Midwest Veterinary Conference

As the home of The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine, it is only natural that Columbus would host a continuing education conference.  As a Veterinarian I am required to attend 30 hours of CE to keep my license current.   The Midwest Veterinary Conference is the third largest Vet CE conference in the USA and one of the best in the world.  Normally I would track medical and surgical updates in the puppies and kitties but this year I attended different classes to better serve Hocking County residents.

I learned about Sheep and Goats

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Spent a bunch of time learning abou the care of backyard poultry including diseases, nutrition and basic husbandry.  Look for some backyard poultry programming in the future.  I am helping on an Extension project called the POULTRY TEAM.  It will be a valuable resource for Educators, Vets and backyard poultry enthusiasts.

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I also volunteered to talk to Veterinary students.  I tracked Mixed Animal practice back in the day and was able to tell them how my Veterinary degree will better allow me to serve Hocking County residents as well as how Extension works.

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The knowledge I gained this past weekend will be a help in the county.  If you have any questions about Beef production, Small Ruminats, or backyard poultry feel free to contact me here at Extension and I will help.

My day with the Four Seasons Garden Club

I was priviledged to be invited to speak to the Four Seasons Garden Club of Hocking County at the Hocking Hills Winery a couple weeks ago.  This extremely fun group asked if I could present on seed starting and as that is one of my favorite topics I was good to go.

First a couple things about the winery.  It is beautiful, has a great location and is a fully functional grow-grapes-press-grapes-make-wine winery.  I was able to finagle a tour of the facility before the meeting started.

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We ate pizza and cookies but alas, no wine for me, I was on duy.  I enjoyed my day presenting and let them know I will come speak to them any time they wish me to.  That is what we do at Extension after all. We started with the basics of seed starting and progressed through germination, thinning and transplanting.  If this sounds like something you want to learn about, I will be hosting a free class on “Seed Starting 101”  on April 12th at 7pm at the Youth Center at the fairgrounds.

gardenclub3Thanks again to the Four Seasons Garden Club and Happy Gardening!

OCVN Advanced Training – Winter Tree Identification

Recently the Hocking County Chapter of the Ohio Certified Volunteer Naturalists hosted Advanced Training in Winter Tree Identification at Boch Hollow Nature Preserve.  The day turned out beautiful, with temperatures in the low 50’s and sunshine.  The perfect weather for a walk in the woods.

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To start, Jim Osborn gave a lecture on twig morphology and then we dove into the textbooks to learn how to identify trees based on key descriptions.  We used hand lenses and a stereo microscope to evaluate the buds, which provide a ton of information on what type of tree you are looking at, if you catch them before they open.

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All in all it was an excellent day and I learned a ton about how to identify a tree in winter.  There will be two more upcoming OCVN Advanced Training opportunities, but space is limited to about 12 people so dont dawdle.  Contact Scott Cole to get your name on the list

  • Saturday March 12th, “Basic map reading and land navigation”  Boch Hollow 10am – 2pm
  • Saturday April 30th – “Wildflower identification” Boch Hollow 10am – 2pm

 

If you get lucky, you might get a look at some wildlife as well. (credit to Jim O. for the pic)

barred owl at boch

-very special thanks to Jim Osborn and Levi Miller for sharing their time and expertise

 

 

Farm Bureau Dessert Judging

Yep, you read that title correctly.  I was asked to judge desserts at the Farm Bureau sign-up kickoff dinner.   I am fairly certain I have never had a more enjoyable work related activity.

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Time to get to work

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It was hard work, and I took it seriously.

And the winner was   —   ME!      I got to eat 12 desserts.

Thanks so much to the Hocking County Farm Bureau for the invite.  For all my readers I also judge Fried Chicken, Meatloaf, Candy, Cheeseburgers, Chili, French Fries…..

Walk in the woods at Hocking Hills Canopy Tours

 

My friend Chris Nabergall, who works at Hocking Hills Canopy Tours asked me to come out and look at some trees for him on an extremely cold january day recently.  We hopped into his ATV(with no doors or roof) to start the consult and I asked him to please turn up the heat.  He stated “the heat is broken, but the A/C works fine”  On we went.

 

Here are some pics I took of the adventure.  I don’t like heights, so this is as close as I get to the canopy

 

 

Here is a picture of an ash tree that had been abraded from waist high all the way to the top.  It had perished of Emerald Ash Borer.

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The damage to this tree was done by woodpeckers of all things.  It seems the silver lining in the EAB destruction is that woodpeckers love the borers, and this has caused an increase in numbers of many of our Ohio Woodpecker species due to increased food availability.

The damage is called Flecking

All in all a good way to spend a morning in the woods.  If you have questions or concerns with your trees, contact me at Extension and I will come out and see if I can help.