The Franklin County Winter School continues this Thursday night at the Extension Office from 7-9. We have had great attendance this year at Winter School and many people new to Extension are checking us out and learning something new each night of the sessions.
This week will be no different, with two great topics and knowledgeable speakers. You can choose between two different sessions each night. We also have a snack break that is sponsored by Farmers Bank of Frankfort and Farm Credit Services of Shelbyville, where you can network with other attendees and the various speakers for the night. There is no pre-registration required and the sessions are free of charge.
About bugs
Entomology, or insects, will be one topic this week.
Dr. Lee Townsend, UK Extension Entomology Specialist, will talk to us about the basics of insect life, which is helpful in making decisions about when and if you need to control them. He will also cover methods of controlling harmful insect pests.
Integrated pest management (IPM) is one method of control. This method includes inspecting landscapes and crops to determine what insects are present (there are “good” bugs and “bad” bugs!), what life stage are the pests in, how many insects might be present, then deciding how is best to deal with those insects (chemical and non-chemical).
Townsend’s talk will include detailed information on categories of insecticides and how you can better use these controls to eliminate harmful insects and to use less chemical to get the best results. This session will also have two general continuing education credit hours (CEUs) for those that are professionally certified pesticide applicators.
Composting
The other session will be all about composting.
Ashley Osborne, UK Extension Associate for Environmental and Natural Resource Issues, will demonstrate how to compost at home. There are several methods of composting, even if you think you don’t have space or time to do so! If you are already composting, this talk may help you do it better or give you ideas for new ways to make your composting operation more efficient.
Composting provides a means to environmentally dispose of certain lawn and food wastes that can turn into a valuable soil additive. These wastes then do not go into our landfills, taking up valuable space.
After the break, in the composting session, we will hear from Joanna Isaacs, Environmental Program Manager, with Bluegrass PRIDE (Personal Responsibility In a Desirable Environment, http://www.bgpride.org).
She will tell us about Lexington’s efforts with its food waste pilot program. This trial project collects designated food wastes and commercial compostable items (like certain paper plates and cups) from homes and some businesses. These wastes can be composted commercially on a large scale with the same environmental benefits that home composters see.
For those that can’t reasonably compost at home, or for restaurants and grocers that have food and other organic wastes and don’t want to send these to the landfill, commercial composting could be a viable option. This will be an interesting concept and discussion for our community to learn more about.
If you would like a copy of the 2012 Winter School Schedule, which continues every Thursday through March 1, contact the Extension office or check out our webpage: http://ces.ca.uky.edu/franklin/.
I hope to see YOU at Winter School! Everyone is welcome!
For additional information or printed materials contact the Franklin County Cooperative Extension Service at 502-695-9035 by phone or email DL_CES_FRANKLIN@EMAIL.UKY.EDU.
Comments