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For this episode  of Extension Out Loud I’m joined by three guests who are active in a new program focusing on mental health on the farm. Farmers faces several complicating factors that create mental health stressors – long work hours, volatile commodity prices and lack of access to mental health resources being serval of these factors. New statistics from the CDC reveal a startling truth about agricultural work, with suicide rates for farmers and other agricultural workers at 36 per 100,000, making agricultural work one of the highest ranked occupations at risk. My guests - Nicole Tommell , an agricultural business specialist with Cornell Cooperative Extension, Kendra Janssen of Farmnet, and Becky Wiseman a clinical social worker and consultant for Farmnet explain the roots of this crisis and  the new Farmer First Aid program and its train the trainer model. Before we jump in, a quick note on the contents of this episode. Throughout our conversation we discuss depression and suicide. Listener discretion is advised. Links New York FarmNet CCE Central New York Dairy, Livestock and Field Crops web site. Episode Transcript PAUL TREADWELL: Welcome to Extension Out Loud, a podcast from Cornell Cooperative Extension. I am Paul Treadwell. And for this episode, I'm joined by three guests who are active in a new program focusing on mental health on the farm. Farmers face several complicating factors that create mental health stressors, long work hours, volatile commodity prices, and lack of access to mental health resources being several of these factors. New statistics from the CDC reveal a startling truth about agricultural work, with suicide rates for farmers and other agricultural workers at 36 per 100,000, making agricultural work one of the highest ranked occupations at risk. My guests, Nicole Tommell, an agricultural business specialist with Cornell Cooperative Extension, Kendra Janssen of FarmNet, and Becky Wiseman, a clinical social worker and consultant for Farm Net, explain the roots of this crisis, and the new Farmer First Aid program, and it's train the trainer model. Before we jump in, a quick note on the contents of this episode. Throughout our conversation, we discussed depression and suicide. Listener discretion is advised. NICOLE TOMMELL: Hi, everyone. My name is Nicole Tommell. I am the Central New York dairy, livestock, and field crops team farm business management specialist. I'm also the team lead. And we cover eight counties, from Madison County to Saratoga County. PAUL TREADWELL: Thank you Nicole. And Kendra? KENDRA JANSSEN: Yeah. I'm Kendra Janssen with FarmNet. So I'm the office administrator here. So we are offering these mental health first aid courses for free to New York State agricultural communities. And I help organize all this, and pilot them, and get these trainers out there and ready to instruct. PAUL TREADWELL: Hey, Kendra. Just for my benefit, can you tell me a little bit about FarmNet? KENDRA JANSSEN: FarmNet is a unique program. We offer free financial and family consulting to New York State's agricultural producers. So if you're a farmer in New York State, we offer financial business analysis. We help with business transfers, succession planning. And then we also help with the stress management side of things and family side of things, communicating. So it's a unique program, as in there's two consultants that go out to the farms and to clients. And they help together. So it's not just a financial consultant going out alone, but rather it's a financial, and a family consultant, and a social worker going out and addressing the issues that the farmers are dealing with. PAUL TREADWELL: Thank you. And Becky? BECKY WISEMAN: Yes. I'm Becky Wiseman. And I have been working with FarmNet for now five years. I am an clinical social worker. I am the family side of the team that goes out. PAUL TREADWELL: We're here to talk about, this is a new program that's starting to be deployed. So who wants to introduce the program to us and tell us a little bit about what it's supposed to do? KENDRA JANSSEN: FarmNet received a grant from USDA NIFA. And it's the National Institute of Food and Agriculture. And with this grant, we were able to have several folks throughout New York State that have an agricultural background become instructors in mental health first aid. So Becky, one of our FarmNet consultants, and Nicole, with Cornell Cooperative Extension, both became certified instructors in mental health first aid. Along with them, there is a cohort of others that became instructors from Farm Bureau to other FarmNet consultants. PAUL TREADWELL: So what does it mean to be an instructor? What does that role do? KENDRA JANSSEN: As an instructor, Becky and Nicole, how about you guys? NICOLE TOMMELL: So an instructor, we actually went through a very intensive training program, which is a three-day program, 24 hours, which basically covered the gamut of how to deliver very sensitive content to people. So we can go in and teach people how to deliver the content and understand mental health