Month: January 2021

The Food Systems and Safety team has been hard at work delivering virtual programs on home food preservation, produce safety, human and pet food manufacturing, and food safety for food entrepreneurs. Additionally, individual conversations with clients have addressed questions on ServSafe® certifications, and in each of the areas previously mentioned. Highlights of the programs delivered by the Upstate Food Systems and Safety Agent, Rebecca Baxley since the beginning of April include:

• Introduction to Home Canning virtual webinar. 42 participants logged in live, 40 viewed the recording.
• Food Preservation for SC Educators webinar. SC School and Community Garden summer workshop series. 142 attendees.
• Preventive Controls for Animal Food Manufacturing webinar. Team member. 12 participants representing 9 individual firms.
• Learn to Can Blueberry Jam video for TD Market Educational Series, Greenville SC. 319 views.
• Jams and Jellies virtual workshop, team member. Live canning in real time via zoom. 5 participants.
• Estimated over 100 individual interactions with stakeholders through phone call and email

As we move into the fall, there is no time to slow down. A few things Rebecca is working on to be introduced in the coming months are below:

Coming Soon…

• A new Food Systems and Safety blog is under development. Look for a link to our new blog that will serve as a hub for information and allow stakeholders to interact with agents.

• Home Food Preservation Lunch and Learn, Preparing for Canning Season on February 26, 2021 from 11:30-1:00.  Register here https://clemson.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIldOCsrDMpG9wM09ywGX3H8-cNyLjmc8O

• Home Food Preservation and Food Safety educational cards are under development for point of purchase distribution. Look for these cards with preservation tips, recipes, and food safety information at farmer’s markets, produce stands and farm stores beginning in the Spring of 2021.

Greenville County Extension Consumer Horticulture has helped residents with their gardening and landscaping questions during modified operations precautions implemented since March 2020. Clemson University Cooperative Extension established modified operations protocols based on scientific evidence and data provided by federal, state, and local health care professionals in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Greenville County Extension follows these measures to keep Extension employees and clients healthy and safe while reducing the virus’ spread in Greenville County. Clemson University Cooperative Extension is committed to serving South Carolina residents by providing unbiased, researched-based information. We recognize that our adherence to the recommendations provided by governmental health professionals strengthens our clients’ trust in our mission.

Greenville County Master Gardeners welcomed twenty-seven South Carolina Master Gardener Training Course (SCMGTC) students to our 2020-2021 class in September. The SCMGTC trains citizens interested in horticulture to serve as volunteers willing to share their gardening knowledge with South Carolina residents. Students in the SCMGTC receive at least 40 hours of practical horticulture classroom training. Students donate a minimum of 40 hours of volunteer service to Greenville County Consumer Horticulture upon completing the training course to become a certified SC Master Gardener. While the program usually takes place at the Greenville County Extension office, this year’s class is virtual. The class meets once per week for 3.5 hours for at least 16 weeks. The course will finish in February 2021.

One positive development from our modified operations has been exploring online programming that has improved accessibility to our programs. As an example, a new statewide virtual, online SCMGTC will start in January 2021. Our Greenville SCMGTC is usually given only once per year. Two benefits of this new format include the ability to offer a personalized SCMGTC experience in addition to our typical one in-person class per year. Additionally, we can provide instruction from our excellent horticulture agents across the state, typically unavailable due to travel-time limitations. For more information about this course offering, visit https://www.clemson.edu/extension/mg/virtual-class.html.

Heather Nix joined the Clemson Extension team as the Upstate District Water Resource Agent just a few months prior to the pandemic. Although new to the team, Nix hit the ground running and, since March, has presented during 4 webinars (reaching 106 attendees live), hosted 6 Inservice sessions to inform the Clemson CAFLS Water Team on SC’s State Water Planning (reaching 203 attendees live), assisted in the creation of a new statewide program for private well owners, submitted 4 Fact Sheets for publication through HGIC, led or assisted in creation of 3 funding proposals, and assisted 117 clients across 10 counties. With a significant background in water resources, Nix has led efforts to build collaborations between Extension and state agencies, local utilities, nonprofits, and businesses. Additionally, Nix has attended over 60 training classes, onboarding sessions, and webinars, including receiving certifications in: SC Adopt-A-Stream chemical/bacteria/macroinvertebrates, Extension’s Master Pond Manager, Extension’s Carolina Yards, PCPO 4-H Training, Penn State Extension’s Pond Management for Rural and Farm Pond Owners, and Penn State Extension’s Keeping Pesticides out of Groundwater.

