The weather is turning warm and the summer months are fast approaching.  If your family is like mine, this is the time of year for outdoor outings like camping, fishing, playing at the park and other recreational activities.  These activities often involve food and it is important to remember food safety during these warm summer months to prevent food borne illness.

The first step to food safety for outdoor activities is to plan ahead.  Take some time to decide what you are going to eat and how you are going to cook it.  These steps can help you determine what types of equipment you will need.  You should also consider what you will have access to during your stay outdoors.  Will you have water that is safe for drinking?  Can you build a fire, use a grill, or use some type of portable stove to prepare foods?

Depending on your planned activities and access to equipment, you might consider packing foods that do not require refrigeration such as peanut butter, crackers, juice boxes, canned meats, dried noodles and soups, beef jerky, dried fruits, nuts, or other dehydrated foods.

Brown County 4-H is supported by Brown County United Way

DATES TO REMEMBER

April

9 – Brownwood 4-H Club Meeting 6:30p.m. at Extension Office

9 – Early 4-H Club Meeting 6:30p.m. at First Baptist Church Early

12 – Deadline to order Lamb & Goat State Fair Tags

12 – Deadline to order State Steer Tags

16 – Brookesmith 4-H Club Meeting 5:30p.m. Brookesmith ISD

STATE FAIR LAMB & GOAT TAGS

If you are in 4-H and planning on participating at the State Fair in Dallas with a lamb or goat you will need to purchase a tag. The deadline to order tags is April 12^th. Contact the Extension Office to purchase a tag for the State Fair.

STATE STEER TAGS

It is hard to believe that it is already that time again to purchase state steer tags. If you are planning on showing a steer in any 2013-2014 major stock shows you must purchase a state tag. The cost is $10 per tag and the deadline to purchase a tag is April 12^th. Please come by the Extension Office to purchase your steer tag.

The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department will conduct a feral hog management workshop and tour April 5th at the Muse Wildlife Management area in northern Brown County. The workshop will begin at 9:30 a.m. with registration. The program will follow beginning at 10 a.m. and will end with a tour of the Muse Wildlife Management Area at noon.

Topics during the day will include: feral hog facts and status, current trapping and removal, swine health risks, and current research. There will also be touring the Muse Wildlife Area to view a ‘rainwater guzzler’ used for wildlife water and examine cage traps and other methods the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department uses to help control feral hogs on the property.

Brown County 4-H is supported by Brown County United Way

DATES TO REMEMBER

April

1 – Photography Workshop 5:30 p.m. Location TBA

3 – Photos Due to Extension Office for Photography Contest

7 – Shooting Sports Practice 2:00 p.m. at Texas 4-H Center

9 – Brownwood 4-H Club Meeting 6:30 p.m. at Extension Office

9 – Early 4-H Club Meeting 6:30 p.m. at First Baptist Church Early

12 – Deadline to order Lamb & Goat State Fair Tags

12 – Deadline to order State Steer Tags

STATE FAIR LAMB & GOAT TAGS

If you are in 4-H and planning on participating at the State Fair in Dallas with a lamb or goat you will need to purchase a tag. The deadline to order tags is April 12^th. Contact the Extension Office to purchase a tag for the State Fair.

STATE STEER TAGS

It is hard to believe that it is already that time again to purchase state steer tags. If you are planning on showing a steer in any 2013-2014 major stock shows you must purchase a state tag. The cost is $10 per tag and the deadline to purchase a tag is April 12^th. Please come by the Extension Office to purchase your steer tag.

Slow cookers, also called by the popular brand name Crock Pot ®, are great because they essentially do the cooking while you are away.  Imagine putting the ingredients in the slow cooker, leaving for work or a busy Saturday, and coming home to a great smelling, mouth-watering supper.  Sounds fool-proof, right?  Well, almost.  There are some safety rules that you need to be aware of.

Testing Your Slow Cooker for Accuracy

If the slow cooker in your house has been stashed in the back of the cabinet for a while, it may be a good idea to test it for accuracy.  The University of Minnesota Extension Service offers the following directions for testing slow cooker accuracy:

1.  Fill the slow cooker 1/2 to 2/3 full with water.

2.  Turn the slow cooker on LOW and let heat for 8 hours.  Do not lift the lid during this time!

3.  Check the water temperature with an accurate food thermometer.  Do this quickly since the temperature in the slow cooker drops once the lid is removed.