first aid in their communities so that they can identify problems at the ground level. So to get people help more rapidly than their traditional doctors or first responders. So it's really just ground level type health that we are instructing people on how to identify. BECKY WISEMAN: Which like when we have a physical problem that happens and we call the ambulance, the team that comes out are not the doctors. They're not the people who perform the surgeries. That's what we train. We train people to be able to not diagnose the problem, but be able to know how to work with people who are in a mental health crisis. How to identify what's going on. How to listen effectively and attentively and be supportive and know some of the steps then that needs to be done to help that person get the kind of care that they need. PAUL TREADWELL: What has brought us to this point where we're starting to train people to do this work? BECKY WISEMAN: There's been increased stress and suicidal risks in agricultural workers. In fact, the CDC, in January 2022, the suicide rates for agricultural workers were 36 per 100,000. And I think what we're seeing more is this isn't something that's brand new. I believe that agriculture workers and farmers have been increasingly at risk for suicide for a number of years, one of the reasons why FarmNet was founded in 1987. And I think that now there's been more emphasis on it because people across the spectrum of mental health issues are being more aware of problems. And I think it's losing some of its stigma that was once attached to it. And farmers have been very receptive of this program. FarmNet gives people a chance to find out that they can talk about their crises, talk about what's going on in their lives. And we listen. And that's one of the things they taught us, right? And it was so difficult. NICOLE TOMMELL: Yes. It was a lot of listening and understanding not just verbal cues, but body cues as it was very intensive training. But you are correct, Becky. And just kind of touching back. 1987, you look at what happened in the '80s with the farm crisis, and that really is why FarmNet came out of that. And we got lots of suicide and people hurting themselves. In the '80s and with COVID, we saw people with the lockdowns have issues. We always look at pre-COVID, post-COVID time period. Even pre-COVID, even though we didn't see it, it was very prevalent because just the stress of the economics on the farm family really did take a toll. And within this program, it's not even mental health that we're talking about. We also talk about addiction. Whether it's alcohol or opioid drug addiction, we do talk about that and the identifying factors of that. We see across the country the opioid addiction rates have gone up significantly. BECKY WISEMAN: And it's a lot of stressors too because COVID added to falling commodity prices. And then you also have the labor shortages that farmers were dealing with and then the supply shortages, all those stressors add up. And then that increases the risk of suicide, depression, and substance use. PAUL TREADWELL: So Nicole, I just want to ask. Do you see a difference between the size of the farm and the problem? Does that have bearing on it? Or is this pretty much universal across most farmers? NICOLE TOMMELL: It's universal. I mean, mental health affects everyone in some way, shape, or form, maybe not somebody directly, but maybe indirectly. So I can't comment to whether it's predominantly small farm or large farm. I just think that it's just across the scale. I look at it as we're creating awareness. And whether it may not be the farmer, but it may be the farmer spouse. It may be the farmer's children. It may be an aging parent. So it could be anything along that spectrum. When that person is tied to the farm, the farm finances, the production side of it, it kind of just all is wrapped into one, in my perspective. BECKY WISEMAN: I agree with you. KENDRA JANSSEN: It doesn't matter, small or large farms. We all have issues that we have to work through and deal with on top of just dealing with the farming and managing the farm. You still have to go home. And you still have to take care of whatever you're dealing with at home. No one is immune to it. PAUL TREADWELL: There is stigma attached to discussing your mental health of other people. And Nicole, I think you indicated earlier there's been a slight shift-- or maybe it was Kendra-- there's been a slight shift in attitudes. Is that shift enough? How much further do we have to go to get this out into the open where it's an acceptable thing to talk about? BECKY WISEMAN: The more the general public talks about mental health, the more it becomes OK. And I think it has become more available, just verbally, socially acceptable to talk about mental health issues. That will help reduce the stigma. I think it's just really positive that USDA has provided this kind of funding for programs such as ours to be able to address mental health issues. PAUL TREADWELL: If you identify a farmer who is at risk, many rural communities are under-resourced, there may not be f

