Fall Gardening Probably the last thing most gardeners are thinking of now is planting vegetables. However, fall gardens will often produce higher quality, tastier cool-season crops as the vegetables mature during cooler, less stressful temperatures.

I have a neighbor who is in his 80s and several years ago he planted a grove of walnut trees. Now that is faith and foresight. I am sure he is not planning on reaping the benefits of those walnut trees unless he has somehow found the fountain of youth. The trees have done quite well, and they have grown very fast for walnut trees but at a conservative guess I will say they are 50, 60 maybe even 100 years away from someone gaining economically from them. That is a crop that requires a great deal of patience. That kind of forward

Baby Chicks This is the time of year when baby chicks can often be found at farm stores and other locations. There are indicators that chicks are in greater demand this year than usual.

Harvesting Winter Squash Summer squash such as zucchini and scallops are harvested while immature but winter squash such as acorn, hubbard and butternut are harvested later, in the mature stage, after the rind is tough and seeds have developed. We normally think September is the time that winter squash are harvested.

Canning Green Beans As I was driving through town on my golf cart, I noticed all of the gardens people have put in and with these rains how fast they are growing. My first thought was “It’s canning season!”.

Kansas Farmers’ Market Month There is nothing better than going to a Farmer’s Market and seeing all of the fresh fruit, vegetables and other produce. This is a great time of year to stock up, fill the freezer or preserve the “bounty” of the harvest.

Of the current buzzwords coming through media, and through the grapevine, is VSV, or vesicular stomatitis virus. This contagious virus was first confirmed in Butler County on June 16, and it has spread to other counties.

A Tourist in Kansas Greg Doering Kansas Farm Bureau Our family’s summer vacation plans changed three times over the course of the past few months. Initially my wife and I planned on taking our college senior daughter on a grand excursion to Glacier National Park, then hopping the northern border to sightsee in Calgary, Banff and Jasper.

The Kansas Department of Agriculture has been notified that several Kansas residents have received unsolicited packages containing seeds that appear to have originated from China. A resident of Stockton brought an unsolicited package containing seeds to my office recently.