REMINDER: Discover 4-H Open House

The Licking County 4-H Program will be hosting two Discover 4-H Open House Events in February to help families learn more about 4-H and what it has to offer. This is a great opportunity for new families to learn more about 4-H and get connect with a club as well as families already connected to 4-H to learn more about what the program has to offer and have additional questions answered. Please be sure to share about this event to those in your communities.

Discover 4-H:

  • Friday, February 7, 2025 | 6:00-8:00pm | Licking County Extension Office (771 East Main Street, Newark, OH 43055)
  • Saturday, February 8, 2025 | 10:00am-noon | Licking County Extension Office (771 East Main Street, Newark, OH 43055)

OSU Extension Small Farm Conference

OSU Extension Small Farm Conference to be held – at Ohio State University Wooster Shisler Center Wooster, Ohio

By: Julie Wayman

Community Development Educator

OSU Extension Ashtabula County

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Ohio State Extension announced plans to host a Small Farm Conference in Wooster, OH on March 8th. The theme for this year’s Small Farm Conference is “Sowing Seeds for Success.”

Conference session topics are geared to beginning and small farm owners as well as to farms looking to diversify their operation. There will be five different conference tracks including: Horticulture and Crop Production, Business Management, Livestock, Natural Resources and Diversifying Your Enterprise.

Some conference topic highlights include: Growing in a Hoophouse, Integrated Disease Management Strategies for Apple and Peaches, High Tunnel Tour, Using Cover Crops for Soil Regeneration, Creating Habitat for Beneficial Insects on the Farm, Growing Microgreens, Money to Grow: Grants 101, Growing Your Farm With Agritourism, Navigating Licenses/Certificates for your Small Farm Market, How Can Value – Added Help Your Farm, Vaccination Programs for a Small Farm, Grassfed Beef Tour.

Anyone interested in developing, growing or diversifying their small farm is invited to attend including market gardeners, farmers market vendors, and anyone interested in small farm living.

Attendees will have the opportunity to browse a trade show featuring the newest and most innovative ideas and services for their farming operation. The conference provides an opportunity to talk with the vendors and network with others.

The Conference will take place from 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. at the Ohio State University Wooster Campus Shisler Conference Center, 1680 Madison Ave, Wooster, Ohio 44691.

For conference and registration information call OSU Extension Morrow County 419-947-1070, or OSU Extension Knox County 740-397-0401. Please follow this link to register for the conference: https://Go.osu.edu/2025smallfarmconference

Calling All Gardeners! 2025 Ohio Garden Trials

The 2025 Home Garden Trials are now available. It’s hard to believe that it’s already time to start ordering seeds. The trials are open to any home gardener in the state of Ohio. This means you and all of your friends. This is the seventh year of the trials and we have some exciting news. We have brought back a cut flower trial, a herb trial, and a youth trial (to get the kids excited about gardening). We’ve been listening to feedback and this year we’ve added lots of varieties that can be grown in containers.

The purpose of the trials is to have gardeners grow 2 varieties of a vegetable or flower side-by-side and then give us their feedback through our online reporting site. To learn more details about the trials, you can visit the Trials Home Page

There are a total of 13 trials this year. You can select to do from one to five vegetable trials plus the flower, herb, and youth trials. Community Gardens can choose to do all 13, if they would like. The cost of each trial is $3 plus shipping. If you pick up your order at the Athens County Extension Office, there are reduced shipping charges. To see a description of this year’s trials AND to place your order for this year, visit the 2025 Trials Home. The deadline to order is Feb. 16 for guaranteed seeds or March 2 for remaining seeds.

The seeds for this year’s trials have been donated by Rupp Seed.

This year we have:

Cool Season veggies

  • Carrots
  • Lettuce
  • Peas
  • Spinach
  • Beets

Warm Season Vegetables

  • Cucumbers
  • Green Beans
  • Summer Squash
  • Peppers (Sweet)
  • Tomatoes (Cherry)

Flowers

  • Zinnias

Herbs

  • Parsley

Youth

  • Crazy Beans

Discover 4-H Open House

The Licking County 4-H Program will be hosting two Discover 4-H Open House Events in February to help families learn more about 4-H and what it has to offer. This is a great opportunity for new families to learn more about 4-H and get connect with a club as well as families already connected to 4-H to learn more about what the program has to offer and have additional questions answered. Please be sure to share about this event to those in your communities.

Discover 4-H:

  • Friday, February 7, 2025 | 6:00-8:00pm | Licking County Extension Office (771 East Main Street, Newark, OH 43055)
  • Saturday, February 8, 2025 | 10:00am-noon | Licking County Extension Office (771 East Main Street, Newark, OH 43055)

We’re Hiring (Again)!

We shared last week that we are hiring a SNAP-ED Program Assistant. We’re actually hiring two! While both positions are the same, they are posted under two different postings within the OSU HR Jobs portal and have different closing dates. For more information on the positions or to apply, go to hr.osu.edu and using the “Search Jobs” button to search for job numbers listed below:

Posting 1: #R119951 will close on January 22, 205

Posting 2: #R120635 will close on January 29, 2025

 

REMINDER: Food Pantry Network of Licking County: Elves in Action

Elves in Action is the Food Pantry Network of Licking County’s annual, community-wide fundraiser held at the end of every year to help them stock the shelves for the holiday season. Elves in Action aims to bring together supporters interested in fighting food insecurity in Licking County and collect food and monetary donations to benefit the Food Pantry Network. This year, the staff at the Licking County Extension Office will be volunteering from 5:30-7:30pm on Friday, December 20, 2024 to collect food and monetary donations in downtown Newark on the square. Please come visit us and help us fight food insecurity in Licking County!

Please Note: There will be volunteers on the square every evening from 5:30-7:30pm collecting donations starting Friday, November 29th through December 24th. Stop by any of those dates to make a donation, but if you want to see Lisa and Adrienne, be sure to stop by on December 20th!