HAPPY NEW YEAR! Welcome to Better Kansas, where every Thursday we shed light on 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
SOME OF US 🙂 ARE AT A POINT IN LIFE WHERE WE’RE TAKING LESS FOR GRANTED and really evaluating how we spend our time, how we take care of ourselves and what kinds of relationships we have … or don’t have. I found this short article on Living Life Richer interesting and thought you might, too. A perfect way to start off the new year. Think about it … we finish school, dive into a career, often marry, raise children, and yes, sometimes divorce … while working to maintain relationships with spouses or ex-spouses, children, friends, family and colleagues all while trying to juggle our own expectations and others’ expectations of us. Life can get out of balance!!! Take a look especially if your life could use a little or a lot of tweaking. Sometimes we need to give ourselves permission to hit the re-set button.
THE NEW YEAR HOLDS SO MUCH PROMISE! Sometimes the promises we make to ourselves at the beginning of the year have to do with managing our money better. It can be a struggle, right? What do you mean there’s a difference between “wants” and “needs”? Maybe you’ve seen a commercial recently where two women are doing yoga and one of them says something about “needing” concert tickets. Oh, come on … no one really NEEDS concert tickets. Needing is about nutritious food and clean water to fuel our bodies, maybe a dependable vehicle to get us back and forth to work or school, shelter to keep us warm and safe … you know. Check out financial resources to help your year start out right, and watch for more information about Kansas Saves and America Saves week that will be coming up later in February.
Better Farming, Ranching and Gardening
WHO KNEW? IN DIGGING AROUND THIS WEEK 😊 I LEARNED THE KANSAS GARDEN GUIDE IS BY FAR THE PERENNIAL FAVORITE of the hundreds of publications, fact sheets and other educational materials K-State Research and Extension offer on a wide array of topics. To my surprise, it topped the list of publications visited online EVERY MONTH in 2019, even in the depths of winter. Maybe this bears out the thought that farmers and gardeners tend to be optimistic people — always thinking about the next growing season. The guide garnered nearly 15,000 visits in January alone last year! In total for the first 10 months, the site had 161,875 visits. That’s an average of 16,187 a month and nearly 540 visits per day! Ok, I’m getting into the weeds here! If you’re not a gardener, there is information on many other topics at the K-State Research and Extension Bookstore.
I OFTEN SHARE INFORMATION ABOUT beef cattle and sometimes swine or poultry resources and programs, but we also have educational resources for other species including horses. Horses were what brought me to my love of being outdoors as a child in the first place … or maybe they just fit right in with what was already there. Either way, if you are a horse lover or have someone in your circle of family and friends who is, take a look at the Equine Research and Extension page for all kinds of good information … and feel free to share it with others!
GIVEN THE GLOBAL NATURE OF THE GRAIN INDUSTRY and Kansas’ and the U.S.’ prominent place in it, plus related industries (consider the implement dealer, propane supplier, seed distributor, their employees and so on ….) many of us keep an eye on the supply and demand of grains around the world. A recent Grain Market Outlook Newsletter provides analyses of the Dec. 10 USDA World Agriculture Supply and Demand Estimates Report, including what the numbers mean for wheat, corn, grain sorghum and soybeans.
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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/
