Happenings September 2023

September 2023

Save The Date: Open House On The Farm

Back To School Tips for Parents

Meet the Pollinators: Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds

Minimize Morning Madness

Local Food Guide 2023

What's Bugging You?

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Save The Date: Open House On The Farm

Calling all families! Mark your calendars for October 21, 2023, because we're throwing a Fall family fun extravaganza at Tilly Foster Farm. Get ready to have a cow-mazing time at our Open House on the Farm! From 11am to 3pm, Cornell Cooperative Extension Putnam County will be offering a barn-load of educational activities that will keep everyone entertained and learning. Saddle up for pony rides with the Tall Oaks 4-H Horse Club, discover the sweet secrets of honey extraction, and let your creativity bloom with pumpkin painting. But that's not all! We've got even more surprises in store for you. So don't miss out on this udderly fantastic event! See you there!

Preregistration is required.  CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO

Image by sharonj from Pixabay

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Back To School Tips for Parents

By Dave Schramm

The first few weeks of school set the tone for the rest of the year, and there are things parents can do, starting from day one, to help their kids succeed. Consider these tips.

Establish Routines – Research shows that both kids’ and adults’ brains and bodies do best when there is predictability, stability and routines. Try to make each day predictable by having children go to bed and get up around the same time each day. Bedtime rituals might include brushing teeth, reading a book or sitting on their bed talking about their day.

Start the Night Before – Parents can prevent a great deal of morning stress by helping their children start the night before. Teach children to make and pack their own lunches. They can also lay out their clothes before going to bed, pack their school/gym bag and clean up their room, which can all help prevent chaos in the morning.

Place Responsibility on Your Child –The amount of responsibility you give your child will depend on his or her age and ability. But children can learn early on to set their own alarm clock and get up without having parents wake them. They can also be responsible for getting papers signed, turning in homework on time and asking for help before it is bedtime. Older children may find apps such as iHomework or MyHomeWork helpful as they organize assignments.

Refresh Your Screen Rules – Children usually have more time during the summer to play video games, text their friends and stay up watching movies. Revisit your family rules and limits about screen time and what’s allowed, what electronics get turned in at night and when.

Make Time to Talk – When children come in the door or you come home from work, put aside distractions and make time to connect for even a few minutes before you rush to get dinner ready. Ask children open-ended questions such as the best part of their day, who their friends are and things they are learning or struggling to learn. Give them your entire attention for a few minutes and get excited about the good things they share.

Create a Family Calendar – Whether it’s a digital calendar you all share or a calendar in the kitchen, encourage your children to include things on the calendar as soon as they know about them. Coordinating schedules can prevent unneeded stress. Let children use a system they are interested in and excited to use.

Know When to Say No - It’s nice to help with PTA, fundraisers and classroom parties, but be cautious about signing up unless you know you have the bandwidth to do it. Being involved in your child’s learning has been shown to boost parent-child relationships and academic outcomes, but don’t be pressured into doing things that aren’t realistic and will compromise your own well-being.

Don’t Let Your Child Skimp on Sleep – Children between ages 3 and 12 need 10 to 12 hours of sleep every night to function their best the next day. For teenagers, social pressures may conspire against them to stay up later, but most teens need 8 to 9 hours of sleep each night. Encourage healthy sleeping routines right from the start of the year.

Make Time for Family Time – A new school year can feel overwhelming, so be sure to spend time together each day to reconnect. It could happen while making or eating a meal together, playing a game or sharing something before bedtime that made each of you happy.

Touch Base with Teachers – Check in early in the year with your child’s teacher(s). Getting to know them and allowing them to get to know you can help when there are areas to troubleshoot.

Take Care of You – As the children head back to school, be sure to make time to reenergize yourself by doing things with other adults. This could include lunch dates, book clubs or heading back to the gym. Eating healthy, exercising and getting enough sleep go a long way in helping you be the best you can be. Remember that you are a much better parent when your tank is full.

By: Dave Schramm, Utah State University Extension family life specialist, David.schramm@usu.edu

Image by StockSnap from Pixabay

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Meet the Pollinators: Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds

By Jill Eisenstein, Master Gardener Volunteer

“I don’t know what they were fighting about. The two little birds went at each other with long beaks, rising higher and higher into the air until I could barely see them. They seemed determined to outperform each other with aerial acrobatics amid quick jabs. Then flashing green and red, the jewels dove straight down from the heavens and vanished.”

Found only in the Western hemisphere, most of the over 300 known hummingbird species are primarily tropical, found in Central and South America and a few in the Caribbean.

