NOTE: We will send individual exclusives to program area mailing lists on a permanent basis since county agents favor receiving their exclusives in this matter. We also will send the complete packet to the exclusives mailing list as an agent back up and archive.
February 27, 2003
Please do not delete this message. It is the only complete copy your office will receive of exclusives for Agricultural and Natural Resources, Family and Consumer Sciences and
4-H/Youth Development. This packet is for the week ending February 28, 2003.
AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES
Forests Produce Many Products
Necessary for Our Daily Lives
FAMILY AND CONSUMER SCIENCES
Strategies To Achieve Financial Goals
4-H/YOUTH DEVELOPMENT
Four Theme-Based Camps
Being Organized for Youth
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Forests Produce Many Products
Necessary for Our Daily Lives
Source: Doug McLaren
Sometimes we might not think about the importance of trees and contributions many wood-related items make to our quality of life each day.
Just think about it for a moment and examine how products made from trees grown in Kentucky make our lives better on a daily basis.
In the morning, the printed newspaper is delivered to your doorstep. The coffee filters or tea bags, and even the orange juice for breakfast are products of trees. Many soap and cosmetic products and some medicines have partial ingredients linked to trees. The chocolate and nuts in the cookies we eat for lunch, as well as the apples in the pie for dessert all come from a tree. Our homes are framed from trees. The interiors are decorated with wood. Examples are the floors, staircases, trim, furniture and accessories made totally or partially from wood.
It’s important to grow and manage trees as an agricultural product to have sufficient wood for all the above-mentioned products.
Kentucky landowners with timber as part of an agricultural management plan know that growing timber is much like raising a traditional row crop. The only difference is time. It might take up to 100 years to grow, manage and harvest timber as a renewable resource. Forest landowners typically receive extremely high returns on timber sales.
If you, as a forest landowner, don’t have a clear understanding of the lengthy timber marketing and harvesting process, you might want to contact a professional forester for expertise in these matters.
Professional foresters routinely provide assistance in all aspects of forest management decisions. These foresters will recommend timber management practices that create financial benefits for timber owners.
If you have questions about woodland management, even if you are an absentee landowner, contact your (County Name) Cooperative Extension Service for a list of professional foresters. They will help you make management decisions today that will provide good financial returns on your timber investment for years to come.
Your County Extension office also has publications and other information on woodland management.
Educational programs of the Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service serve all people regardless of race, color, age, sex, religion, disability or national origin.
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Strategies To Achieve Financial Goals
Sources: Barbara O’Neill, Rutgers University, and Sue Badenhop, Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service
A visit to your favorite bookstore, or book section of other stores, will reveal dozens of books on strategies to achieve financial goals.
Here’s a list of some strategies to help you attain financial success.
Establish specific goals. Assign a price, purpose and achievement date for each financial goal, such as “save at least $1,200 a year for daughter’s college tuition to begin in 2021.” It might not seem so overwhelming if you break the savings strategy into smaller increments, such as “save a minimum of $100 a month.”
Make success a focal point. The adage, “where there’s a will, there’s a way,” is as applicable to achieving your personal finance goals as it is to other important areas of your life. It takes discipline and determination to save today for a goal that’s many months, or even years, away. This is one reason it’s important to establish specific goals that give you an incentive to save and something for which to strive.
Live below your means. This is an intentional process to spend less than you earn and save the remaining money. You can find money to save to attain future financial goals by selling assets, such as having a yard sale, increasing your income by finding a part-time job; reducing expenses by taking your lunch to work or having a family fun night rather than going to the movie, or doing a little of each of these.
Make saving an automatic habit. One of the best ways to routinely save money is to do it automatically. You can have money routinely deducted from your paycheck into an employer 401 (k) or 403 (b) plan. Another method is to have your bank, credit union or other financial institution routinely deduct money from a checking account and put it in a savings account.
Carefully borrow. To meet your financial goals, keep debt low and pay the least possible for borrowing money. Families often have financial problems when monthly debt payments exceed 15 to 20 percent of the net (after-tax) income. Additionally, money you spend to repay debts isn’t available to invest.
Even people who aren’t having difficulty paying bills might be paying too much for credit. Strategies to lower credit expenses include negotiating lower interest rates from creditors, transferring outstanding balances to credit cards that have lower interest rates, and applying the payments for re-paid debts as extra payments to remaining debts.
