(USDA, Washington, D-C) – Doing things “halfway” can often cause problems later on, especially when it comes to having a holiday weekend cookout. Gary Crawford reports….

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And, just like there is a certain brand-name hotline for turkey cooking tips before and during Thanksgiving, Meredith Carothers, food safety expert with the USDA’s Meat and Poultry Hotline, says there are several ways you can get food safety questions answered live by real experts.

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(The hotline is 1-888-674-6854 [1-888-MPHOTLINE]; Live chat M-F 9-a.m. to 5-pm Central time, at ask.usda.gov ; or e-mail mphoptline@usda.gov, or search usda.)

(Iowa DNR News) – Memorial Day weekend and throughout the summer, thousands of Iowa will be camping and building campfires. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) encourages campers to buy firewood from where they will burn it instead of bringing it from home. “Moving unseasoned firewood around the state can threaten the health of our forests by spreading insects like emerald ash borer (EAB) that live in firewood,” explains Tivon Feeley, DNR Forest Health forester. EAB is a small, metallic-green, invasive wood-boring beetle native to east Asia that attacks and kills ash trees. It attacks trees of any size, age, or stage of health. The spread of EAB into uninfected areas has been primarily through people moving firewood from county to county or state to state. “These pests don’t move far on their own, but they can travel hundreds of miles in a single day in contaminated firewood,” said Feeley.

Plenty of firewood is available locally near state and county parks. Simply ask a park ranger or campground host for local firewood availability. Make sure to burn all of the firewood at the campsite and not leave it or transport to a new area. The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship requires all firewood sold or acquired in Iowa to have the county and state of harvest location on the label of packages and the delivery ticket for bulk firewood.

Find more information about emerald ash borer and the reasons not move firewood online at www.iowadnr.gov/eab.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa State University Extension and the D-N-R are offering more sessions of a program called Chronic Wasting Disease Ambassadors. I-S-U Extension’s, Chris Janke, oversees the program. “The idea here is that we can take people that are already may be interested in deer are interested in the management of chronic wasting disease, and equip them with the technical knowledge and skills that they really need to sort of take their education and advocacy in their community to the next level, to try to help us sort of build this broad coalition to address the challenge that chronic wasting disease poses,” Janke says. He says one of the sessions will be in Wayne County.

“That’s kind of a partnership of a bunch of counties in southern Iowa, but we’re hosting it in Corydon,” he says. “And so we’re hoping to get participants from Wayne and neighboring counties. And then also Greene County, because that’s a new area in the state where we’ve just recently found chronic wasting disease.” He says the disease is really complicated and there are some common misconceptions about how to manage it, and what sort of risks that it poses.

“So what we do with this class is we try to get these committed learners caught up to speed on that science and those technical details. And then we actually talk about how to communicate effectively about this disease and how to sort of dispel common myths,” according to Janke. He says it helps supplement the wildlife biologists in the state — which can’t cover every county. C-W-D was first found in wild deer in Iowa in 2013 — and it has been found in wild deer in at least 12 counties. Janke says the best way to deal with it is to try to contain it.

“There is no cure for this disease, it’s 100 percent fatal. And when it gets into a wild population, it basically just continues to become more and more prevalent through time. And so everything we do about C-W-D management right now is trying to reduce it spread across the state,” Janke says. He says reducing the spread also reduces its prevalence within a population of deer. Janke says controlling the disease is important for everyone in the state.

“There are of course, a lot of hunters and we harvest over 100-thousand deer every year, and it’s an important protein source for many families,” he says. “But even if you don’t deer hunt, it impacts you because deer like to run out in front of vehicles or deer can impact agriculture or forestry in the state. So any sort of major disruption to our approach to managing deer is a unique challenge that impacts multiple different sectors of the economy.” If you are interested in taking part, go to the Iowa State Extension website under natural resources — and you’ll find a button that says Chronic Wasting Disease ambassadors.