Episode links: Cornell Garden Based Learning Website Episode Transcript: PAUL TREADWELL: Welcome to Extension Out Loud, a podcast from Cornell Cooperative Extension. I am Paul Treadwell. KATIE BAILDON: And I'm Katie Baildon. PAUL TREADWELL: This is our final episode in the Living Through Extension series that we've been running. And as a side note, it's also the final episode that my co-host will be joining me for the show. We want to say goodbye to Katie Baildon and wish her best in her next career move. You'll be missed, Katie. KATIE BAILDON: Thanks Paul. I'll definitely miss doing these podcasts with you. PAUL TREADWELL: For today, who are we talking to? KATIE BAILDON: Today we talked to Ashley Helmholdt. And she's the Adult Program leader for Cornell garden-based learning, which means that she engages with master gardeners and master gardener coordinators across New York state. ASHLEY HELMHOLDT: My name is Ashley Helmholdt, and I'm the adult program leader for Cornell Garden-based learning. I've been here for approximately two years. It's been a really interesting journey getting back to extension work because it's really where I started off in most of my volunteering and even some of my practicum work in college and graduate school. So, I'm from western New York but I've lived all over this country. I've lived in Michigan for a large chunk of my life. I went to undergrad there, Michigan State. And lived in Savannah, Georgia, as well. And across these experiences, I really have more of a background in urban planning and environmental studies and environmental justice. And so I have this real focus on the urban environment, but the impacts of urban greening on local communities. And that's really been the central theme of my career. And so it's a little different way of getting to working with the master gardener volunteer program at Cornell garden-based learning, but it makes a lot of sense when thinking about my background. I really worked in a national nonprofit called Earth Force, where I worked with watershed-based education in a lot of urban areas throughout the Midwest, as well as working for several years for farmers markets and farmer's markets nutrition education programs, starting up a SNAP program at a farmers market and Double Up Food Bucks program, which is similar to what we have in New York state around increasing purchasing of fruits and vegetables. So I really got kind of cut my teeth more on environmental education and farmer's market work. And then really, that led into doing some local government work in a sustainability office in Savannah, Georgia, where I worked directly with community organizations and community gardens and really helping to support, organize, develop, volunteer programs, even developing a sustainability plan and several grant programs that supported this idea of using vacant spaces in urban areas to really support those communities, whether it be through food security or reducing flooding. The central theme of my career is just working in these vacant, underutilized spaces and helping support the way that we can enhance urban greening through them. Like I said, community gardens were really a central part to that. So when I moved back to New York state after having my son, I really was interested in getting back into that work. And really extension is just the perfect kind of place for me. Because this place for applied research really takes place right, where we take the great work going on at Cornell and we apply it to communities where they can use it. And so that's what I really went to school for. I really was interested in more of the applied piece, how does this really address community issues. And that's exactly what the Master Gardener Volunteer program does. It prepares adults to take on action projects in communities, to work with community partners, to address issues through the use of gardens. I really love that, and that's what Cornell Garden-based learning is all about. And we really prepare those CCE educators to prepare their volunteers to do that. So that's been a really fun thing, being able to connect interesting and creative new projects through Cornell, to communities that can use them. KATIE BAILDON: You mentioned Cornell Garden-based Learning and that you're the adult program leader. And you also mentioned the Master Gardener program. So can you tell us how those pieces fit together. ASHLEY HELMHOLDT: Cornell Garden-based learning is really a partnership between myself and Marcia Eames-Sheavly, who runs the 4H Youth Gardening component. So there's always been this kind of partnership between across the generations. So we do mostly adult programs, and Marcia really works primarily with 4H youth. And I think there's a real synergy there. Because again, we're a little different than most states in that we don't have a top down Master Gardener volunteer program, but we provide guidance and professional development to the CCE educators. That's really our mission. We want to provide and support those CCE educators in connecting the Cornell resources and really preparing the master gardeners for new cutting edge kinds of programs. So we develop those statewide projects that master gardeners can get involved in, as well as we really prepare the curriculum resources that they use for preparing their volunteers. And then at the local level, they're really taking that and adapting it to their local needs so that their master gardener volunteer program might have slightly different looks around the state. But they're all going to have that same overarching mission of focusing on food security or environmental stewardship, which is our mission. And we, like I said, really provide the professional development to develop peer educators and really develop high quality adult education programs, which is really where we are similar across the youth and the adult programs. PAUL TREADWELL: So Ashley, who are master gardeners? ASHLEY HELMHOLDT: Master gardeners across the state really look very different. We have programs in very urban areas to very, very rural areas. Primarily, we tend to work with an older population of folks because of the volunteer commitment. And most people have that time once they're retired. So we have a large retired community that works in the Master Gardener program. But we actually have seen a lot of diversity and increase in younger people, people with children, people with jobs join the Master Gardener program in the last year when many people have taken those trainings online. And so that was a big push that we made over the last year and a half. We had funding before COVID started to really take what was a new online curriculum and really adapt it so that it wasn't just a library, Cornell Garden-Based Learning Library is what it's called. But it was actually a guided course that each county could use for the Master Gardener program. And what I'm hearing from all of the coordinators is that they are able to get a larger diversity of people in their programs because of that. So when many of them took it online, they still included some in-person, outdoor, hands-on components. But by having a majority of the training online, it really opened up for people who wouldn't normally have the ability to take the course. So that's been a really interesting development. And I know that's something that was kind of a little bit of good timing around having the funding and having a person who could help us adapt our curriculum to that online need. So our master gardeners, like I said, because we share that mission statement across the state and our programs statewide really share that mission, we finally get people who are interested in that community education mission of what we do. So they're not out there implementing gardens for others, but supporting as liaisons, developing educational programming, and developing demonstration gardens, as well as supporting these statewide educational programs like Seed to Supper, which is the beginning low-budget gardening program offered statewide. As well as the Vegetable Varieties Child garden program, which is another kind of demonstration garden to teach the public about new vegetable varieties. So these are just a few of the statewide programs that we kind of replicate statewide. And so there's a little bit of uniformity to our master Gardener program statewide. KATIE BAILDON: And you said earlier that New York is a little bit different than most of the more top-down Master Gardener programs. Can you tell us more about the national program and how it got started, and some of those kind of missions or goals that level might be? ASHLEY HELMHOLDT: Yeah, and so the Master Gardener program really began in the-- I've gotten a couple of different accounts-- but I believe in 1975 is the right year. It really began out west. And as a state, every state has really adopted this great popular program as a model. What's nice is the nationwide network of Master Gardener coordinators provides kind of this common ground and common language that we can all use around what are some best practices, for instance, around a number of volunteer hours. What are best practices around the kinds of projects that I was kind of talking about. So making sure master gardeners are having a similar kind of educational mission nationwide. That really has helped me a lot. Because we are very county-based program, whereas many states have the same exact rules for every county and kind of a central reporting system. Whereas we're not funded that way. So what I really learned from the national programs is really, what are those best practices that are out there that we've learned from other states. And we've actually just created a new kind of program guidelines document for existing coordinators to look at and say, OK, how can we be more aligned with the national best practices, versus having different guidelines for counties. PAUL TREADWELL: So it started in '75. Obviously the profile of master gardeners is currently undergoing some transition for a number of different reasons, some societal, some access to technology, the impact of COVID. Are there integrated elements

