Extension Out Loud

Episode links: 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...

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, or has the program shifted to embrace diversity, equity inclusion? And how has that manifested in your work with Master Gardener coordinators. ASHLEY HELMHOLDT: Yeah, that's a great question. And this has actually been an ongoing thing prior to even a lot of civil unrest that's happened over the last year. Part of our mission statement is focused on food security and sustainability education. But also, specifically in our Seed to Supper program, which is in 13 counties statewide, there's a real focus on cultural awareness and cultural sensitivity in our workshops that we prepare volunteers to work in vulnerable communities that are not necessarily what are represented in our volunteers all the time. And that's been a really intentional move. Because, again, I think what's happened a lot with volunteering-- and this is true just nationwide, this is just the statistics-- that we tend to be a white, upper middle class, women-dominated volunteer program. And that's partly due to just the time of the volunteer commitment. And so part of my job I think is helping to lower the barriers to entry to the Master Gardener program, by not only creating programming that's going to be accessible to people, but also developing in our coordinators the skills in working across difference and working in communities that perhaps extension hasn't always had a really solid relationship. And that's not always to say that there aren't, there definitely are a lot of our CCE educators that have a lot of experience working across different cultural communities. But we have, as you know, a lot of different cultures in New York state. Many of our Seed to Supper programs work with communities of Americans that are just getting involved. And maybe not just getting involved in gardening, but just getting involved in the community. And so we've really worked pretty hard to create that program to be as low a barrier to entry as possible. So it's kind of like a gateway to the Master Gardener program. It's a no-cost low-budget gardening curriculum. We work with community partner organizations that work with low-budget gardeners to recruit new folks into the gardening community, to welcome them and help them see that this community is theirs, as well. And so that's been a really important program for doing that. But beyond that, I think that program has been going on since 2017 here, and it's actually started at Oregon State University. So it has a track record of increasing people's confidence and sense of community. So it's really, it's more about building community. Gardening skills are a part of that. But the first part is building the community and building the relationships, which is not always what comes first when you think of Master Gardeners. And I really think that that's something we're trying to make kind of a central part of our program, really having those skills at reaching out across differences and building communities because gardening can be a common language. And many of our Seed to Supper participants end up being volunteers in the Seed to Supper program, as well as teaching us about new ways to garden, new varieties we can grow in New York state. It's really an exchange, not just a one way street. I'm really hopeful that program, along with kind of lowering the barrier to entry for Master Gardener volunteer programs is going to really see a bigger uptick in a larger number of people, including people who are working and parents and might not have all of the expensive gardening tools. You don't need all that. You really-- most of my gardening experience has been in a community garden. So I know firsthand, from a very humble experience, that you don't have to have lots of money to garden. We really just need space, community, and education. And that's what we really hope to do to make it really accessible. KATIE BAILDON: As you were talking, I was thinking, we hear a lot about the role of home gardening in food security. But I'm wondering if you can talk a little bit more about that and whether the Master Gardener program looks specifically at food security and home gardening as a possible solution to some of the food security issues that families might face. ASHLEY HELMHOLDT: Going back to Seed to Supper a little bit, the survey that has been done in the program since it began in Oregon really showed that just being educated on the resources available in the community for gardening, but also the resources that people might not know about related to even SNAP, for instance. You can use SNAP benefits to buy plant starts at a farmer's market. There are resources we can use to increase food security that, again, build on those other sources of food security and communities. In addition to that, I think that the main thing that we've learned from surveys is that just having access to the knowledge and the people, connections, is what helps people to take that next step. Because as you know, gardening is actually pretty complex. And it's not really that easy to grow lots and lots of food for yourself. But in community, we can do a lot more. And our master gardeners are amazing at growing food and really have amazing skills in this department. Just to give you an example, they donated over 7,000 pounds of food to local food banks through the demonstration gardens that we've been involved with around the state. The master gardeners want to do this because they have access. They know what they're doing and they know how to produce excess. But I think where we really come in is connecting people to not just the resources and the people that can help them, but also those next steps. How do we cook food. And we have programs for that, through our SNAP program. We have programs to help people take