MONTHLY NARRATIVES
(Program Highlights)

RICHLAND COUNTY

CROPPING SYSTEMS
Dale L. Siebert

PLOT TOURS
The annual Richland County Crop Tour was held on Monday, July 7 at the Gary Friskop farm west of Wahpeton. The tour included small grain variety characteristics by Dr. Joel Ransom, Extension Agronomist, Sugarbeet Weed Control Research by Dr. Alan Dexter, Extension Sugarbeet Specialist, and Soybean Weed Control by Dr. Richard Zollinger, Extension Weed Specialist. The plot tour gives growers a chance to ask questions and observe the field trials during the growing season. 80 farmers attended the tour that evening.

The Richland County Corn Growers held their annual plot tour on Wednesday, August 27 near Great Bend, ND. Participating seed companies are given a chance to talk about their entries in the plot . I assist the organization with finding a cooperator, contacts with the seed companies, planting, harvesting and distribution of the yield results. Cooperator this year was Todd Altoff of Mantador. Approximately 75 people attended this event. During August I also attended tours sponsored by Agriliance of Mantador and Goerger Seed Farm also of Mantador.

NATIONAL COUNTY AGENTS ASSOCIATION
July 13-17 I had the opportunity to attend the National County Agents Association Annual Meeting and Professional Improvement Conference held in Green Bay Wisconsin. This conference was attended by 1500 professionals from across the nation and is an excellent place to network with agents from across the country, learn new and innovative programs, as well as subject matter, see local agriculture firsthand and have some fun with other agents. The program and educational offerings were excellent this year and provided me with information and program ideas for the future.

4-H ACTIVITY DAY
The annual Richland/Wilkin Activity Day was held on July 24 at Chahinkapa Park. This event is sponsored by United Way and provides an opportunity for youth to attend several sessions that offer educational as well as project material. This year the event was very well attended by youth of both counties. I presented two sessions on farm safety during the afternoon using materials from the North Dakota Farm Bureau.

4-H ACHIEVEMENT DAYS
The annual Richland County 4-H Achievement Days were held August 8-9 in Hankinson ND. This was the first year for the event to be held in Hankinson and every thing went very smoothly. I also judged the Horticulture projects this year as we were short a judge. The Horse show was rained out August 9 and was held Sunday, August 24. Numbers of exhibits were up a little this year, although livestock projects continue to decline.

I also judged Achievement Days in Lisbon on August 20 and Forman, August 29. Achievement Days are a great way to interact with youth from the area and to provide them an educational opportunity for their project work.

GPS PROJECT
During August with the Assistance of John Nowatzki, Extension Water Quality Specialist and Russell Mauch, local farmer and pilot, we were able to take aerial infrared pictures of the crop growth in the fields that are being studied for the benefits of waste lime. While the pictures did not reveal any noticeable difference in crop growth in the areas receiving the waste lime treatment, they did provide the operator with a visual picture of differences in crop growth in the fields. Some of the differences could be readily explained by the grower, for example one area of a field received heavy manure applications in years past and was still visible from the air while other areas were not so easily explained. The project will continue with yield checks of the treated and untreated areas and GPS mapping of the pictures and yield maps on the treated fields. The late season drought affected our plans for more pictures and will have some effect on the yield in those fields. Several years of observation and data will probably be needed to determine if the waste lime has an effect on production.

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT/4-H
Colleen M. Svingen

4-H
Richland County 4-Her�s have had a very successful year exhibiting at both the Red River Valley Fair and the State Fair. Eleven 4-H members from Richland County claimed one-fourth of the championship ribbons at the Red River Valley Fair. Eleven members exhibited at the state fair and they received eight championship ribbons.

Richland County was the home of two Japanese 4-H exchange students this summer. The two hosting families have enjoyed exchange students for a number of years. Both families have shared that it is a positive enriching experience for their families.

The location of the 4-H Achievement Days was moved from Wyndmere to Hankinson this year. Hankinson asked to host the event in conjunction with their Community Days. The Leaders� Council expressed that the new location was a success due to the increase in the number of people who viewed the exhibits.

To Deb�s credit at our July 4-H Leaders� Council meeting the leaders sang high praises of our 4-H Green Gazette. Some samples of their comments were, "my kids fight over it" and elementary teacher/ leader said the kids bring it to school to share their accomplishments with their class. At the same council meeting, we had the pleasure of having two of our 4-H State Staff present. Their leadership was invaluable as they guided our council on some difficult issues. At our August meeting we planned our winter schedule including our Fall Fun Day in Wyndmere and a January Fun and Fitness Day at the Science School Sports Complex. There really isn�t a slow season for 4-H, just a different focus!

WOW RETREAT
The Women�s Overall Wellness (WOW) will be held the first weekend in September. I am very pleased to report that we have seven Richland County women attending the conference. The women will be traveling together in a 21^st Century After-School van. The consortium is providing the van and driver as part of their community adult education program. We are proud that Dr. Jean Beyer from Nebraska, a national known speaker, is joining us again this year. Jean is a very talented inspirational speaker! Public radio gave our retreat about an hour of coverage one day across the entire state of North Dakota. We are looking forward to the document that will be generated as a result of the work from NDSU�s Group Decision Center.

FNP
Pamela Leino-Mills

This year I enjoyed an extended July 4^th holiday with my family in Minnesota. Such events are always healing and rejuvenating.

