Recent Posts
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June 6th: Forestry Day in the North Georgia Mountains This event is open to all 4th-12th graders but they must be prepared to walk 3 miles. We’ll travel to Ellijay for a full day of activities including a property tour with Master Naturalist, Winston Davis, and his property managers to go over land management practices…
Posted in: 4-H -
Drilled wells are deeper (100-400 feet) and less prone to contamination than bored wells, which tend to be shallow (10-30 feet deep). The deeper wells draw from the aquifer, which provides natural filtration for water, whereas shallow wells rely on surface water. Older wells (more than 20 years) are also at higher risk of contamination.…
Posted in: ANR -
As Americans are wont to offer a bowl of chicken soup for relief from colds and flu, Brits are known to offer a cup of tea to counter stress. Research from the University of Georgia now suggests drinking tea may be effective in preventing infection with COVID-19. When the COVID-19 pandemic began, UGA Center for…
Posted in: ANR -
March Madness is winding down for college basketball championships, NHL teams are qualifying for the Stanley Cup playoffs, and the baseball season is just starting up. It’s fun to cheer for our favorite sports champions, but have you ever thought about the trees that make sports possible? Maples provide hardwood flooring for basketball courts. Maple…
Posted in: ANR -
Heather N. Kolich, ANR Agent, UGA Extension Forsyth County I’m feeling rather smug. It’s been four weeks since our most recent effort to keep squirrels from nesting in our gutters, and we still haven’t heard them skittering across the roof. Gray squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) are the most common squirrel species in Georgia. Although they’re forest…
Posted in: ANR -
Each year, local students in 7th through 12th grade submit a Portfolio to the local Extension Office to signify their intent to participate in Junior/Senior Project Achievement in March. Portfolios are a celebration of youth’s work and accomplishments over the last calendar year. The document is two pages long and highlights the student’s work in…
Posted in: 4-H -
As is the case with many invasive plants, the Callery pear tree was brought to the U.S. with good intentions. According to the U.S. Forest Service, a USDA employee imported Pyrus calleryana from Asia in 1917 to impart blight resistance and increase fruit productivity of European pear trees under cultivation. One cultivar, P. calleryana ‘Bradford’,…
Posted in: ANR -
I’ve recently been in contact with a client who had questions about installing sod on the “gravel, clay, and dirt” yard of their new house. She was wondering if she should do a soil test. While the answer is yes, a soil test is only the first of several actions needed to prepare a construction…
Posted in: ANR -
While most boring beetles attack only dead and dying trees, non-native granulate ambrosia beetles (Xylosandrus crassiusculus), formerly known as Asian ambrosia beetles, also attack many species of healthy young trees. They tend to attack deciduous trees with thin bark, such as maple, dogwood, redbud, crape myrtle, ornamental cherry, fig, peach, and plum trees. Granulate ambrosia…
Posted in: ANR -
By Beth O’Shea Kindamo, Assistant nutrition educator and program coordinator, University of Georgia Extension and Outreach, Nutritional Sciences What is erythritol? Erythritol is a type of carbohydrate called a sugar alcohol or polyol. Sugar alcohols taste about 70 percent as sweet as typical sweeteners – like table sugar – but provide far fewer calories. This…
Posted in: FACS