Paul Szmal: Coming up on 840 on FLX Morning here on Finger Lakes News Ready, I'd like to welcome in Trisha Carvalho who joins us from Seneca County Cornell Cooperative Extension. Trisha, good morning. How are you this morning?
Trisha Carvalho: Good morning. I'm doing great. How are you doing, Bo?
Paul Szmal: Doing well. Doing well. We have a lot to talk about because there are quite a few events coming up and probably the best one we can start with is Tools for Conserving Open Spaces coming up on February the 13th. What can you tell me about this event?
Trisha Carvalho: Yeah, next Thursday, part of our planning board series, we're going to be discussing different tools for communities to conserve open space. This training will review three common programs to conserve open space. We do have a guest for question and answers, Jay Heitner, Director of Conservation, and Finger Lakes Land Trust will be there.
Paul Szmal: Alright, and then coming up on February 12th, February 26th, and then again a couple of times in March, this is the 4-H Crafts of Fiber Arts series that has activities coming up. What can you tell us about that?
Trisha Carvalho: Yeah, as you mentioned, our first one will be starting next Wednesday, February 12th. That's going to be from 6 to 8 o'clock for youth ages 7 and up. That's going to be located at our office, 369 East Main Street in Waterloo. Cost for current 4-H members is $5 per class. Non-members would have to pay the $15, but that includes the year 4-H membership. Registration is required by tomorrow, even though it's free, so register, sorry, $5 to register online. And you can always call if you don't have access to the internet. The first night we'll be making a no-sew fleece pillow for Valentine's Day.
Paul Szmal: And do you know what's planned for some of the other activities coming up along that series?
Trisha Carvalho: I do, yeah. So, we'll be doing All Things Beads with fellow 4-H'ers Iris Enslow on February 26th. On March 12th, we're learning to needle felt with our volunteer, Carrie Milliman. And the final night will include the Fiber Arts activities with Miss Robin.
Paul Szmal: That's good. Sounds very good. We're talking with Tricia Carvalho from Seneca County Cornell Cooperative Extension here on FLX Morning. We're going through some of the programs and some of the offerings that Seneca County CCE has coming up in the days and weeks ahead, including what's called the FM Benchmark Study on February 20th. This you can either attend via Zoom or in person. Can you explain what that's about, Tricia?
Trisha Carvalho: Yes. The Cornell Cooperative Extension of Broome County, the Farmers Market Federation of New York, and Cornell Cooperative Extension offices across the street are inviting farmers market vendors to join for an interactive discussion on how to use benchmarks. And the data gathered from a statewide survey in summer 2024 to inform pricing and marketing strategies at farmers markets to increase profitability in the 2025 market season. Presenters will be giving an overview of what a benchmark is, how it can be used in decision making as it relates to farmers market sales. And then participants will be invited to pair their own data from the 2024 market season and recommendations from the statewide data gathered in interactive local facilitated discussions. These discussions will be focused on strategies and recommendations that direct marketing farmers can use to increase their profitability at farmers markets in the upcoming season. Producers selling fruits, vegetables, proteins, eggs, baked goods, maple syrup, honey, and horticulture crops will find use in attending to increase accessibility and participation. As you mentioned, participants may join a session either live or at their local Cornell Cooperative Extension office or via Zoom and be connected to those in their county or region via breakout room for the facilitated discussions. And we ask the registration be in by February 18th so we can accommodate.
Paul Szmal: All right. And the Master Gardener series has some events coming up too. First one of those is coming up here next week on February 12th.
Trisha Carvalho: Yes. So we're going to be doing seed to supper informational session. And this is going to be held at the Office of the Aging. And that's at 2465 Bonadette Drive. I'll be there next Wednesday from 1130 to noon right before they do their lunch. And we'll be discussing upcoming free classes that are beginning in April. This session on February 12th will be a brief overview of the upcoming seed to supper classes that will begin in April. And the seven classes are designed for those interested in learning how to grow a low cost vegetable garden whether at home or in a community setting. Participants will learn how to plan, plant, care for and harvest their own garden. And the last session is going to be on May 14th. That'll be a field trip to Seneca County Community Garden to see the demonstration gardens there. And through grant funding these sessions are offered free of charge. This is going to be a practical low cost gardening techniques. Registration for the classes is open to any individual age 60 or over that's interested in participating in the weekly sessions beginning April 2nd. We are going to be doing more sessions. So if you're under the age of 60 or unable to come to this introduction, you know, please reach out to either my email or call the office and we'll be able to connect you with further classes.
