July…for most of the country means it’s time for the county fair. For many, this is the best time of year.

The county fair is more than just a carnival or night time events. It is an exhibition of talents from all ages with exhibits ranging in a variety of sizes and categories. Most exhibits have taken an entire 4-H year to complete and some a lot less, but all of the exhibits have a special story and add value to the county fair.

As any 4-H’er can tell you, there is a lot of blood, sweat, and tears involved with preparing for the county fair. The animals you see were raised by youth not just because of the county fair, but to help the youth learn invaluable life lessons to become responsible, caring individuals. The same goes for any of the indoor exhibits from cooking to sewing to photography to woodworking and so on! The opportunities are endless.

I would like to encourage you to take a minute and attend a county fair near you. Explore all of the great accomplishments within the indoor exhibits and the barns full of animals. Visit with a 4-H’er about their project and see the excitement they display.

In the coming weeks, there will be three fairs held within the Southwind Extension District. The first is Bourbon County Fair – July 13th-19th, Woodson County Fair – July 16th-22nd, Neosho County Fair – July 22nd-26th, and Allen County Fair – August 22nd-25th. We hope to see you at the county fair!

If you would like more information on how to be involved either to enter exhibits or be a volunteer, please contact your local Extension Office. Contact information can be found on our website at www.southwind.ksu.edu. For more information about being in 4-H, contact Jennifer Terrell, 4-H Youth Development Agent at [email protected] or 620-223-3720.

One of the signs of a healthy and vital community is recognizing the need to recruit new members into the leadership role when the time comes. The most successful recruitment efforts are conducted by the people already in leadership positions. Leadership of program and communities often change over a course of time, but what does that change look like and how do you “recruit” the new leadership to help continue to drive the mission of your group?  Without great leadership to organize and provide others with the way to act, a likelihood of real change is very slim.

When you think of recruiting new leadership for a role, ask the question, “Who isn’t at the table that should be?” What groups or individuals should be involved in order to have a truly representative community organization, event or project? Making sure a group is inclusive is the best way to build in cooperation from the beginning. Also think about looking for skill assets that someone can bring to the conversation instead of names. One of the problems caused by relying on the same people for the same tasks over and over again is that those people will eventually tire of making the same contribution. A simple way to identify new people to recruit is to focus on the skills needed for the task and not the person.

While the effort to bring new people into the leadership arena is important, it’s also important to recognize that even the smallest and most limited volunteer contribution can be part of the leadership activities of a community. What is important, is seeing how each contribution fits into the whole picture, and by never discounting any effort, no matter how small, the door to increased involvement remains open. Recruiting new leaders by asking for help becomes most effective when a task is very clearly defined. This means describing the skills needed, describing the task in terms of what the expectations are as well the time commitment required. Finally, defining the task should also cover some ideas about how this role fits into the whole scheme of community improvement.

If you currently serve in a leadership role, it is important to know how to better yourself to continue to be a great leader in your community. Look at how you understand your community and the engagement in your community. Your job as a leader is to know what lies at the heart of the community that you serve, make informed decisions and foster a clear and maintained vision of major issues affecting your community. Leading with empathy and instilling compassion for community members allows for the community to see themselves as leaders.

Lead by being adaptable and open-mined helps you meet community needs and evolve with the times. Of course, effective communication and collaboration with community members and other stakeholders are crucial to this endeavor. The best leaders are one-of-a-kind individuals who remain relevant with large groups of people. Another powerful driver of confidence and self-assurance is self-reflection. Without substantial self-reflection, you cannot gain a true understanding of yourself, your leadership characteristics, or your ability to affect others. To put it a different way, you can’t influence others if you don’t understand them, and you cannot understand others if you don’t understand yourself.

For More information, contact Community Vitality Agent, Amanda Clasen at [email protected] or at 620-244-3826.

Now that the gardens are planted and things are growing, gardeners should be on the look-out for insect pests.

If you are having difficulty with insect, the first thing you need to do is determine exactly what insect pest you are dealing with. To figure this out, start by looking at the type of damage being caused to the plant.

Most pests that feed on vegetable plants have either chewing or sucking mouthparts which each produce different types of feeding damage. For example, insect pests with chewing mouthparts feed on leaves, stems, flowers, fruits and roots. They physically remove plant tissue while feeding. This type of pest will often leave physical evidence of their feeding as well – such as the tomato horn worm.