Episode links: Cornell Farmworker Program website Episode transcript: PAUL TREADWELL: Welcome to Extension Out Loud, a podcast from Cornell Cooperative Extension. I'm Paul Treadwell. KATIE BAILDON: And I'm Katie Baildon. PAUL TREADWELL: We got a chance to sit down and talk to-- KATIE BAILDON: We talked to Mary Jo Dudley. She's senior extension associate and director of the Cornell Farmworker Program in the Department of Global Development at Cornell University. PAUL TREADWELL: The format of this episode is the result of us wanting to give Mary Jo a platform to explain the Farmworkers Program in some detail. MARY JO DUDLEY: My name is Mary Jo Dudley. I'm the director of the Cornell Farmworker Program, which is a university-wide program. And my faculty appointment is in the Department of Global Development, which is in the College of Ag and Life Sciences. The Cornell Farmworker Program has quite a long history. It actually started under the name of the Cornell Migrant Program over 54 years ago when students, in order to graduate, needed to work on a farm. So for students who were from farming families, they would work a full semester on a different farm. But students who hadn't grown up on a farm would work a full year on a farm. The program was born out of student activism. Because at this time, a Cornell alum donated a large apple orchard in Wayne County to the university, and it became one of the first experiment stations. So many students worked on that farm, and they lived in migrant housing and worked alongside migrant farm workers who, at that time, were primarily Southern Blacks. This had a deep impact on the students. They were surprised about the situation of farm workers, in particular migrant farm workers. And they went to the Cornell Faculty Senate, along with their faculty mentors, and the senate approved a resolution that Cornell should have a program specifically dedicated to the needs of farmworkers and their families. So with that background, our program really focuses on farmworker-identified needs and opportunities. The program is dedicated to improving the living and working conditions of farmworkers and their families. But we also seek recognition for their contributions to society and their acceptance and full participation in local communities. So this includes things like equal protection under the law, earning a living wage, living in safe and comfortable housing, and more importantly, receiving respect as workers and as individuals to allow them to participate fully in their communities. So how do we understand what farmworkers need? And the way that we approach this is direct interviews with farmworkers in the format of a needs assessment. The interviews examine where the workers originate. Why do they migrate? How do they get here? How do they find their employment? What is their job? What is their day to day? What do they enjoy about their job? What do they find challenging? What do they do during their time off? How do they interact with others in local communities in the rural areas? And what are their goals for the future? And this aspect of understanding where they came from, why they came, how they located employment, and what their goals are for the future drives the agenda of the Cornell Farmworker Program, because we look at how people assess where they are today and where they'd like to be in one year, five years, 10 years. And so we can look at the current challenges and go from there to how to address those challenges. So who are the farmworkers in New York state? Currently, most of the farmworkers are undocumented workers that come from rural areas of Mexico and rural areas from Guatemala. And we have a small portion of workers who come from Jamaica through the temporary guestworker program. When we talk about farm workers, we often talk about seasonal or year-round and temporary guestworkers who come through the H-2A program. And those workers come with a visa with a beginning date and an end date. And they also have a very specific wage rate, which is higher than the New York state minimum wage for farmworkers. The 2017 ag census estimated that New York state has approximately 56,000 hired farmworkers and an additional 40,000 unpaid workers, which typically refer to family members. In addition, we have over 1,100 workers who work in packing plants, in the apple packing plants and in other packing plants. So when we talk about farmworkers, it's important to think about, who are we including in that pool? In New York state, we had a major transition around 2000. And preceding 2000, about 2/3 of our workers were migrant workers, people who followed the season and followed the crops. And about a third lived year round. But starting in 2000, that shifted dramatically. So currently, we have about 2/3 of the farmworkers live year round, and about a third migrate. And that's directly associated with the changes within the dairy sector, in which a workforce that had been a family workforce or locals, neighbors, cousins transitioned to an immigrant workforce, with those workers coming primarily from rural Mexico and Guatemala. And that is a heavily undocumented population. If we look at agriculture in New York state, because of our prevalence as leaders nationwide in apple production-- we're the second-largest apple-producing state, in pumpkins, in maple syrup. We're the third-largest dairy-producing state, and we're third in cabbage, grapes, cauliflower, and fourth in crops including pears, tart cherries, sweet corn, snap beans, squash, and we're fifth in onions. These are all very labor-intensive crops. So traditionally, that large group of farmworkers were referred to as migrants, those people who followed the crops. So they would begin in Southern states and work in harvest activities in Southern states and follow the harvest up the coast. For those who were what we call the Eastern migrant stream, they would work in the Carolinas, come to New York state. And once the harvest had been completed in New York state in November, typically around Thanksgiving, they would return to Southern states. We saw a change in this since 2000, where rather than follow crops, there was a transformation within the farmworker population where they would work on more than one farm and engage in agricultural production activities following the season of the year. So we find in upstate New York, we have people in the winter months-- January, February-- who are tying grapes, and later in the spring, they might be planting apple trees. And then, later, they are pruning apple trees, for example. And they will eventually move on to harvest activities and post-harvest packing plants. So by working in different farms on different commodities, they can basically find employment in agriculture year round. And agriculture has always been an entry point for recent immigrants because you don't need to know how to read and write in English to do agriculture. So if we look historically, it began with former African-American sharecroppers, and we've had any number of immigrants coming to the US that entered employment through farmwork, Italian immigrants, Finnish immigrants, German prisoners of war, coal miners. The [INAUDIBLE] who traveled the freight trains often lived from doing agricultural work. This changed with the introduction of guestworker programs. So the guestworker programs were actually a newer version of what is called the [SPANISH] program. When we have a labor shortage, and we can certify that there's a labor shortage, we can bring workers from other countries to do that work. And they come with a work visa referred to as H-2A temporary guestworker visa. And their visas are issued with a beginning date and an end date. Initially, we saw workers who were coming from Jamaica and other Caribbean Islanders. Later, we had US workers coming from Puerto Rico under contracts. They didn't have the visa because they didn't have to worry about citizenship. And currently, our H-2A guestworker program has workers from Mexico, Jamaica, and Guatemala. So in the '80s, between the 1980s and the 2000s, farmwork became an area for entry into the workforce for recent refugees. We had Haitians who arrived in Florida because of changes in Haiti. We had Guatemalans and Salvadorans who fled violence in Central America as well as coming from the other sides of the globe, refugees from Bangladesh, Southeast Asian women, Cambodian women. So it's important to understand that immigrants have always been a critical part to farmwork. For those workers who have lived in New York state for an extended period of time, they have created families here. Many of them have US-born children. That dynamic changes in that this pattern of migration-- moving north and south, returning to home countries-- has diminished significantly. It also raises different priorities among the farmworker population. The primary priority that we have learned about through our research is the heavy weight of immigration concerns among this heavily undocumented population. But those who have children also want to understand how to navigate in their communities-- what is appropriate in our actions with schools, how to locate daycare centers. We don't have statistics on how many people have families and how many people do not. But in general, those people who are living and work in fruit and vegetable year round are more likely to have family members. And dairy workers, which are obviously year-round workers, may or may not have family members. The major factor in this is that dairy workers typically have employer-provided housing. So some employers are not interested in housing a family, and their housing might not be appropriate for anything other than single men. So it varies tremendously. And we don't have statistics and don't intend to collect statistics on that because that changes constantly every day. But what I would say is that as we see more families, the interest in learning how to navigate in their communities comes to the fore. Most of the farmworkers who are here currently are here to work. And that's something that our research showed, that the farm workers come to work. And