Happy New Year!  We hope this finds you and yours doing well after the holiday season.  We all have been looking forward to 2021 and in many ways, putting 2020 behind us.  As you all know, our offices have been closed to the public for the final nine and half months of 2020.  They continue to be closed to the public but that does not mean your Extension staff is not doing their job.  The creative and unique ways that many agents and staff have found to help the people and communities in South Carolina never end.  Just to give you a little insight into what we’ve been doing, let’s go and visit with each one …

The McCormick County 4-H program continued to serve McCormick youth throughout the pandemic. We worked with other area 4-H programs to create four different summer camp kits (Pollinators, STEM/ Engineering, Nutrition, and Wildlife). The hands-on camp kits included all the materials that the youth needed to complete camp activities. We also created videos to go along with the lessons in the kits. We partnered with the McCormick County Library, which provided free books to go along with our summer camp kits. We also partnered with the McCormick Arts Council to promote all our local virtual summer camp opportunities to youth. With our summer camp kits’ success, we also created a 4-H Winter Wildlife Camp kit that was designed to teach youth about providing habitat and food for wildlife throughout the winter months.

The McCormick County 4-H program worked with the school district to provide lessons and support. We provided the elementary school with a glo-germ kit that was used to teach the kids how to properly wash their hands.

The McCormick County 4-H program has also been excited for the opportunity to work with the youth at John de la Howe Governor’s School for Agriculture. We have provided the teachers with lesson resources. We established a 4-H Club at de la Howe and elected the first group of 4-H Club Officers through a virtual interview process. The natural resource class students are participating in the state-wide 4-H wildlife food plot program. We are also currently housing the augmented reality sandbox, initially created for the Smithsonian Water/Ways exhibit, at the John de la Howe library.

While we look forward to once again having the opportunity to do in-person programming, we are glad that we have had the chance to continue to positively impact the youth of McCormick County. For more information on 4-H youth development programs, please contact Jaime Pohlman by email at jaime@clemson.edu or phone at 864-986-1026.

As the Administrative Assistant in the McCormick Extension office, a majority of my job responsibilities are done via my computer and/or phone.  That being said, when our office responded to the Covid issues and closed to the public, there was not the impact on me that other agents and staff faced.  I simply started working remote … the ability to access all the files and information provided me with what was needed to process required reporting.  The ability to program the office phone to immediately transfer calls to my cell phone was a seamless transition.   All calls, so far over 175, were answered and clients were assisted as needed with the information and/or help requested.  Our agents and staff were available to help return any calls with additional information.

At beginning of this Covid situation, we also partnered with Joann Fabric stores to help with the mask shortage in the local hospitals.  Joann provided the supplies necessary and we put the word out in Savannah Lakes Village where several sewers stepped up to help us make over 150 masks for the effort.  Our office also made an additional 50+ masks for McCormick County Council members, extension agents and staff and district 4H agents.

As stated earlier, with technology as it is today, my responsibilities barely noticed the hiccup that going remote may have caused.  As always, we are here to help the community of McCormick County. #Staywell

Becoming a nutrition educator has inspired me on so many levels. Working within the Clemson EFNEP (Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program) family has allowed me to connect with fellow EFNEP educators. These educators share a passion for helping others make their lives better through nutrition education. My fellow educators go above and beyond to not only excel in their own jobs but to assist new educators such as myself in adjusting to our new roles serving our specific counties. McCormick County is a beautiful place, and I am thrilled to be assigned to this location and strive to do my best.

Covid-19 has brought its own set of challenges, as we all know. Still, I feel that our team of educators, supervisors, and trainers have stepped up to provide support for each other during this difficult time. We are all learning together and accomplishing goals that would not have been possible without modern technology. We have all had a willingness to learn every step of the way. We currently offer classes via zoom and are still able to be a valuable resource to our communities. The courses we offer are for our CHFFF (Choose Health: Food, Fun, and Fitness) curriculum, Teen Cuisine curriculum, and ESBA (Eating Smart: Being Active) curriculum. These curriculums can reach groups of various age ranges beginning with elementary school children all the way to adults. Our EFNP training instructors provided a way for new nutrition educators, such as myself, to complete our training online as well, and that has been a blessing.