(Radio Iowa) – Boaters on both sides of Iowa need to use caution during the upcoming holiday weekend, but for different reasons. Water levels are expected to rise more than a foot on the Mississippi River due to snow melt and rains to the north. On the Missouri River, however, D-N-R fisheries biologist Bryan Hayes says it’s exceptionally dry and the water levels are very low. “The lakes that are really affected are the oxbow lakes along the Missouri River corridor,” Hayes says. “Last winter, the Missouri River was historically low and when the Missouri River is low and the groundwater is low, it lowers the level of these oxbow lakes.”

Some of the trouble areas in the west include Carter Lake in Pottawattamie County, which is is three feet below crest. The water level at Lake Manawa has been down a few feet all spring. Elsewhere, low levels are reported on Blue Lake in Monona County, DeSoto Bend in Harrison County, Snyder Bend and Browns Lake in Woodbury County, and several others along the Interstate 29 corridor.

“Boaters headed out this Memorial Day weekend will see abnormally low conditions in those lakes,” Hayes says. “It’s going to impact access through the boat ramps to these water bodies as well as present hazards while out boating, so we just really urge caution.” The watershed of the Missouri River extends all the way to Montana, with several flood control reservoirs in South Dakota.

“The Corps of Engineers has increased the releases for the navigation season on the river, so eventually we’ll start to see water come back into these systems,” Hayes says, “but the lag time, it’s just not going to happen before Memorial Day weekend and it may not happen this summer at all.”

Meanwhile, National Weather Service forecasters say the Mississippi River is rising quickly and currents are strong. That waterway is expected to crest at Davenport on Sunday around 13-and-a-half feet, that’s about 18 inches shy of the initial flood stage.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Master Gardener group is excited to be hosting their annual bus tour again in 2022 after taking a two-year hiatus.  This year’s trip is scheduled for Wednesday, June 8, departing from the Cass County Fairgrounds in Atlantic at 7 AM and returning around 6:30 PM. Stops include several nurseries, gardens and greenhouses in the Omaha Area, Benson Plant Rescue, and Guyer’s Greenhouse in Avoca on the way back home. A catered lunch will be enjoyed at the Bay Meadows Park in Ralston.

The trip is coordinated by the Cass County Master Gardeners, but is open to everyone on a first come basis.  Registrations are taken on a first-come basis, so register soon and be sure to reserve your spot on the bus! The cost is $55. 00 which includes transportation, a meal and snacks. Registration forms are available at the Cass County Extension office, and can also be found on the Cass County Extension website at www.extension.iastate.edu/cass. Full itinerary is on each registration form. Be sure to bring plant labels and boxes to mark the goodies you pick up along the way, and a refillable water bottle to stay hydrated while you learn and shop!

For more information about Master Gardener activities in Cass County, please call the Cass County Extension Office at 712-243-1132, or email Cass County Extension Director and Master Gardener Coordinator Kate Olson at keolson@iastate.edu.  In addition, you are invited to follow the Cass County Master Gardeners at their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/CassCoMG to keep up with local events and tips for gardening.

For anyone interested in learning more about the Master Gardener program or becoming a Master Gardener, the next class will be open for registration from June 3-July 8, with classes beginning in August 2022; taught as a mix of online and hands-on learning. Find details and sign up on the Iowa Master Gardener website, or call the Cass County Extension office to learn more!

• 4 eggs, beaten
• 2 1/2 cups milk
• 1 1/3 cups (about 36 crackers) crushed saltine crackers
• 2/3 cup finely chopped onion
• 1 teaspoon celery salt
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 4 lbs. lean ground beef
• 2 (10.75 oz.) cans condensed cream of mushroom soup
• hot cooked noodles (optional)
• peas (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease two 3-quart rectangular baking dishes; set aside.  In a bowl combine eggs and 1 cup of milk.  Stir in crushed crackers, onion, celery salt, half of the nutmeg and the pepper.  Add ground beef; mix well.  Shape mixture into 40 meatballs.  Arrange meatballs in prepared baking dish.  Bake, uncovered, about 30 minutes or until the internal temperature of each meatball registers 160 degrees.

For sauce, in a sauce pan combine soup, the remaining milk and the remaining nutmeg.  Cook and stir over medium heat until heated through.  Serve sauce over meatballs.  If desired, serve with noodles and peas.