Insect pests with sucking mouthparts feed on plant juices causing stunting, wilting, leaf distortion and leaf yellowing. An example of this is aphids. They also leave behind physical evidence in the form of honeydew – a clear, sticky substance on plant surfaces.

Scouting plants for insects is an important part of gardening and should be done often. I know many gardeners browse through their plants every day and that is great! It is important to find insect pests as soon as possible. Inspect the top of the leaves as well as the underside of the leaves. The underside is where most insect pests will be found.

Once pests are found, again it is very important to get them correctly identified. Caterpillars, beetles and bugs can be removed from plants quickly and easily by handpicking and then placing them into a container of soapy water. Aphids and mites can actually be dislodged off of plants with a forceful spray of water.

Pesticides can also be used and those labeled for vegetable gardens work in one of two ways – they either kill insects on contact or act as stomach poisons. But again, you need to know what insect you are targeting before application of chemical control. Many times, at the first sight of a pest, gardeners get excited and search the cabinet for some type of product to use. This is not the best approach to take! Beneficial insects can be killed using this tactic.

Speaking of beneficial insects, they actually prey on other insects and mites. Examples include parasitic wasps, ladybird beetles and green lacewings. Beneficial insects can even be encouraged to remain in a garden area by planting specific plants to attract them. The plants need to be placed in or around the perimeter of the garden. Examples of plants include dill, fennel, coneflower, yarrow and garlic chives.

If gardeners do not want to used pesticides, there are other practices to keep insect pressure down in the garden. Healthy plants are less likely to be attacked by insects. Plants that receive too much or too little water are more susceptible to insect pests. The same is true for fertilizer use – too much or too little will cause problems. Keep weeds down too as weedy areas are just a good place for aphids, mites and leafhoppers to congregate.

As you scout for insects in the garden, if you come across one that you cannot identify, the Extension office can help! Insects can be brought into one of our four office locations or pictures can be e-mailed. Remember, it is very important to know what pest you are targeting before pesticides are used.

Krista Harding is a K-State Research and Extension Horticulture agent assigned to Southwind District.  She may be reached at [email protected] or 620-244-3826.

K-State Research and Extension is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

Tara Solomon-Smith

Family and Community Wellness Agent, Southwind Extension District

[email protected], 620-244-3826

Time Management and Where to Start

• We all have the same amount of time in a day, it’s limited, and we can’t do everything! Are you like me, trying several things, buying all the planners and organizing tools for better time management? I am getting closer and have found a method that works for me, though it continually needs tweaked.
• But today, I want us to remember that the purpose of improving time management skills is to make time for the most important things in our lives. It’s healthy to look for balance among responsibilities at home and work, and fun time for yourself and others. Learning to use your time more effectively should increase life satisfaction, not just a longer list of tasks to finish. So, let’s focus on simple ways to start making the most of your time and living life!

• Track Your Time
• Just like with money, before you figure out your budget, you first have to see where it all actually goes. The same can be applied for time. You may be surprised to learn how much time you spend doing things that you do not consider a priority.

Record what you do in 15-minute intervals for at least a week. Evaluate the results by asking: Did everything I needed to do get done?   Which tasks require the most time?  What time of day was I most productive?  Where do you devote most of your time (i.e. job, family, personal, recreation)?

Having a good sense of the time required for routine tasks can help you be more realistic in planning and estimating how much time is available for other activities.

Now you can apply what you learned on your next week’s calendar.  Plan your most challenging tasks for when you have the most energy. Block out time for your high priority activities first and protect that time from interruptions.

Manage Your Time Wasters

We all have them, those items that are important but not urgent and can interrupt our focus.  Try these tips for some common time wasters so you can lead with your priorities!

Handheld Devices

• Take advantage of voice-to-text features such as transcribed voicemails or to make notes or draft emails and text messages when you are on the go.
• Take any necessary action immediately following a call.
• Impose screen time limits and regularly monitor your digital wellness
• Schedule breaks from your devices.

Email

• Set aside a specific time to view and respond to email
• Turn off notifications for email.
• Handle each item only once when possible.
• Immediately delete or unsubscribe from junk emails.
• Keep address books up-to-date and organized.
• Utilize built-in shortcuts to sort email.

Unexpected Visitors

• Schedule time for face-to-face visits.
• Inform colleagues of your work agenda and set a mutually agreeable time to visit or for new tasks
• When someone comes to the door, stand up and have your meeting standing.

