Paul Szmal: Good morning, it's 816, it's Guest-O-Rama Wednesday on FLX Morning and we're Zooming with Frank Clark with Cooperative Extension of Keuka County. Good morning and welcome back.
Frank Clarke: Good morning, thanks for having me.
Paul Szmal: So we're getting into the fall season where farmers are going to be out in their vehicles. Harvest time is almost here and we just, we have to keep saying it every year about watching out for those vehicles with the triangles and just being aware that they're going to be around.
Frank Clarke: Yeah, so we have our Share the Road campaign going and this is an all-year campaign, but fall and spring are the big times we like to push it. In the fall, a lot of harvesting is going on, so that's our silage, our grains, soybeans, just about everything's getting harvested. And we really just want to emphasize safety because there will be large ag equipment on the road, they'll be driving, and I think it's important to know, stay back at least 50 feet. If you see a slow-moving vehicle, just use caution. They're doing their job, you're on your way to work, the extra 30 seconds it's going to take to just be safe and wait behind the slow-moving vehicles or waiting for a safe time to pass. That's crucial. We want everyone to get home safe, get to work safely. We just, you know, this time of the year, ag accidents are five times as more likely to be deadly than a regular car accident, so we really just want everyone to be safe during this time of the year when harvesting is going on.
Paul Szmal: And I think also you really just have to be aware all the time because of the nature of our roads. I mean, I see this all the time. You come around a sharp corner or you come up over a rise and, you know, even if you intend to be careful, if you're going 55, you're going to close on that vehicle very quickly, so you just have to be ready for it at all times. It's kind of like, I mean, I drive in in the dark in the morning, so I'm always swerving around watching out for deer. It's the same kind of thing.
Frank Clarke: Exactly. You know, we live in an ag county here, so just be conscious of it, follow the speed limits, obey the street lines, pass when it's safe. You know, you may see what looks like the tractor is pulling into the right, but they may be swinging out to hit a left turn, so don't try to go around them as they're turning because you might not be guessing which way they're going and you may cause an incident. Just be utmost of caution. We want everyone to be safe. Use your turn signals. Stay a safe distance away. Only pass when you are 100% sure it is safe to do it and the street lines allow you to do it.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, that's the one that kind of, that's a pet peeve of mine because I'll see people go around in a slow-moving vehicle on the crest of a hill where you can't really see what's on the other side, so it's just, it's all about patience and eventually you'll get there.
Frank Clarke: Yep, and odds are, if you stay behind the combine, let's say the whole time, it may add a minute or two to your commute. At the end of the day, that extra minute or two to get where you're going probably isn't worth it.
Paul Szmal: Coming up on October 5th, you have the Household Hazardous Waste Recycling Event. It's a partnership with the Keuka County Planning Department and also a cooperative extension of Keuka County, so for one thing, it's limited, so you've got to sign up, but to just remind us where, when, and what's allowed, what isn't, and all that sort of thing.
Frank Clarke: Yeah, so you would sign up on KeukaCounty.gov. You want to go to the Department of Planning's website to sign up and register for the event. It's free to register for the event, but it is limited to 300 people. If you go to the Department of Planning's website, they will, they have a list, a flyer of all the accepted hazardous wastes they will take, and then a list of stuff that they will not take. It is a pretty long list on both accepted and not accepted, so I'm not going to go through it all, but not accepted is stuff like batteries, CFL bulbs, molar oil, some of the stuff like that, whereas the stuff we do accept are like solvents, pool chemicals, oil-based paints and stains, household cleaning materials, some types of bulbs. I would just double-check on the flyer before you plan to bring anything, and make sure you register, otherwise we can't take you in. On the flyer, there's both a link and a QR code that you can scan, or you can call Old School 315-253-1276, Keuka County Planning Department, to find out more if you're not quite sure what's okay or not okay.