YIELD:  10-12 servings

Jim Field visits with Shelby Nelson of Lutheran Services in Iowa as May is National Foster Care Month.

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• KJAN, Atlantic  .64″
• 7 miles NNE of Atlantic  .42″
• Massena  .51″
• Anita  .61″
• Avoca  .8″
• Oakland  1.08″
• Bridgewater  .8″
• Corning  .59″
• Villisca  1.79″
• Audubon  .92″
• Guthrie Center  .76″
• Manning  .76″
• Missouri Valley  .69″
• Red Oak  .84″
• Creston  .52″
• Carroll  .74″

(Iowa DNR News) – Iowa state parks and forests are gearing up for a busy Memorial Day weekend, the traditional start of the outdoor summer recreation season.  “Park visitors are excited to get outside and enjoy the beautiful weather after a long winter inside,” said Sherry Arntzen, chief of the DNR’s State Parks, Forests and Preserves Bureau. “Our parks offer a variety of activities for all enthusiasts from hiking the trails to picnicking, fishing and swimming. There’s something for everyone while enjoying the outdoors.”

Campers are urged to plan ahead when visiting Iowa state parks and forests for Memorial Day weekend. Most electrical and full hookup sites in busy parks are already reserved, so campers may want to consider non-electric sites or at “hidden gem” parks a little further away from home. Additionally, Iowa state parks and forests offer around 1,200 non-reservable sites available on a first-come, first-served basis, with most people choosing to stay today (Thursday) through the weekend.

To find site availability and make a reservation, go to https://iowastateparks.reserveamerica.com/ For an up-to-date list of park and trail closures due to renovations or weather-related alerts, visit: http://www.iowadnr.gov/Places-to-Go/State-Parks/Alerts-and-Closures

Park visitors can help take care of the parks by cleaning up trash after themselves, and carrying out what they brought in. Please park vehicles in designated parking lots and not along roadways. If visiting beaches, be aware that most swimming areas do not have a lifeguard on duty, and pets must be kept off beaches and be on a leash. “We hope that campers enjoy their time and make memories while staying in our parks and recreational areas, and do so safely and return again,” Arntzen said.

Tips

• Keep track of the weather and have a plan in case of severe weather
• Pack bug spray, sun screen and a basic first-aid kit
• Check the registration kiosk for activities in the area
• Don’t burn trash
• Don’t bring fireworks
• Be a good neighbor. Observe quiet hours and pick up after yourself

Audubon, Iowa (May 25, 2022) – Trees Forever, Audubon County Conservation Board, Audubon County Roadsides, Audubon County Economic Development and partners are offering the Stewards of the Beautiful Land Series to individuals in Audubon and surrounding counties. Stewards of the Beautiful Land is a four-session course, meeting monthly, geared for the outdoor enthusiast who wants to learn more about prairie plants, trees and forests, and the environments they thrive in, and how to advocate for native landscapes.

“We have been offering this innovative series to other counties throughout Iowa the last three years and now it is being offered in Audubon. We have identified several great locations for field days which will be the perfect outdoor classroom to learn about prairie plant identification, establishment, and management as well as tree care and more,” says Trees Forever Program Manager Brad Riphagen. 

The course is structured with monthly webinars featuring guest presenters which lay the groundwork and knowledge base for where to find native plants on the landscape, the various landforms of Iowa, invasive species identification and management, pollinator habitat enhancement and protection and more. Each month will also feature an in-person meeting to learn from one another, walk through the woods or prairie identifying native plants and trees, and hands-on skills like how to properly plant and care for natives. In-person meetings are from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm at various locations throughout the county.

According to Sara Slater with Audubon County Economic Development, “we are excited to host this series of field days around Audubon and learning about the natural landscape with Brad and other participants. We even have a pollinator planting planned for this fall near Albert the Bull so the course has something for everyone.”

For more information contact Brad Riphagen at briphagen@treesforever.org or via phone at 515-370-1291. Registration is live on the Trees Forever events calendar found at this link https://treesforever.org/event/stewards-of-the-beautiful-land-session-1/