Author: Amy Mallette

Haven Blackwell, 4-H Youth & Development Agent
Cherokee County

Cherokee County 4-H along with Clemson Extension’s School and Community Gardening Team have partnered with teachers and administrators across Cherokee County to implement school gardens across four schools. Luther Vaughan Elementary, Blacksburg Elementary, Cherokee Charter Academy, and Corinth Elementary are currently participating in this wonderful program and we would love to add even more schools to that list.

he first step in getting your school one of our awesome gardens is to have two of your teachers/administrators complete our School Gardening for South Carolina Educators Online Course. Alongside the knowledge of running a school garden that you will get from this course, you will also

receive our Garden STEM curriculum, the Seasonal Planting Guide and Calendar, and other lessons and activities. Next, we can help you obtain a grant to cover the cost of your raised beds and other necessary supplies. Don’t worry! All these supplies get delivered directly to your school. Throughout the year, I will bring your seeds and transplants for your garden.

Youth in Cherokee County are able to learn how to grow their own food and the importance of that skill through this program. These students are also contributing fresh fruits and vegetables to their school cafeteria’s.

If you are interested in starting a school garden at your school, please contact me at daynab@clemson.edu. Happy harvesting!

Christopher LeMaster, Area Livestock & Forage Agent
Cherokee, Spartanburg, & Union Counties

Loss of Farmland is a top concern among our stakeholders as South Carolina continues to grow at an unprecedented rate. Last year, over 90,000 people moved to our state (which is more than the population of the city of Greenville). Additionally, Industry is quickly relocating to the Sunbelt states. Even in Cherokee County, we are experiencing development pressure compounded by the rising average age of farmers. I don’t have to explain the importance of farmland to this group, but without farms and farmland, we increase our dependency on something we need at least 3 times a day. I appreciate the opportunities that come with this growth, but I think we are justified in our concerns about this rapid loss of farmland. There’s no simple solution; it involves advocacy, education, zoning, regulation, and, most importantly, profitable farms.  Yes, farms need to be profitable and enjoyable to survive. Farming is hard work, both physically and mentally, and many of our farmers are aging out. Nothing ages you faster than hard, unpleasant work for no money.

                My goal for 2025 is to offer classes focusing on profitability and ways to bring another farming generation on board. The classes I have planned for this year will challenge farmers to look at their farms as businesses and break their operations down into enterprises to assess profitability and viability and hopefully identify solutions for some of the drudgery of farming. I invite you to attend the Beef Market Outlook and Profitability Workshop on 3/20 and the Succession Planning for Farm Families and Conservation Easements Workshop on 8/21. Both programs will be in Pacolet for a central location to my counties (Cherokee, Union, and Spartanburg).  Additionally, we have teamed up with a few like-minded organizations to form the Broad River Conservation Partnership to offer field days to assist landowners with conservation practices such as prescribed fire, native grass establishment, and conservation easements.

                I hope to see you at one of these programs this spring. Here are a few other workshops to look forward to.

Carolyn Dawson
Upstate Forestry Agent

It’s that time again, folks, time to Firewise your home. In order to help prevent a wildfire from destroying your home, you must prepare ahead of time. If there is ever an active wildfire in your area, you may be asked to leave immediately and not have time to defend your home. If your home is in or near the woods, then it is at risk of a wildfire.

The Firewise Program provides homeowners and communities with simple and easy steps to help reduce a home’s vulnerability by preparing ahead of time for a wildfire.
These steps are rooted in principles based on solid fire science research into how homes ignite. The program is promoted by the SC Forestry Commission and Clemson Extension. Here are a few basic, simple steps to help protect your home

