Author: geherri

The Upstate Fishing Project launched in May with the intention of hosting in-person fishing days across the state this summer. As we all know, COVID-19 has kept us from being able to interact with our fifty-eight project members in person, but that has not stopped it from being a very successful project. Participants are receiving emails and videos from Mark Cathcart, Carol Hamilton, and Jeff Fellers teaching important angling skills in various bodies of water around South Carolina. Most recently Mark, Carol, and Meghan Barkley demonstrated some of the various saltwater fishing techniques in Beaufort County. The videos have given the team the opportunity to engage youth in the project virtually, and the kids love it. They frequently send in pictures of their various catches to be featured in the fishing email. At the end of this project season, they will be collecting fishing logs and record books and rewarding the best 4-H Anglers in the project! Check out their fishing videos on the Spartanburg and Union County 4-H pages.

Submitted by: Carol Hamilton, Spartanburg County 4-H Youth Development Agent

The South Carolina 4-H Congress is held annually at Clemson University. This event brings youth together from across the state to learn, network, and celebrate a year of achievement. Due to COVID-19, Congress was moved to a virtual setting using Zoom, daily emails, and social media. This event was hosted by the South Carolina 4-H State Teen Council. Over one hundred attendees participated in daily activities such as a virtual career fair, community service projects, professional development workshops, awards ceremonies, and fun networking games.

During the awards state ceremony, the following youth were recognized for their outstanding achievement in 4-H:

2020 State 4-H Winners
Carson Marino – Chester County
Langley Vernon – Anderson County
Aliza Allison – Lexington County
Brianna Smalls – Dorchester County
Maggie Thomas – Dorchester County
Allyson Wright – Hampton County

2020 National 4-H Conference Winners
Katie McCarter – York County
Langley Vernon – Anderson County
Maggie Thomas – Dorchester County
Brianna Smalls – Dorchester County

2020 Presidential Tray Winners
Arizona Bowers – Anderson County
Marie Elizabeth Grant – Anderson County
Jordan Snipes – Florence County
Hailey Williamson – Lexington County

2020 Spirit of 4-H
Nick Matthews – Florence County

Another important part of Congress was the 2020-2021 South Carolina 4-H State Teen Council election. Candidates gave live speeches, and an online election was held.

 2020-2021 SC 4-H Teen Council
President: Cassidy Hurst – Pickens County
Vice President: Brianna Smalls – Dorchester County
Secretary: Saanvi Merchant – Greenville County
Legislative Liaison: Paul Davis – Richland County
Public Relations Coordinator: Jeremiah Gonzalez – Chester County
Midlands Regional Representative: Carson Marino – Chester County
Midlands Regional Representative: Katie McCarter – York County
Pee Dee Regional Representative: Bryton Tanner – Florence County
Savannah Valley Regional Representative: Katherine Ryan – Hampton County
Savannah Valley Regional Representative: Maggie Thomas – Dorchester County
Upstate Regional Representative: Chloe Margeson – Greenville County
Upstate Regional Representative: Elizabeth Marie Grant (MEG) – Anderson County

Even though Congress was fun on a virtual platform, the team is looking forward to being back on campus next summer. If you would like more information about SC 4-H Congress or other 4-H events, please visit www.clemson.edu/4h.

Submitted by: Katie Shaw, 4-H Youth Development Specialist

Feeding Innovation Successfully Moves to Online Instruction

On May 21, 2020, the South Carolina Community Loan Fund’s Feeding Innovation program awarded $20,000 to a startup healthy-food business in Beaufort County, South Carolina. This was the culmination of ten weeks of instruction for eleven participants who were aided in business plan development and business promotion.

The first session of Feeding Innovation started on March 11, 2020, in Bluffton, South Carolina. The participants had one face-to-face interaction with their instructor before they had to go completely online for the remaining nine weeks of classes due to the COVID-19 shutdown of most public venues. This was a challenge for both participants and the instructor.

Clemson Agribusiness Team member, Steve Richards, was the instructor for this class and had never considered teaching extension courses online. Steve had this to say about his experience:

“I love face-to-face teaching of business planning courses. It’s the interaction between the instructor and the participants that makes the class exciting. With the pivot to online instruction, we all were tested in terms of how we could interact, learn, and pay attention to an online curriculum. I know I learned a lot from the experience and am happy we were able to pull this off with much patience and perseverance from the participants and the South Carolina Community Loan Fund.”

Feeding Innovation is a program of the South Carolina Community Loan Fund. Clemson Cooperative Extension provides the curriculum and the instruction for the nine-week program. The South Carolina Community Loan Fund has been running Feeding Innovation since 2014 and has helped seventy participants create and pitch business plans and has awarded $120,000 in seed capital. Another Feeding Innovation program will be offered in the Fall of 2020 with an additional $20,000 to be awarded to the best healthy-food business plan. Will Culler, also with Clemson’s Agribusiness Team, will be the instructor.

Submitted by: Nathan Smith, Agribusiness Program Team Director

Water Resources and Horticulture Team Up to Promote Environmentally Friendly Landscaping 

With the cancellation of all in-person classes during the COVID-19 pandemic, it was critical for Clemson Extension to find alternative methods in order to fulfill its mission. While Extension has had an online presence with online courses, websites, and social media, little has been done in terms of real-time online programming.

Kim Morganello, Carolina Clear Program Coordinator, and Terasa Lott, State Coordinator for the South Carolina Master Gardener Program, teamed up to develop a three-part webinar series in April 2020, focusing on Carolina Yards. Carolina Yards is an environmentally friendly landscaping program designed to assist and guide South Carolina homeowners in making changes in the environmental quality of their yards, neighborhoods, and surrounding waterways. This program was ideal for online programming at this time for several reasons:

• Interest in gardening surged as many citizens spent more time at home.
• With its broad concept of gardening in a way that protects natural resources, the program lends itself to collaborative programming efforts.

