Fall/Winter 1996

Focus is produced quarterly by the
Cooperative Extension Service
University of Maryland, College Park.

Ellen Varley, editor
Pamela Townsend,
writer/managing editor
Heather Hull, writer
Kimberly Baumert, writer
Edwin Remsberg, photographer

Questions, comments or suggestions may be directed to:
Ellen Varley, ev1@umail.umd.edu
phone: (301) 405-4581
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From the Director's Desk

The Cooperative Extension Service was established in 1914 to help improve the lives of farm families and other rural residents by providing them with research-based information they could use to solve a variety of problems. We still do that. However, we also serve a new and growing urban audience. These people share some of the same education and information needs as their rural neighbors. But they also face some different challenges challenges that Extension can help them address.

This issue of Focus on Extension highlights several programs and services that benefit Maryland's urban and suburban residents. Some, like the financial counseling service in Prince George's County and the "bay-wise" training offered to Master Gardeners in Baltimore City and the counties of Montgomery, Howard, and Harford, are the same as or similar to programs offered to our rural clientele; others, like the urban gardening program and the Home and Garden Information Center, were created specifically to meet the needs of Marylanders in the Baltimore-Washington corridor and other urban areas of the state. All are based on our historic mission of "educating people to help themselves."

Many people still think of the Cooperative Extension Service as an organization that provides service solely for farmers. It is my hope that this newsletter will help correct that misconception because, no matter where you live in the Free State, the Maryland Cooperative Extension Service exists to serve you. "Service" is what we are all about!


Thomas A. Fretz
Dean, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
Director, Cooperative Extension Service

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Getting a Good Look at Maryland Agriculture

Although agriculture is the number one industry in Maryland, there are many children who have never been on a farm or even seen a live cow. To ensure that children in the state's urban and suburban areas are exposed to agriculture, the Maryland Cooperative Extension Service offers programs that place them right into the farm setting.

For the past four years, Montgomery County's Extension office has joined forces with the public schools, Montgomery County Farm Bureau, Soil Conservation District, Montgomery County Agriculture Center, Maryland Grain Producers, and Montgomery County Park and Planning Commission to sponsor a three-and-a-half-hour "Close Encounters with Agriculture" program. The program was created to introduce the fourth grade students, especially those from Title 1 schools, to agriculture, nutrition, and the environment as they relate to Maryland.

Extension faculty provide teachers with suggested lesson plans and other educational materials ahead of time. "We encourage the teachers to incorporate the lessons into their curricula," says Ruth Proctor, Montgomery County 4-H agent and county Extension director. "This prepares students for their visit and gets them thinking about the role agriculture plays in their lives."


Montgomery County fourth graders get close up and personal with a cow as part of their "Close Encounters with Agriculture."

Teaching Tracks

The Close Encounters experience features three tracks. The nutrition track of the program offers a wide variety of educational activities that teach the students about agricultural products and how they affect what everyone eats. The children learn the importance of grain in the diet and make granola. They also have the opportunity to play a food pyramid game and learn how grain gets from the field to the store for purchase.

In the agricultural track, students test their knowledge of the origin of different processed food products with a scavenger hunt and have the opportunity to view young corn and radish plants.

The environment track of the program includes a simulated pond for children to dip into and recover what is swimming there. The children are given magnifying boxes so they can get a close-up look at the insects and plants they retrieve from the ponds. A high point of the program is the opportunity for the children to see and touch some farm animals like cows, pigs, and sheep. Students learn what foods the animals eat, how they are raised and cared for, and what products they produce for human use and consumption.

Response to the program has been very favorable. During the five days the program was offered in 1996, more than 950 children and teachers visited the Agricultural Farm Park, where the Extension office is located. Next year, the program will be expanded to two weeks in March to better accommodate its increasing popularity.

Life on the Farm

Unlike Montgomery County, Wicomico County has a large rural population. Still, many of its youngest residents have never set foot on a farm. For this reason, the Wicomico County Extension office has helped arrange a Wicomico 4-H Children's Farm Tour every year since 1990. Co-sponsors include the Farm Bureau, Mid-Atlantic Milk Marketing Association (MAMMA), and Atlantic Dairy Cooperative. The tour is designed to give young children (mainly kindergartners and first graders) who have never visited a farm the chance to experience farm life and educate them about the agriculture business.

