Extension News & Insight

After a few months of all that summer on the farm entails, the kids have returned to school.

For fastest composting, alternate layers of “greens” and “browns.” Greens are materials with a high amount of nitrogen as compared to carbon. Browns have less nitrogen as compared to carbon.

I’ve decided I’m not a great gardener. Maybe it’s the soil! Maybe it’s uneven watering! Maybe it’s the heat! Or Maybe I don’t have a green thumb. But even then, I still like to garden.

Watch Out for ‘Grandparent’ Scams It’s that time of year where the kids/grandkids are going off to school and a time that grandparents worry about their safety, especially if this is the first grandchild heading off to college. Unfortunately, scammers know this and are using it to their advantage.

The past couple of weeks I had the privilege of attending several Farm Bureau events in person — Big Tent Reunions, Summer Summit and Young Farmers and Ranchers Leaders Conference — without masks, and it was awesome.

Customer reviews are a staple in the digital world. If you cannot see a product in person, the next best thing is reading about another person’s experience. The trust we instinctively place in each other’s opinions and observations are not limited to product reviews.

Kansas Farmers’ Market Month As I was driving home from work the other day, I saw sweet corn and peaches being sold at the courthouse square. Love this time of year, all the fresh fruit, vegetables, and other produce available for our purchase and ready to consume or preserve for this winter.

Fertilize Strawberries Early- to mid-August is the time to fertilize strawberries in order to increase the number of fruit produced next spring. Plenty of daylight and warm temperatures during June, July and August promotes the growth of new runners, or daughter plants.

My wife and I have had a busy summer of traveling to places both old and new, near and far. Some of the routes were committed to memory long ago while the new ones required some navigational assistance from modern mapping software.

Leaf Spot on Lilacs I have had a number of contacts regarding lilacs with leaves showing many spots and browning leaves. Cercospora leaf spot appears to be the cause.