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Better Kansas – Ideas for Living, Growing and Succeeding

Tag: drought

Better Kansas – May 6, 2021

Posted on by Mary Lou Peter

Header image for the Better Kansas Blog

This week in Better Kansas I touch on food safety guidance for food stands and bake sales, wheat gluten, Garden Hour webinars, crop scout training and drought as it relates to ranch management. 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

WE’RE GETTING BACK TO NORMAL … SORT OF. At least we’re now able to hold (and attend) some events, and where there are events, there is food, right? The Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention all recently reaffirmed there is no evidence of COVID-19 transmission via food or food packaging. But for those of us who organize or work food stands and bake sales, K-State Research and Extension has developed recommendations for COVID safety to help mitigate the virus’s transmission from one person to another. If your church, school or community is planning an event, take a look at Safety guidance for food stands and bake sales in 2021. For other food topics, see the food safety web page. And please, stay safe out there.

 

WHEN STROLLING GROCERY STORE AISLES it doesn’t take long to find a food product labeled “gluten free.” But what is gluten, really? And why should we care? Is it really something to avoid? After all, it gives breads and other baked products their elastic, chewy properties. That makes me think of yummy bagels! Take a look at Gluten and Your Gut’s Good Health for more information about wheat gluten itself, plus facts about celiac disease and other conditions.

 Better Farming, Ranching and Gardening

I’M WONDERING HOW MANY OF YOU MOSTLY IGNORED YOUR INDOOR CHORES THE LAST COUPLE OF WEEKENDS, and instead took advantage of gorgeous weather to plant flowers and vegetables? I certainly did! For you like-minded spirits, the popular K-State Garden Hour webinars will continue through the summer and into fall. New topics are featured the first and third Wednesday each month from 12-1 p.m. Take a little break, have a bite to eat and learn about such topics as:

May 19 – Xeriscaping – Beautiful Landscapes with Less Water

June 2 – Effective Irrigation

June 16 – Native Plants to Support Native Bees

Aug. 4 – Organic Gardening

Aug. 18 – Gardening with Beneficial Insects

Sept.  1 – Basics of Growing Berries in Kansas

One-step registration allows your participation in any of the 2021 K-State Garden Hour series and provides access to previously recorded webinars, plus resources you may have missed. Check it out.

 

FARMERS KNOW THE VALUE OF KEEPING A CLOSE, WELL-TRAINED EYE ON THEIR FIELDS, watching for signs of pests, diseases and other problems that can eat into their crops and profits. To help keep those eyes well trained, a team of crop protection specialists at 11 Midwest universities including K-State, have now come together to produce the 2021 Virtual Crop Scout School free to the public. Read about it in a recent edition of the Agronomy eUpdate, which also touches on cotton stand establishment, stripe rust update in wheat, soybean seeding rates, effect of row spacing on soy yield, and facts about lightning (and staying safe).

 

I’M A NATIVE KANSAN BUT NEVER KNEW THAT OUR STATE IS LIKELY TO HAVE A DROUGHT THREE OUT OF 10 YEARS. Now that I think of it, that sounds right. When 2021 began, more than 81% of Kansas was experiencing some level of drought. Conditions have improved, however, with the April 29, 2021 U.S. Drought Monitor showing only western Kansas, or about 36% of the state in abnormally dry to severe drought conditions. Read about drought monitoring and ranch management in the May Beef Tips newsletter. Other topics this month cover cleaning winter feeding sites to reduce stable flies and nutrient runoff, the spring breeding season, and mineral supplements. In terms of drought, keep an eye on the western U.S. and the Corn Belt.

https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/

https://enewsletters.k-state.edu/beeftips/category/may-2021/

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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 – Nov. 19, 2020

Posted on by Mary Lou Peter

Header image for the Better Kansas Blog

In today’s Better Kansas, we touch on holiday food preparation, Kansas PRIDE happenings, produce contributions feeding the hungry, dry to drought conditions across the state, sorghum product advances (more about feeding the hungry) and a change in pest management schools. This is a small glimpse of what K-State Research and Extension across the state has to offer.

