Healthy fun
The creative ways to encourage nutritious school lunch choices continue. WSU Skagit County Extension kicked off their campaign at Little Mountain Elementary in the Mount Vernon School District on Feb. 13.
A Skagit Valley Herald article captured the day’s events, including more viewing opportunities. Don’t miss WSU Extension volunteers dressed as fruits and vegetables handing out stickers to Little Mountain Elementary students for healthy lunchtime eating.
Learn more from the state oversight agency about the Smarter Lunchrooms Toolkit that Jan Curry and others working on the Washington Team Nutrition Grant are helping build.
Obesity battles in Washington
Positive outcomes from the Yakima County Extension Expanded Food and Nutrition Program (EFNEP) were recently featured on KCTS public television. A profile of the Magaña family shows how they were able to improve their health with help from EFNEP educator Jasmine Silva and the community health director for Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital, Bertha Lopez.
Learn more about their story and related social issues in the detailed IN Close episode description and embedded videos.
Job-ready jump-start
The WSU Kitsap County 4-H Green Fever Tractor Club took a field trip to remember on Jan. 26, 2015. As 4-H volunteer leader Jason Johnson explained to the Bremerton Patriot (Feb. 13 green edition, p. A8), visiting the John Deere Regional Distribution Center and Stihl Northwest facility allowed the youth to ask “very pointed questions of industry leaders … that will help determine career opportunities and educational requirements for them as they approach their adult lives.”
Growing support for innovative cropping systems
The January 2015 PNW oilseed conference drew 500 attendees from 11 U.S. states and 2 Canadian provinces, 60 sponsors, 85 speakers, and 45 research posters. Some of the most remote educational institutions represented were Punjab University (Pakistan), Islamic Azad University (Iran), and Kansas State University.
Learn more about what one key stakeholder called the “single most important event of the year” in U.S. Canola Digest (March–April 2015, pp. 26–27).
Breakout session slide presentations and research posters are available on the Department of Crop & Soil Sciences website. Check back for video from general sessions and oilseed breakouts now in production.
Mushrooms, honeybees, and other unexpected connections
Find out how a mycologist business owner and a WSU entomologist joined forces to “establish a sound body of evidence for what could become a commercially viable and sustainable alternative to pesticides. And in so doing, save the honeybees.” Besides the meaty research discoveries in the Crosscut story, CAHNRS Communications news writer Sylvia Kantor reminds us that interdisciplinary collaborations allow new connections that have potential windfall benefits.
See if you can find some of the early lines drawn between commonly separated topics in the WSU Extension fact sheet Neonicotinoid Pesticides and Bees (FS122E).
Events
March 5–6: Mindfulness and Values in a Stressed-Out World
This dynamic two-day workshop will integrate mindfulness and value choices using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). It is designed for individuals motivated to work on personal growth, as well as for clinicians and therapists interested in furthering their professional skills.
Kelly Wilson, director of the University of Mississippi Center for Contextual Psychology, will demonstrate innovative ways to change unhelpful patterns of thinking. Participants can expect to learn how to actively deal with difficult mindsets, longtime stressors, and other barriers to living an intentional, values-driven life.
Ensminger Pavilion, WSU Pullman campus, 9:00 a.m.–4:30 p.m.
Registration is $175, with discounts for students. Learn more.
Hosted by the WSU Center for Transformational Learning and Leadership.
March 12 & 26: CAHNRS Three Minute Thesis competition
Graduate students will attempt to intrigue and educate a non-specialist audience with a compact consolidation of their research arguments.
The March 12 college-level event will be held in CUE 518 at 1:30 p.m.
The March 26 culminating event featuring the winners from each of the 5 participating WSU colleges will be held in the CUB auditorium at 11 a.m.
March 26: CAHNRS Honors
The third annual event to recognize the contributions of our many stakeholders will include a reception, silent auction, and dinner.
The $25 registration fee for adults includes dinner; $10 for children (under 18).
Please register by March 10 or contact Janet McGough.
SEL Event Center, 1825 Schweitzer Drive, Pullman, 5 p.m.
April 7–10: National Extension Energy Summit
Join other Extension professionals to share experiences and information, learn from successes and challenges, and build new partnerships for energy programs. Represented expertise includes sustainable and renewable energy, home and farm energy efficiency, and biomass energy.
Motif Seattle, 1415 Fifth Avenue
Registration is $300. Learn more.