Brad BrummondAg & Natural Resources284-6624bradley.brummond@ndsu.edu

AgricultureThis is the busiest time of the year for me when it comes to meetings and overtime work has far as nights and weekends go. We had some very successful programs this winter. I will briefly talk about a few.

Soil Health MeetingWe hosted a soil health meeting with Dr. Abbey Wick and Dr. David Franzen. We had 84 people show up at the Alexander House for lunch with Dave and Abbey. We literally could not fit one more person into that building. Dave, Abbey and I conducted discussions on soil health and we could not get them to leave. Another outcome of this meeting was that we have decide to do a soil health day this summer in June in Walsh County. Some of the topics discussed were cover crops, soil health, measuring soil health, saline and sodic soils along with fertility.

Resistant WeedsI believe the number one threat to agriculture lies in the development of herbicide resistant weeds. Some of the weeds on my watch list are waterhemp, palmer amaranth, marestail, and kochia. The only one on this list that I have yet to identify in Walsh County is palmer amaranth. WE are already fighting the other three and the resistance in these populations. I spent a lot of time talking about the how to identify these weeds and the cost of letting these weeds becoming established on their acres. I had real live examples from my trip to Nebraska to drive home the point. I also used news columns and radio to educate on this subject.

Dicamba TechnologyI spent time this winter at educational meetings and in news columns and radio focusing the possible ramifications of this new technology on Walsh

County. Dicamba is a very powerful growth regulator herbicide and dry beans, potatoes, canola, sunflowers, sugarbeets, non-resistant soybeans and alfalfa do not tolerate this herbicide very well. These crops provide a very large part of the income from crops in Walsh County. We talked about evaluating where and when to employ this technology, temperature inversions, drift, tank cleanout, nozzle selection and working with neighboring producers to avoid problems.

4-HWinter is another busy month. I conducted weekly workouts in both crops and land judging not to mention the contests thrown in. Our land judging team is preparing to represent North Dakota in the National Land Judging contest in Oklahoma City in May. We have 4 4-H youth that have devoted a lot of time and effort to being competitive.

I am also worked with 10 youth in teaching agronomy skills in crops judging. We had the high individual in the Senior Division in Lilly Bina. This is the first time this has ever occurred in Walsh County to my knowledge.

Jamie MedberyFamily and Community Wellness284-6624jamie.medbery@ndsu.edu

January-March 2018 NarrativeNDSU Extension/Walsh County

4-H & Youth Development

Walsh County 4-H has over 130 members county-wide. 4-H is the youth educational component of the NDSU Extension Service.

National Western Roundup – Walsh County Consumer Decisions

Four Walsh County 4-H youth earned the privilege of competing at National Western Roundup in Denver this January in the Consumer Decision

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

Youth learn to rank articles or products over others based on standards and quality. Their journey to Denver began in June of 2017 with the county Consumer Choices contest. Their high scores earned them a spot on Walsh County’s Consumer Choices team at the State Fair. While at the state fair, five of the seven senior team members placed in the individual top ten. Earning the top team score at the North Dakota State Fair earned the Walsh County 4-H’ers the right to represent North Dakota at the national contest. Serving as their coach and chaperone the team and I traveled to Denver, where we toured the Broncos’ stadium, visited the Denver Zoo, attended the National Western Stock Show, and studied hard for their upcoming contest. The team was able take swing dancing lessons, attend motivational and informational programs, and of course, compete against their peers from around the country. Three members from the team placed in the top 25 and North Dakota (Walsh County) placed seventh overall.

Shooting Sports – Archery Over 20 4-H youth participate in weekly archery workouts. The focus of the weekly workouts are education and skill. Participants learn 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; and how to successfully shoot at different types of archery targets.

Shooting Sports – Air RifleI and two 4-H volunteers attended the Air Rifle Trainer Certification Course. We look forward to expanding on our current Walsh County Shooting Sports program through an introduction to air rifles for Walsh County youth.

Walsh County AmbassadorsResearch has shown that high-quality youth programs, those proven most effective and rated highly by young people, make an intentional effort to engage youth at the highest level in planning, making choices and reflecting on their learning. Attention to making youth programs fun, interesting, welcoming and encouraging to young people in our 4-H youth development programs is crucial to their continued vitality. With that in mind and in an effort to increase membership, I hosted a skate night for Walsh County 4-H Ambassadors and those who were interested in joining the program. As a result of the skate night we had two new prospective members to the program and a commitment from current and new members to Walsh County 4-H and its ambassador program.