Educational exhibits and activities encourage children to challenge the perceptions they have about themselves and agriculture.
Wicomico County 4-H Extension agent Dan Tabler developed the event and has served as chair since its beginning. "Teachers wanted to take their students on an agricultural field trip," he explains. "Because there are so few opportunities of this nature, we decided to create one that could accommodate a large number of students. The response has been tremendous, increasing from about 600 participants the first couple of years to more than 2,000."

Interactive Learning Stations

The 1996 Wicomico 4-H Children's Farm Tour, held last May, attracted nearly 2,500 children, teachers, and parents. Like its predecessors, the three-day event was held at Beechnut Farm in Mardela, the only dairy farm in Wicomico County. It featured interactive learning stations that physically incorporated children into the learning process. These stations gave youngsters the flexibility to pick and choose if they had a limited amount of time, or to try them all if they could stay longer.

Along with a milking parlor, calf nursery, and petting zoo, many stations involved games and activities. Favorites included the "Needle in the Haystack" station, where children looked for metal bolts that served as needles in a six-foot haystack, and the "cowpie" toss, where children "helped" the farmer clean up a pasture by throwing frisbees into a container.

The tour also provided various educational exhibits and activities that encouraged the children to challenge the perceptions they have about themselves and agriculture. One such activity was called "Do you eat what cows eat?" The children's initial response to this question was an enthusiastic "No!" but they learned that cows eat corn, oats, and soybean products just like they do.

Another activity emphasized the need to respect all living things. The children were told that even though a field might look empty, it could be full of young plants and other fragile organisms. They then helped clean a small section of field by picking up some simulated litter typical of that thrown from passing cars.

Students left the farm with a carton of milk donated by the Mid-Atlantic Milk Marketing Association, a farm coloring book, an eraser in the shape of a cow... and a smile.

Tabler feels the farm tour is an enriching experience for the students. "Each year, when the kids leave they are very excited, and when evaluations are returned by teachers, we often hear that the farm tour was the students' favorite field trip of the year. I think that's because the program gives the kids a chance to touch and play rather than just look."

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Financial Counseling in P.G. County

Are credit card bills getting you down? Don't know where your paycheck goes each month? Would you like to save more money? Residents of Prince George's County and most other areas of Maryland who can relate to these financial questions are in luck. The Cooperative Extension Service offers one-on-one financial counseling by Extension-trained volunteers.

The most common problems among clients involve debt repayment
and the abuse of credit cards.
"We offer a free service that people unfortunately always need," says Jennifer Anderson, Extension faculty assistant in Prince George's County and coordinator of the Financial Counseling Service there.

When someone calls the Prince George's Extension office seeking financial advice, Anderson determines what town they are from and what type of questions they have. She then locates an Extension-trained counselor who lives or works near the client and has the appropriate expertise.

Anderson conducted training sessions in April and October for volunteers interested in serving as counselors with the Maryland Cooperative Extension Service. Topics included debt repayment plans, insurance, and counseling techniques. Extension provided each new counselor with a handbook and a packet of materials, which includes a confidentiality agreement and evaluation forms on the progress of individual clients.

For Dawn Howard, a volunteer who read about the training in The Washington Post, the financial counseling training was the perfect opportunity for her to be involved in something she had always had an interest in.

"I've always thought that people who really need financial counseling are people who probably cannot afford to pay for it," Howard says. "Those are the kind of people I wanted to help."

Howard has had two clients since completing the five-session training in April. She says that the consultation can last indefinitely because it depends on what the clients' needs are and how committed they are to solving their problems.

Howard generally begins the counseling process by determining what the client is willing to spend or cut out based on their current income. They talk about budgeting and debt repayment and make a plan together that the client tries out for a trial period usually two months. They then review the plan to see if it needs to be adjusted. Occasionally, Howard advises clients over the phone.

The most common problems among clients, according to Howard and Anderson, involve debt repayment and credit card abuse. "There is a continued increase in the use of credit, which leads to the downfall of a lot of people because they don't use their credit cards responsibly," Anderson explains.

"This program is definitely a benefit for the community."
"Downsizing" and furloughs have caused many county, state, and federal government employees to seek out the financial counseling service because "all of a sudden they're in a very different financial situation and may need some help to decide which direc-tion to take," Anderson explains. "We try to give them the information they need to make educated decisions."