Summer is a great time to be on the water.  For this episode of Extension Out Loud we talked with David White, of New York Sea Grant, about the basics of boating safety. Learn how you can help insure a safe and family friendly experience on the great waterways of New York State.   Transcript: Paul Treadwell  Welcome to extension out loud, a podcast from Cornell Cooperative Extension. I'm Paul Treadwell. And here we are in the middle of summer, seemed like a good time to talk about boating and boat safety. And for our conversation today I talked to David White is with New York City grant. He's the recreation and tourism specialist and Associate Director of the Great Lakes Research Consortium. Dave, when we talk about boats, that's a pretty large term. I mean, I think of tugboats, I think of ocean liners. But when we talk about boat safety in New York State, what kind of boats are we talking about? David White  You know, what I always refer to people is if you can ride on it, or in it, you should consider it a boat. In that way, you just start right off from whether it's a paddleboard paddle, paddle board, kayak, canoe, power boat, pontoon boat up to a yacht, you know, those are all forms of boats. We have them all in New York throughout the Finger Lakes in Great Lakes across the state. We just have awesome vessels and each one of them has a different set of safety requirements, but there's a lot of basics and you always got to start with like jackets. Paul Treadwell  Okay, so even if you're on a paddleboard, just paddling around in your pond, you should have a life jacket. David White  Absolutely. In fact, if you're on a paddleboard, we'll start with a requirement you're required to have a lake check onboard every vessel, the right size, the right shape, US Coast Guard approved. I always remind people it has to say US Coast Guard approved on it because there's a lot of places where you can get them from overseas that they are not US Coast Guard approved under the age of 12 have to have it on at all times when they're underway. If you're on a personal watercraft, you're being pulled behind. You have to have a life jacket on, so there's some confusion. But when it comes to paddle safety, you don't have to wear it but there's no place else to put it. You know, I've got a paddle board. I have a pedal paddle board I got a kayak if you don't have it, I do have it strapped someplace and the whole concept is it has to be accessible. So if you're on a paddleboard kayak one thing to be looking at maybe is an inflatable, especially trying to paddleboard inflatables are great I'm a huge fan of inflatables, you know, they don't mess with your tan you can get them to back all the important stuff that people think about when they're out on the boat. So baseline requirement of life jackets really there for us. Paul Treadwell  Okay, so when you say inflatable, I was think of, you know, airline safety and you can reach under your seat and pull that is that same thing. Are we talking about a different beast? David White  It kind of looks like that. I mean, it's all folded up. I mean, I have one that's a fanny pack. It's all folded up looks a fanny pack, or the around the collar, of course you can but you know, they're in clothes, they look really nice. But when you pull the lever, it is the same as if you were on an airplane, it really gets the same basic concept. It's got a co2 cartridge on it and it inflates. Paul Treadwell  So whenever you go out if you're going to set foot on a paddleboard or kayak your rowboat any kind of boat you're on, you should have a lifejacket that's Coast Guard approved. Yes, absolutely. So that's baseline for every watercraft. David White  Absolutely, it's what will provide everybody the safety and security they need to have as I say to you're going to survive until your rescued and that's what having a good life jacket on board. And then every vessel has to have a sound producing device. So all those vessels I just talked about every life jacket I own I have a whistle on so Wherever I am, I have a sound. And that again is just so you can get people's attention if you're in the water. And then depending on the type of vessel, we start talking about flares and fire extinguishers and flags and all the other requirements and recommended equipment you have to have on board and the more intense your boat is, if you will or the more product you have on board then the more safety equipment you have to have for yourself and everybody else. Paul Treadwell  Okay, so kayak, I should have my lifejacket and my whistle. David White  Absolutely. Paul Treadwell  Let's jump into, what are the most common boating accidents that people have. What are we protecting ourselves against? David White  Couple of things. One is just lack of attention. boating is family friendly fun, you always have to go there. I mean, that's what we want, like about boating, we have great waterways across New York State. So it is just a fun thing to do with the family, with your friends, or even if you're just out for your own solo day. And it's easy to lose track of attention into what's going on around you so its being attentive being prepared. And I always remind people take 15 minutes to prepare yourself before you go out. Make sure you've got all the safety gear to make your mind is in the right place. If you're going to be out having an adult beverage Do you have someone who's going to be able to drive the boat in your place, everybody's going to need to be certified and have taken the course by 2025. So you know if you've got some young kids, and you get them certified to operate the boat, you've got a designated driver with you at all time. Paul Treadwell  So what is the certification that you're speaking of? David White  In New York state boaters have to take an eight hour course they can take it online or in person from all of our friends in blue Coast Guard Auxiliary sheriff. I'm a volunteer instructor with the state of New York by 2025. It's called Brianna's law, everybody who operates a motorized vessel in the state of New York will have to have taken the course and passed it and have their certificate. Paul Treadwell  So if I have a kayak and I put a little electric motor on it to putter around for fishing, I'd would still have to take the course. David White  Yeah, you make a great point because a lot of people were now doing that. They'll put it Engine, you know, back in the day you put an engine on a canoe, there were actually mechanisms to do that, you'll see a lot of people putting in electric motor. And as I always say, when people go, Well, that's not really a boat, it's not, you know, I go, well, it's a motor on a boat. So it is whether it's propane, electric gas, or diesel or solar, they are all motor. So as soon as you take and put, any kind of propulsion on sailboat, paddle craft, you've turned it into a powerboat. And you actually have to register as a power boat. And you have to have all the required equipment of a power boat, because now you have power propulsion. So you've actually changed from a paddle craft, or sail craft to a power craft. So you have to now conform to all requirements of a power craft. Paul Treadwell I'm not a big voter. So is it just my ignorance that makes all this surprising to me? Or is it is common knowledge across the boating community? David White I'm loving hearing it in your voice, because it's just something that again, I hear from a lot of folks, well, no, I don't need to have that. Because I'm just putting a small electric motor on, there's really no difference than a two and a half electric motor from a two and a half gas powered motor except how it's propelled, you still have all of the same issues of you're now in a moving craft. Got to be prepared for that. Now I got a battery on board. So you've added a whole different dimension to the paddle craft and turning it into a power craft. So you have to be prepared for that. It's those kinds of things. And sure we take it for granted. We really don't think about it. But then once you do you begin to think Well, yeah, because I am now under power. Paul Treadwell So on my kayak I go from from needing to have on life jacket and a whistle. I put my electric motor on it. Now what do I need, David White depending on the size of your kayak, you might need a fire extinguisher, you might need a flare, you might need a rescue flag. So again, you begin to ranch it up because now you're under power, and you become a power boat. So actually then the guy paddling by you, he has the right away over you. So you've changed the entire tenor of that vessel. It's now become a motorized vessel. And it's just something that a lot of us haven't thought about because these are small engine, like you say to putter around, but you've added some different dimensions to that vessel that you just have to be prepared for. Paul Treadwell Do you have any idea what are the proportion of how do I say non powered versus powered boats? are most people do they own powered boats or do they own like kayaks, canoes, things like that, David White the numbers vary region by region, body of water by body of water, but I will tell you the wonderful thing is because of the proliferation of paddleboards and kayaks, paddleboards pedal kayaks into the industry. We brought a whole new group of folks into the family of boating and I just think it's fabulous. I have a inflatable paddleboard and an inflatable kayak that would easily fit in the front trunk of a Volkswagen Beetle. And a very small percentage of the audience that's listening to this understands what I mean by that. For the rest of the world. It's the size of a tent or a small backpack. So if you get folding paddles with it, you can have your inflatable lifejacket. So all of a sudden you've opened boating to the entire society, which I think is just fabulous because great opportunity to take advantage of the wonderful waterways whether you're up in the Adirondacks, the Catskills, the fingerlings out west, across the state of New York being able to participate in it. A