Family and Community Wellness

Healthwise for Guys – Collette Fitness

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States. 50% of

all cancer cases are skin cancer. The American Cancer Society estimated that more than 71,000 men would be diagnosed with new cases of colon cancer in 2017. Besides skin cancer, prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer among U.S. men. With statistics like these, it was clear that NDSU’s newest program Healthwise for Guys was needed in Walsh County. In conjunction with their 2018 open house, I set up an informational booth at Collette Fitness Center. Visiting one-on-one with gym members and Life Skills and Transition Center staff allowed me to share defensive strategies for Skin, Colon and Prostate cancers. I also had the Skin Scope available for those who wanted to see sun damage on their face.

Sun Savvy – 2018 Pesticide Program Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer in the US, with 1 million new cases each year.

Melanoma incidence has tripled within the last twenty years, with approximately 5,700 men dying from melanoma each year. The North Dakota Caner Coalition believes that education about skin cancer and ways to protect your skin will help reduce those alarming numbers. In conjunction with Brad’s pesticide certification, I provided a 30 minute presentation on sun safety to over 120 participants. The 89 submitted post-program evaluations indicated that as a result of my program, 63% of participants will wear sunscreen, 54% will wear a

wide-brimmed hat, 64% will wear a long-sleeved shirt with a collar, 63% will perform self skin checks, and 18% will schedule a doctor’s appointment to have their skin checked.

Stress Management – Walsh County Head Start Parents, Grafton Public School paraprofessionals, and Life Skills Transition Center employee wellnessPeople have different definitions of stress. Probably the most common definition is “physical, mental or emotion strain or tension.” Stress is different for all of us. People will perceive the same stressor in a number of ways and, therefore, react to it differently. An event can be overwhelming to one person and exciting to another. Stress has become a pervasive challenge in our society and can have a profound impact on our quality of life and health. The key is to prevent serious problems due to stress by equipping yourself with the skills to help you during these difficult times.Knowing how pervasive stress can be for everyone, I delivered a stress management program based off NDSU Extension research. This program was delivered over several months to three sites in Walsh County. As indicated by the evaluation of learning, 100% of participants indicated their knowledge of how to use stress management techniques at work and home increased.

Nutrition and Food Safety

Cooking 101 – Minto Independent Living

I was asked by the Family and Consumer Science teacher at Minto High School if I could work with the Independent Living class on skills they would need in the “real world.” Using the Cooking 101 curriculum as a starting point I gave the students budget tips and cooking tricks that could be applied to

healthful breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack. We wrapped up the lessons with food safety BINGO. Several students stated in the evaluation of learning that they intended to cook more meals at home focusing on nutrition.

On the Move Jr. – Park River 2nd grade“On the Move Junior,” is a five-week school-based curriculum I taught to 23 Park River second-graders. It is based on MyPlate, the

current icon for nutrition, and includes children’s story books and hands-on activities. The curriculum aims to improve the variety of healthful foods that children consume, especially the amount of fruits and vegetables they consume. It also aims to improve fitness habits. 91% of participants said they tried a new food during the 5 week course and 78% said they tried a new food thinking they would not like it, but did. 71% of the parents surveyed, said their child was eating more vegetables as a result of this program.

Upcoming Events:04/03/18 – Nutrition Education – Grafton4/4/18 – Farm & Food Safety – Grafton

4/6/18 – 4-H Project Expo – Park River4/8/18 – 4-H Variety Show – Park River4/10/18 – 4/10/19 – Diabetes Prevention Program – Park River4/13/18 – Financial Literacy – Grafton4/17-4/18/18 – North Dakota Nutrition Conference – Fargo4/20/18 – Financial Literacy – Grafton4/23/18 – Nourish your Body through Sleep – Grafton4/27/18 – Marketplace for Kids – Grafton4/27/18 – 4-H Communication Arts

Tara SondelandFNPtara.sandeland@ndsu.edu

I have worked with NDSU Extension Service for 14 years as a Family Nutrition Agent and have enjoyed it very much! On Jan 18th I received sad news that due to budget cuts my position is being eliminated! My last day will be July 1st unless I decided to take a different job in the meantime. It has been great serving Walsh and Pembina County, I will miss my clients, the children I worked with and everyone I worked with. This is not goodbye, but see you later!

I have and will continue to teach at the surrounding schools, be on the Board at the Pembina County Emergency Food Pantry and serve my clients. I will need to start cleaning out my office. After 15 years I have accumulated a lot and it may take me three months.