L OWER E ASTERN S HORE
A GRICULTURE N EWSLET TER
DEC/JAN 2012
Happy Holidays!
Look inside this issue for:
Upcoming Events
Annie’s Project
Lower Shore Agronomy Day
Pesticide Certification and Nutrient Management Vouchers
I NSIDE THIS ISSUE :
L OWER S HORE
A GRONOMY D AY
1
B URNING W OOD
W ISELY
2
C HRISTMAS T REE
S ELECTION
2
A NNIE ’ S P ROJECT
3
T IMBER T AX
W ORKSHOP
3
S CHEDULE OF
E VENTS
4
We’ll see you at the Lower Shore Agronomy Day, January, 25 2012.
During our holiday festivities, take a moment to give thanks. Give thanks to your
fellow neighboring farmers who are the reason fresh food is being laid out on the
table. Give thanks to those who have lent a helping hand during a time of need.
The University of Maryland staff gives thanks to you, the farmers, for your hard
work and dedication throughout the year.
Happy Holidays & Merry Christmas,
Jessica Renshaw, Agriculture Faculty Extension Assistant
Richard Nottingham, Agriculture Educator
Ginny Rosenkranz, Commercial Horticulture
2011 MARYLAND CORN HYBRID PERFORMANCE TESTS
Visit www.mdcrops.umd.edu or call your local office for a copy.
L OWER S HORE A GRONOMY D AY
J ANUARY 25, 2012
This years Lower Shore Agronomy Day will be held at
Christ United Methodist Church in Salisbury on January
25, 2012. Crop updates, disease and weed concerns,
updated poultry information, along with other related
topics including information on current TMDL concerns will be discussed. Private
pesticide applicator recertification
and nutrient management voucher
training will be available. Cost is
free. Pre-registration required.
Contact Wicomico Extension Office to register at 410-749-6141.
P ESTICIDE R ECERTIFICATION &
N UTRIENT M ANAGEMENT V OUCHER
Pesticide recertification training will be held in December. All classes
will be followed by nutrient management vouchers. Pre-registration is
required to ensure enough training materials. Contact your local
Extension office to pre-register and for driving directions.
December 12, 2011
Wicomico Extension Office
NEW PESTICIDE CERTIFICATION
Training March 6, 2012
Wicomico Ext. Office
Test
March 13, 2012
Wicomico Ext. Office
6-8pm
1-3pm
1-3pm
L OWER E ASTERN S HORE A GRICULTURE
P AGE 2
Tips on Burning Wood Wisely
As energy prices rise and winter approaches, More Americans
are turning to wood to heat their homes. The number of
households heating with wood has risen 34% nationwide from
1.8 million in 2000 to 2.4 million in 2010—faster than any
other heating fuel, according to Census data. ―We’re seeing a
rise mainly in states with high oil and gas prices,‖ most notably
in Michigan and Connecticut, says John Ackerly of Alliance
Green Heat, a non-profit group that promotes wood stoves.
Store wood outdoors, stacked
neatly off the ground with the
top covered.
The problem is that most Americans burn wood in old, dirty
devices. Traditional fireplaces are so inefficient they don’t heat
a room unless they’ve been retrofitted with a wood or pellet
insert. Alison Davis of Environmental Protection Agency urges
home owners to buy an EPA-certified stove and operate it
properly so no smoke gets in the house. She says boilers are
―significantly more polluting‖ than wood or pellet stoves because they have short stacks and use 10 times as much wood.
Even so, she says those meeting EPA’s 2007 voluntary standards
are 90% cleaner than older ones. ―The technology has improved for wood stoves,‖ Davis says, as has the research on the
dangers of wood burning.
Start fires with newspaper and dry kindling (never with
gasoline, kerosene, charcoal starter or a propane torch) or
have a professional install a natural gas or propane log
lighter.
Burn hot fires. Regularly
remove ashes from your stove
into a metal container with a
cover and store outdoors.
Never burn household garbage, cardboard, driftwood, plywood, particleboard, moldy wood, wood with glue, or
wood that has been coated, painted or pressure-treated.
These items could release toxic chemicals when burned.
Install and maintain a smoke alarm and a carbon monoxide
detector. Also, keep a fire extinguisher handy.
SOURCE: Environmental Protection Agency, 2011
Burn only dry, well-seasoned wood that has been split
properly
F ARMER T RAINING & C ERTIFICATION FOR C ROP O PERATIONS USING M ANURE AND F ERTILIZER .
J ANUARY 24 & F EBRUARY 6, 2012
HOW TO WRITE A NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT PLAN FOR YOUR OWN OPERATION . T HIS COURSE FOCUSES ON
CROP OPERATIONS USING MANURE AND FERTILIZERS . B EING HELD AT THE U NIVERSITY OF M ARYLAND W YE
R ESEARCH AND E DUCATION C ENTER FROM 9:30 AM –4:40 PM. C ONTACT M ARYLAND D EPARTMENT OF
A GRICULTURE AT 410-841-5959.
L EARN
Selecting a Christmas Tree
The fresh smell of a Christmas tree is the true beginning of the Christmas season
for many of us. When selecting a live Christmas tree choose, a fresh tree. A fresh
tree will have a healthy green appearance with few browning needles. Needles
should be flexible and not fall off if you run a branch through your hand. Raise the
tree a few inches off the ground and drop it on the butt end. Very few green
needles should drop off the tree. It is normal for a few inner brown needles to
drop off. Always inspect the Christmas tree's base. Make sure the "handle" (the
first eight inches of butt) of the tree is relatively straight. This part of the tree is
extremely important when securing the tree in a stand. Before making the
excursion to select a tree, measure the ceiling height in the room
where the tree will be displayed. Don't overbuy. The trees in
the field look small when the sky is the ceiling. Once home, place
the tree in a sturdy stand that holds at least one gallon of water,
or a rule of thumb is one quart of water for every inch of
diameter of the trunk. Keeping a fresh cut tree well watered can
make it last 4-5 weeks. Recycle your tree after Christmas. Many
communities will turn them into chips or drag it outside to make
a nice shelter for song birds. MERRY CHRISTMAS!
