive trends in the global beef industry and more. Plus, the camaraderie of fellow producers! Vendors will have displays available throughout the day, and smoked brisket and Cajun-spiced catfish are on the lunchtime menu, compliments of U.S. Premium Beef and vendors. Check out the Cattlemen’s Day website for much more information.

 

K-STATE’S LATEST ‘AG REPORT’ MAGAZINE HAS A NEW LOOK and includes profiles on several prominent College of Agriculture faculty members who are making a difference in Kansas and internationally through their research, teaching and outreach. The Winter 2020 AgReport also includes a student profile, update on a new building for the Department of Grain Science and Industry, a recent international livestock sustainability conference hosted by K-State and a brief look at education programs, research and extension across the state and ways that K-State Research and Extension is supporting five grand challenges the state is facing, including: water, health, global food systems, community vitality and developing tomorrow’s leaders.

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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/