Get Help from Others

Delegating means assigning responsibility for a task to someone else, freeing up your time for tasks that require your expertise. Identify tasks others can do and select the appropriate person to do them. Also consider building support in many areas of life such as enlisting your kids’ help with getting dinner on the table, prepare extended family to be back up when the unexpected happens, ask a co-worker with help talking through a tough task.

Take breaks

A key to staying motivated is allowing time for breaks. Be sure to add short, five to ten minute breaks to help you recharge and refocus.

• If you are curious about different time management techniques and what type of person they fit, here’s a nice visual from the University of St. Augustine for Health Science: https://www.usa.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/top.png.

Here’s to more time for what’s most important to you!  Today’s information is adapted from University of Georgia and K-State Research and Extension’s time management publication.  For more information contact Tara Solomon-Smith, [email protected], or call 620-244-3826.

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Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service

School is officially out for the summer, the kids are home and are eating mom and dad out of the house! If you are like me, my summer calendar fills up fast with activities and trips and I find myself trying to figure out where to cut cost all while trying to make all of the fun things happen for my kids and family. So, how can you take advantage of the summer weather but still save money?

Here are a few ideas that I have found to make summer a little less costly but still allow my family to enjoy the great summer months and activities!

Pick One “Thing” a week: Getting invited to multiple outings or activities seem to be the task that takes up most of our time and money through out the summer. Try to pick one thing a week that you really want to do with your family and that you really want to spend your money on. If a friend ask you to dinner and you already have plans for another meal out that week, look into finding another interest that doesn’t cost money such as a trip to the park or a fitness walk.

Check out local opportunities: Lots of local organizations and local parks and recreations offer activities for youth and family to participate in. The local extension office is a great place to find summer learning opportunities for youth with our summer programming efforts. Using the Sunflower summer app that the State of Kansas provides also offers admission to several local attractions free for families!

Plant a vegetable garden: If you are looking for fresh and healthy food options over the summer, consider planting a garden. Include the whole family by allowing younger children or grandchildren can help with watering the plants and checking in to see how they are growing. Being outside helps stimulate thought and provide sanctuary in our busy lives.

Plan day trips or short road trips: Summertime is a prime time for travel for many families. Pay close attention to the high and low seasons for travel. During high season or months, it may cost you more because of demand. Day trips can help you save on hotel and other accommodations. If you are looking for more ways to make the best of your summer and do more with your family or friends, you could also think about camping. If you already have camping gear, maybe plan a short camping trip instead of a road trip.

Use community resources: This ties the earlier point about paying attention to local opportunities or events. Make sure to check out your local library for summer programs for both youth and adults a like. There also are summer food and reading programs that offer low-cost or free activities for individuals and families.

Summer is often a more expensive season for most families. Trips, more social outings, and larger food budgets can be stressful against family budgets. If you are able to throw some low cost and free activities into your planning and budgeting skills, you will be able plan on how to not spend all your money and still have a fun summer!

For More information, contact Community Vitality Agent, Amanda Clasen at [email protected] or at 620-244-3826.

Extension has been helping people for over 100 years. A lot has changed since the Extension service was created in 1914, but the one thing that remains the same is the mission of Extension. Extension means “reaching out.” Extension agents reach out and extend their knowledge and resources to the public. Extension is for everyone to use!

The Extension philosophy is to help people help themselves by taking university knowledge to where people live, work and play. We strive to be very attentive to the needs of the people and provide quality information and problem-solving tactics for everyday concerns.

In recent years with literally everything being on the internet, people might say we don’t need Extension anymore because I can get all the information I need on the internet. Although you can find tons of information on the internet, it is often difficult to determine what is true and what is not. Many times we get calls from people that have found information on-line, tried it and it actually made things worse. The growing environment in southeast Kansas is much different than is in say Ohio, but your internet search isn’t going to know that. It’s kind of like searching symptoms of bodily pains. If you search long enough, you will be convinced you are dying because your big toe hurts! We offer that human interaction that you just can’t get with a computer.

Anyone that has a lawn or landscape can benefit from the local Extension office. The weeds you try to keep from growing in your lawn, or the tree that has holes in the trunk, or the spots on your tomato leaves, are all areas Extension offers advice.