those next steps. And that's where I think you're really-- the food security piece comes in. Is you're not just growing food. You're learning how to use it in the best way. And so that's really where I see the food security piece coming into play. And we have seen a lot of increase in demand for that kind of learning. So I think across all socioeconomic backgrounds, people want awareness. So community gardens I feel like have even a larger role to play in this because they provide this larger amount of land and larger group of people with which to ask questions and get support. I know personal experience that has been critical to learning. Because I came to gardening the roundabout way, through learning, through community members who helped me learn the skills. And so I feel like knowing I didn't grow up with this background, I didn't go to school for that, it can be done. And you can do it well. And we can support these community members and growing their own food in a larger amount. But it really takes that community piece to build in that food security element, because those connections are really critical to that. And our CCE programs are just so well established to help people do that. So I'm excited about that. I think that a lot of potential there to do even more. PAUL TREADWELL: So Ashley, in an urban environment-- let's talk about gardening in urban environments for a minute. How do you find land? What's the process? And how do you find seeds, are there community banks, shared-- you know, what is the process? ASHLEY HELMHOLDT: And the answer to that is that it is very different in every community. In the ones that I worked in local government, again, I was kind of supporting getting people. I was the connector to resources. So in many communities, where there's not a person like that, it can sometimes be really difficult overcoming the barriers to getting access to land. And a lot of those barriers have to do more with policies around access to land and just those initial startup costs. I was involved with, we used FEMA lots. These are lots that are never going to be built on because they flood. So there wasn't as much of a competition for those lots for other purposes. But in other communities, that's not true. There's development pressure on those kinds of vacant lots. So having consistent policies and having somebody who can help you navigate those policies in each community is kind of critical. That's something that our CCE folks could be potential conduits to helping people overcome those barriers to getting gardening. But a lot of our established urban gardening environments, like in Buffalo and Rochester, there's a lot of community gardens already. It's just getting access, overcoming those barriers to water and the costs of maintaining that. And that, a little different per community. And New York City obviously being the biggest and the most complex. They have whole teams of people to help those community gardens kind of keep up with all the regulatory pieces. So it's a very complex question. And it's actually got a very different answer for every community. But it's an important one. KATIE BAILDON: Yeah, so we talked about some of the food justice issues and diversity equity inclusion and programming. Are there any other sort of trends that you're seeing in the work that you're doing that you're responding to? ASHLEY HELMHOLDT: Yeah, I think that obviously climate change is so intertwined with all these other diversity, equity, inclusion and food security issues that it's hard to piece them out. And one of the things I applied for some funds for was a food forest trial garden program, again, to teach people about ecological learning skills that also help with some of those ecosystem services issues and communities. So both feeding people and addressing some of the ecosystem services that our communities need to adapt to climate change. At a very small scale, very quick description of what food forests are, they really are about integrating fruit trees and other perennial fruiting plants into garden design, and replicating the ecology of a forest in that process. So this is done much more on the Small Farms Program. But this is like a smaller community garden level context. That's just one trend that I'm kind of slowly building some resources around for master gardeners. I think it's an important one. Because again, we need to build skills around adapting to climate change. And I think horticulture is a big role to play, even in home gardening if you think about lawns and all of the space that our personal property takes up. There's a large amount of our properties that actually could be better utilized for ecosystem services. So I feel like one of our roles is to teach and support programming, helping people to adapt to changes in precipitation events that we're going to have. And really planting more trees is a part of that. And also in urban environments we have a lot of heat island effect and more localized kind of climate. These kinds of spaces help support a more sustainable environment in those locations, as well. So I see that as a trend. Another trend I think that is not going away is that we'll just continue to do more online programming. But also when we do get together, do more hands on experiential learning. And so that's really-- I know it works for kids, and also works for adults. And it's really important that when we're teaching these kinds of skills, that we do it in a sense of community as well as actually addressing issues in real time. So that's one of my goals, is to do more field-day experiences with Master Gardner statewide, so that they can learn in a hands-on way. And that's definitely true, again, for the 4H side. It's always been kind of how they operate. And we want to do more of that. We have some really interesting stuff around teaching people about how to grow different