I am taking a break next week to try out some of these holiday tips I’ve been sharing and to give thanks – for my family, friends, colleagues, readers and while we’re at it, food, shelter, health, a nice fall day …. I could go on and on! HAPPY THANKSGIVING and as always, feel free to share on social media and subscribe! – Mary Lou Peter mlpeter@ksu.edu

Better Living, Better Communities

TURKEYS, STUFFING AND TURDUCKENS, OH MY! In looking for info for the other part of my job (writing and editing news articles), I happened upon a full page dedicated to preparing holiday foods. Us being a university and all, it’s mostly links to good information about research-based food safety, but there are also a few basic recipes. Many of the resources are available in both English and Spanish. And YES, under “Seasonal Food Safety” there really is a fact sheet about how to safely prepare turducken. I didn’t realize until now that we have Louisianans to thank for those layered turkey-duck-chicken creations. Also, don’t miss the USDA Hotline Answers. Isn’t accidentally cooking the bag of giblets in the turkey a rite of passage for novice cooks?!

 

AGAIN, CONGRATULATIONS TO THE KANSAS PRIDE PROGRAM as it celebrates its 50th anniversary of helping make communities across the state better. In the November PRIDE newsletter we can read about (or listen to) a Kansas Profile column on the restoration of the high school in Lecompton, Kansas (pictured), which now serves as the community center, library, physical activity and meeting venue. Plus, learn about ways volunteers in Potwin, Riverton, Galena, Wichita, Ellis and Conway Springs are working to make their communities better. Don’t miss “If It Is To Be, It Is Up To Me.” And for those of you on social media, Kansas PRIDE is also on Facebook.

Better Farming, Ranching and Gardening

K-STATE’S OLATHE HORTICULTURE CENTER is at it again – teaming up with non-profit After the Harvest to help feed hungry families in the Kansas City metro area. And this time, we’re on television! After the Harvest has volunteer “gleaners” who travel to the university’s horticulture center and other farms in the area to harvest fresh produce that was missed or – in the university’s case – not needed for research. That fresh, nutritious food – thousands of pounds of it – is then distributed to families in need through Harvester’s, a regional food bank serving 26 counties in northeastern Kansas and northwestern Missouri. Read about this effort plus current research in fruits and vegetables, turfgrass, work with Growing Growers and more in the Olathe Horticulture Center Fall 2020 Newsletter. And watch upcoming issues of this blog for updates on Kansas Extension Master Gardeners’ (aka EMGs) generous efforts across the state.

 

SPEAKING OF HUNGRY PEOPLE, researchers here in Kansas are working to better utilize Kansas crops – corn, soybeans, wheat and sorghum – to feed hungry populations around the world AND give Kansas agriculture an economic boost. Take a look at Sorghum grain provides answers for food shortages to learn how fortified food products can alleviate hunger and add high caloric value to support early development in young children. Given that Kansas grows by far more sorghum than any other state, this effort and work like this is beneficial for the world’s growing population and for the agricultural economy right here at home.

KANSAS, LIKE MANY STATES, IS DRY, with 12% in severe or worse drought as of Nov. 10. The rest of the state, save some southern counties, was in the abnormally dry to moderate drought category, according to a K-State e-Update article and the U.S. Drought Monitor. For an update on how dry conditions and fall temperatures have affected our important winter wheat crop, take a look at Factors to Consider in Winter Survival of Wheat. For the record, USDA/NASS reported that the state’s newly planted winter wheat was rated 32% good to excellent, 45% fair, and 23% poor to very poor as of Nov. 15. A total of 88% of the new crop had emerged. Topsoil moisture supplies were rated 23% very short, 41% short, 35% adequate and 1% surplus, while subsoil moisture – you know, down where those plant roots are looking for it – was rated 22% very short, 43% short, 34% adequate and 1% surplus.

CHANGE IN PLANS! LAST WEEK I BROUGHT YOU INFORMATION ABOUT PEST MANAGEMENT SCHOOLS PLANNED FOR DECEMBER. They will still be held but because of the surge in coronavirus cases in Kansas and elsewhere, they will be in a virtual format rather than in-person as previously planned. Take a look to sign up for this valuable training.

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/