The Cornell Chicken recipe has a storied history. During this conversation with Reenie Baker Sandsted - daughter of Dr. Baker, and Sarah Sandsted - grandaughter of Dr. Baker, we dive into the origins of this recipe. We also discuss other poultry innovations that Dr. Baker is responsible for. Recorded August 2018 at the New York State Fair.   Original Cornell Chicken recipe published 1950: ecommons.cornell.edu/handle/1813/2652 Accessible version of Cornell Chicken Recipe: yates.cce.cornell.edu/resources/corn…cken-barbecues Episode Transcript: PAUL TREADWELL: Welcome to Extension Out Loud, a podcast from Cornell Cooperative Extension. I am Paul Treadwell. KATIE BAILDON: And I'm Katie Baildon. PAUL TREADWELL: With summer, fall on us right now, we thought it'd be an interesting time to highlight one of our past episodes that really embraced a summary topic. KATIE BAILDON: Yeah. It's an episode on Cornell chicken. We went to the New York State Fair a few summers ago and to Baker's Chicken Coop. And we had a great conversation about the origins of Cornell chicken. PAUL TREADWELL: And surprisingly, it's been one of our most-listened-to episodes. So we're going to give you a chance to listen to it again if you've heard it before. And if you haven't, give a listen to the exciting origin stories of Cornell chicken. It's time to think barbecue. KATIE BAILDON: And being where we are, it also means Cornell chicken. PAUL TREADWELL: For this episode, we spoke with Reenie Baker Sansted, daughter of Dr. Robert Baker, originator of the world famous Cornell chicken recipe. KATIE BAILDON: And did you know that Dr. Baker started out as an extension agent in Saratoga County, New York? PAUL TREADWELL: I did not know that, Katie. KATIE BAILDON: [LAUGHS] PAUL TREADWELL: We're also joined by Reenie's daughter, Sarah, also known as the granddaughter of Dr. Baker. KATIE BAILDON: Our conversation took place at Baker's Chicken Coop in the midst of many happy and effusive diners. PAUL TREADWELL: So let's fire up the grill and dig into the story of Cornell chicken, Dr. Baker, and some of his many innovations. KATIE BAILDON: Chicken nuggets, anyone? [LAUGHS] Also, the original recipe for Cornell chicken is linked in the show notes. REENIE BAKER SANSTEAD: Hi. So I'm Reenie Baker-Sansted. And I'm one of the daughters of Robert C. Baker. SARAH SANSTED: And I'm Sarah Stanstead. I'm Reenie's daughter and the granddaughter of Robert C. Baker. PAUL TREADWELL: So how long have you been running the [INAUDIBLE] here at the fair? REENIE BAKER SANSTEAD: Well, dad and mom started it in 1949. And at that time, it was a tent, and there was maybe three places to eat at the fair then. And they love telling the story of the pigs getting loose out of next door and coming through the tent and ripping the tent down. But we started with the idea that we wanted upstate New York to know about the Cornell barbecue chicken. So it was, again, to promote chicken to this area. PAUL TREADWELL: So you ate a lot of chicken growing up. REENIE BAKER SANSTEAD: We did. PAUL TREADWELL: Did you eat a lot of test chickens? REENIE BAKER SANSTEAD: [LAUGHS] PAUL TREADWELL: Do you remember that development process? REENIE BAKER SANSTEAD: Well, it is sort of a family joke that when dad came out with new products, he had a taste panel at Cornell. And then his kids became the second taste panel. And if we voted it down, the dogs became the last taste panel because there was plenty of good things that came out, and there there's a lot of not-so-good things that came out. PAUL TREADWELL: [LAUGHS] SARAH SANSTED: Some flops. REENIE BAKER SANSTEAD: Yeah, there were some flops. Within the Tompkins County area, everybody knows the Cornell chicken, for sure. I mean every fireman or fundraiser's cooking chicken somewhere in the area. The story is that he went to get his master's at Penn State. And the president of Penn State said, the governor's coming. Can you think of a different way to serve chicken? And so he wasn't fond of the great tomato base will burn. And so he was trying to think of a way that would keep the chicken moist and not dry out and yet not burn like tomato would. So that's how he came up with the recipe. But of course, you have to add eggs to it because that includes more of his poultry innovation and that emulsifiers the sauce to make it hold together better. PAUL TREADWELL: So what I hear you telling me tell, though, is that this really is not Cornell chicken. It's Penn State chicken. REENIE BAKER SANSTEAD: Well, so what happened was right after, then, he got a job at Cornell. And he brought the recipe with him and gave it to Cornell. PAUL TREADWELL: So the secret is we don't talk about Penn State [INAUDIBLE]. REENIE BAKER SANSTEAD: Yes. And I will tell you that the little known fact is that what really he did was to come up with a way to cook the chicken because with the racks and putting 25 on a rack and [INAUDIBLE]. So you could cook large numbers at the time and doing it over charcoal fire and how to do that outside on the pits. And that was all his innovation. He was never into keeping it a secret. He was never into making money off a patent from it. It was all about encouraging people to eat chicken. PAUL TREADWELL: I remember reading about that [INAUDIBLE]. And there was several other things he developed that were truly impressive. REENIE BAKER SANSTEAD: Well, the chicken hot dog was one of his first and chicken baloney, one of the many things he did. But I think what people will think of him the most is the chicken nugget because that was a way to use chicken that had been ground up and sort of pushed together. It was sort of a way to put it together and make it a bite to eat and then bread it and fry it. SARAH SANSTED: One of the things that fascinates me most about my grandfather is that I think part of his mission and part of his whole 