special varieties from all around the world. That's something else we're putting together that I'm really excited about, kind of an international vegetable varieties trial garden program to teach your master gardeners about what can be grown in New York state that is not only really nutritious, but also culturally appropriate to different groups around the state. So those are just a few of the trends that I'm seeing in the future. PAUL TREADWELL: So we understand the terms here, when you refer to ecosystem services, and community gardens contributing to that, what is an ecosystem service? What are services that ecosystems provide, how do we understand this. ASHLEY HELMHOLDT: So there's a couple of different layers to ecosystem services. There's the actual kind of environmental services that trees and plantings provide, whether it be rain water capture or carbon capture, as well as reducing, for instance, localized air pollution. That's just the physical ecosystem services. But there's also the cultural ecosystem services that is part of the definition that's contributing to the cultural needs of the community. What are the kinds of fruits and vegetables that people in that community want to eat and providing for recreational and more green space in communities. So there's a couple different layers to it. But really, it's more about utilizing the green space that we have in the best way possible in order to bring the most benefit to the community. KATIE BAILDON: So I want to loopback to something that you mentioned earlier, when you were talking about some of the benefits of being in natural environments, can you talk more about that and the role of gardening in that. ASHLEY HELMHOLDT: Just to give a little context, my background is in applied research and human environment relations in the College of Human Ecology. So I kind of live between these two worlds of the social sciences and the natural sciences. I just think there's so much growth in this area because the research really shows us that, especially in lower income communities, that natural spaces buffer the stress that people are feeling. And there's a lot of ways that they do that. There's basically something called attention restoration, where people who are stressed out and on a computer all day, haven't looked outside at all, going outside actually helps you to be able to concentrate the focus again. For kids, and especially this has been true that in low income housing, where there are trees versus no trees, the people that have access to trees have a better ability to overcome stressful life experiences. And that's real scientific research that's been done on this. And so when I think about the role that we have to play as Master Gardener volunteers, I see this as a grassroots movement to really increase the access to nature and especially urban and low income communities. There's not as many of these spaces available to people. So increasing access through places like community gardens, through smaller green spaces, even small beautification programs that master gardeners run around the state, actually has a really big impact, a bigger impact than you would think on local mental health. And it also builds community. So there's that piece to it, too. So you're both engaging people in developing green space but then you're also improving some of these adaptations to stress. And so it's not going to solve everything. But it's one thing we can do. And it's something really powerful and important people. I'm excited to share more of that background with master gardeners and help them see that this isn't just something extra. This is actually really important right now. It's important to people's mental well-being to help them see that they have an impact and they have control over their environment and they can improve it. These are all really positive things that we can give back to communities. And I think it's got a lot of ripple effects that we don't always know about. PAUL TREADWELL: Culturally within the Master Gardener program, you know it's been around for 45. You're going to celebrate your 50th anniversary soon, aren't you. ASHLEY HELMHOLDT: Very soon, yeah. Yeah, yeah. PAUL TREADWELL: That's awesome. So it's been around for a while. Has the introduction of new ideas and new content into that program, how does it flow? ASHLEY HELMHOLDT: I would say our group of master gardeners that I've encountered have been really receptive. We've developed a new continuing education course that kind of touches on all of these subjects. I've gotten really positive feedback out of a lot of it. Because it's research fact, it's kind of defending the kind of work that they do and the value of it. But it also helps people to see that this is not for those that have a lot of wealth. This is really something that can be applied to supporting community's improvement over time. Why I feel like I was hired was to bring that perspective because I come from that background. And I actually have learned a lot from the master gardeners on ornamentals and all of these other things that I didn't have a lot of background in. But I think what I'm bringing to the table and what they're really receptive to is this is gardening, but it's also all of these other things that are actually part of our mission statement for CCE. And I think it's about shifting our perspective from, oh this is a nice extra, you're doing beautification. To like, oh no, this is actually improving crime rates. There's research out there if you improve physical look of a neighborhood there's less crime. And so I'm really excited about helping people to see this is something that can really benefit communities in a lot of ways. And folks in urban planning programs are talking a lot about this. And I know [INAUDIBLE] in our program was talking a lot about this. But I think we need to make it more widespread. And