EBT AND WIC
After returning to Wahpeton, I have fortunately been able to reconnect with EBT and WIC customers. I did individual nutrition education sessions with 17 WIC customers and taught three classes of EBT customers. I hope to see many of both groups as participants in classes I will be conducting at NDSCS from September through May. The nutrition, food safety, and budgeting classes I will be teaching at the college were set up with the help of Norman Coley, Assistant Director of Student Life. This month I conducted a food safety class for NDSCS students taking summer school classes.

During August I held four classes for EBT customers and individual education sessions with 19 WIC customers.

RADIO SPOTS
As stated in earlier newsletters, doing radio spots is an excellent opportunity to connect with a large number of Richland County residents. On two occasions this month, I disseminated pertinent food safety reminders through short discussions with a sharp morning KBMW radio host.

RICHLAND/WILKIN AGING COALITION
I am actively working with the Richland/Wilkin Aging Coalition in order to maximize every opportunity to reach the senior population in Richland County with the information they want regarding nutrition and food safety.

During July and August, I have also been able to work with individuals living at Rainbow Court on food quality, food safety and budgeting. She has made great strides.

I have also been in contact with Richland County Senior Centers, and have scheduled short, pre-lunch nutrition education programs at several. Hopefully, this will be an ongoing monthly program throughout the county.

NUTRITION EDUCATION
The 21^st Century Afterschool Program is getting started in September. I was part of the training program for the program�s coordinators and teachers. I presented information on food safety.

Lastly, I did a nutrition education program for those picking up food from the Commodity Distribution Program at the Wahpeton Senior Center.

21^st CENTURY COMMUNITY LEARNING CENTERS
Adrian Biewer

SECOND SUMMER SESSION
July started on a positive note with the kick off of our second programming session. The FM Redhawks came down to Wahpeton on July 1 and Hankinson on July 7. We had 42 participants 7^th - 8^th grades in Wahpeton and 62 participant 4^th - 6^th grades in Hankinson. The Wahpeton camp provided participants an opportunity to hit off the Redhawks players. Econo Foods supplied the hotdogs for a post camp picnic in Wahpeton. parents and park personnel cooked the dogs.

The Hankinson camp had many enthusiastic participants. Redhawk players had the participants perform outfield, infield and hitting drills. In Hankinson, Jack and Jill Foods and Hankinson Park Board donated to the hotdog picnic with afterschool staff and Anne Biewer, the elementary principal at Hankinson, preparing the lunch.

Our trip to Fort Sisseton, Sica Hollow, and the Nicollet Tower started off with a shaky start as we feared a thunderstorm would foil our intentions. However, it turned out to be a beautiful day with students learning about fort life on the Dakota Prairie, enjoying a sub sandwich picnic, participating in a fitness hike through Sica Hollow, and visiting the Nicollet Tower and Interpretative Center. The children learned the tower was named after Joseph Nicollet, the first explorer to map the area from Fort Snelling in Minnesota to Sisseton, South Dakota, up to Devils Lake, North Dakota, in 1838.

The FM Redhawks baseball game was well attended with 114 students and parents attending. We enjoyed a beautiful summer evening with much entertainment at the park. The Hawks lost 4-1, but everyone still enjoyed the game.

Events at Fargo Speedway and the Richland/Wilkin 4-H Activity Day went very well. We had the races canceled one night because of rain and had to reschedule for the next week. 4-H Day was well attended with 136 participants. The children enjoyed archery, ice cream making, fishing, farm safety, birdhouse construction, horse harness making, technology, a pizza party, and swimming at Chahinkapa pool.

We ended July with co-sponsoring a soccer camp for grades 1-6 with Wyndmere Park Board. We had 23 participants in grades K-6.

The start of August brought our last event of summer programming. Red River Gymnastics provided instruction to 34 children in grades 1-4 for two weeks. The children were very active in working on coordination moves, balance beam, and horizontal bar. The event ended with a show for parents on the evening of August 18.

During the gymnastics classes, the site coordinators and I met with our partners and service providers. We have the school year planned through December. This year will find some additions and upgrades to our programs. We created homework tubs that will be used by the teaching assistants to reinforce the subject content they are learning in the classroom. These efforts are coordinated with a classroom teacher.

"OPERATION ROUNDUP"
We received notification from Tom Reimke of Dakota Valley Electric "Operation Roundup" that we are the recipient of a grant for $500 to support counseling programs in the afterschool program for the 2003-2004 school year. We wish to extend thanks to the Cooperative for supporting our afterschool efforts.

JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF AMERICA
We have added a partner in Junior Achievement of America. This is an economic curriculum that teaches students about managing money. Area businesses will provide volunteers to teach the classes.

GENERAL MILL GRANT
We have purchased pedometers and set up nutrition classes with funds from our General Mills Grant. Students and adults will use pedometers to monitor their fitness activities and qualify for incentives at planned milestones.

SHOOTING SPORTS
The afterschool program will participate in the state postal matches in the shooting sports. Archery and air gun training and shoots will be held in each site. After the first of the year, we will have a league once a month in each site.

INSERVICES
On August 18 and 19, the afterschool program participating in an in-service. Topics included child care certification, "Child of Divorce", "Food Safety", "Discipline", "Student Organization and Safety", "How To Teach a Lesson", and First Aid and CPR training. The coordinators also participated in two in-services that included employee supervision and computer training.

Afterschool programming will begin September 2.