Embryology and Butterfly Project Return to Chatham County Classrooms

It's 4-H Embryology and Butterfly Project Program time! Currently, 52 classrooms across the county are participating in programs in-person and virtually to explore life cycle development; students are carefully caring for Painted Lady butterfly larvae and meticulously turning heritage breed chicken eggs provided by the Livestock Conservancy. Be sure to check back next month to see what progress the students (and butterflies and chicks!) have made!

4-H Virtual Camp & Kit Registration Coming Soon for Summer 2021

Virtual camp and grab-and-go kits are coming to Chatham County 4-H once again this summer! We’re excited to offer these fun educational learning opportunities from June through August, and thanks to the continued generous support of the United Way of Chatham County, these camp kits will be offered to community members at no cost. All youth between the ages of 5-18 (as of January 1, 2021) are invited to participate in these activities, regardless if they are currently enrolled in 4-H or not.

Many Thanks to Our 4-H Volunteers

April 18-24 was National Volunteers Week, but we did not get a chance to say THANK YOU to all of our volunteers, and supporters of 4-H in Chatham County. Our programs reach and succeed because of the support, love, and attention that our volunteers provide to all of our 4-Hers day in and day out!!

If you would like to volunteer and support our Chatham County 4-H program, please email Liz Mauney at enmauney@ncsu.edu. There are so many ways you can help, from being a club leader, to helping with camps, to judging project record books, we can find a way for you to share your talent with our 4-Hers.

Publications from NC State Extension

Homeowner’s Guide to Managing Diseases Using Fungicides, Bactericides, and Alternative Products

This guide is published to help homeowners select fungicides, bactericides, and alternative products that will help prevent or manage common diseases in the landscape or garden. Chemical control options should be considered as part of an integrated approach to manage disease. The following cultural practices should also be included in an integrated management plan: 1) sanitation of tools and equipment, 2) supplying appropriate water, 3) rotating crops, 4) planting disease-resistant varieties, and 5) implementing other practices to promote plant health (for example, proper soil conditions, plant nutrition, and reduction of plant stressors). Common diseases of herbaceous ornamentals, woody ornamentals, lawns, fruit trees, small fruits, and vegetables are listed in the tables along with the most effective fungicides, bactericides, and alternative products available to homeowners for their management. Homeowners should take great care to read and follow the entire label of any product before treatment. The label indicates approved crops, safety precautions, timing, dilution instructions (if applicable), and application rates. Products listed here are sold at most garden centers. Product names can change, so it is important to look for the active ingredient if you cannot find the product name. Note that many products contain multiple active ingredients, targeting insects or mites as well as diseases.

Galls on Oaks

Entomology Insect Notes

CAUTION: This information is for North Carolina and may not apply to other areas.

Some insects and mites cause unusual growths on plants called galls. Galls may form on any part of the plant from the flowers, leaves and stems to the roots. The abnormal growths developing in plant tissue are due to the powerful enzymes given off by the immature gall-forming insect as it grows. The plant tissue is remarkably altered even to the point of replication of chromosomes without cell division.

At Your Door Step: A Family Factsheet on Outdoor Play and Learning

Right at your doorstep may be many of the answers to the social, educational, and health challenges faced by children, parents, and teachers in the United States.

People spend approximately 90 percent of their time indoors (Infante-Rivard, 1993; U.S. EPA, 2009). Spending time outside with children in natural environments can increase physical activity, connect families with one another, and connect children with nature. However, for a variety of reasons, children today spend less time playing outdoors than any previous generation (Louv, 2005).

Plant Identification Tools and Resources

With the arrival of spring, more of us are getting outside to enjoy the pleasant weather and new life budding and blooming all around us. Now is a great time to hone your naturalist skills, especially in plant identification. Isn’t there an app for that? The ubiquity of smartphones has resulted in the development of easy-to-use software applications and websites. Some of these are traditional taxonomic keys (more on those below), while others use image recognition and other artificial intelligence algorithms. The latter can be appealing to plant novices, as they tout rapid field identification with just a few clicks. However, the accuracy of many of these apps can be inconsistent. Valid identification depends on having quality photos to upload – lighting, position, contrast with surrounding vegetation, etc. Some plant parts are more variable than others, which is why taxonomists have historically relied on more complex and morphologically conservative reproductive organs (like sporangia, cones, flowers, and fruits) for accurate identification.