we need to-- especially right now, as people are recovering from this just crazy time we've been in. We're going to see people wanting more the sense of community. And one way, it's one of those spaces where we can still engage and come together as a community without a lot of fear, especially during the pandemic. Community gardening efforts and those kinds of things have actually been a consistent piece that people can have access to right now. And I think, hope, that's going to continue into the future. I have not felt the resistance. If anything, I think people are just have been really afraid during this time. And hopefully some of that is waning, and especially since a lot of our master gardeners are older. You know, I think they've really-- this has provided a sense of community that is so important in this time when people have been isolated. I guess I feel like more of a sense of community with Master Gardener program than ever and more of a sense of mission because of that. In a nutshell, that's my really positive kind of spin on that, is that, of course, there's always resistance to things like climate change and social justice issues. But really when it comes down to it, we want to connect people to plants and to each other. And that's kind of a common human need that I think crosses across any kind of difference. That's something we can all come together around. KATIE BAILDON: One of the first emails I think that I remember coming across my desk when I started with extension was about the jumping worms and like master gardeners were seeing these really aggressive worms in their garden all of a sudden. And there was a lot of conversation among master gardeners about what are these things and how do we deal with them. So can you talk a little bit about how the program responds to things that people are actually seeing right in their backyard? ASHLEY HELMHOLDT: That's another-- I talk a lot about the social issues because that's where I'm coming from. But there's a much greater part of the program that is addressing those common-- it seems like there's just more and more of them, all of these invasive pest issues. And that's really one of them, jumping worms, gypsy moths, as you might have heard of, have really affected trees in large parts of western New York and the north country. So we provide webinars and some of these topics to try to get ahead of these things. But mostly we work with the New York state IPM folks, we work with the invasive species, PWT. We work with the experts in these different groups to bring this research to the master gardeners. Because again, I'm not an expert in all of this, but we had all these great connections to programs that are really, really knowledgeable about these specific subjects. So I feel like my job is to keep on top of that and make sure I know who to talk to because this is something I'm learning a lot about as we go, as well. So I really rely on the sustainable landscapes, program work team, the invasive species program work team, and our amazing CCE educators to survey and tell me what are the top questions you're getting in your office, so that we can do professional development on it and help them master gardeners address questions. That's the biggest. There's more and more of them. And a lot of it is kind of coming at you at a lot of fast speed, I would say. And so Master Gardener program really helps to support communities in addressing those problems because it can't just be one educator doing all that. PAUL TREADWELL: So Ashley, is there anything you wanted to say that you weren't able to say yet, or anything that you think we should touch on before we wrap this up? ASHLEY HELMHOLDT: I might put a little push out there for the fact that we have some really fun and interesting things coming up. We have an ecological gardening guide being developed in conjunction with Jenny Kramer from CCE Tompkins, which is taking some of these concepts that we're talking about, some of this continuing education for master gardeners and creating a month by month guide to gardening and year to date and addressing some of these common issues, like you talked about. So that's all-in-one nice, easy to use guide for new gardeners, home gardeners, community gardeners. That's a really exciting new publication that's kind of coming through a collaboration with master gardeners. Master gardeners around the state are editing that and helping support that. And then also, like I mentioned earlier, we have a food forest trail garden program, which is going to provide some small scale grants for demonstration gardens around that concept that's coming up in the next year, year and a half. And we'll have a field day experience for our CCE educators to get them all up to speed on that kind of gardening practice. So we've got a lot of fun things coming up, things we've been waiting to do and building over time. But just overall, I'm just excited that we have these great programs already in place that can address some of these things that are happening right now. And I'm really excited, as CCE has recently hired two community garden-focused educators in Rochester and in New York City to do even more outreach to different cultural groups that we really want to be welcoming into the fold of Master Gardener program as well some day. I'm actually very positive that we're making a lot of strides on a lot of these things concurrently. But we're doing it over time and in a way that I hope will really help people to stay inspired and keep the enthusiasm for gardening going. PAUL TREADWELL: Thanks for listening to this episode, Extension Out Loud was produced and edited by Paul Treadwell, with help from Katie Baildon. KATIE BAILDON: For more about this episode, including show notes and more, visit extensionoutloud.com. And be sure to subscribe to Extension Out Loud on your favorite podcast directory.

