Extension Connection

It's June! Can you believe we are already halfway through 2023?! June brings on the official start of the summer. I hope you all can spend as much time as possible soaking up the sun outdoors. Take some time to gather with friends and family, slow down, and enjoy the season.

Best-
Mercedes

The Master Gardener plant sale is here once again! Lots of perennials, vegetable starts, bulbs etc. will be available for $2, $3, and $5 as well as a gardening white elephant table. Your local garden experts will be available to answer all of your gardening questions.

The plant sale will be held on Saturday, June 3, 2023 at 9 a.m. until sell out, at Veterans Park pavilion, 508 Cloquet Avenue, Cloquet.

Watch for signs. Please be advised this sells out very quickly. Hope to see you there!

Come see what it’s like inside a honey bee colony! University of Minnesota Extension Educators are excited to offer honey beekeeping field days across the state. Join Dr. Katie Lee, University of Minnesota Extension Apiculture Educator, and local beekeepers as they go through colony handling, common disease and insect pests, and safety information- for you and the bees. These free in-person workshops will demonstrate the steps for a proper hive inspection, give you timely information to keep your colony healthy, and more! Beginner and advanced beekeepers would all benefit from attending these field days. Register for the local workshop scheduled at 9 to 11 a.m. on June 16th in Barnum. Register soon, there is a maximum capacity at 20 participants!

Words of warning about working with bees:

Bee veils and bee jackets will be provided for participants to wear during workshops, although participants may choose to wear their own protective equipment. Participants are required to wear face protection (bee veil or jacket), long pants, and closed-toe shoes in the apiary. We cannot guarantee that participants will not be stung during our workshops. If you experience adverse reactions to bee stings, please consult with your doctor before attending a workshop. Please do not attend if you are allergic to honey bees. Participants must be 18 years or older.

We are sad to announce we will have to cancel the Food Fair for this year. We will be planning ahead for spring 2024. Local food producers keep this in mind and let us know if you want to be added to our vendor list. We apologize for any inconvenience.

The Precision Dairy Conference will be held in Bloomington MN on June 20th and 21st. This is a ‘boots-on-the-ground’ event to hear from dairy producer panelists on how tech has affected their bottom line. In addition, short talks from industry leaders and student researchers on precision dairy topics, and a showcase of startup companies. Moreover, time for discussion and Q&A throughout the event.

This in-person event will be a ‘neutral space’ where many technologies come together to be discussed. Come and join us to learn from short talks and producer panels on how tech can help farmers improve environmental sustainability, labor management, animal health and welfare, and data integration for better decision making. And to participate in the discussions so we can all learn from each other!

Join us in June for this exciting and unique learning and networking event on Precision Dairy!

Register now!:

• Early registration: $255 per person (closes June 13th)

• Late registration: $325 per person

Roses bring beauty to any landscape, but not every Minnesota gardener wants to get all scientific about them. And who can keep up with deadheading?

University of Minnesota Extension has been a part of the national American Rose Trials for Sustainability (A.R.T.S.) program since 2015. The goal is to identify roses that perform well in a given region when grown under “minimal input conditions.”

For gardeners, this means roses that survive without pesticides, fertilizer and winter cover other than the typical wood mulch and snow. That’s right, no tipping, burying or forcing them to wear the Styrofoam dunce cap.

The roses are watered as needed in the first year to establish a strong root system.

Randy Nelson, Extension educator in Clay County, manages the trial at a city park in Dilworth, where city leaders and staff have welcomed the research with enthusiasm. While park visitors enjoy the roses in the summer, harsh winters in Clay County can get as cold as -35 degrees.

In one of his earlier studies, in Moorhead beginning in 2008, Nelson evaluated roses using the Texas A&M Earth-Kind Environmental Landscape Management Program. Many of the same principles used in the Earth-Kind study are also used in A.R.T.S.

Extension Master Gardener volunteers help evaluate cultivars, rating the roses for their foliage, flowers and plant form. Cultivars that meet the A.R.T.S. criteria are given the Local Artist award, and those that meet criteria in four or more regions are given the A.R.T.S. Master Rose award.

These studies provide nurseries, landscapers and consumers with evidence-based regional recommendations.

Visit the A.R.T.S. website to see the winning roses for our northern region.

The much visited Little Free Library in front of the Extension Office is in need of gently used children’s books. Please drop them off at the office Monday-Friday between 8 am and 4 pm. Our local kids will thank you!

The Carlton Extension office will be closed on Monday, June 19th in recognition of Juneteenth. We will also be closed on Monday, July 3rd & Tuesday, July 4th in observance of Independence Day. We wish everyone a safe and joyful holiday!

In 4-H, all youth are welcome!

4-H is an out-of-school, hands-on learning program for anyone in Kindergarten through one year past high school (grade 13). Youth choose a project that’s interesting to them and explore it with peers and caring adults. 4-H clubs are groups of youth who want to learn together and meet in every part of Minnesota.

What can I do in 4-H?

The sky’s the limit! 4-H offers learning experiences in science, photography, agriculture, healthy living, civic engagement and much more. We have one-day events, year-long projects and everything in between. There are many ways to try 4-H.

Read this month's 4-H newsletter to explore the opportunities waiting for you!

Keri Cavitt, Regional Director cavit005@umn.edu

Tracey Hartung, Administrative Specialist thartung@umn.edu

Mercedes Moffett, Agriculture Educator, moffe029@umn.edu

Ann Rust, Vol Coord & Horticulture Assist rustx048@umn.edu

Katie Siltanen, 4-H Educator silta006@umn.edu

Email: mnext-Carlton@umn.edu
Website: https://local.extension.umn.edu/local/carlton
Location: 317 Chestnut Avenue, Carlton, MN, USA
Phone: 218-384-3511
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UMNExtensionCarltonAg/

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