• Clear leaves and other debris from gutters, eaves, porches and decks. This prevents embers from igniting your home. Leaf blowers can save you hours of time and labor!
• Remove vegetation and items that could catch fire from around and under decks.
• Remove flammable materials (firewood stacks, propane tanks, dry vegetation) within 30 feet of your home’s foundation and outbuildings, including garages and sheds. If it can catch fire, don’t let it touch your house, deck or porch.
• Prune back any tree limbs overhanging or touching your home’s roof, deck, porches, driveway, or outbuildings.
• Inspect the chimney and install a spark-arresting mesh screen if needed.
• Keep all vegetation at least 10 feet from chimneys or stovepipes.
• Remove or prune flammable plants and shrubs near windows.
• Create a separation between trees, shrubs, and items that could catch fire, such as patio furniture, wood piles, swing sets, etc.
• Cover exterior attic vents with metal wire mesh no larger than 1/8 inch to prevent sparks from entering the home.
• Enclose under-eave and soffit vents or screen with metal mesh to prevent ember entry.
• Even though you don’t want to keep a garden hose attached to a spigot during the winter, make sure to keep it accessible if needed.

Although this list is far from complete, I’d like to personally add one extra bullet point to the list. Do you have a plan for your pets? Dogs can easily be led to the car, but what about cats and other small animals? What about farm animals such as chickens, goats, or horses?

So now that you know the steps to reduce the chance of home ignition from direct flame, firebrand showers, and radiant heat, there is one last thing to be mindful of, always safely dispose of fireplace ashes. Winds can reignite ashes and coals left on the ground days later. Firewise recommendations can help establish an effective line of defense in regions where fire is a potential hazard. Will you…your home be ready? Be Firewise!

For more information about the Firewise program, please visit www.firewise.org/usa or contact Carolyn Dawson, Upstate Forestry Agent Clemson Extension at Dawson4@clemson.edu .

Haven Blackwell
4-H Agent
Cherokee County

A new school year means new learning opportunities! This year, Cherokee County 4-H wants to enrich schools with positive agricultural learning experiences.

             We will offer our popular Caterpillar to Butterfly Project to all kindergarten teachers! Students make predictions and observations during this project and love seeing the physical changes made each day.

            For first grade teachers, we will offer a series of healthy lifestyles lessons where students will learn where their food comes from and what components are in that food that make it healthy. And let’s not forget the best part… taste tests!

Second graders will take part in Down on the Farm Day. Our partnership with the Institute of Innovation allows students to take a field trip to us where they will rotate through six different stations and experience a different aspect of farming at each one.

Third grade teachers! We have an awesome opportunity for you! Please contact me to learn how you can sign up to get South Carolina Farm Bureau’s Ag. Learning Lab in route to you this school year!

Fourth graders will be offered a series of agriculture lessons taught by me, your 4-H agent!

AgMags are wonderful resources to teach your students about agriculture. Fifth grade teachers can receive a class set of AgMags each month beginning in November on a variety of topics. Think, “How It’s Made”, agriculture style.

Last but certainly not least, embryology! Chick embryology is a fan favorite! Students enjoy incubating and hatching chicken eggs and caring for the chicks after hatching. Along with this hands-on experience, teachers will also receive very detailed curriculum to guide them through each day of the process with their students, making this an awesome learning experience for all! This program will be offered to any school librarian in Cherokee County (elementary, middle, and high school).

Aside from school enrichment, Cherokee County 4-H has many other opportunities to get involved in such as community cubs, independent projects, statewide events, and livestock shows. Please contact me if you are interested in getting your youth involved!

Heather Nix
Upstate Water Resource Agent

New Online Course! Seasonal Pond Management If you own or manage a freshwater pond, the Seasonal Pond Management course is for you! For $15, you’ll receive on-demand access to course materials for 365 days. The course focuses on actions throughout the year that can help maintain a healthy pond.

Water Chats

We are wrapping up another successful season of the Water Chats program with final sessions in September and a student-focused session in October. This partnership between Clemson Extension, S Sea Grant Consortium, and the SC Water Resources Center, has helped educate professionals across the state on a range of water quality issues and solutions.

Missed a webinar that you you wanted to see? Let us know (nix4@clemson.edu) and we’ll provide access to the recordings, when available.

Upcoming events: Please visit the Clemson Extension Events Calendar for information on various events.

