Better Kansas – Ideas for Living, Growing and Succeeding

Tag: Kansas Garden Guide

Better Kansas – March 4, 2021

Header image for the Better Kansas Blog

Better Kansas – March 4, 2021

In this week’s Better Kansas, I cover spring cleaning and organizing our homes as well as our financial records, environmental education and help for small businesses, government agencies and teachers, gardening know-how, helping students by taking an herbicide use survey and imminent crop insurance decisions. 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

MARCH CAME IN LIKE A LAMB RATHER THAN A LION THIS YEAR, which expedited my good intentions to do a thorough spring cleaning. I find Cut the Clutter and Get Organized helpful in times like this, partly for the good tips and partly because it gives me comfort that there are enough people like me that there’s a publication to encourage us to do something about those stacks of stuff. I especially like the reminder to start with a good attitude! Now, about those good intentions ….

 

WHILE WE’RE ORGANIZING OUR HOMES AND OFFICES, this is a good time to get our financial records in order, too. Our Valuable Records is a free downloadable and printable resource that provides spaces for important contacts, insurance policy information, bank and retirement accounts … all that information you wish your parents had left or your kids would appreciate if you’re incapacitated or worse.

 

MOST OF US KNOW WHY IT’S IMPORTANT FROM AN ENVIRONMENTAL AND FINANCIAL PERSPECTIVE TO CONSERVE ENERGY, but there’s actually help for businesses, teachers and government agencies in determining ways to do that. The Kansas Energy Program provides education, grant information and technical assistance to small businesses, K-12 educators and government entities. Its goal is to encourage the implementation of energy efficiency and renewable energy. To learn more, take a look.

Better Farming, Ranching and Gardening

GARDENERS, I KNOW YOU’RE ITCHING TO GET OUT THERE! If visions of sugarplums and reindeer have been replaced by flowers and veggies in your head, we know it’s almost spring! There’s no better time to look at the Kansas Garden Guide. It’s a wealth of information about growing everything from carrots and radishes to herbs and watermelon. And it’s written specifically for our conditions in Kansas – a lot different than say, Alabama or Nevada. It also covers the basics of soils, composting, container gardening and much more. There’s a reason why this publication generally tops the list of most popular K-State Research and Extension publications.

 

HELP US HELP OUR STUDENTS! Weed science graduate students (you know … those scientists, educators and producers in the making) are investigating how herbicide application practices such as sprayer speed and spray volume influence weed control and whole-farm efficiency. They’ve devised a short survey on herbicide application practices and would appreciate your participation. For more information and a link to the survey, take a look.

 

MARCH 15 IS FAST APPROACHING. DO YOU KNOW YOUR ARC FROM YOUR PLC? HAVE YOU CHOSEN YOUR CROP INSURANCE PROGRAM? If not, resources developed by K-State agricultural economists will be helpful. The article, Decision Time: ARC or PLC 2021-2022 includes a link to the Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC)/Price Loss Coverage (PLC) Tradeoff Spreadsheet and an associated discussion, plus updated estimated crop prices for the 2021/2022 marketing year. The acronyms are alphabet soup, I know, but critically important stuff for crop producers.

_

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 – Jan. 2, 2020

Header image for the Better Kansas BlogHAPPY 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.

_

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/