Recruiting program participants is at the forefront of our minds. We recruit in various ways through specialized flyers created for us, social media, and by reaching out to current and previous participants. It is currently a slow-going process because while we are adjusting to virtually providing education to the community, our communities are adjusting as well. However, we are not giving up! We are still here! Although our groups are a little smaller than they would have been prior to the pandemic, we are always here working to teach and inspire others to make healthy nutrition choices through education. I am honored to be a part of such an amazing group of people and to have the opportunity to help the McCormick (and Abbeville) community.

For more information on EFNEP related issues and programs, please contact Brandi Anderson by email at banders@clemson.edu or phone at 864-465-5033.

The McCormick County Extension Office has been hard at work during the COVID- 19 pandemic. In addition to working with landowners, we have worked closely with our community partners to ensure that McCormick County’s needs were met. We have worked with the school district to assist them with drone footage for their graduation ceremony. We also provided the school district with lesson assistance and ensured that all students and staff were safe by donating reusable cloth masks and hand sanitizer.

The McCormick Extension Office also created an augmented reality sandbox to serve as the partner exhibit for the Smithsonian Water/Ways traveling exhibit hosted at Hickory Knob State Park. This interactive sandbox allowed visitors to get a hands-on learning experience of how landforms and topography impact water. There were over 2,700 visitors to the exhibit that ran from June – August.

  Clemson’s exhibit at the Smithsonian Water/Ways traveling exhibit

The Extension Office partnered with Cornerstone to assist with their drive-through health fair. We created 100 bags that were full of health-related information and school supplies to hand out. We also obtained over 100 boxes of fresh produce to give to the participants. We partnered with Cornerstone again for their drive-through trick or treat, where we assisted them with their virtual costume contest and pumpkin carving contest and provided candy and Clemson footballs to the kids.

Another group that the McCormick County Office has worked collaboratively with is the Chamber of Commerce. We assisted the chamber with the live streaming of their candidate forums for the school board, sheriff’s office, and county council races. We provided live streaming via Facebook live and created a broadcast of the forums for the WCTEL local channel. We also assisted the chamber with the live streaming of the Holiday on Main Parade on the chamber Facebook site. Both the candidate forums and the Holiday on Main parade had over 1400 views

The McCormick County Extension Office has been working hard to do whatever we can do to help ensure McCormick County residents are safe and their needs are met.

During the pandemic, I have remained in contact with my forestry and wildlife clients in McCormick by phone, text, and email. I answered a wide array of questions including, bark falling off white oaks, dying pine trees with beetle issues, and identifying yellowstriped oak worms. I was able to assist a client in enrolling his timberland property into the SC Tree Farm program. I assisted a landowner with advice on managing quail on his property.  There were some traditional forest management questions too. Particularly on the proper time to thin pine stands and how to get timber thinned or final harvested.

I sent several virtual program announcements to my client list. The announcements included program topics on invasive plants, invasive insects, pesticide credit classes, and timber tax issues. One directed specifically to women was the Women Owning Woodlands program.

I have remained in contact with the McCormick County Forestry Association Board members concerning their quarterly meetings and their plans for these meetings. The current Board members were asked and agreed to remain in place moving forward to 2021 to provide continuity in leadership for the Association. I also worked with a group of other Agents to provide Virtual Association programs to Association members. We presented programs on Fall Wildlife Food Plots and Controlling Privet in Your Woodlands. We had over 100 participants at both and plan to continue with more of these meetings.

I assisted with installing a series of demonstration plots on the John de la Howe school property. Plots on chemically controlling kudzu in timberland and controlling understory competition in timber stands were set up and treated. The goal was to have in-person tours for timberland owners in the surrounding area showcasing the treatments’ results. However, issues around the COVID virus prevented those in-person programs from taking place. We are currently working on a virtual program to discussing the results.

For more information on Forestry and Natural Resource related issues and programs, please contact Tom Brant by email at jbrant@clemson.edu or phone at 864-465-5030.

View across several kudzu control demo plots.    Understory vegetation being affected by treatment in demo plot