Protecting your Woods Webinar #2: Non-timber Forest Products and Agritourism

Join ForestHer NC landowners, natural resource professionals, and others for the second of three interactive webinars about protecting your woodlands! Presentations will cover non-timber forest products and agritourism.

May 13, 2021

1:00 –2:30 p.m.

(with an optional half an hour afterward for discussion)

Introduction to Forest Farming Botanicals

Jeanine Davis, Associate Professor and Extension Specialist, North Carolina State University

Pine Straw Sales

Lisa Hartrick, Assistant Forest Supervisor Bladen Lakes State Forest, North Carolina Forest Service

Is Agritourism Right for You?

Annie Baggett, Agribusiness Developer & Agritourism Marketing Specialist, N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services

Save the Dates for These Upcoming Webinars!

Protecting your Woods

Forest Certification & Cost-Share Programs

June 10, 2021

1:00 to 2:30 p.m.

Property Taxes & Estate Planning

July 8, 2021

1:00 to 2:30 p.m.

View recordings of past ForestHer NC Webinars. For more information about ForestHer NC, email foresthernc@gmail.com

ForestHer NC is sponsored by conservation organizations including the NC Wildlife Resources Commission, U.S Forest Service, N.C. Tree Farm Program, N.C. Forest Service, N.C. Cooperative Extension, Audubon North Carolina, USDA Wildlife Services, Wild Turkey Federation, and the Sustainable Forestry and Land Retention Project.

Spring Goodies at our Chatham County Farmers’ Markets!

Now is a wonderful time to visit one or all of our Chatham County farmers' markets! You'll find amazing foods like strawberries, green garlic, cheese curds, and greenhouse tomatoes plus gorgeous greens, meats, eggs, plants, and so many other wonderful locally grown products.

Chatham Mills Farmers’ Market on Saturdays from 8 am til noon

Fearrington Farmers’ Market on Tuesdays from 4-6 pm

Pittsboro Farmers’ Market on Thursdays from 3-6 pm

The Piedmont Regional Goat and Sheep Conference

TWO FINAL WEBINARS

May 3: Vaccination and Other Components of Small Ruminant Herd/Flock Health

Dr. Kevin Anderson, NC State Veterinary Medicine

Overview of recommended vaccines and other aspects of small ruminant herd/flock health.

May 10: Genetic Selection of Small Ruminants

Dr. Andrew Weaver, NC State Extension, and Dr. Scott Greiner, Virginia Tech

This webinar will cover small ruminant selection basics including discussion of crossbreeding systems, purebred selection, utilization of performance records, and estimated breeding values. Important traits for small ruminant production in the southeast will also be discussed such as selection for parasite resistance.

Chatham County Extension is looking to gather information from farmers who are selling directly to customers. We want to generate more business for our local farmers by posting information about where they can find local foods to our Chatham County Buy Local Guide. Please click on the button below to complete the form if you are currently selling farm products directly to customers:

Pine Needle Scale Crawlers Emerging Soon

It’s not just baby birds that hatch from eggs each spring. In the next several weeks, pine needle scale crawlers will emerge across North Carolina after overwintering as eggs.

WEBINAR: Emerald Ash Borer: Where do we stand?

(Sponsored by Southern Forest Health)

The emerald ash borer is an invasive insect that is killing ash trees in North America. Dr. Kelly Oten (NCSU) will provide a general overview of identification, impact, and management strategies for EAB in the southeastern U.S.

May 5, 2021

12:00 -1:00 pm

(Advanced registration not required)

Cooperative Extension at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University Needs Assessment

Cooperative Extension at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University is conducting a statewide program needs assessment to determine how to best support the people of North Carolina in the areas of youth development, agriculture and natural resources, community and rural development, and family and consumer sciences. We need your help!

Join Tara's email list! She's waiting to hear from you!