Each webinar was one hour in length and included time for Q&A. The series was offered free of charge but registration was required. Individual webinar topics included:

• April 15: Introduction to Carolina
• April 22: Right Plant, Right Place
• April 29: Managing Water in Your Own Backyard

The capacity for each webinar was originally set at fifty participants. After reaching that in just one day, capacity was increased with a total of 103 registrants. Actual participation in each webinar was forty to fifty. Of those, twenty-eight individuals from thirteen counties provided feedback through a Qualtrics evaluation. Over Ninty percent of respondents indicated they were inspired to change the way they manage their lawn/garden/landscape. More than sixty percent of respondents said they planned to certify their yard or their yard was already certified as a Carolina Yard. Over seventy-five percent of respondents said they plan to install a rain garden or rainwater harvesting system or already had systems installed.

Offering the series was a learning experience for the co-hosts in terms of utilizing Zoom technology and presenting it to a virtual audience. Evaluation data indicates it was a learning experience for participants; as well as demonstrated by this comment: “This was a well-organized and informative program. The length of each session was perfect. The presenters worked well together. Thank you!”

Submitted by: Terasa Lott, State Coordinator, SC Master Gardener Program

Horticulture Team Agents Amy Dabbs and Megan Shearer hosted a webinar on May 14th on How to Grow an Herb Garden for South Carolina educators as part of the Clemson Extension Horticulture Team’s School & Community Gardening program. They had 175 participants register and 140 actually attend the event. Prior to the workshop, registrants received an email with links and handouts including a book of herb recipes prepared by Megan Shearer, Program Assistant, that can be made at home or in a classroom setting. Also included were factsheets from the HGIC on growing herbs, and other links and handouts referenced in the webinar. The webinar included growing an herb garden in raised beds, in containers, and incorporating herbs into the landscape. They discussed many popular culinary herbs and ways to use them and they demonstrated how to dry herbs in a dehydrator to make DIY herb seasoning blends. Some online information can be reached by visiting the Clemson Extension School & Community Garden Program Recent Post’s Page where you can find some details on how to grow some of the herbs they discussed if you missed the webinar.

Their next webinar will be June 25th, “Food Preservation for Educators”, sponsored by South Carolina Farm to School. Rebecca Baxley will provide content and instruction. Registration will open soon and is open to all.

Submitted by: Cory Tanner, Horticulture Program Team Director & Amy Dabbs, Horticulture Team Agent

The Rural Health and Nutrition Program Team’s Hypertension Management Program (HMP) has been adapted to address the needs of our participants during the COVID-19 crisis. This program is traditionally delivered as an 8-week, face-to-face group program targeting people with high blood pressure (hypertension). The HMP supports participants by providing them with the knowledge, behavior change strategies, and blood pressure monitoring guidance that will help them manage this complicated health condition. With stay-at-home considerations, the RHN team launched a modified version of this program and is now offering it as a series of four webinars facilitated by RHN agent Emily Moody. The online version of this program includes a “visit” during the last session by a Registered Dietitian who can answer more complicated nutrition questions posed by participants. Recruitment was completed using Eventbrite and pre and post data were collected using Qualtrics. Recruitment efforts resulted in thirty-four potential participants. Of those, fifteen met eligibility criteria and were fully enrolled. Eleven have graduated from the first group and four more are in the process of completing the program. Participants provided excellent reviews, “Emily was an enthusiastic, competent instructor who made everyone feel comfortable and willing to contribute to the discussion.” Participants also appreciated “the opportunity for interaction with others who have high blood pressure offering peer support” and “the convenience of being home yet being held accountable.” This program will continue to be offered as an online program allowing the RHN team to reach as many SC community members as possible now and in the future.

Submitted by: Michelle Parisi, Rural Health and Nutrition Program Team Director

The Clemson Extension Water Resources team has become a trusted source of research-based information regarding stormwater and recreational pond management. Agents are able to advise on integrated pest management, aquatic weed identification, water quality testing, and upland best management practices. Generally, these programs are held in person and have a field component.

A recreational pond management workshop entitled Maintaining a Healthy Pond was originally scheduled for late April in Sumter. However, in response to COVID-19, this program was made available through an online format. The intended audience was pond managers, private pond owners, and HOA residents. Topics included recreational pond chemistry, aquatic weeds, and integrated pest management, upland best management practices, and communication. A total of twenty-seven participants attended this webinar, which included SC DHEC watershed managers, engineers, environmental scientists, regulators, as well as private pond owners and HOA members.

A survey was administered through SurveyMonkey to estimate knowledge gained and acquire feedback from attendees. One hundred percent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed the webinar was a good use of their time. Additionally, forty-three percent said the training increased their pond management knowledge “a lot”, while twenty-nine percent reported their knowledge was increased “some”. When asked if participants planned to implement practices learned in the webinar into their pond management decisions, seventy-one percent indicated they would. When asked which component of the conference was most useful, these are the most notable responses:

“I enjoyed having all the experts in one “room” together, getting all their input on Q&A at once, and hearing the diversity of presentations. Weed management was probably the most pressing issue for me, but I gained something from each session!”

“All components were useful and refreshed my memory from the Master Pond Manager Class”

The 2020 spring Maintaining a Healthy Pond webinar was seen as a success by the presenters and will be offered at least yearly to help new pond owners properly care for their ponds and ultimately protect water quality downstream.

Submitted by: Water Resources Extension Agents Karen Jackson, Amy Scaroni, Katie Altman, and Charly McConnell