SOURCE: University of Illinois Extension
Equine Dentistry
January 10, 2012
Did you know you can tell a lot
about the health of a horse by the
condition of its teeth? Teeth also
tell us many other things, such as
how old the animal is along with
long term diet and pasture conditions the
animal may have been exposed to. Horses
need regular annual checkups to ensure they
are able to properly chew and digest their
feed. Kevin Timmons, Graduate of The
American School of Equine Dentistry,
specializing in basic & advanced equine
dentistry, will be giving a talk and
demonstration on January 10, 2012 from 68pm at Fox-wood Farms in Berlin. Preregistration is recommended. Contact Jessie
Renshaw at 410-632-1972 for program
information and registration.
L OWER E ASTERN S HORE A GRICULTURE
P AGE 3
FARM MANAGEMENT CLASSES FOR WOMEN
The University of Maryland and Delaware Cooperative Extension will conduct Annie’s Project during the winter of 2012
at sites in Maryland and Delaware. Annie’s Project focuses on the many aspects of farm management and is designed to
empower women in overall farm decision making and to build local networks throughout the state. The target audience is
farmwomen with a passion for business, agriculture and involvement in the farm operation. Topics for the sessions cover
the five areas of Risk Management – Production, Marketing, Financial, Legal Risk, Human Resources. This course is open
to anyone interested in farm and agricultural management practices.
The course will be 8 sessions held on the Lower Eastern Shore at WorWic Community College in Salisbury.
Classes will begin on January 25, 2012. The cost of the course including meals and materials is $75. Please register by
January 18th - space is limited. For more information visit the website www.anniesproject.umd.edu or call 410-6321972. New to Annie’s Project this year; Annie’s Project is approved for FSA Borrower Training. If you require special
assistance to attend the classes please contact the site at least two weeks prior.
BEEKEEPING 101 2012 SESSION
Mike Embrey, University of Maryland Extension Apiculturalist, will be offering a
beginning beekeeping class at the Wye Research and Education Center in Queenstown, MD. The opening session will be held on
Saturday, January 21, 2012 from 9am-12 noon. Registration fee is $120, which includes the textbook, ―The Beekeeper’s handbook, Fourth Edition‖ by Diana Sammataro. If you have your own book, the fee will be $80. There
will be 7 classes, the first five of which will be held on every other Saturday until April. The two final sessions will
be held approximately the third week of September and third week of October. These sessions will teach how to
winterize your hives and how to protect your bees from disease and pests. Registration deadline is January 13,
2012. For program info, contact Mike Embrey, 410-827-8056.
T IMBER T AX W ORKSHOP
J ANUARY 13, 2012
This program will focus on record keeping, how
to handle cost share payments on practices such as
reforestation, rental payments for federal programs such as CRP, how to report timber sales
and capital gains and ways to treat casualty losses
on your forest lands. Copies of the UME’s updated Forest Management Account Book will be
available to all participants. This program is guaranteed to save you money by properly reporting
timber sales & cost share payments on income tax
forms. Being held at the Wye Research Center in
Queenstown, MD. Cost $10. For registration,
contact Bob Tjaden, rtjaden@umd.edu, 410-8278056.
AgrAbility
Cultivating Accessible Agriculture
The Mid-Atlantic AgrAbility Project (MAAP) is excited about working with and supporting farmers with physical limitations and health
conditions. The reason is that ―when a disability strikes a farm family,
everything changes except perhaps the desire to continue farming.‖ Farmers want to continue to make their livelihoods on their
farm and lead successful careers in agriculture. MAAP helps farmers
tackle the health challenges that sometimes come with farming
like: amputation, arthritis, chronic back pain, hearing and visual impairment, respiratory problems, head injuries, stress and other disabling conditions. MAAP and its partners are focused on providing
resources, ideas and services so that farmers can continue to
farm. Our organization is about supporting and promoting growth
and independence in agriculture. It is about no-limit thinking and the
can-do spirit. For more information contact 800-825-4264.
Want to receive this newsletter electronically? E-mail jrenshaw@umd.edu and type LES AG Newsletter into the subject line.
S
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IMPORTANT DA
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M
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Fa
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12/4 - 12/6 M
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12/12
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Mid-Atlan
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1/11-1/13
n Deadline - Que
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tr
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R
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in
Beekeep
1/13
op - Queenstown
ber Tax Worksh
im
T
1/17
rington, DE
e Ag Week - Har
ar
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el
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1/17 - 20
onium
World Expo - Tim
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H
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M
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1/20-1/22
Training - Queen
er
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Fa
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Nutrient Manag
1/24
Salisbury
Agronomy Day 1/25
Salisbury
Annie’s Project 1/25-3/14
Somerset Ext. Office ~ 30730 Park Drive ~ Princess Anne, MD 21853 ~ 410-651-1350 ~ Fax 410-651-0806
Wicomico Ext. Office ~ P.O.Box 1836 ~ Salisbury, MD 21802 ~ 410-749-6141 ~ Fax 410-548-5126
Worcester Ext. Office ~ P.O.Box 219 ~ Snow Hill, MD 21863 ~ 410-632-1972 ~ Fax 410-632-3023
UNIVERSITY OF MD EXTENSION
WORCESTER COUNTY
POB 219 - 100 RIVER STREET
SNOW HILL, MD 21853