Chris LeMaster
Livestock & Forages Agent
Cherokee, Spartanburg, & Union Counties

Safety data (2019) by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that the agriculture sector continues to be the most dangerous in America with 573 fatalities, or an equivalent of 23.1 deaths per 100,000 workers. Even in Cherokee County, we have had two ag-related fatalities less than a year apart. As we prepare for the busyness of fall hay harvest, a reminder about farm safety is much needed.

On August 1^st we held a farm safety workshop tailored for cattle and hay producers. Typically, safety talks bring about a glazed and yawning audience. However, our speaker, Marion Barnes, used many real-life examples from around our state. He shared startling facts about the dangers of youth around farms. One point that shapes the deadly youth statistics is that on most farms, there is no separation between the barnyard and the children’s play area . This leads to complacency around dangerous equipment for both the youth and the parents.

Aside from the loss of limb or life, accidents on the farm are very costly and, in many cases, can bankrupt a farm. If you want to see your farm passed down another generation, you had better make good decisions on your “calculated” risks around equipment and livestock.

After the presentation, many stories were shared with the audience about ag-related deaths and injuries in our county from the past couple of decades. I received several calls after the workshop from farmers stating they appreciated the safety talk and planned to implement changes in their operations.

This program stemmed from an in-service training held on June 3^rd at the Sandhills Experiment Station. Agents and specialists from across the state received presentations and demonstrations on farm safety topics. The demonstrations included legally transporting equipment, Rollover protection systems, and grain bin rescue. The grain bin rescue simulator was the most impressive demonstration. It was designed and constructed by the Ag Mechanization department to fit a small grain bin on top of an enclosed trailer that houses specialized equipment for the extraction demonstration. This trailer has been all over the state to help rescue teams train for grain bin entrapment. We plan to have this trailer visit some local fire departments in our farming communities.

Farmers are hard to replace, and so many people count on us. Please slow down and think about any avoidable risks. We need our farmers, and your families need you. For more information on farm safety and mental health for farmers, visit the links below:

http://blogs.clemson.edu/agsafety/

https://www.clemson.edu/extension/agribusiness/resources/farm-stress.html

Adam Petty
4-H Agent
Laurens County

On Saturday, January 13^th the Laurens County 4-H volunteers presented the 2024 SC 4-H Showcase at the Gilliam Center for Performing Arts on the campus of Thornwell Charter School. The 4-H Showcase is a unique fundraising event that is meant to highlight the achievements of 4-H’ers across South Carolina. This is accomplished while building confidence, improving public speaking skills, and instilling a sense of pride in the hard work of our contestants.

Our 16 contestants competed in three onstage divisions: business wear, 4-H project wear, and formal wear. In addition, our Junior and Senior contestants participated in an interview with the judges earlier in the day. This was a great opportunity for them to gain self-confidence.

We were pleased to welcome three outstanding judges for the event:

Erica Eadicicco – former Laurens County 4-H’er, Presidential Tray recipient, and native of Kinards, SC.

Courtney Stonell – Keep Laurens County Beautiful affiliate coordinator with the Laurens County Chamber of Commerce.

Haleigh Tomlin – former Greenville County 4-H’er and the current Miss Newberry.

Matthew Brownlee of Laurens served as our Master of Ceremonies. This was the fifteenth year that Laurens County has presented this program, so in honor of that occasion we were pleased to welcome the very first Miss 4-H, Mrs. Anna Crowder, ag teacher at Laurens District 55 High School, to assist in the crowning of our winners.

The winners will go on to represent 4-H in their local communities and at various state events during the year. The winners of the 2024 SC 4-H Showcase were:

Miss Cloverbud – Hannah Dye of Chester County

Miss Cloverleaf – Dixon Freeman of York County

Miss Junior 4-H – Brooklyn New of Laurens County

Miss 4-H – Hennelly Gavin of Lexington County

Congratulations to all our winners and participants in this year’s 4-H Showcase. Thank you to our dedicated volunteers without whom this event would not be possible and thank you to our sponsors, the Laurens County Water and Sewer Commission, Piedmont Rural Telephone Cooperative, and the Laurens/Greenville 4-H Dairy Club. Also, a special thanks to Thornwell for allowing us the use of their facilities.