From Tara's Kitchen

Smart Ways to Spend Your Tax Refund

The date for filing your federal and state taxes has been extended to Monday, May 17. We all got a little more time this year, so make sure you have everything organized and filed by that new deadline. If you are getting a refund this year, this is a good time to start thinking about what you will spend it on. Will you create an emergency fund to help throughout the year, perhaps take the chance to pay down debt, or will you splurge a little on yourself or the family? Click on the button below to read the article from Shameca Battle, FCS Extension Agent in Guilford County, that shares some smart ways to spend your tax refund.

Extension Archives

"Miss 4-H"

Without our 4-H volunteer leaders, 4-H would not be the successful program that it is today. While going through the scrapbooks and photos, one person kept re-appearing year after year, Bernice Hinshaw, fondly remembered as Bunk. For a long time I thought she must had been a 4-H agent, but no: she was a volunteer leader for over 35 years. Bunk was unsure if she would even enjoy being a 4-H Volunteer Leader, but she thought she would give it a try. She grew up in Alamance County and was involved with 4-H as a youth, so she knew what 4-H had to offer. In 1967, she took over a "Young American's Club" and she never looked back! When the Chatham Record interviewed her in January 1999 about being a long time 4-H volunteer, she was in her thirty-first year as a 4-H leader and had no plans of stepping down. Her motto was: "To never let the good rest until the better is best."

Bunk, What a Name!

Bernice was better known as Bunk, but why? As she explains in the Chatham Record, "I had a relative who was grouchy and bad to curse. He came to see me and told my mama he didn't like my name and was going to change it. He asked my mama why she gave me such an awful name as Bernice - the middle name is worse," Bunk added as an aside. "He told her that he was going to call me Bunk and said everyone else would call me that too. And they did!"

Bunk Broke Through Barriers

Bunk was the first woman on the 4-H Development Fund board. "Other people said they were afraid of the board members, but I didn't think anything about it." Bunk also developed and helped develop numerous programs for the groups over her three decades as a volunteer. She wrote a program that was used in all 100 counties in North Carolina. She also made a video which was made to promote 4-H in all of the state's counties. Bunk told the Chatham Record, "I reckon I've been to about every place in the state."

The Chatham 250 Passport Experience Begins

PITTSBORO, NC— Chatham County kicked off its six-month celebration of the County’s 250th Anniversary on April 10th with Founding Day. To build on that event’s excitement, the Chatham 250 planning committee invites community members to continue the milestone celebrations with the Chatham 250 Passport Experience.

The Chatham 250 Passport Experience will help residents and visitors alike explore the uniqueness of Chatham County. Each of the five Chatham 250 Passports - Creative Arts, Growth and Change, Community and Diversity, Agriculture and Natural Environment - offer nearly 20 accessible and fun activities that are also designed for a COVID-19 safe environment. The self-guided tour meets scavenger hunt is designed to assist in the exploration of Chatham County in honor of this 250th anniversary.

“We are looking forward to sharing local places to explore in this commemorative year,” said Neha Shah, Director of Pittsboro-Siler City Convention & Visitors Bureau. “Our guests will love these sites, both the favorites to which they visit more than once and the new ones they’ve had on their list to check out.” I’m eager to share the passports so that guests explore, based on their interests; Chatham 250 curated things to do that are free or low-cost, accessible, self-guided, with safety and simplicity in mind, for everyone visiting - including day trips, road trips, and overnight guests.”

Passport Partners

Many local businesses and organizations are participating in the Chatham 250 Passport Experience as Passport Partners. These partners include Chatham Arts Council, Chatham County Public Library, Chatham County Parks and Recreation Department, NC Cooperative Extension Chatham County Center, The Carolina Stockyard, Huckleberry Trail Farm, Farm at Penny Lane, Hoppin’ John Fiddlers’ Convention, Chatham County Manager’s Office, Main Street Pittsboro, Chatham Community Remembrance Coalition, Chatham County Historical Association, Chatham Artists Guild, Chatham County Council on Aging and Friends of the Lower Haw River.