Take full advantage of tax breaks. You have several ways to reduce your tax bill including contributions to tax-deferred employer retirement plans and buying tax-free municipal bonds when appropriate for your age, your risk tolerance or tax bracket. Other common tax-reduction strategies include the child, dependent care and earned income tax credits and itemized deductions for state and local taxes, business expenses and charitable contributions.
Develop financial resilience. Sometimes bad things just happen. We need to develop the ability to bounce back when bad things happen such as illness, unemployment and divorce. Many circumstances can contribute to financial resilience including ample savings, low household debt, current employment skills, a social support system and community resources.
For more information on personal finance, contact your (County Name) Cooperative Extension Service.
Educational programs of the Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service serve all people regardless of race, color, age, sex, religion, disability or national origin.
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Four Theme-Based Camps
Being Organized for Youth
Sources: State 4-H Office
Kentucky youth will have four theme-based camping opportunities offered by Kentucky’s 4-H/Youth Development program in partnership with many organizations and individuals offering expertise and other resources for these new educational activities.
The camping experiences will focus on fine arts, health, natural resources, and technology topics at day, overnight and week-long residential camps. The Fine Arts and Technology Theme Camps are open to youth ages nine to 14, while the Health and Natural Resources Theme Camps will primarily target students in the fourth and fifth grades. Participants do not have to be a 4-H member to attend a camp.
The fine arts theme will be used for youth from Bourbon, Garrard and Jessamine counties attending a week-long residential camp at North Central 4-H Center in July. Plans are for youth to explore four different fine arts themes—dance, music, theater and visual arts. These camps will culminate with activities produced or developed by the participants.
Health camps are planned this fall at Western Kentucky 4-H Center at Dawson Springs, Lake Cumberland 4-H Center near Jabez, North Central 4-H Center near Carlisle and J.M. Feltner Memorial 4-H Center near London. Other camping opportunities might take place at one or two other locations yet to be determined. Topics will include awareness of one’s health by exploring body systems and health behavior, the importance of math and science to careers, and health-related careers.
The natural resources camping opportunities still are in the planning stages. It is expected that pilot activities will take place this summer at residential camps, along with other possible locations. The natural resources focuses will be in soils, water, forests, insects and stewardship. One outcome will be a natural resource inventory of the camp.
Plans are for a pilot of the technology theme camp to occur this summer. The technological hands-on activities will provide youth with learner-centered experiences.
A significant number of people and organizations are contributing their knowledge, skills and other resources to establish the fine arts, health, natural resources and technology camping opportunities for the youth of Kentucky.
Representatives of Area Health Education Center regional offices are helping develop a health camp at the 4-H residential camps. Members of the curriculum design team for this camping opportunity will include AHEC representatives and county agents for Family and Consumer Sciences and 4-H/Youth Development from the Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service.
Partnerships for the fine arts camps include faculty from the College of Fine Arts and staff from the Singletary Center for the Arts at the University of Kentucky and various organizations from the arts communities in Lexington and Louisville. Joining these partners to design and implement the fine arts camps will be student interns and 4-H agents.
Helping develop the natural resources camps and their curricula are UK College of Agriculture faculty and Extension specialists in the Departments of Agronomy, Entomology and Forestry and county 4-H agents.
Partners for the technology camps include information technology faculty from Kentucky State University and 4-H agents.
NOTES TO AGENTS: Please list in the paragraph below all individuals (including yourself, other agents and office staff) and organizations from your county or area who are working in any capacity to develop the theme-based camps, including members of the Camp Advisory Committee and Theme-Based Camp Curriculum Committees.
In (County Name) partners for the theme-based camps are (List Names).
The general idea for theme-based camps originated from the 4-H Camp Advisory Committee, comprised of a 4-H agent from each Extension area and two statewide volunteers. From this committee a sub-committee was formed to explore theme-based camping opportunities and develop specific themes. Now, partnerships are being developed to work toward making these educational opportunities a reality for the youth of Kentucky.
If you’d like to volunteer to help with the fine arts, health, natural resources or technology camping opportunities or participate in these educational activities, contact me at your (County Name) Cooperative Extension Service.
Educational programs of the Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service serve all people regardless of race, color, age, sex, religion, disability or national origin.
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