Badge 4 Farm Science Review
On my first day at the Farm Science Review I went to What to do with your Woods. There was a range of topics covered in the one hour presentation from tree diversity to invasive species. Of all the talks I went to this was the one that had the most people in it. The main point of the entire piece was the diversity of your woodlot and the need to keep close vigilance on it. One thing that state foresters and scientists have learned from invasive species, mostly from emerald ash bore, is that land owners need to pay attention to the health of the trees in their woods so that if something does enter it they can catch it before it spreads to quickly to stop. Kathy Smith from OSU extension explained that in her 80 acre woodlot in Morrow County 60% of the trees are ash but none have been infected with the emerald ash bore yet. This was a huge surprise to me since I believed that there wasn’t a forest in Ohio that had not been infected with the invasive species. This can be a great teaching lesson for my students in a forestry lesson on the importance of diversity in your woodlot so it’s not as easy for invasive species to spread. I could take them to a woodlot in my school district and show examples of, for example, a healthy ash tree and one that is infected with emerald ash bore so they can identify a tree on their property that is showing signs of sickness.
The next day at fsr I attended the Pond Safety Kit talk presented by Gary Graham an OSU extension agent in Holmes County. At first I didn’t think I’d learn much from the talk, what would a pond safety kit have to do with anything that I would be concerned with? I learned though that around half of all pond drownings, whether its summer recreation or falling through the ice, could be prevented if there was some kind of safety kit readily available. Mr. Graham explained that in Holmes County there was a lot of incidents with local Amish groups and pond drownings so he developed a pond safety kit to try and help solve the problem. The kits are very simple, made up of a base post to hold the rescue equipment and provide an area to post warning signs, in the kit is a 12-foot pole with a hook on it. The pole floats and can be pushed out to a victim or with the hook a victim’s body or clothes can be snagged and pulled to shore. Also included is a buoy with 20 feet of rope attached with loops on it for drowning victims to grab on to. A life jacket can also be hung on the base post. This could be, in my opinion, a great, short shop project for freshmen to get them experience around a saw, simple cuts and gluing pvc pipe together. The project wouldn’t take much time at all and could also be painted in FFA colors with the school’s name on it to use as a community safety/advertisement campaign for the chapter.
On the last day I attended Earthworm Invasion: Impacts on Your Woodlot. During the presentation I learned that earthworms are actually not native to over half of Ohio. When glaciers covered most of the state during the last ice age worms could not live under the thick ice. Most of the species including night crawlers were introduced from Europe when settlers came to North America. To this point I assumed that earthworms were something that had always been in Ohio and that they were good for any environment. I learned that having earthworms in your woodlot is a bad thing though because they eat the organic “duff” layer in forests. The duff layer is important for trees as it is a vital nutrient layer that mature timber and new growth need to stay healthy. Unfortunately once earthworms invade your woodlot there is very little you can do to get them out, the best thing is trying to prevent it from starting. This info would be a nice little lesson in a forestry class to explain woodlot health and the importance of the duff layer.
Overall going into fsr I didn’t think much of these presentations or talks but I learned that there are many good ones with a lot of great info for students and teachers. When I bring my students to fsr in the coming years I plan on making it a requirement for them to attend at least one of the talks at the Gwen.
Goal 1
To find out, class by class, how each learns the best so I can improvise and shift my teaching style for the best learning environment depending on the class. (Standard 4)
Goal 2
To develop a good relationship with school administration, other teachers and the chapters FFA alumni to help move the program forward while I’m placed at the school. (Standard 6)
Goal 3
I will help students gain knowledge in the several different areas of agriculture and hopefully give them an interest that will spark an idea for a career in the field. (Standard 2)