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Home Horticulture Help is Just a Phone Call Away

Suppose you looked out your window one day and noticed that the leaves of your prized Hawthorn tree looked decidedly lacey. Upon closer inspection, you discovered hundreds of caterpillars devouring the foliage with great gusto. How could you find out what the caterpillars were and what you could do to get rid of them? If you live in Maryland, you could get the answers you need by calling the Home and Garden Information Center (HGIC) of the Maryland Cooperative Extension Service.


Ria Malloy is one of 12 horticultural consultants who help answer callers' questions from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., Monday through Friday at Extension's Home and Garden Information Center.

The HGIC was established in 1989 to address the growing public demand especially in Maryland's urban and suburban areas for home horticulture and pest control information. Specifically, the center was established to fulfill the following objectives:

  • Advise Maryland residents on the safe use of pesticides, pesticide alternatives, accurate pest identification, selection of pest-resistant cultivars, and integrated pest management (IPM) strategies;

  • Provide Extension publications on home pest control and home horticulture;

  • Coordinate the state's Master Gardener program, including the development of curriculum sponsoring advanced training, and recognition of volunteers; and

  • Help callers solve problems involving a wide range of subjects, from Lyme Disease to the composting of garden waste.
Achieving these objectives is the responsibility of the center's faculty: four regional specialists with expertise in the disciplines of plant pathology, horticulture, and entomology. They are assisted by 12 horticulture consultants, who provide gardening advice over the phone from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., Monday through Friday, to Maryland residents who call the center's toll-free number 1 (800) 342-2507. Callers from outside Maryland can also reach the center by dialing 1 (410) 531-1759.

The consultants attend Extension-sponsored training sessions once a week and a two-week intensive winter training program at the HGIC, says Ray Bosmans, regional horticulture specialist and coordinator of the training program. Topics focus on insects, diseases, diagnostic skills, and other technical topics, as well as telephone and people skills.

Thanks to this training, the consultants are well prepared to answer such questions as "What do I do about those black spots on my rose bushes?" "How can I start a compost pile?" and "Is this chemical safe to use on my lawn?" says HGIC director Dr. David Clement. And they answer more and more of such questions every year.

In its first year of operation, the center received 29,755 calls. By December 1995, the number had risen to 273,998. Such popularity has been something of a mixed blessing.

"Although this response has been gratifying, it also placed a real strain on our original phone system," says Clement. A new, more user-friendly system installed in the spring of 1995 has enabled the center to handle more calls and better serve the public.

A Multi-Media Approach

But center faculty do more than answer phone calls. In the past six years, they have produced more than 100 peer-reviewed publications on subjects ranging from Lyme disease to IPM. A new Maryland Master Gardener Handbook that focuses on sustainable gardening practices and plant problem diagnosis is due out soon. HGIC faculty also have recorded some 150 phone tapes on a variety of plant and pest problems; these tapes can be accessed by callers 24 hours a day.

In addition to producing their own publications, HGIC faculty are providing information to an expanding audience through articles in local newspapers and magazines and appearances on television. Ray Bosmans, for example, prepares a regular column for Maryland Family and Fifty Plus magazines. He also cohosts a cable television show called In the Garden. Produced in Montgomery County, the show, which features a 10-minute "Extension Update" by Bosmans, is distributed to more than 100 stations from Connecticut to South Carolina.

To meet the needs of people who search for information on the World Wide Web, the HGIC now has an electronic homepage. Anyone anywhere in the world with a computer and access to the Internet can obtain a wealth of plant and pest information by pointing their Web browser at http://www.agnr.umd.edu/users/hgic/. There they can read timely tips for their home and garden, learn what they can do to protect the Chesapeake Bay, and order free publications online.

Working Within Communities

The work of HGIC faculty and staff is augmented by a special group of some 300 volunteers called Master Gardeners. In return for training usually 30 to 40 hours from Extension professionals, Master Gardeners commit themselves to becoming volunteer horticultural educators. Many continue volunteering years after their initial training.

In 1995, Master Gardeners in four counties and the city of Baltimore contributed 11,200 hours of service. They conducted plant clinics, cultivated demonstration plots, staffed information booths at numerous events, spoke to schools and community groups, and helped maintain HGIC grounds.

"Master Gardeners play a major role in our outreach efforts," says Jon Traunfeld, state Master Gardener coordinator. "Because they live and work in the communities they serve, they can have a unique impact on their friends and neighbors."

