Cummings and Goings in Agriculture
Yalobusha Multipurpose Building Gets Digital Sign
By Steve Cummings
Yet again, we dodged a bullet as Hurricane Ike went further west. The winds and rain we got were rather minimal. Our farmers had worked fast and furious last week to get as much of their crop in before the possible hurricane hit. With that and the forecast of cool, dry weather this weeks’ harvest in Yalobusha County should be moving on in a timely manner.
The Yalobusha County Multipurpose Buildings’ new digital sign has arrived. This sign was made possible by a special office maintenance grant by Mississippi State University Extension Service, Dr. Vance Watson, and the Yalobusha County Board of Supervisors. This sign will provide an additional way to know what is going on at the building. The sign will be up and going real soon, and will be a great addition to the county’s building.
The State Championship Horse Show has been rescheduled for November 13 – 16 at the Fordice Equine facility in Jackson. This is due to the cancellation of the show in September from Hurricane Gustav.
Horticulture Tips:
Fall Decorations from the Woods, Fields and Garden
Begin collecting material now, for those handsome fall and winter decorations. Milkweed seed pods, cornstalks, hydrangea blooms, grass seed heads, nuts, cones, coneflower seed heads, globe amaranth, goldenrod, ironweed, iris seed pods, even old wasp nests and interesting branches, lichens or fungi. The list could go on and on. Take the kids or the grandkids for a “fall foraging foray” into the woods and fields to gather interesting materials. Be sure to squirt the “little squirts” and yourself with insect repellent or you may bring home some invited guests!
Use what you collect as a free style bouquet, arranging your collection of cones, pods, acorns or whatever around the base of the bouquet container to spruce up a table, sideboard or other countertop. Attach items to a grapevine or straw wreath using a hot glue gun or florist wire. You could just pile your collection of nuts, cones, fungi, in a crystal or other decorative bowl and use that as a centerpiece. Add a little moss from the woods and presto you have a nice addition to your fall home decor.
Don’t forget to check out the local farmers market for the dried cornstalks, hay bales, potted mums, gourds, pumpkins, winter squash, Indian corn, broom corn and other great fall items to use for decorating. You can even eat the pumpkins and squash when you get tired of your fall display!
Greens planted in the last few weeks are having difficult goring conditions. The excessive rain from Gustav was followed by cloudy days until Ike moved out. The wet soil conditions led to damping off of seedlings and the lack of drying conditions have helped foliar disease organisms to gain a foot hold. the drier weather ahead should allow better growth to occur. Be sure to check fungicide labels for harvest intervals so you don’t spry yourself out of a meal.