Reid Miller
Livestock & Forages Agent
Greenwood, Laurens, & McCormick Counties

While it is commonplace for producers in the upstate region of South Carolina to grow fescue as their primary forage crop, many producers utilize cool-season annuals to help get them through the winter. Cool season annuals are great for sodseeding into warm-season perennials like bermudagrass and for decreasing dependency on feeding hay. Cool-season annuals include a variety of small grains, ryegrasses, legumes, and some brassicas. In ideal conditions (adequate rainfall and extreme heat is gone), planting can begin in late September to early October. The earlier the planting the better your chances of being able to graze in the fall and early winter. Of course, the transition from summer to fall in this state can oftentimes be unpredictable with lingering heat and drought conditions. In the case of a late planting in early December, you may provide enough forage to carry cattle from spring to summer. Be sure to let forage grow to at least 6” in height before grazing, and do not graze below 2-3” in height. These parameters will allow the forage to develop a root system to promote drought tolerance and to sustain itself over the long term. The month of February is a great time to apply a second round of fertilizer regardless of whether you’re growing fescue or cool-season annuals. Remember to refer to your soil sample results when applying fertilizer. This is also a good time to evaluate the condition of your forage after the heavy frost events we received within the last month. The extent of the damage may determine whether it is worth fertilizing (regrowth must occur to justify fertilizer), replanting heavily damaged areas, or feeding hay until warm season grasses take over. To help our local clients gain some perspective on how cool-season annuals perform, we have a variety trial in place in Ninety-Six, South Carolina. We planted twenty-five different varieties including oats, wheat, ryegrasses, clovers, and other specialty forages. We hope to present the trial in the coming months if all goes well. Contact your local Clemson Extension office for more information.

Jeff Fellers
Area Forestry & Natural Resource Agent
Chester, Laurens, Newberry, Union, & York

One thing I love about working for Clemson Extension is the diversity of work throughout the seasons.  Rarely do we have the same tasks day after day.  It often changes with the season. The fall and winter seasons bring about fairs and festivals, along with our normal activities.

Union County Agricultural Fair
October is all about the fair in Union County.  The Union County Extension Office is heavily involved in managing the livestock, poultry, agricultural products, and home economics sections.  We also operate the Union County 4-H Shooting Sports Trailer throughout the week of the fair.  On Thursday of the fair, we also host a 5K day where all the Union County public schools bring their kindergarten classes to the fair to learn about livestock and agriculture.  I always enjoy presenting on the crops section for this field trip.  If you have never visited the Union County Agricultural Fair I highly recommend coming by and seeing us. 

Kids in the Parks Track Trail
I had the opportunity to lead a trail hike for the Newberry County Recreation Department for their grand opening of the Kids in the Parks Track Trail.  This trail is located at Lynches Woods in Newberry County.  I really enjoyed spending the afternoon with the children and helping them identify some trees and shrubs, along with learning about growth rings on pine trees.  The Newberry County Recreation Department has a nice kiosk with brochures that help educate those who take the hike.

Wood Magic Forest Fair
Wood Magic Forest Fair is a free field trip for fourth graders, hosted by the South Carolina Forestry Commission.  The program provides a learning experience about the forest industry in South Carolina that meet fourth grade school standards.  Volunteers from around the forest industry come together to teach fourth graders all about forestry.  This year I had the opportunity to teach the Gifts of the Forest station at the Harbison State Forest location.  For more information on Wood Magic visit: https://www.scfc.gov/education/wood-magic/.

Learn to Burn
In November, I had the opportunity to assist with a Learn to Burn program in Union County.  This program was hosted by the Piedmont Prescribed Fire Cooperative at a private landowner’s property.  Participants were able to actively participate in a burn on a mature pine stand.  They were able to see the process from planning, preparation, execution, and mop up.  Learn To Burn provides a great educational experience to landowners that are wanting to learn how to implement prescribe fire on their property.