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Volunteers Receive "Bay-Wise" Landscape Training

Recognizing that what homeowners do to their yards is as important to the health of the Chesapeake Bay as what farmers do to their fields, Wanda MacLachlan, an area horticultural Extension agent at the Central Maryland Research and Education Center, has developed an innovative education program focusing on "bay-wise" landscape management. The program is designed for the state's Extension-trained "Master Gardeners." In return for free training, these volunteers agree to help disseminate horticultural information to others.
Area horticulture agent Wanda MacLachlan shows Master Gardeners one of many water quality resources available to them.

Extension home economist Madeleine Greene discusses hazardous household products with workshop participants. 		MacLachlan has conducted advanced bay-wise training this fall in Montgomery, Howard, and Harford counties and the city of Baltimore. This training consists of 12 hours of instruction in hydrology, the Chesapeake Bay and its water quality issues, soil, fertilizers (including organic amendments), hazardous household products and their alternatives, well water protection, septic system maintenance, and best management practices. By better understanding such subjects and following recommended landscape management practices, home gardeners from Cumberland, Baltimore, Salisbury, and everywhere in between can help reduce the amount of nutrients, sediments, and pesticides entering the Chesapeake Bay.

The success of the program depends ultimately upon the Master Gardeners' willingness to share the information they receive during their training. "We are hoping that they will work with local schools, municipal agencies, homeowners' associations, and other community groups to spread the word through such activities as demonstrations and training sessions," says MacLachlan.

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Urban Gardening Brings Country into the City

Places that were once an eyesore are now almost like parks," says Mandy Self of vacant lots that have been transformed into community gardens thanks to the Cooperative Extension Service's urban gardening program in Baltimore City. Self, a faculty Extension assistant with a background in landscape horticulture, coordinates the program, which helps provide a "green" environment for people who live, work, or go to school in Baltimore.


Teens plant shrubs in a new garden at Brehm's Lane Elementary School in Baltimore.

"This program really makes a difference in the urban community because a lot of the gardening projects are in neighborhoods that have abandoned lots," says Self. "With hard work and willing volunteers, the lots get cleaned up and become an asset to the community, either through vegetable production or beautification."

The Cooperative Extension Service currently supports 100 to 150 community garden projects in Baltimore City. This support includes distribution of information on gardening, arranging for leaf mold delivery, providing fencing, and requesting permits to use water hydrants at various places in the city."

Each year, Self must help install 14 new community gardening projects as a requirement of an annual $10,000 Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grant. In a recent 12-month period, she surpassed this requirement, collaborating on 20 new projects.

School Sculpture Planting

One project initiated last summer was a cooperative venture involving Extension, Brehm's Lane Elementary School, and Augustana Lutheran Church. The goal of the project was to create and install a planted area around a piece of existing sculpture at the elementary school. Fourteen junior high and high school students who were paid by the city to participate in enrichment and service activities prepared the soil, while Self designed the plot and helped parishioners from Augustana Church supply the plant material. A teacher at Brehm's Lane will coordinate future maintenance of the landscaped site, perhaps as part of the school's science curriculum.

Gardening PALs

Another innovative project has involved the Police Athletic League (PAL) program. Mandated by the police commissioner, the program fosters positive interaction between officers and children in high-crime areas of the city. The officers and 6- to 10-year-old children engage in various activities together, including urban gardening and beautification efforts.

At the request of the police department, Self conducted a two-hour presentation for 20 officers on vegetable garden site selection, the basics of vegetable gardening, and techniques for teaching and working with kids in the garden. She then drew sketches of garden layouts, recommended vegetables, and arranged for additional money from the Cooperative Extension Service to supplement funding from the police commissioner. When it was time to plant, Self also taught classes on the basics of plants, seeds, and herbs to children involved in the project and helped with planting and maintenance of the garden.
Two PAL participants take a soil sample during site preparation for a Baltimore community vegtable garden.

Building a Bond

Another community gardening effort with which Self has been involved was initiated by Lynn Bowens, a concerned resident and volunteer with "Unity for Success," a non-profit youth development program. According to Bowens, the main premise of the program is that working with kids after school will "keep them off the streets and out of trouble." One of the ways to do that, volunteers decided, would be to develop a garden in the community.

"I've seen the unity that has developed among the children participating in the program," says Bowens. "They forge a unique bond while creating the garden a bond that lasts even after the project is complete."

"This program gives children ownership of something, helps them contribute to the community, and raises their self-esteem."