4.  The temperature of the water should be between 185 and 200 degrees F.  If the water temperature is less than 185 degrees, the slow cooker is not safe to use and should be thrown out.  If the temperature is over 200 degrees, that’s an indication that food cooked for 8 hours in the slow cooker, without any stirring, would likely be overdone.

Spring is officially here and for many people that means spring planting and spring cleaning.  Have you ever thought about spring cleaning your refrigerator?  Your refrigerator is an important appliance.  Make it the focus of your spring cleaning.  Take steps to clean and sanitize refrigerator surfaces:

• First, throw away perishable foods in your refrigerator that should no longer be eaten.  Refer to the cold storage chart which can be found at http://www.fightbac.org.
• Remove refrigerator drawers and clean them with hot water and soap in the kitchen sink.
• Clean other interior refrigerator surfaces with hot water and soap, and then rinse with water.  Wipe dry with a clean cloth.
• After cleaning, use a diluted bleach and water solution (1 Tablespoon liquid bleach to 1 gallon water).
• Clean the refrigerator’s condenser coil with a brush or vacuum cleaner to remove dirt and lint.  This can help your refrigerator operate more efficiently.

After the cleaning is done, it’s time to give bacteria the cold shoulder by making sure the temperature in your refrigerator is at 40^? F or below.  Microorganisms grow more rapidly at warmer temperatures, and research shows that keeping a constant refrigerator temperature of 40^? F or below helps slow growth of these harmful microbes.

Brown County 4-H is supported by Brown County United Way

Dates to Remember

March

29 – Extension Office Closed for Good Friday

30 – Early 4-H Bake Sale 9:00a.m. at Sears

April

1 – Photography Workshop 5:30p.m. Location TBA

3 – Photos Due to Extension Office for Photography Contest

7 – Shooting Sports Practice 2:00p.m. at Texas 4-H Center

9 – Brownwood 4-H Club Meeting 6:30p.m. at Extension Office

9 – Early 4-H Club Meeting 6:30p.m. at First Baptist Church Early

12 – Deadline to order Lamb & Goat State Fair Tags

12 – Deadline to order State Steer Tags

STATE FAIR LAMB & GOAT TAGS

If you are in 4-H and planning on participating at the State Fair in Dallas with a lamb or goat you will need to purchase a tag. The deadline to order tags is April 12^th. Contact the Extension Office to purchase a tag for the State Fair.

With just 80 calories per cup and hardly any fat, blueberries offer many nutritional benefits.  They are tasty little treats high in vitamin C, manganese, and fiber.  Blueberries are not only tasty but are loaded with health promoting polyphenols.  Polyphenols act as antioxidants.   Antioxidants are nutrients in foods which can prevent and slow oxidative damage to our body.  Oxidative damage is associated with common health problems such as heart disease, macular degeneration, diabetes, and cancer.  When cells within our body use oxygen, they naturally produce by-products called free radicals which are responsible for aging and tissue damage.  Antioxidants act as "free radical scavengers" that prevent and repair the damage done by free radicals.  Antioxidants may also enhance immune defense and therefore lower the risk of infection and certain types of cancer.  In addition to their antioxidant properties, animal studies have shown that the polyphenols in blueberries have a positive association with lessening age-related cognitive decline.  For this reason, blueberries are often referred to as a “brain food”.

Another type of antioxidant found in blueberries is flavonoids.   They have many functions in plants but act mainly as pigments to provide color to fruits and flowers.  In the human body, aside from their role as antioxidants, flavonoids enhance the power of vitamin C, protect blood vessels from rupture or leakage, and prevent inflammation throughout the body.

How soon can I plant my tomatoes? That's a question on my mind every year. With the winter season towards its end and warm days more and more common, every gardener starts itching to plant his vegetable garden, primarily the king of them all, the mighty tomato. There's a reason every gardener wishes to plant tomatoes as early as possible, and not just for the need to garden. And the reason is that in most areas of Texas, tomato plants stop setting fruit by early July so we need to maximize our harvest season by first of July. So, the earlier in, the earlier we can harvest before July 1st.