Passport Registration

Chatham 250 participants are encouraged to register through the Chatham 250 website: www.chatham 250.com. The registration form can be found on the “Chatham 250 Passport Overview” page. The information provided through the registration form will help ensure that there are enough Swag Bag prizes for participants who complete the passport experience. By completing this registration form, participants also opt into receiving a monthly email about upcoming Chatham 250 events and opportunities to complete passport activities.

How to Get a Passport

All five Chatham 250 Passports are available for download on the Chatham 250 website, on the Chatham 250 Passport Overview page. Participants can choose to download one passport or all five passports. Printed passports will also be available at key locations across the county, including the Chatham County Welcome Center and Chatham County Public Library branches. Additionally, all Chatham County students will receive one printed passport through their schools. Interested residents are asked to email chatham250thanniversary@gmail.com or call 919-545-8408 if they would prefer a printed passport mailed to them.

Activities, Events and Details

Each passport includes nearly 20 safe, accessible, and fun activities designed to explore the Celebration Theme by connecting with new people, places and experiences in Chatham County. Each activity is designed to happen at the participants’ preferred pace in their own way, allowing them to maintain their health and safety during the pandemic without sacrificing any of the fun and excitement of exploring the County.

Passport participants can use the QR Code on the passport to discover event and location details for the passport activities on the Chatham 250 website. Each passport has a unique calendar full of events and a detailed list of ongoing events and locations to assist participants with completing their passport. Most activities are free and open to the public; any activity that requires an entrance fee, ticket or reservation is indicated on the calendar.

Participants should check off completed activities on their passport as they go. The Chatham 250 Passport is based on the honor system. Participants are also encouraged to post their Chatham 250 Passport Experience on social media using #Chatham250. The first activity on each passport is a Chatham 250 Celebration Theme event. These events, hosted by Chatham 250, will occur throughout the Chatham 250 Passport Experience and will be free and open to the public.

Passport Upload and Drop Off

A passport is considered completed once a participant completes at least 10 passport activities on a single passport. Completed passports can be uploaded on to the Chatham 250 website or dropped off at the Chatham County Public Library book drop. If possible, participants dropping off their passport at an external Library book drop, should write their name and email on their passport, and place their printed passports in a sealed plastic bag. Completed passports must be uploaded or dropped off by Saturday, October 23, 2021.

Passport Swag Bags

Participants who submit a completed passport will earn an enviable Swag Bag, curated by the Pittsboro-Siler City Convention & Visitors Bureau. They will include fun and useful souvenir items, discount coupons to local businesses, and some exciting prizes. Swag Bag items have already been secured from Carolina Brewery, Starlight Mead and Huckleberry Trail Farm.

Chatham 250 is seeking additional Swag Bag sponsors. “The Chatham 250 Swag Bag is an affordable promotional opportunity for our visitor businesses to offer a token, souvenir, or coupon as we encourage guests to visit and learn more about them over the next six months,” added Shah. “We are offering three levels of sponsorship, $50, $75, and $100, a sliding scale for business owners to include a coupon ($100 level) or a fun and useful item ($50 or $75 level, based on the value of the gift item). We intentionally made these sponsorships low-cost and the value of promotion offers a long time frame from mid-April through October. One-hundred percent of the funds will go to support the expenses related to the Chatham 250 celebration and festivities.”

“We are so fortunate to live in a diverse community, and with diversity comes opportunity to learn and grow,” said Shirille Lee, Communities in Schools of Chatham County Youth F.I.R.S.T. Student Support Specialist and Co-Liaison of the Chatham 250 Events and Activities Committee. “In developing our Chatham 250 Passports, we wanted to incorporate the wealth of Chatham County. We wanted activities that were family oriented and representative of the diversity of Chatham. Our goal is to have at least one activity that will appeal to every Chathamite. As Chatham County celebrates 250 years, we hope our residents will take advantage of the activities planned and adventures highlighted to hear, feel, see, smell and taste Chatham!”

Those with any questions about the Chatham 250 Passport Experience may contact Hillary Pollan, Chatham 250 Project Manager, at hilary.pollan@chathamcountync.gov. More details on the Chatham 250 Passport Experience and other Chatham 250 activities can be found at www.chatham250.com.