CCEUC Announces New Staff Member and New RAPP Coordinator

Danielle Garris of Kingston, NY has been employed with Cornell Cooperative Extension Ulster County as a Nutrition Educator since December 2008. Danielle coordinated the “Healthy Nutrition Habits” group as well as educated individuals in their homes. She has been in the Human Service field for over ten years and graduated from SUNY Ulster in May 2009. Recently, she received a promotion to the “Relatives as Parents Program” as the RAPP Coordinator. RAPP provides support, education and referral to relative caregivers residing in Ulster County.


Don Doyle of West Hurley, NY has joined Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County as a home energy and financial counseling educator. Don continues to work in the local banking community where his 35 years of experience in retail banking, commercial and residential lending affords him the experience and tools to work with clients through personal and family financial counseling seminars as well as home energy seminars open to all Ulster County residents.

Make-It, Take-It Holiday Youth Workshop Will Offer Hands-On Gift Making

Calling all children ages 5 to 19! Want to give a unique gift this year? Why not make something special at the annual 4-H Make It, Take It Holiday Gift Making Workshop!

Join us on Friday, December 4 from 6:30pm to 8:30pm at the Fair Street Reformed Church on Fair Street in Kingston. Youth ages 8 to 19 are welcome to participate in a workshop of their choice. Deadline for registration is Wednesday, December 2. All classes must have a minimum of 5 participants to run.

There is a fee of $6. All materials will be provided for all workshops. To register call Jenny Burkins at 845-340-3990.

The workshops being offered are:

Quilting 101
Eileen Brophy, owner of Style Fabrics in Kingston, will instruct this workshop for beginning sewers. Learn how to sew a block for a quilt! The objective for this group will be to create a block with the theme, “What 4-H Means to Me.” Participants will be invited back to participate in a full-day workshop in January or February 2010 (date TBA) to learn how to put a quilt together using the blocks sewn in Make It Take It. The quilt will be shown at the Ulster County Fair in 2010. Ages 8 and up are welcome to participate.*All Ulster County 4-H Clubs are invited to sew a block for the quilt whether you can attend Make It Take It or not.

Feltcraft
4-H Leader and Afterschool Educator, Mary Lou Giuliano will teach this craft. Learn how to make a variety of crafts using felt, a durable and flexible material which is ideal for children. Make a small doll, finger and glove puppets, animals, and little gifts. You may sew or embroider your little characters. Ages 8 and up are welcome to participate.

Healthy Oaxacan Holiday Treats and Art
Learn from Kristen Wilson, 4-H Resource Educator, and her husband Miguel, a native Mexican, how to make a traditional healthy treats from the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. You’ll learn how to make “alegrias de amaranto”, joys of amaranth – a holiday snack with pre-hispanic roots. You can make these into fun shapes. You’ll also make a wooden box to hold your treats, which you can paint in your own style or in the style of “alebrijes” – a colorful and imaginative Mexican way of painting animals.
Ages 5 and up are welcome to participate. Bring your own cookie cutters to make the shapes that you would like!

Construct a Trebuchet
What is a trebuchet? It’s a contraption that was used in the middle ages to throw projectiles over walls. Join 4-H Leader and West Point science professor, Mike Labare, to learn a little about physics and how to make this exciting catapult. You can give this toy as a gift or take it home and defend your forts with bean bags. Ages 8 and up are welcome to participate.

Holiday Center Piece
Make a beautiful center piece for your holiday table. Join Master Gardeners, Susannah Satten and Denise Dourdeville in this fun workshop. Ages 8 and up are welcome to participate.

For more information and schedules for all Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County Programs log on to www.cceulster.org or follow us on www.facebook.com

Master Gardener Hotline Changes Hours for Winter

Our Master Gardener Horticulture Hotline will be changing their hours of service to 9:00am to 12:00pm on Fridays only from November 1, 2009 through March 1, 2010. The Hotline number is 845-340-DIRT. Messages can be left at anytime but will only be returned on Fridays from 9:00am to 12:00pm.

The Master Gardener hotline provides the public with free gardening advice. Other services offered are pH soil testing and Insect/Disease Identification.