Tomato plants stop setting fruit by July 1st because night temperatures by then are in the mid-70s with about saturated relative humidity. Both those conditions cause the pollen grains of the tomato flower to burst, thus no pollination occurring. So how soon can we plant tomatoes outside and what can we do to win the race game?

In Texas counties east of I-35, the average date of last spring frost is March 1st in the north between Dallas and Houston, February 14th from Houston to Corpus Christi, January 30th from Corpus Christi to McAllen, and no frost normally occurring in the Harlingen area. Of course, these are average frost free dates and growers are reminded to check their local county historical weather data. With these dates in mind, our goal is to plant as close to the last spring frost date as possible. If we take the March 1st date for the College Station area, then we have 4 months of time before last tomato harvest. But the 4 months are harvest months, we must account for plant growth and development before the fist harvest, which is usually in late April or early June. Basically, we have 1-1.5 months of tomato harvest before July 1st.

New findings in the nutrition science field show that consumption of eggs is not associated with an increased risk of heart disease or stroke, according to the findings of a new meta-analysis from the British Medical Journal (BMJ).

Meta-analysis is quantitative statistical analysis that is applied to separate but similar experiments of different and usually independent researchers.  It involves pooling experimental data to test the statistical significance.   Foodnavigator.com reports that a clinical review led by Professor Liegang Liu of China’s Huazhong University of Science and Technology and published by the BMJ found no significant association between egg consumption and risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) or stroke.

The meta-analysis included data from eight separate studies involving 263,938 participants for CHD and 210,404 participants for stroke.  In all studies, egg consumption was measured by food frequency questionnaires and high consumption was classified as up to one egg per day.  Among the participants, 5,847 cases of CHD and 7,579 cases of stroke were documented during the follow-up periods.  These numbers indentified no significant association between egg consumption and risk of CHD or stroke.  However, Liu and his research team did notice that subgroup analysis suggests there may be a risk associated among individuals suffering from diabetes.  The team found that those with diabetes and high egg consumption had a significantly elevated risk of CHD.  Liu states that the subgroup analysis results should be interpreted with caution, since only a few studies focused solely on diabetic participants.

Brown County 4-H is supported by Brown County United Way

DATES TO REMEMBER

March

17 - Shooting Sports Practice 2:00p.m. at 4-H Center

18 - Photography Workshop 5:30p.m. Location TBA

19 - Early 4-H Club Meeting 6:30p.m. at Early First Baptist Church

21 - Shooting Sports Meeting 6:30p.m. at Extension Office

25 - Photography Workshop 5:30p.m. Location TBA

BROWN COUNTY FAIR CHECKS

The checks for the Brown County Youth Fair are available for you to pick up at the Extension Office if you showed under 4-H. If you put your goat or lamb on the truck at the Youth Fair the truck checks are available for you to pick up. A thank you letter should be written to each buyer who contributed towards your project. Make sure that it is stamped and addressed and turned in to the Extension Office! You will not receive your check until we receive your thank you letters. Hand written “thank you” letters are best but, depending on your personality and penmanship a typed letter can also be appropriate. Thank each person individually, don’t try and thank a group of people in one letter.

USDA and university scientists have found that cattle temperament influences how animals should be handled, how they perform and how they respond to disease.

The team of researchers looked at stressful events—such as weaning, transportation and vaccination—that beef cattle experience during routine management practices. The researchers examined interrelationships of stress and cattle temperament with transportation, immune challenges and production traits.

Studies were conducted by animal scientist and research leader Jeff Carroll at the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Livestock Issues Research Unit (LIRU) in Lubbock, Texas; associate research professor Rhonda Vann at Mississippi State University's Brown Loam Branch Experiment Station; animal physiologist Ron Randel at Texas AgriLife Research, The Texas A&M University (TAMU) System, in Overton; and endocrinologist Tom Welsh, Texas A&M AgriLife Research and TAMU Department of Animal Science, in College Station.