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Agriculture

  • Composting reduces household wastes

    Yard and food waste take up a good chunk of our landfills. Fortunately, we can reduce this amount by composting these materials and recycling back into the ground.

    Composting is a natural form of recycling. During this process, bacteria, fungi and other organisms decompose organic materials. Organic materials include leaves, grass clippings, and vegetable and fruit scraps.

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  • 4-H Sharpshooters win awards at competitions

    The Washington County 4-H Sharpshooters have had a busy summer attending several competitions and winning top awards wherever they go.  The first competition was the District 4-sponsored event for rifle and pistol on June 27  at the Mercer County Gun Club.  In the 22-Sport Rifle, 12-14-year-old division, Chris Warner won third  place.  In the 22-Target Rifle, 9-11 year old division, winning second was Jesse Smith and in the 15-19-year-old division, Will Carrico won second  place.  The group won several team awards, but the results were not made available.&

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  • Plant fall vegetable garden

    If you were like me, you planted a spring garden complete with broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, beets, etc. and you liked it.  Guess what, it’s time to plant a fall garden with most of the same vegetables again.  We can do this in Kentucky thanks to our relatively long growing season and mild spring and fall seasons.  Most of the fall garden has to be planted in early August.

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  • 4-H'ers present speeches

    Everyone at some time in their life will need to get up in front of a group to speak. Learning to organize and prepare a speech and standing up and delivering it will develop confidence and help anyone overcome the fear of speaking in public. The speaker will then know that success is due to hard work, preparation and presentation skills.

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  • Appy nitrogen now, keep cows off

    I know we have had a wet year and, have a lot of hay stored.  For those of you who do not like to feed hay any more then you need to, you might want to put some nitrogen on some grass fields now and keep the cows off until first frost.  Remember, it costs 37 cents per head per day to graze a cow, and $2.50 per head per day to feed one cow hay.

    Agronomic Basics for Stockpiling Pastures:

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  • Fair horse show is Aug. 8

    The 4-H Young Riders would like to invite everyone in Washington County to attend the annual Washington County Fair Horse Show scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 8. The show will be held at the Willisburg Community Park 4-H Horse Show Arena beginning at 4 p.m.  The gate fee is $2per person or $5 per car.  What a great way to spend an evening and support the community! Show bills are available from the Washington County Extension Office.  Classes include lead line and also classes for Walking, Racking, Hunter, Western Pleasure and Contest divisions.

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  • Try controlling sweet corn pests; take some time to enjoy life

    I discussed tomatoes last week, so sweet corn gets the nod this week.  From what I have determined this has been the worst year in terms of actually getting to eat your sweet corn, even though it has been a bumper crop.  I am talking about the many critters that have been eating it before we do.  The calls I have gotten include birds, raccoons, deer, and of course worms.  Out of all of these the birds are probably the most difficult to control.  A scarecrow, some loud music, or maybe even some wind chimes or old cd’s hanging high in the patch to blow and flash

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  • Reflecting on cow herd changes

    We received this article from Dr. Roy Burris, University of Kentucky Beef Specialist, and thought we should share it with our local beef producers.

    What’s Happening to the Cow Herd?

    If you’ve been in this business for a while, you’ve seen how the nation’s cow herd is always changing.  History can sometimes be a good teacher, so it is probably good to consider where we are now, and to reflect on where we have been.

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  • Late blight is showing up early

    If you haven’t already started a fungicide program on your tomato plants this year, you may want to start.  Last week I, along with most agriculture agents and horticulture agents in the state, received an e-mail from the Vegetable Plant Disease Pathologist from the University of Kentucky.

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  • 4-Hers attend camp, compete in horse show

    Fireworks, fried apple pies, boating, swimming, archery, campfire– all of the words say summer fun!  That’s what Washington County 4-Her’s experienced and more, June 29 – July 2  at Lake Cumberland 4-H Camp.  Thirty-one campers and counselors from Washington County joined with Taylor, LaRue, Meade and Russell counties for a week of camp activities and fun.

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