The Ruby-throated hummingbird ( Archilochus colubris) is the only hummingbird species to regularly breed in the Eastern United States. Weighing in at less than an ounce – it would take more than 150 of them to tip the scale to a pound – they seem unaware of their diminutive size. Fiercely territorial, they have been seen attacking blue jays, crows and even hawks that invade their territory. Some backyard birders report one dominate hummer that guards all the feeders, chasing intruders away.

These tiny birds come with a long list of superlatives. First, mental acuity and spatial awareness may give them bird bragging rights. Hummingbirds have super memories – studies have shown how hummingbirds can remember their migration routes, including the yard and flowers they visited in the previous year – which allows them to migrate and feed more efficiently than many other bird species.

Body build also gives them reason to strut. Their lifestyle demands a lightweight, energy-efficient body. To that end, about 25 to 30 percent of a hummingbird’s weight is in its pectoral muscles. And because of the structure of the wing joints, hummingbirds can rotate or twist the upper bones to invert their wings as they fly, making them the most agile birds on the planet.

And beauty? They are often called “jewels on the wing.” Hummingbirds have the fewest feathers of any bird species in the world, but those throat feathers, the gorget, on the Ruby-throat turns heads with a dazzle of iridescent color. The colors do not come from pigments in the feathers but from reflections from crystalline structures in their plumage. Light level and angle, moisture, wear and tear, and other factors influence just how bright and colorful the gorget appears.

Hummingbirds are many gardeners’ favorite pollinators to watch. The Ruby-throats have long, slender bills with a slight downward curve and fringed, forked tongues that they use to lick nectar from many brightly colored flowers (not only red!); this gives them the energy they need to fuel their high metabolism. As they move quickly from plant to plant, hovering just a moment at each, they carry pollen. For protein, they eat insects caught on the fly or spiders plucked from their webs.

Have you ever been “scolded” by a hummer? Ruby-throated hummingbirds have a high-pitched, sharp chatter and sharp, high “pips” they will use when threatened or during courtship displays.

The hummingbirds that arrived a few months ago may have had one to three broods of chicks over the summer. Each female parent built a cup-shaped nest, lined it with fine plant fibers and down held together with spider web filaments, and trimmed it with moss and lichens for camouflage 5-20 feet above the ground. The plain, white oval eggs were smaller than jellybeans.

Our smart, feisty little jewels will be leaving any day now. The peak fall migration period for hummingbirds is from mid-July through early September, depending on the route and the exact species. Most Ruby-throated hummingbirds winter in Mexico, flying 500 miles nonstop across the Gulf of Mexico during both spring and fall migrations. They migrate individually (not in flocks) during the day and rest at night.

If you want to attract the smallest bird in the world to your backyard next spring, plant brightly colored native plants, at least some with tubular-shaped blooms. You can find appropriate plants for your ecoregion in this native plant finder .

If you decide to hang hummingbird feeders, not necessary but fun for bird watchers, please keep your feeder clean and use sugar water with no honey, food coloring, or other impurities. Keep in mind, too, that larger creatures like bears and raccoons might also be attracted.

FUN FACTS

Hummingbird eggs are the smallest in the bird world. Their feet are also the smallest in the bird world.

Hummingbirds are the only birds that can fly in different directions. They can hover forward, backward, sideways, in mid-air, and even upside-down!

They don’t “flap” their wings. The wings move in a figure 8 pattern, giving them better lift.

An average hummingbird’s heart rate is more than 1,200 beats per minute. In comparison, a human's average heart rate is only 60 to 100 beats per minute at rest.

Hummingbird bills don’t suck up nectar. Capillary action along the fringe of a hummingbird's tongue helps draw nectar up into its throat so the bird can swallow.

Hummingbirds use up a lot of energy for flight. Some need to consume half their total weight in sugar each day; for a 3-gram Ruby-throat, this may represent 50 to 60 full course meals a day to get 1.5 grams of sugar. Good thing they digest natural sucrose—the sugar found in floral nectar—with 97 percent efficiency for converting the sugar into energy!

Photo #1 - Rick from Georgis, Flickr CC 2.0

Photo #2 - T. Shahan via Flickr under CC 2.0

References

https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2018/02/spatial-memory-allows-hummingbirds-rule-roost

https://www.nps.gov/articles/hummingbirds.....

https://www.welovehummingbirds.com/blogs/news/interesting-facts-about-hummingbirds

https://www.birdsandblooms.com/birding/attracting-hummingbirds/13-jaw-dropping-facts-about-hummingbirds/

https://www.thespruce.com/fun-facts-about-hummingbirds-387106

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Minimize Morning Madness

Help your children thrive in school, rather than just survive, with effective morning routines. Ineffective morning routines leave parents and children frustrated and drained of energy before the demands of the day have barely begun. A vicious cycle of children's unacceptable behavior and parent's angry reactions that begins early in the day leaves a child discouraged and distracted. Although morning madness cannot always be avoided, a reliable routine helps to get school days off to a good start.