Newberry Forestry Association
The Newberry Forestry Association had their last quarterly meeting in 2023 on November 14.  We met at Mt. Pleasant UMC.  Eddie Reese, with NRCS, presented on forestry cost share programs.  Our next meeting will be February 13, 2024, and our topic will be estate planning. 

Laurens Forest Landowners Association
The Laurens Forest Landowners Association had their last quarterly meeting in 2023 on November 28.  We met at the Laurens County Farm Bureau Office.  Chris Gordy, from West Fraser, presented on local and statewide mill updates.  Our next meeting will be February 27, 2024.

 Grand American
This was the first year that we took the Union County 4-H Shooting Sports Trailer down to the Grand American in Orangeburg, SC.  Along with Forged In 4-H, we set up a display to help raise funds for the two programs.  Just like at the Union County Agricultural Fair, the trailer is set up for participants to have fun shooting air rifles.  For those less experienced shooters, we spend a little extra time helping them learn the basics of shooting.  Forged In 4-H also provided forging demonstrations, while selling some of the items that were made through the program.  The Grand American provided an excellent venue to advertise our program and educate participants about what great programs we have to offer.

 4-H Food Plots
One of my favorite activities in this job is judging 4-H Food Plots.  We typically do this in January, so the weather is normally not cooperative.  This year however, we had a very nice day to be out in the woods.  We judged 1 in Newberry County and 2 in Union County.  For more information on the 4-H Food Plot Project visit the following link: https://www.clemson.edu/extension/4h/program-areas/natural-resources/wildlife-food-plot-project.html.

Upcoming Events:

Woodland Stewards Silvopasture Webinar Series – January 30 through March 5
https://forestrywebinars.net/sponsor-pages/woodland-stewards

Newberry Forestry Association Meeting February 12, 2024

Indian Creek Field Day February 22, 2024

Laurens Forest Landowners Association Meeting February 27, 2024

Broad River Watershed Landowner Interest Meeting March 7, 2024 Spotlight on Ag March 14, 2024

Adam Petty
4-H Agent
Laurens County

The Whiskers and Tails 4-H Dog Club is a group of 4-H’ers from Laurens and Greenville Counties who are interested in learning more about working with their furry friends and showing them in competitive events.

For many years, Laurens County 4-H has supported opportunities for youth related to dogs. Each year through the Laurens County Dog Project, 4-H’ers are encouraged to learn and keep records of training, health, grooming, and much more as it relates to their pets. There have also been collaborations with the Greenville Kennel Club as they have provided clinics and support over the years. They assist each year in judging the annual dog show as part of the Laurens County Junior Livestock Show.

Beginning in August of 2023, the Whiskers and Tails 4-H Dog Club started offering weekly dog training classes at the Dog Trainers Workshop in Fountain Inn. These classes were for Canine Good Citizen certification, rally, and dog showmanship. They concluded at the end of September with a final competition. Then, with growing interest, it was decided to offer additional weekly classes in January of 2024 that will conclude at the end of February. These classes consist of Canine Good Citizen certification and rally and were open for any 4-H member in Laurens or Greenville Counties.

This club is led by a great group of volunteers; Charity Blumer, DeAnn Karns, and Lisa Stroup. Our 4-H’ers are also receiving quality lessons from qualified AKC instructors. It’s been amazing to see the amount of knowledge and confidence gained by these youth as they work with their animals. Thanks to Dog Trainer’s Workshop of Fountain Inn for the use of their training facility. We look forward to additional training classes throughout the year. Stay posted for the opening of registration for the 2024 Laurens County Dog Project in the spring. This project is open to all interested 4-H’ers in surrounding counties as well. Please contact Adam Petty at akpetty@clemson.edu or 864-705-1102 for more information. Also, check out our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/4Hlaurenscounty