Your local Extension office is here to help you with problem solving tactics specific to your needs and to give you the tools to improve the situation. On the horticulture side, you can obtain information on trees, turf, flowers, insects, gardens, soils and other related topics. The office can assist you with any specific plant or insect problem you may have encountered. Home evaluations are even offered when necessary to gather additional information about a specific horticulture problem.

Many times when I take a call, the person on the other ends starts the conversation by saying “I have a dumb question.” My response is always this – “There are never any dumb questions when you call the Extension office.” My job is to help the public with whatever question or issue they may have and to try to educate them. I may not always have the answer they are looking for immediately, but 99% of the time I can find an answer.

We often hear that Extension is the best kept secret. Many folks don’t know what we do or what we have to offer. I want you to know that we are your source for all things horticulture! You can always reach me by e-mailing [email protected] or call 620-244-3826.

Krista Harding is a K-State Research and Extension Horticulture agent assigned to Southwind District. 

K-State Research and Extension is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

It’s time to celebrate all with Older Americans Month (OAM) this May. This is an opportunity to recognize older Americans’ contributions, highlight aging trends, and reaffirm commitments to serving the older adults in our communities.

This year’s theme, “Powered by Connection,” focuses on the profound impact that meaningful connections have on the well-being and health of older adults.  It’s not just about having someone to chat with.  It’s about the transformative potential of community engagement in enhancing mental, physical, and emotional well-being.  By recognizing and nurturing the role that connectedness plays, we can mitigate issues like loneliness, ultimately promoting healthy aging for more Americans.

How can community groups, businesses, and organizations mark OAM?

• Spread the word about the mental, physical, and emotional health benefits of social connection through professional and personal networks.
• Encourage social media followers to share their thoughts and stories of connection using hashtag #PoweredByConnection to inspire and uplift.
• Promote opportunities to engage, like cultural activities, recreational programs, and interactive virtual events.
• Connect older adults with local services, such as counseling, that can help them overcome obstacles to meaningful relationships and access to support systems.
• Host connection-centric events or programs where older adults can serve as mentors to peers, younger adults, or youths.

What can individuals do to connect?

• Invite more connection into your life by finding a new passion, joining a social club, taking a class, or trying new activities in your community.
• Stay engaged in your community by giving back through volunteering, working, teaching, or mentoring.
• Invest time with people to build new relationships and discover deeper connections with your family, friends, colleagues, or neighbors.

For more information, visit https://acl.gov/oam/2024/older-americans-month-2024 or contact Tara Solomon-Smith, [email protected], or call 620-244-3826.

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Kansas State Univ

Amanda Clasen- Community Vitality Agent    

May 2024

If you call a rural community home chances are good you have heard the statement, “Our community will never change.” Maybe you have said it yourself. All communities change over time. The big question is, how will it change? Will community members do nothing and just let change happen, or will they direct change, so the community moves into the future in a way that is preferred?

If the trend in the community is to just let things get old and fall apart, whether it be the pool, playground equipment, basketball courts, community centers, etc., then the community is changing, and probably not in the way most families would find appealing.

On the other hand, maybe a community directs the change. Residents decide to invest in the community, whether it is with new playground equipment, a new pool, a new summer recreation program or events that families can enjoy. These investments take resources – both time and money – but change the community in a way that residents find appealing and inspire pride. Changes don’t have to be physical; a new summer recreation program or family fun events that cost minimal amounts of money can happen using talents and skills of community members.

If you think your community hasn’t changed, or will never change, I challenge you to visit with some of its longer-term residents. Ask them what it was like there when they were growing up. I can guarantee that things have changed. Now, ask yourself, were those changes just things that happened, or did the community work to make them happen?

You certainly don’t have control over everything. You can’t control how much snow comes each winter or if it is going to rain. You can’t change the geography of the land around your community. You can change the way you share ideas about the future of your community with others.

You can change the way you welcome new people to your town. You can change the way you invite young people to see that they have a future in the community. You can take actions to improve the appearance of your community by keeping the community clean, planting flowers, putting appealing displays in story windows, and more. Maybe it’s working together as a community to make the reality of a new pool, or other amenity, a reality.

The sky is the limit. And it’s not easy. Think about what kind of future is your community building to be sure it is a place that keeps people there? And what are you doing to help?

For more information please contact Amanda Clasen, Community Vitality Agent, at [email protected] or at any Southwind Extension office.