Older children should be responsible for planning their morning routines. It's a good idea to have younger children help plan their mornings. Children who participate in the decision making are more likely to cooperate in carrying out the plan. Moreover, giving children choices builds self-esteem.

For very young children or children who have trouble making choices, narrow the options. Say, "Would you like to eat breakfast as soon as you get up or after you have your shower?" Everyone should expect and factor in a few extra minutes for surprises.

Here are some specific ideas for minimizing morning madness and maximizing your child's readiness for the school day.

• Prepare the night before. Make lunches, pack school bags, set out clothes and set the breakfast table.
• Set up a "launching pad" - a place near your front door for children's school bags, coats, shoes, hats and gloves - so time isn't wasted trying to find a lost glove or a school bag.
• Wake up at least one half-hour before your children. Shower, get dressed and be ready to go when they wake.
• Get your children a reliable wake-up system. An alarm clock or clock radio frees you from the job of being the nag and encourages self-sufficiency.
• Limit traffic and potential conflict in the bathroom by staggering wake-up times. Pre-teens and teens, who take more time showering and grooming, should get up earlier. Younger children can bathe the evening before to reduce bathroom congestion.
• Buy neat, comfortable clothing that children can manage on their own. Give children some choice regarding clothing to reduce some of their resistance to getting dressed.
• Allow enough time for children to dress, wash, comb their hair, brush their teeth and eat breakfast. Try not to rush children through the morning routine.
• Use charts or checklists to motivate children to take responsibility for their morning routine. For a child who has a lot of difficulty paying attention or following directions, you may want to offer a small reward if he is on time every day for one week (or more).
• Avoid turning on the television. Children can waste a lot of time watching television or playing. These activities should be permitted only if and when children are completely ready for school.
• Don't skip breakfast. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Research shows that children perform better in school when they eat a nutritious breakfast. A hungry child will be thinking about lunch - not about math or science.
• Remind young children to use the bathroom just before leaving for school. Most children do not like to use the school bathroom. Some even prefer to remain uncomfortable rather than use it.
• Kiss your children goodbye and wish them a good day. This is important every day but particularly if you have had "one of those mornings." It only takes three seconds and it means so much to your children (even though they never mention it). Knowing that you care gives them confidence and a sense of well-being - characteristics that enhance performance and the ability to learn.

Source: Tim Jahn, Human Development Specialist, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County; adapted from an article in the Home Economics Newsletter, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Westchester County. Parent Pages was developed by Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County. HD 74

Photo by Tiger Lily: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-smiling-woman-talking-to-her-daughter-8260492/

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Local Food Guide 2023

Get ready to embark on a delectable journey through the thriving farms of Putnam County with the release of the highly anticipated Local Food Guide, brought to you by Cornell Cooperative Extension of Putnam County. This comprehensive guide is a treasure trove of farm-fresh wonders, showcasing an impressive array of farms, farm stands, farmers markets, and CSA programs that exemplify the county's agricultural prowess.

Did you know? Putnam County is home to a remarkable 90 farms, each a testament to the dedication and passion of our local farmers. This thriving agricultural community is a source of pride, contributing not only to the economy but also to the flavorful and nutritious offerings available to residents.

For those seeking a deeper connection to the local food movement, CSA programs from Lobster Hill Farm and Glynwood offer a direct line to the freshest seasonal offerings, all sourced by the diligent efforts of our farmers. The guide can be found on our website here.

The Local Food Guide not only celebrates Putnam County's abundant harvests but also the unwavering commitment of our farmers who nurture the land to bring forth the finest produce. So whether you're craving sun-kissed tomatoes or crisp, garden-fresh cucumbers, grab your guide and embark on a culinary adventure that pays homage to the flavors and soils of our region.

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What's Bugging You?

Practical Solutions to Pest Problems

Each month, experts share practical information and answer questions on using integrated pest management (IPM) to avoid pest problems and promote a healthy environment where you live, work, learn and play. Each session ends with with an “IPM Minute,” and covers a specific action you can take in the next few days to help you avoid pest problems.

Learn more WBYFF in English

Aprende más WBYFF en Español

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Last updated August 30, 2023