What trends are we seeing in Extension work nationally and how are state Extension systems rising to meet needs highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic? Dr. Caroline Crocoll Henney, executive director of the national Cooperative Extension System, joins the Extension Out Loud podcast to discuss these questions and the history of the Cooperative Extension System in the latest episode of Cornell Cooperative Extension’s “Leading through Extension” podcast series. For show notes and the episode transcript, visit: https://cals.cornell.edu/news/2021/05/leading-through-extension-meeting-local-emerging-needs-nationwide

In this episode of “Extension Out Loud,” CCE Associate Director Kimberly Kopko introduces listeners to the history and evolution of the College of Human Ecology and how its mission to support New York state families has endured. For show notes and the episode transcript visit: https://cals.cornell.edu/news/2021/05/leading-through-extension-supporting-families

Historian and professor Scott Peters has dedicated over two decades to examining the dynamic relationships that scientists, scholars, and extension educators at land-grant universities have with the communities they serve. In this episode, Peters traces the history of extension systems and engages with the difficult question: what exactly is extension work? For the episode transcript and more show notes, please visit: https://cals.cornell.edu/news/leading-through-extension

Under Anu Rangarajan’s direction, the Cornell Small Farms Program builds networks and cultivates relationships among new, aspiring, and longtime farmers across the state. During the past year, when staying connected feels harder than ever, Rangarajan, also an assistant director of Cornell Cooperative Extension, and her team created space for human connection and personal reflection. In this episode of “Extension Out Loud,” a podcast by Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE), Rangarajan shares her approach to Extension work and her vision for the future of New York farm and food systems. For a transcript and show notes, visit: https://cals.cornell.edu/news/leading-through-extension-finding-common-humanity

Hands-on youth development programming looks different these days, with more youth, educators, and 4-H volunteers gathering virtually and making full use of digital communication and learning platforms. What hasn’t changed is 4-H's enduring commitment to nurturing the heads, hearts, hands, and health of youth across the New York state. In this episode of “Extension Out Loud,” a podcast by Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE), Andy Turner, director of New York State 4-H Youth Development, shares how the program’s holistic, positive youth development approach is designed to support and grow the dynamic lives and interests of young people even, and perhaps especially in, times of uncertainty and transition. For more about this episode and a transcript, please visit: https://cals.cornell.edu/news/leading-through-extension-engaging-youth-trying-times

In this episode of “Extension Out Loud,” a podcast by Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE), Benjamin Houlton, the Ronald P. Lynch Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, shares his journey and his vision for carrying forth Cornell’s Land Grant mission in New York state. For additional show notes and the episode transcript, visit: https://cals.cornell.edu/news/leading-through-extension-humility-and-responsibility

The latest episode of Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE)'s "Extension Out Loud" podcast explores a community science project aimed at mitigating the impacts of flooding in Jamaica Bay, NY. Residents of Jamaica Bay, coastal neighborhoods located in Brooklyn(Kings County) and Queens (Queens County), are experiencing tidal flooding at increasing frequency—as often as twice a month. Tidal flooding is also called sunny-day flooding because it can occur in any weather, causing disruptions in the daily lives of residents. With the Community Flood Watch project, residents engage in data collection and decision making about flood mitigation measures. The project enables local lawmakers and researchers to work together with residents to design a more resilient community informed by local knowledge. In this episode of the “Extension Out Loud” podcast, Katie Graziano, coastal resilience specialist, and Paul Focazio, communications manager, with New York Sea Grant discuss the development and vision of the Flood Watch project. For the episode transcript and additional show notes, visit: https://cals.cornell.edu/news/community-flood-watch-project-engages-residents-reporting-and-mitigation

Each year the Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) Summer Internship Program invites dozens of students from across Cornell to engage with CCE staff on a broad variety of applied projects. This summer, three interns worked with 4-H program leaders from Dutchess, Columbia-Green, and Ulster counties on a Rural Storytelling Project. The project, offered in partnership with Cornell’s Office for Engagement Initiatives (OEI), engaged 4-Hers in multimedia, written and oral storytelling workshops. Each youth participant ended the summer by sharing a story about an element of life in their community during a virtual showcase. In this episode of CCE’s “Extension Out Loud” podcast, the summer interns, joined by their CCE advisors and two 4-Hers, talk about the experience, lessons learned, and memories made. For a full list of guests and show notes, please visit: https://cals.cornell.edu/news/bridging-divides-4-h-rural-storytelling-project Transcript (PDF): https://cornell.box.com/s/0gq8ool0funxtmpjhs3lopcc8rp7l7xv

This summer 4-H camp leader across New York State found themselves with a difficult task: preserve the camp spirit while following COVID-19 health and safety requirements. They rose to the task with unusual, engaging, fun and creative projects and activities for children and whole families! Listen in for an inspiring conversation about how 4-H camps adapted during this unconventional camp season. Our guests include: Amy Pyra, 4-H community educator with 4-H Camp Beechwood in Wayne County; Corrine Rose Tompkins, camp director for 4-H Camp Shankituk in Deleware County; Sabrina L Derue, 4-H program manager and director of 4-H Camp Wabasso in Jefferson County; and Shawn R. Tiede, New York State 4-H camp specialist. Transcript PDF: https://cornell.box.com/s/x3o503324hw2xzew1cfjyfrvnydp7uvu New York State 4-H camps: https://nys4-h.org/nys4hcamps