Paul Szmal: This is really neat. We talked about this with Ryan Stachok, we've got the New York Master Forest Owners doing a Managing Your Forest seminar, and that is tonight, so remind us why someone would want to put together a plan if they own woodland.
Frank Clarke: Yep, I just want to say this is a hybrid, so you can remote into this event, obviously it's going to be so much better if you are physically at the event, but it is both. So this is targeted at really any landowners who have, you know, a small, mid-sized forest on their lot, and they want to actively manage them for whatever their goals are. So they may want to use it for hiking, for hunting, maple syrup, maybe selling for timber income. So this workshop is designed to go over, like, how you would plan to do a hunt if you wanted to do hunting in your woods, or whatever goals you have. And we have a list of speakers, we'll have a portable sawmill demonstration, Ryan will be doing that, so if you're not in person, you won't be able to participate and see that. But we will also have Bryce June, who is a stewardship forester with the DEC, we'll have Dr. Peter Smoledge, he's with New York State Extension, he's a forester with Cornell University, and we'll have a few master forest owners there too to talk about, you know, what it takes to make a forest stewardship plan.
Paul Szmal: And I know from time to time throughout the year, there's training for people who want to become one of those master forest owners.
Frank Clarke: Yes. I would, if you're interested in that, this is the event for you. You will find out what the process is to go through that. I don't have any dates off the top of my head, but if anyone is interested, please call us at Cuyahoga County, Cornell Cooperative Extension. I'm happy to take your call and I will get that information for you. But this is just a great opportunity if you have a forest and you want to maximize it, you want to use it for whatever your goals are, this is a perfect opportunity to learn how to do that the right way and keep your forests healthy.
Paul Szmal: It's tonight, 530 to 8 Vinces Park in Seneca Falls, $9 per person, and also the Zoom option as well. You can go to Cuyahoga Cooperative Extension, the website, and check that out.
Paul Szmal: And then also, part of what you do is education, and you've got an outdoor educational event designed for 6th graders. The Cuyahoga County Soil and Water Conservation District helps out with this one, it's Conservation Field Days, that'll be next Tuesday and Wednesday at Emerson Park in Auburn. So tell us what the 6th graders will learn about.
Frank Clarke: Yeah, so this is an annual event put on every year, put on by Cuyahoga County Soil and Water. It's a great event, I participated in it last year. But essentially, there are stations set all around Emerson Park. You will have people from the Awasco Fire Department, Farm Bureau, Finger Lakes PRISM, some nature centers, Cooperative Extension, the DEC, US Fish and Wildlife, Sheriff's Department. So pretty much everyone's talking about something eco-related, whether that's basic fish ID, fish facts, how to identify trees, nutrient cycling, slimy creatures. So this is a great event, the kids seem to love it. I will be participating in it, I will be demoing how manure leads to healthier soils and bigger plants. I will have a display from Cornell Pro Dairy, and then a few hands-on soil experiments that kids will get to do and see how a healthy soil functions and why it's important that we use manure on our farms and how it leads to better soils, better soils lead to bigger plants.
Paul Szmal: We like to talk about the activities of the 4-H kids from time to time, and the 4-H Bottle and Can Drive is ongoing, so you can support what the kids do. Take your bottles and cans to Bag O' Nickels, that's on Awasco Road in Auburn, and tell them that it's for Cuyahoga County 4-H and the 4-H Youth Fair, and that's a good way to help out the great stuff those kids are doing.
Frank Clarke: Yeah, nope, that is one of the ways that you can help out with the 4-H program that is growing in Cuyahoga County. You know, we just had the Youth Fair and the Market Auction, and that went fantastic. We're excited to put it on again next year, but those things cost money, and we want to give the kids the best experience possible for a fair, and then just 4-H year-round, we want to offer the best program we can.
Paul Szmal: Alright, the website is ccecuyahoga.org. Frank, thanks for the update, as always, appreciate it.
Frank Clarke: Thanks for having me.
