1917 Caldwell County Soil Survey

I want to share a fascinating historical publication - the 1917 Caldwell County Soil Survey. A colleague, Cecil Haynes - NRCS, showed this to me the week of Thanksgiving. It offers a great description of agriculture in Caldwell County at the turn of the last century. If you are interested in current soil classification and data, use the 1989 - Caldwell County Soil Survey.

I hope you enjoy reading this interesting document and viewing the accompanying 1917 survey map

Tractor ROPS

We had a great program on tractor safety presented by the NC Farm Bureau at the last Caldwell County Cattlemen's Meeting. During the presentation is was stated that "no one has ever died in a tractor turn-over with a tractor equipped with a roll over protection system (ROPS) when the operator was wearing the safety belt". That is a very impressive statement. The University of Kentucky has a great site on tractor ROPS including a data base of after market suppliers.

http://warehouse.ca.uky.edu/rops/ropshome.asp

Commercial Rabbitry Project

You are invited to attend a showing of a newly renovated “hobby” rabbitry to a more efficient 100 doe “commercial” rabbitry with newly installed automatic watering and clean out systems.

Funding for the rabbitry was provided through a grant from the Tobacco Communities Reinvestment Fund, the Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA (RAFI-USA). The funding provides cost-share support for farmers’ to try new production, marketing, and processing strategies in order to earn more income on the farm.

When: Saturday, November 6, 2010
Time: 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Where: Devine Farms
2675 St. James Church Rd.
Newton, NC 28658

Directions to farm: From Newton travel 321 S. toward Maiden, pass South Side Park and the NC National Guard Building on the right. Go approximately ¼ mile and turn left off of 321 onto Smyre Farm Rd. Go to stop sign and turn right onto St. James Church Rd. Farm is on the right approximately 1 ½ miles on right. Look for the two Case Farm Poultry signs, Rowdy Rooster and Creek Side. Follow driveway past chicken houses to rabbit barn.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Contact: Susie Devine
(828) 466-0130 Home
(828) 461-2012 Cell

E-Mail Address: devine5farm@bellsouth.net

Fig Culture in North Carolina

I have always been fasinated by the history of science. We were recently cleaning out one of our closets at the Caldwell Extension Center and I came across several old USDA and NC Experiement Station bulletins. The second bulletin I read was on fig culture in North Carolina. This was published in 1910 and much of the information is still relevant to day . . . I hope you enjoy the read as much as I did.

Weed ID and Control Field Day

Monday, October 18, 2010

Buddy Sherrill Farm on Startown Road

4697 Startown Road, Newton

3:00 -5:00 PM

All interested agricultural producers are invited to attend a herbicide field day at the Buddy Sherrill Farm on Startown Road. The program will run from 3-5 PM and 2 hours of pesticide credits in N, O, D and X have been applied for.

From Highway 10: Go south on Startown Road for approximately 1 mile. Pass Coulters Church and take the second drive to the right, where the Leyland Cypress line the asphalt driveway. Turn in at the first gate on the left and come to the plots. (4697 Startown Road)

There are 21 treatments in the plots that contain blackberry, dog fennel and a variety of other weed species. The agenda will include discussions on:

• Weed Identification
• Plot Tour with Treatments and Rate Discussion
• Safety and Stewardship with Pesticides
• Drift Management

2010 NC Commercial Blackberry and Raspberry Field Day

October 21, 2010

SunnyRidge-Owls Den Farm
1441 Owls Den Road
Lincolnton, NC 28092

Program

9:00 to 9:20 am
Registration

9:25-9:30 am
Welcome and Opening Remarks
David Monks, Assistant Director, N.C.
Agricultural Research Service, College of
Agriculture and Life Sciences, N.C. State
University

Josh Beam, President, N.C. Commercial
Blackberry and Raspberry Growers Asso-
ciation

9:30-11:30 am
Concurrent Sessions (Small groups will
rotate through the sessions)

Fall/Winter Cultural Considerations and
Insect Update
Gina Fernandez, Department of Horti-
cultural Science, and Hannah Burrack,
Department of Entomology, N.C. State
University

Airblast Sprayer Calibration and
Maintenance
David Starnes, Tri-State Distributors,
Statesville, N.C.

Herbicide Sprayer Calibration and Weed
Management Considerations
Roger Batts and Wayne Mitchem, Depart-
ment of Horticultural Science, N.C. State
University

Fertilizer Calibration
Daniel Shires, N.C. Cooperative Exten-
sion Service, Cleveland County, N.C. State
University

11:30-Noon
Equipment Demonstration
(tractors, flail mowers, fertilizer spread-
ers, cannon sprayer)

12 noon
Lunch
If you plan to attend, please RSVP to
Cleveland County Cooperative Extension
office; Daniel Shires, 704.482.4365.

Berry field day sponsors:
Johnson & Company Irrigation Sales, Inc.
Tri-State Distributors of Statesville, Inc.
Coastal Agrobusiness, Hendersonville, N.C.
Pro Ag — A Division of Snyder Paper
Parker Farm Service
Helena Chemical, Hendersonville, N.C.
Southern States, Waco, N.C.
SunnyRidge Farm

Forest Products Qarantine

Notice from the NC Department of Agriculture - There is a quarantine on black walnut seedlings, lumber, logs and all hardwood firewood originating from Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah, And Washington. For more on identifying the disease view the archived webinar at forestrywebinars.net, http://www.forestrywebinars.net/webinars/thousand-cankers-disease-of-black-walnut-what-resource-professionals-need-to-know/.