The Tuesday Letter
Agricultural Experiment Station & Cooperative Extension Service
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
(Vol. 20 No. 10)
IN THIS ISSUE...
K-STATE WINTER RANCH MANAGEMENT TOWN HALL SEMINAR SERIES (RENO/SEDGWICK COUNTY)
The K-State Winter Ranch Management "Town Hall" Seminar will be January 29, 5 p.m. This event will be hosted by Reno/Sedgwick counties and will be held at the Sedgwick County Extension Education Center located at 7001 W 21st St North in Wichita (corner of 21st & Ridge Rd).
The format is a face-to-face "Town Hall" meeting where producers can ask their questions to local/district and state extension specialists. Producers are encouraged to bring their questions on cow/calf animal health, nutrition, genetics, reproduction and management to the session!
A meal is included in the registration fee of $10. Please RSVP by the Friday, January 24, before the event. Call Jackie Fees at 316-660-0143 or go on line to get a registration form at www.sedgwick.ksu.edu. Twenty attendees are required, or the event may be cancelled.
Registration will be at 5 p.m. with dinner at 5:30.
For more information, call or email Zach Simon, 316-660-0153, zsimon@ksu.edu; or Cody Barilla, 620-662-2371, cbarilla@ksu.edu. --Jackie Fees jfees@ksu.edu
NAVIGATING DIFFERENCE TRAINING IN WICHITA, FEBRUARY 25-26
What
is Navigating Difference? It is a training program designed to provide a
set of skills to enhance your work with diverse audiences; to increase
your understanding of intercultural communications theory and practice;
and to give you opportunities to apply new learning in the training
setting to take back to your work. The Extension administration is
dedicated to providing this training to all KSRE employees - your only
expense is travel to and from the training.
2014 training dates and locations are:
February 25-26, 2014 Wichita Sedgwick County KSRE Office, 7001 W. 21st St. N, Wichita
Hotel costs will be direct billed to Extension, but each participant is
to make his/her own reservation (preferably double accommodations) at:
Hampton Inn Wichita-West, 3800 W. Kellogg St., phone 316-945-4100. Ask
for Extension's block of rooms at $92 per room.
May 21-22, 2014 Hays Hays Agricultural Research Center. Hotel to be announced
November 12-13, 2014 Ft. Scott Exact location and hotel to be announced
To register for any of these trainings, go to http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/employee_resources/p.aspx?tabid=206 . --Charlotte Shoup Olsen colsen@ksu.edu
MARIE'S PICKS . . .
This
week my picks are outcomes and success stories from Leah Robinson, Central
Kansas District, and Diane Nielsen, Atchison County:
**
Through several years of promoting safe home food preservation, many residents
of Central Kansas District (CKD) have adopted recommended processing methods. Trends
in home gardening are still strong which lead to increased interest in food
preservation. Many consumers are still lacking knowledge in this area. However,
as a result of educational messages promoting safe practices and the food
preservation workshops that have been offered, many consumers in CKD are now
preparing and preserving food in a safe manner. Several consumers have
indicated they did not know how to properly process various food items before
our visit, but were appreciative of knowledge gained and will now follow
recommended procedures. Their increased knowledge and application will result
in safer home processed food consumed by their families and others.
**
An extremely successful, brand new program offered in Central Kansas District
was the Venison 101: From Field to Fork workshop. This was a very popular class
that taught food safety on a completely new topic in a very unique way. The
workshop was a joint collaboration between K-State Research and Extension and
Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism. A grant of $500 from KDWPT
was secured to provide funding. The workshop demonstrated safe field dressing
practices, how to efficiently process the deer at home and home ingredient
formulations to enjoy a delicious product. In addition, Kansas Department of
Wildlife, Parks and Tourism discussed chronic wasting disease, land management,
and changes to hunting laws and regulations. Those who attended the
workshop learned how to safely enjoy venison, which is a nutritious food
source. Learning how to prepare venison without having to pay an outside source
for the processing will result in considerable cost saving to the consumer. This
cost saving has the ability to greatly stretch participants' food dollars.
**
One teaching method used to teach food safety is to improperly handle foods.
Petri dishes are used to grow cultures, showing what the naked eye cannot
see. Examples include licking a tasting spoon and then laying the spoon on the petri
dish, using the same utensil to handle raw and uncooked foods, not washing
hands after using the restroom, or squeezing a sponge used to wash dishes over
the petri dish. The microbial growth on the petri dish presents a
teachable moment in regard to safe food handling practices. As
a result of this teaching tool, a child care provider reported no longer using
sponges in the kitchen. This new practice follows recommended food handling
practices. Meanwhile, a local food pantry has changed methods of shopping for
foods and how foods are received. Time and temperature logs are now being used
on a regular basis. -–Marie Blythe mblythe@ksu.edu
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