Country Living Newsletters

2012 Newsletters

January 2012 (gypsum, soil drainage and Columbia County gardens, row covers available again, Vern Nelson's seven mistakes in pruning fruit trees, parsnips can surprise you, chilling requirement satisfied, some buds are swelling, root pruning indoor plants, weeds travel, don't pay fare, insects are high flyers, weed of the month: Gorse, the North Willamette Horticulture Society conference, small farms conference, lice in winter, soil test interpretation guide)

February 2012 (snow pruning, the elusive Olallie berry, row covers still available, tomato grafting, weed of the month: creeping buttercup (Ranuculus repens), designing heavy use areas, colostrum, soil compaction, columbia county small woodlands association tree sale March 10th, grafting workshop, pruning workshop)

March 2012 (purple tomatoes and Indigo Rose, frost dates, crane fly concerns, monbiot on gardening, rats, weed of the month: Marestail (Conyza canadensis), what should your calf weigh, fertilizing pastures, grass tetany time, meat case study shows price-shopping but not protein-shifting, pruning workshop, tree sale)

April 2012 (A-frame bean tunnel, figs for all, gardening ideas, aspirin for your plants, spring morels, insect tarsi and food, native plants for pollinators, weed of the month: St. Johnswort (hypericum perforatum), can perennial weeds be tilled to death, last thoughts, CAFO regulations affect livestock operations of all sizes, keep cow nutrition at a peak, garden programs April 14 at the St. Helens Public Library)

May 2012 (crows love corn, beans and peas, hot vegetable topics, new plant disease website, deer resistant plants, apple codling moth, weeds of the month: nightshades, raw milk, why is May hay so tasty, the current beef situation, on the bright side, OSU Extension summer gardening programs, youth tractor safety program)

2011 Newsletters

June 2011 (summer food preservation classes in August, weed management and ID class, weather improves and so do gardeners attitudes, yellow jacket and hornet update, dead rose canes and cold injury, those clever honeybees, deer remake landscapes (with our help) livestock poisoning plants, weed those vegetables)

July 2011 (blossom end rot of tomatoes, lawn problems in summer, summer pruning, summer watering, protect yourself from sunstroke, winter gardening starts now, weed of the month: Oxeye Daisy, corn, cattle, hogs and cars, Canada thistle control after haymaking, what is that yellow flower in the field, cost of hay per ton when bought by the bale)

August 2011 (summer care for sick cherry and plum trees, are the fruit ornamental plums safe to eat, should spurce be planted in landscapes, softwood cuttings, weeds of the month (the summer classics):Pigweed and lambsquarters, moldy hay, tansy ragwort resurgence, summer food preservation classes)

September 2011 (winter mulch or cover crop?, manure in the garden, fall lawn care, dahlias, circling tree roots, cockroaches, weeds of the month: field and hedge bindweed (morning glory), fertilizing fall pastures, fall tansy control, thoughtful use of antibotics, winter mud management, contaminats of hay)

October 2011 (all about fruit show, whitewash and sunscald, spotted wing drosophila update, herbaceous plants for clay soils, weed of the month: bracken fern, forage event in Rickreall, beef industry tour in Albany, internal parasite management, vegetative filter strips, fall mushroom show)

November 2011 (Fairground garden experiment, vole control in the garden, curing walnuts and hazelnuts (aka filberts), winter planning: containers, winter planning: roses, weed of the month: velvet grass, beef industry tour in Albany, hare barley, feeding the older horse, forage testing, weed control in November, raising urban and suburban homestead poultry workshop, master gardener classes to be offered)

December 2011 (poinsettia history and biology, dormant sprays, some things to do, fruit in small places, grafting workshop in February, weed of the month: common chickweed (Stellaria media), when an animal goes off feed, how to lose money in a good cattle market, the end (perhaps) of COOL, winter stress & body condition, Master Gardener's 2012 classes offered)