May 2008 Archives

Looking for gardening tips? Extension's Consumer Horticulture Team has organized a fresh resource featuring useful, research-based information in a gardener--friendly format, at www.extension.umn.edu/GardenInfo.

Home to an estimated 70,000 Somalis, Minnesota claims the largest Somali population in the United States. Like other recent immigrants with limited resources and busy lives, many of the state's Somali families are struggling to find middle ground between affordable, nutritious food and quick, easy preparation.

Clean air and water ... rich soil ... open space ... gray rocks and green plants ... creatures that crawl, swim, leap and soar...As a society we are spending less time interacting with the great outdoors learning to understand and appreciate it, and more time with the distraction of technology, electronic toys and other activities competing for our attention. Through environmental science education programs, Extension is helping Minnesotans of all ages build a relationship with Mother Nature with the hope that we will come to value and protect our state's irreplaceable natural resources.

Everybody talks about the weather, but few get as excited about it as Mark Seeley, a University of Minnesota climatologist for the past 30 years. He becomes animated when talk turns to the historic August 2007 weather extremes, microclimates, disaster response, and the 2008 weather predictions which he disputes. So passionate is Seeley that he has at the ready his Extension display board to explain how he uses climate and real-time observation forecasts to provide Minnesotans with critical information for planning and decision-making.

Today's youth are tomorrow's leaders. But how do we get there from here? With nearly half of Minnesota's 10- to 12-year-olds spending their after-school hours unstructured and unsupervised, parents and community leaders statewide are asking that question.

Extension's 4-H Youth Development Program has some answers.