Brad BrummondAg & Natural Resources

Agriculture

Wine in the Woods is a great success with over 60 participants

o This program focused on restoring our shelterbelts, conservation and grape

40 questions on what to seed in 2017 were explored with growers

20 people explored fertility options for spring wheat, corn and sunflowers for the spring planting

A lot of questions also dealt with shaving costs off of crop budgets

These are months that I pretty much answer phones and calls as farmers are busy getting the crop in the field and they do not have time for meetings.

4-H

The big event these months is we are rebooting our land judging team. We have been having weekly land judging workouts since early April. I have four senior land judgers and 6 junior judgers I have been working with. It usually takes me 2 hours to dig and judge the pits and 2 hours for the workouts. All except one have been in the evening or on the weekends so it does take a lot of time after the work day is done. We teach them how to texture soils, shoot slope, classify land and recommend fertility applications and conservation practices. I have a pretty hardcore group that have been with me a while so I like our chances at the state land judging contest in August.

We have also started getting ready for the fair. We also have been fighting some water and security issues at the fair but I think we currently have them under control. You can definitely tell school is out and young people have too much time on their hands.

Jamie MedberyFamily Consumer Science

Nutrition & Food Safety

Ag Safety Day – Food Safety Walsh County 3rd graders

Over 140 3rd graders from the tri-county area participated in the Progressive Ag Safety Day at the Grafton Centennial Center.

A lesson on proper hand washing and its importance was shared with the youth throughout the day.

The kids enjoyed the glowing “germ” powder and talking about all the places germs like to hide in their environment and on their bodies.

Now Serving: Recipe Makeovers! – Walsh County employee wellness & Northeast Region eligibility workersAs times change, we may look for ways to make updates and keep up with what is new. Several current TV shows are dedicated to making over your wardrobe or even our home. Why not update and revitalize your food, too? Walsh County employees and regional social service eligibility workers learned to prepare their old family favorites in new, healthier ways with recipe makeovers. As indicated in the evaluation of learning, 84% of participants had an increase of knowledge in ways to decrease sodium, fat & sugar and increase fiber in their diet. The most common action participants were going to take going forward is being more mindful of portion sizes.

April-June 2017

On the Move Kids Cooking School – Walsh County Migrant Summer SchoolOn the Move to Better Health Cooking School is a curriculum to teach children in upper elementary school about nutrition and health as they explore hands-on food preparation. Nineteen Walsh County Migrant Summer School fourth through ninth graders participated in weekly lessons. Tara

Sondeland & I focused on teaching the youth to read & follow a recipe, how to properly measure ingredients, how to read

nutrition labels, the principles of food safety, nutrition basics based on MyPlate and how to make healthy food choices.

Family Science & Human Development

The Family Table – Walsh County familiesFamily mealtimes used to be the foundation of everyone’s day, but now about 30 to 35 percent of families eat together less than three times a week,

despite research showing the benefits of family meals. The North Dakota State University Extension Service launched “The Family Table: Eat, Savor, Connect,” a program to provide families with tips, meal plans, recipes and conversation starters to help make family meals a reality. In an effort to bring awareness to Walsh

County I have partnered with WIC and Head Start to bring recipes, games and information to the Walsh County families they serve. As a result, over 20 Walsh County area families have taken the pledge to

eat more family meals; bringing the total of Walsh County family table pledges to 73.

4-H Youth Development

Archery – County Workouts

Over 20 4-H youth participated in weekly archery workouts and learned the different parts of the archery equipment;

how to inspect the equipment for safety; how to safely conduct themselves on an archery

range; how to maintain and repair their bows and

arrows; how to successfully shoot at different types of

archery targets. A wrap up to the archery season included a balloon popping competition. A survey was sent to all archery participants and their parents; 100% of parents saw improvement in their child’s ability to concentrate and 84% of children saw an improvement in their own ability to concentrate.

4-H Variety and Awards ShowThe annual Walsh County 4-H Variety Show and Awards Day was held on Sunday, April 9th at the Park River City Hall. Awards and scholarships were given out to 41 4-H youth, 5 clubs and 4 leaders. The Variety Show is also a great fundraising opportunity for Walsh County’s 4-H program.

Communication Arts – County & District Contest

The 4-H Communication Arts event is designed to help participants develop communication skills throughout a lifetime. Participants actively practice their communication skills before a group and must learn to gather and organize information, equipment and props for public presentation. All participants

gain confidence in public speaking and are evaluated on their performances to help enhance their skills. Twenty-four

Walsh County youth participated in the county contest and fifteen moved on to the District 4-H Communication Arts contest where they competed against youth from Walsh, Pembina and Grand Forks counties.

Consumer Choices – County Contest Thirty-four Walsh County youth, representing all

seven area 4-H clubs, participated in the 2017 4-H Consumer Choices judging event held June 27th in Park River.

The 4-H Consumer Choices Contest can helps youth practice making decisions by matching their knowledge, skills and abilities against those of others.

Youth will learn to rank articles or products over others based on standards and quality. The top 12 scores in the junior and senior divisions will compete at the State Fair.

Clothing Revue – County Contest

Seventeen 4-Hers from Walsh County showed the judges they knew how to shop, create & modify at 2017’s Clothing Revue.

The youth had to chance to showcase their projects and knowledge in the Buy and Show, Sew and Show and Decorate Your Duds divisions.

The purpose of the 4-H Clothing Revue is to help youth: build self-confidence and poise; make and model a garment that is needed in their wardrobe; and share knowledge and skills with others.

Nine of our county winners will also present their sewing and textile knowledge at the North Dakota State Fair.

Tara SondelandFNP

Rice and beans Galore-Walsh County Head StartJamie Medbery and I presented the lesson “Victor Vito and Freddy Vascar” to about seventeen students at Head Start on May 11th. The lesson focused on heathy foods such as rice and beans. We talked about why these foods are so good for us and what food groups they belong into on the MyPlate. We also listened and sang a song about rice and beans having each kid shake a mason jar full of rice and beans every time it was mentioned in the song. It was super fun and super noisy! We

followed up with a healthy snack, string cheese wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla. The kids gobbled them right up. We visit these kids at Walsh County Head Start once a month, this is just one of three lessons we taught.

Cooking is a Snap-Fargo Spring conferenceI attended a two-day conference in Fargo where we were introduced to a new curriculum called “cooking is a Snap”. I will be presenting this to SNAP eligible participants in the near future. The course will help you achieve a healthier lifestyle by eating more fruits and vegetables, increasing your confidence to plan and prepare meals at home, and moving 30 minutes a day, most days a week. There will be six 2-hour sessions including these activities:• Cooking and tasting,• Nutrition tips• Smart shopping tips,• Physical activity, and • Action planningI am very excited to start teaching this to adults in the county! Below is a picture of my co-workers trying out the lessons and making a few of the recipes we will be sharing when we teach the class.

MyPlate Bingo-Century Elementary school in GraftonFirst and second graders at Century Elementary learned the importance of the MyPlate. We did several activities reinforcing the colors and what foods belong in each group. We also played MyPlate bingo. We followed up with a snack and

each child took home prizes to remind them that eating a rainbow of colors every day is a great start to being healthy.

Family Nutrition Program AuditI am very happy to announce that I had my very first audit in 14 years as the Family Nutrition Agent with NDSU extension and it went very well. I enjoyed sharing with her all the great programs that I offer to both Walsh and Pembina County.

On the Move Kids Cooking School-Walsh County Migrant Summer School

Jamie already touched on this program, so I am just going to share a few more photos with you. It is a fantastic program. In the photos below the kids made Green Monster Smoothies made with Spinach and black beans brownies.