Master Gardeners are volunteers trained by Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County experts in the art and science of gardening. They provide the public with gardening programs and activities that draw on the horticulture research and experience of Cornell University.



If interested in learning more about the Master Gardener Program call Dona Crawford at 845-340-3990.

GOT LADYBUGS?

Lady beetles, ladybugs, or ladybird beetles are among the most visible and best known beneficial predatory insects. Over 450 species are found in North America. Some are native and some have been introduced from other countries. Right now they are seeking warm dry places to spend the winter. Unfortunately sometimes it is our homes. The heat in the home warms them and they become active crawling or moving to sunny windows. Vacuum or sweep them up and deposit outside. Keep them out by sealing up entrances as appropriate with caulk or screening. Many crops benefit from lady beetles. They are helpful for growers of vegetables, grain crops, legumes, strawberries, and tree crops; however any crop that is attacked by aphids will benefit from these beetles. This information provided by CCEUC Master Gardener Coordinator, Dona Crawford.

Ulster County 4-H Offers Wind Energy Courses in 2010

Ulster County 4-H Youth Development, through the Cornell Cooperative Extension, will offer a 6-week series of classes about the science and careers of wind energy, for youth 6th to 8th graders. The series will feature great hands-on learning and visits by professionals in the wind industry, and will culminate with a field trip to a wind energy site at the end of the course.

Topics to be covered include:

• How wind energy works

• Residential-scale wind turbines

• Utility-scale wind turbines

• Wind energy and New York State

• Wind energy and the natural environment

• The history of wind energy

• New developments in wind energy

• Careers in wind energy
Classes will be held Thursday evenings, from 6:00pm to 8:00pm, beginning January 21 and running through February 25, with a field trip planned. The location is SUNY Ulster (Ulster County Community College) room HAS-201. The cost will be $30 per student ($20 if you are an enrolled 4-H member). Registration and payment is required no later than Thursday, January 14, 2010. Registration forms can be found at http://www.cceulster.org/  in the 4-H Youth Development section menu click on 4-H Wind Energy Program.

The class will be taught by Todd Olinsky-Paul, an energy policy analyst and wind energy specialist with Pace Energy and Climate Center. This program is made possible by a grant received from the New York State 4-H Foundation.

For more information by phone contact Jenny Burkins at Cornell Cooperative Extension Ulster County at 845-340-3990.

Farm Tour Offers a Closer Look at Farming in 2009 and Beyond

On Thursday September 24, 2009, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County organized a farm tour for government officials and economic development administrators. Among the participants were Senator Kirsten Gillibrand's regional representative, Amy Pollard, New York State Assembly member Clifford Crouch, Ulster County Legislator District 3, Roy Hochberg, Assistant Deputy to the Ulster County Executive, Susanne Holt, Deputy Director of Planning for Economic Development, March Gallagher and Senior Planner for Ulster County Planning, Virginia Craft.
The tour began with a visit to Gill Farms in Hurley and a look at a sweet corn packing facility staffed with 50+ employees that help grow and ship over a thousand acres of fresh market sweet corn. The next stop was Domino Farms in the Town of Rochester that produces up to 8,300 lbs of milk per day (that's about 940 gallons). The group then made its way across the road to Flying Change Horse Farm to hear from owner/trainer Diane Schoonmaker about her family's long history in farming the Rondout Valley and how she got into the horse business.
At the Hudson Valley research Lab in Highland, participants enjoyed lunch that featured all local farm products such as eggs, goat cheese, chicken, butternut squash, apples, and watermelon. Over Lunch, Dr. Dave Rosenberger, a fruit pathologist working out of the lab, gave a presentation about the research and extension activities through Cornell University and how it directly benefits ag producers. The afternoon focused on fruit production. There was a walk through a high density apple orchard that was being harvested at Crist Farms in Milton. The final stop of the tour was an apple packing facility at W.G. Minard and Sons in Clintondale where food safety issues were addressed.

Participants got an insider's view of commercial farming in action and heard first hand from the farmer about issues that impact and shape the future of the industry in Ulster County, Statewide and Nationally. The tour was coordinated by Extension Educators Teresa Rusinek, Mike Fargione and Audrey Reith.

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