Since her early years on her family's farm in Horseheads, NY  Kathryn J. Boor's life has been dedicated to furthering New York state agriculture. As her tenure as Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences  (CALS) at Cornell University comes to a close, Dean Boor joins Extension Out Loud to share wisdom, reflections, and hopes for the future. Dean Boor has served as the Ronald P. Lynch Dean of CALS since 2010 and is a professor of food science.  Transcript(pdf): https://cornell.box.com/s/vlsrrkb9cexrhlj3kakzdu2bvq8zxi9i A decade of impact: Kathryn J. Boor, the Ronald P. Lynch Dean by Samara A. Sit: https://cals.cornell.edu/news/decade-impact-kathryn-j-boor-ronald-p-lynch-dean Kathryn Boor named Graduate School dean, vice provost by Joe Wilensky: https://cals.cornell.edu/news/kathryn-boor-named-graduate-school-dean-vice-provost

Swallow-wart (aka dog-strangling-vine) is a nonnative creeping vine-like plant that is native to the Mediterranean and has become harmful to ecosystems and livestock health in New York State. CCE Educators Sharon Bachman and Laura Bailey are partnering with Carrie Brown-Lima, director of the New York Invasive Species Research Institute, to control the invasive plant using biocontrol measures. In this episode, Paul and Katie talk with the team about their project and about why controlling invasive species is important for ecosystem health. Transcript PDF: https://cornell.box.com/s/smeljtkos1yzmdh4uvnd7jklq9h6hnkw Sharon Bachman bio: http://erie.cce.cornell.edu/staff/sharon-bachman Laura Bailey bio: http://yates.cce.cornell.edu/staff/laura-bailey Carrie Jean Brown-Lima bio: https://dnr.cals.cornell.edu/people/carrie-lima-brown/ New York Invasive Species Research Institute: http://www.nyisri.org/research/biological-control/biocontrol-updates-resources/ Pale & Black Swallow-wort Best Management Practices (PDF): https://cpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/blogs.cornell.edu/dist/3/8738/files/2020/07/Swallow-wort-BMP-Final.pdf Photo: Swallow-wort biocontrol site in Clarence, NY taken by Jonathan Bleuer, Town of Clarence

Marylynn Collins, dairy and livestock educator with CCE Oneida County, hosts the I Farm Oneida podcast providing crop and dairy farmers with weekly crop reports and periodic policy updates. In this episode, Katie and Paul welcome Marylynn to Extension Out Loud to talk about her podcast and to share an episode on safely engaging in Farmer’s Markets during NY-PAUSE. In the featured I Farm Oneida episode, Marylynn is and her colleague Elizabeth Irons, Oneida County Public Market manager, in a discussion about the changes both consumers and vendors can expect at markets this year. Episode Transcript(pdf): https://cornell.box.com/s/eu9ei61m3hczq65jznkd03umc4o5a1vq Episode links Marylynn Collins; http://cceoneida.com/staff/marylynn-collins Elizabeth Irons; http://cceoneida.com/staff/elizabeth-irons Oneida County Public Market: http://www.oneidacountymarket.com/ Cornell Cooperative Extension Oneida County: http://cceoneida.com/ I Farm Oneida podcast: https://soundcloud.com/ifarmoneidacounty CCE Oneida County Agriculture public Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/CCEoneidacountyAgriculture

While Extension Out Loud took a break, the Eastern New York Vegetable News podcast has been hard at work keeping growers informed about policy changes and growing conditions. In this featured episode, Ethan Grundberg, vegetable specialist with CCE and host of Eastern New York Vegetable News podcast, talks with a local farmer about messaging and the shift to online sales during the COIVID-19 pandemic. Transcript (pdf): https://cornell.box.com/s/03chagdahfkwzi2556eqeo8nefh98e7k Links: Cornell Cooperative Extension Eastern New York Commercial Horticulture Program: https://enych.cce.cornell.edu/ Eastern New York Vegetable News podcast: https://soundcloud.com/easternnewyorkvegnews Ethan Grundberg Bio: https://enych.cce.cornell.edu/specialist.php?id=89

Jeff is the highway superintendent in the Town of Prebble. He joins Extension Out Loud to share his "soup-to-nuts" role in maintaining and repairing roads and responding to local emergencies.  Transcript PDF: https://cornell.box.com/s/wtzj0zayxm7lj9xtlwkoefv358wr9x28

After a few months of pause, Extension Out Loud is back! In an interview recorded this February, Katie and Paul discuss the Cornell Local Roads program with program director David Orr. Do you know who maintains the road you live on or the road you drive to work on? Maybe you’ve never thought about it less there’s a pothole or snowstorm. Listen in to hear learn about the history, laws, and science of local roads and their maintenance. David is also a senior extension associate in the Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering at Cornell University. Transcript (PDF): https://cornell.box.com/s/g5dcn663090djewcy3b77kn0t5x2sf1f Citizens Guide to Local Highway Operations: https://www.clrp.cornell.edu/library/Citizens_Guides.html Cornell Local Roads Program: https://www.clrp.cornell.edu/ Cornell Local Roads Program Services Guide 2020: https://www.clrp.cornell.edu/library/publications.html David Orr bio: https://bee.cals.cornell.edu/people/david-orr/ Federal Highway Administration National Highway System Map: https://hepgis.fhwa.dot.gov/fhwagis/ViewMap.aspx?map=Highway+Information|National+Highway+System Street smarts: Cornell paves the way for safer roads in NYS | Cornell Chronicle: https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2019/07/street-smarts-cornell-paves-way-safer-roads-nys