Lynn Bowens

The city gave Bowens permission to "adopt" a vacant lot near her home for use in the Unity for Success program. Self assisted by drawing a layout, ordering plant material, and arranging for volunteers to help children with the project. Now at least once a week, Bowens coordinates a time for youngsters to maintain the two-year-old garden by picking up trash, watering, or weeding the area.

"This is an excellent program that gives children ownership of something, helps them contribute to the community, and raises their self-esteem," says Bowens. "They now understand that they can change the way they live from a grass-roots level."

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Money $ense for Kids

One is not born fiscally responsible," says Pat Finch, an Extension home economics agent in Baltimore City. "Handling money is a learned task with many facets; therefore, exposure to fiscal basics is important." Finch and colleague Barbara Briscoe, an Extension 4-H agent, helped provide such exposure through a pilot program called "Money $ense for Kids." Adopted and modified from a program developed by the Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service, Money $ense was offered to 30 youngsters ages 9-13 at a day camp in July.

The 10-day camp was sponsored by the Department of Community and Housing Development and the Department of Recreation and Parks. Department representatives asked Finch and Briscoe to teach an educational program for an hour and a half every day to campers, who were recruited at Somerset and Fort Worthington, two East Baltimore recreation centers.

Teaching the Basics

"Our goal was to teach the basics of money management and to encourage young people to focus on saving money," says Briscoe. "We didn't want to lecture the kids, so we tried to incorporate fun experiences as well. One activity included making a "piggy" bank out of a two-liter soda bottle so campers would have somewhere to put their pocket change.

As part of the Money $ense program, campers discussed what they did with their money and what they thought banks were for. Finch and Briscoe had the youngsters list their needs and wants separately, so they could determine that needs should come first when spending. The instructors also talked about advertising and how it affects people's spending behavior. Campers designed their own ads and determined how they would influence people to spend money.

Participants also viewed a film that showed the process of taking money to a bank and featured youth who had their own businesses ranging from a lemonade stand to a plant company. Finch says campers were particularly impressed that young people their own age could have their own business.

A Trip to the Bank

A highlight of the camp program was a field trip to the Mercantile Bank and Trust headquarters in Baltimore. The youngsters took a guided tour and talked with bank tellers.

"They had millions of questions," says Finch, "ranging from What and where is a bank vault?' to How old do you have to be to have a checking account?'"

Each participant was given a $2 bill and told they could either spend it or save it. Finch and Briscoe plan to conduct a follow-up evaluation to determine what happened to that bill and if the workshop changed the way young people handle money.

At the end of the two weeks, parents were invited to a closing recognition program. The youngsters shared their camp experiences and received certificates of accomplishment.

Briscoe says she could tell that a lot of them were already thinking about saving their money, instead of "running to the store to get candy." Her goal for next year's program is to recruit volunteers and train them to teach the curriculum and then to expand the program to reach more city youth.

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Safe Food for Baltimore's Hungry

Social services agencies and organizations in Baltimore are better able to provide safe food to the city's homeless thanks to the work of Jacquelyn Keller, a registered dietician from the Baltimore City Extension office. Keller has been training volunteers who feed the inner-city poor how to handle and prepare large quantities of food safely. "Many organizations who handle donated food are concerned about food safety issues, so I've been working to address these concerns," Keller says.

In November, she taught a class for representatives from the Maryland Food Bank, Meals on Wheels, and several private shelter groups who handle food for Baltimore's homeless.

Thirty people attended the two-hour session, which focused on nutrition and how to use the U.S. Department of Agriculture's food guide pyramid, as well as on the new federal Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) food handling regulations. These regulations require food handlers to have a plan for receiving, handling, preparing, and transporting food. "When you're dealing with donated food, issues of refrigeration, preparation, and transportation are especially important," Keller notes.

The response to Keller's training sessions has been very positive, as requests for future training reveal. She currently is scheduled to teach six additional workshops for an estimated 300 representatives of several organizations, including Meals on Wheels of Central Maryland and several area churches. "The Baltimore City Extension Advisory Council expressed concerns about the handling of food by church volunteers," she explains.

Keller also plans to teach a workshop for human ecology students at Morgon State Community College of Baltimore and will continue her work with volunteers who help feed elderly people unable to prepare meals for themselves.

Keller admires the dedication of the people she teaches and is glad to have the opportunity to assist them. "These volunteers are providing a valuable service to the community," she explains. "I think it's my responsibility as an Extension educator to help them achieve their goal of providing safe, nutritious food to the hungry."

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