Paul Szmal: Trish Carvalho from Seneca County Cornell Cooperative Extension joining us here on FLX Morning. And I know your office is gearing up for this because it sounds like it's going to be a big day on March 1st. Let's Garden Day.
Trisha Carvalho: Woohoo. Yeah, I'm really excited about this one. This is generally a very well attended event. The featured topics this year are going to be soil health, vegetable varieties for beginner gardeners, and bees and pollinating plants. This is going to be held at the Ovid Fire Department, 2136 Brown Street, Ovid, New York. Like you said, Saturday, March 1st, we'll start registration at 830 begin program at nine o'clock. And the lineup, we're going to have Debbie Aller. She's going to be discussing the soil health, interpreting soil test results as well as soil amendments that can be made in home gardens. We'll have lots of really great snacks offered by the master gardeners. We provide snacks in the morning. We also have a lunch that the master gardeners put together. And that's going to be after Steve Reiners will be discussing the basics of vegetable gardening. And then we have Petra Hafgar in the afternoon, who is a PhD student at the Cornell Agrotech. And she'll be talking about the importance of pollinators in our gardens. And then the two of them will have a question and answer with master gardeners. There are prizes. We'll have some seeds and it should be a really great time.
Paul Szmal: Yeah. It sounds like that's going to be a full day.
Trisha Carvalho: Yes. Registration is required by Monday, February 24th, and that's going to be a $30 fee. Registration is available online now. I also want to make mention of the winter market at Fall Street Brewing because that's continuing every Saturday through March 22nd from 10 until two. And I know the Seneca County CCE has some involvement there.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned that. We will be there every other Saturday. They will be running every Saturday. So we're slated to be there next Saturday as far as CCE is concerned. There's a variety of vendors. We currently have Wise's Country Creamery with milk and cheeses, Schrader Farms Snack Sticks, figs from both Finger Lakes Farm Fresh and Paige and Brian Korski, and jarred goods from Grandma Hutchins Kitchen and Romulus.
Trisha Carvalho: And before we wrap up here, I wanted to get some spotted lanternfly updates because I know this is something that the Seneca County CCE office has been keeping some close tabs on. So what's the latest information you can tell us in that regard?
Paul Szmal: Yeah, of course. I was fortunate enough to be able to go to a conference in the Hudson Valley a few days ago. And there was a lot of really heavy hitters there, Department of Ag Markets, Department of Transportation, along with the USDA. It's really a collaboration. I guess the main points would be a big portion of monitoring efforts rely on public reports and participation. And scraping just one mass could mean 40 less adults circulating. The Finger Lakes region is considered an area of concern. And as we see potential funding issues as of recent, this could mean an even heavier reliance on public participation. Those that find spotted lanternfly present on their properties are urged to take a photo, collect a sample, place in a freezer or jar with rubbing alcohol, and kill any additional spotted lanternfly by stepping on or crushing. And surprisingly enough, the use of a shot back was also recommended to remove nymphs, and particularly those within the first and second instar.
Paul Szmal: All right, Treasurer, we've covered a lot of ground here. For people that want to find out more information about any of the items that we've talked about this morning, how do they reach out to the Seneca County CCE office?
Trisha Carvalho: Yeah, you can always find us by getting on our website. So it's SenecaCountyCCE.org. You can give us a call if you want to talk to us in person, 315-539-9251. And my email is on there as well for any of the Master Gardener events, POC28 at Cornell.edu.
Paul Szmal: All right, Treasurer, thank you so much for joining us and filling us in this morning. Much appreciated.
Trisha Carvalho: Yeah, thanks for having me. Have a great day.
