Paul Szmal: And welcome back to FLX Morning on Finger Lakes News Radio, it's 8.15. Joining us now is Frank Clark from Cornell Cooperative Extension of Cayuga County. Good morning, sir. How are you today?
Frank Clarke: Good morning, Paul. I'm doing pretty good this morning.
Paul Szmal: Wonderful. Glad to hear that. I know we have a whole bunch of activities that we want to talk about, but I wanted to put this one right at the top of the list because it is so topical. And that is the upcoming virtual informational event on the increase of bird flu.
Frank Clarke: Yeah, so we will be holding a virtual meeting March 24th from 6 to 7.30 p.m. You can visit our website at cccayuga.org, go to our events page to find that. We're going to have experts from Cornell, the DEC, Department of Health to be on hand to present on best management practices during a time of high bird flu incidences. And what are some prevention and how to report if you find a dead bird. And just, you know, how to handle the situation.
Paul Szmal: I heard there's going to be a backyard flock workshop going on with CC Ontario. So this might be a good thing to tune into if you're thinking about having your own flock.
Frank Clarke: Yeah, absolutely. And there's also the ability to visit this seminar in person as well as virtually too. So yep, that'll be at our new office, 248 Grand Avenue.
Paul Szmal: All right. So registration, by the way, is required for this. And well, space obviously would be limited at the Workforce Development Center, but there's no limit to the amount of virtual that can come in. So if you want to register for that event, how do you go about doing that, Frank?
Frank Clarke: So they will go to our website, cccayuga.org slash events, and that will be on the page. There'll be a flyer for it. You can scan the QR code or there will be a link that'll take you directly to the registration page.
Paul Szmal: Now, there's some other agricultural events that are happening coming up. One of them happening Monday and Tuesday. This is the Cornell Cooperative Extension Cuyahoga Shop Meeting that's happening.
Frank Clarke: Yep. So the next in our series of shop meetings will be Monday and Tuesday. This will be on the licensing and legal aspects of agricultural transportation. This is to get our producers, get their trucks and field equipment ready for the 2025 cropping season. We will have a representative from DOT to give a presentation, and really he's there to answer everybody's questions and let them know about important things to know for this upcoming growing season. They will be March 17th and 18th. The Monday one will be at Raymond Donald and Sons 2062 East Venice Road in Moravia. And Tuesday the 18th will be at Kyle Farms 12394 Brandt Road in Cato. We'll have coffee, donuts. There's no registration, free for anyone. Just bring your own camp chair to sit down and to listen with.
Paul Szmal: We're talking with Frank Clark from Cornell Cooperative Extension of Cuyahoga County here on FLX Morning. A planter tune-up clinic. This sounds like an interesting one that's coming up on March 28th.
Frank Clarke: Yeah, so this is going to be at the Musgrave Research Farm, which is in Aurora, 1256 Poplar Road. So we're just going to go over the aspects of maintenance, set up specs, what are some optimizing practices to get the best results for your planter to ensure you're going to have the best planter seed to soil, make sure we're getting proper germination rates, make sure we're putting down the appropriate amount of fertilizer, putting it down where we want to put it down, some calibration stuff. There will also be continuing education credits for our crop advisors. It's going to be hosted by Sean Bossard. He's an extension educator with seven years of experience here and has worked on a number of large-scale farms. It should be a great event. We're really looking forward to it.
Paul Szmal: And let's shift gears here and talk a little nutrition. There is a fruit and vegetable prescription program event that is going to be running at Finger Lake Small.
Frank Clarke: What do you mean by fruit and vegetable prescription?
Paul Szmal: So it's what it sounds like. People who show up to our classes, so there'll be six classes, 60 minutes each, and each class you come to, you'll get a $15 voucher that can be used to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables from local retailers. It's going to be Wednesdays starting March 26th to April 30th from 11.30 to 12.30 p.m. That'll be at the Food Pantry at Finger Lake Small in Auburn. It's a free SNAP-Ed New York program. So come on down, anybody 15 years or older can take advantage of this event.
Frank Clarke: Sounds interesting. And along the lines of interesting things that people often look for and don't find, dog obedience training. This is under the 4-H banner of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Cuyahoga County.
Paul Szmal: Yep. So this is a 4-H event, but it's not just for 4-Hers. This is available to any youth out there. It's going to take place on Thursdays, April 17th, run through July 17th. It's a 12-week course. You will learn in the presence of an ABC-certified dog trainer. We will have classes for beginners and advanced level people. It's $20 for 4-Hers and $30 for non-4-Hers. This is just a really important thing. It's important to have your dog, as someone who participates in fostering dogs and has fostered over 80 dogs, I see how important it is to have a basic level of training for your dog. One to keep the dog safe, one to recall, and in general, just makes a better relationship with you and your pet if they have a basic level of training. So this is a great event. We do it every year. I really encourage anyone who's interested to look it up. Once again, they can register on our website.
Frank Clarke: Also, some of the other 4-H activities here that we can touch on, one of them is a tour of the Awasco Meat Company.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, so we're going to tour a local meat factory here. This is targeted to teach youth and show them about the vital step that goes from farm to a table and how we get our protein that we eat every night. It's to show kids about some other professional opportunities when they grow up and look towards jobs. You know, this is an industry that is always looking for young people to join in and learn and get experience, and it's obviously a very vital industry. We all love to eat, so I encourage anybody interested to take advantage of this.
Frank Clarke: Okay, and then there's also a food product development workshop that will be coming up the following day after that meat company tour.
Paul Szmal: Yep, so that's a similar type thing. Basically, we have a food entrepreneur from Auburn, and it's just to talk about some food safety to go over some new food products that are being developed and, you know, get youth involved with the food industry and what potentials there are for them. There's opportunities to use this as a project for the 4-H Youth Fair, and there's other opportunities that you can take advantage of by attending this event. Same thing, head to our website for registration.
Frank Clarke: And I want to recap for people that maybe came in during the course of the conversation and didn't hear this at the top, the bird flu update seminar or webinar that's going to be happening.
Paul Szmal: Yep, so that's going to be March 24th from 6 to 7.30 p.m. Registration is required. It is a virtual event and an in-person event held at the 248 Grand Ave in Auburn, our office, the Workforce Development Center. I encourage anybody to register for the event and attend online. And again, that's going to feature some experts from Cornell, the DEC, and the Department of Health. They'll be talking best practices for prevention, reporting, and a bunch of other topics related to the recent increases of the avian flu.
Frank Clarke: And again, one more time, Frank, the website people can use to register for that or some of the other activities that we've talked about.
Paul Szmal: Yep, so just about everything we'll talk about today you can find at ccecayuga.org.
Frank Clarke: All right, Frank, thank you so much for the update this morning. Appreciate it, sir.
Paul Szmal: I appreciate you having me. It is 825 on FLX morning.