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 when you talk about their future, their plan is to return home. They don't come to stay. Over time, their personal situation may change. As they marry or they have children, that may change. But what motivates them to come is either they are fleeing violence, or it's an economic reality that they cannot earn money where they are from. And they come here to work, to earn money, to pay back the debts that are incurred with coming here, and to create a nest egg so they have something to go back to. They may purchase land. They may purchase animals. They may build a house. However, their primary priority while they are here is the workplace. They want to be successful in the workplace, they want to understand opportunities for advancement in the workplace, and they want to be involved in a positive workplace. So we did a large research project that we worked with producers and farmworkers to look at, what is a positive workplace? And on our website, we have the results of that research plus tips and tools for creating positive workplaces. And the tips and tools for creating positive workplaces revolve around establishing good communication coupled with mutual respect. So typically, in our interviews, in our needs assessment interviews, farmworkers will identify interest in how they can improve relations in the workplace with their employers, with their co-workers. And it's a challenge because, for many of them, their co-workers are also their housemates. But in understanding the workplace and understanding the need to communicate well with others in rural communities, they're interested in learning English. And they're interested in opportunities to learn English that are fluid and flexible because they may not have a constant time off. And most don't have their own transportation, and public transportation in rural areas is unreliable. So one thing they talk about is they want to understand what services are there and how they can access that. But since immigration is at the top of the list, it's important to understand that we live in an area of intensive immigration enforcement. And over the years, immigration debates have been stalled. We're now in a new era where we're talking about the Farm Modernization Act, which would provide an accelerated option for legalization of farm workers. But until that passes, farm workers talk a lot about the presence of law enforcement officials in rural areas that identify them as potential undocumented workers. And so this risk of having law enforcement come to your house or stop you while you're going shopping is a very real risk. And that can lead to deportation and lead to separation of undocumented workers from their US-born children. The ACLU refers to this as the Constitution-free zone of the United States, those areas in which immigration enforcement can take place without any necessary catalyst. And so the question of immigration is very central to the discussion about farmworkers. Some of them ask, are they supporting local economies? Are they doing work that others won't do? And our research points to the fact that they come to work, not to stay. Many ask, why don't they just apply for a visa? And there is no visa for workers on dairy farms. What we see is a situation where workers are doing physically demanding work in all kinds of weather. In our research, they discuss social, economic, linguistic, and geographic isolation. It's a relatively young workforce. In our research, they discuss challenges to adapting to new communities. That includes things like language, cultural norms and expectations. Many of the farm workers note that we talk a lot about time. We're out of time. We're running out of time. We don't have enough time. And so that's part of what they always find interesting. Of course, the challenges of living in rural, geographically isolated areas where there is no public transportation, the desire to have a positive workplace, to communicate well with your co-workers, to understand how to negotiate for changes in the workplace. And for those who now have families, they're interested in how to interact with schools, daycare. And as immigrants, many of them express loneliness, missing their family, missing home. I think one of the aspects that is often not visible is while the general public has a sense that this is very physically demanding work, they may not have as close a sense of the dangers associated with the work, for example, dangers associated with using ladders or equipment, and both mechanical equipment on fruit and vegetable farms and equipment in milking parlors, equipment in processing and packing plants. It's dirty work, and there are dangers associated with working with large animals on dairy farms. Another aspect, which is very prevalent in our conversations with farmworkers is that they work in both extremely hot and extremely cold temperatures. All of you who have experienced an upstate winter understand what it would be like to spend hours in February tying grape vines to a wire. And as we talked about a little bit before, the challenge is that many of them now have US-born children. In fact, in the US, there are over 4 million US-born children with one or more undocumented parent. And since the undocumented parent runs the risk of deportation, the possibility for family separation is very high. So part of what we do is we support farmworkers in addressing these needs and fill in the gaps. We have students who go to farms during the farmworker's day off and tutor them in English as a second language. And I'll talk a little bit about some of the other things. COVID-19 really changed the game with farmworkers. Our priority was maintaining ongoing communication with farmworkers. So we had to nearly, overnight, transition from face-to-face, on-farm workshops to developing a system where we could quickly communicate with a large number of farm workers. We developed a system of text messaging to 3,000 farm workers that we had their personal cell phone numbers. And we had their personal cell phone numbers because they have participated in an activity with us in the past few years. We do many on-farm workshops about how to navigate within an intensive immigration-enforcement environment. We do many workshops where we assist families in assigning temporary guardians for their US-born children. And so we had those numbers, and we utilize that system to begin communicating with farmworkers about critical issues. PAUL TREADWELL: And you're listening to Extension Out Loud, the podcast from Cornell Cooperative Extension, and our conversation with Mary Jo Dudley. As we talked to Mary Jo, the issue of the pandemic came up. And this section really looks at our farmworkers and the challenges they faced in dealing with this crisis, including isolation, access to health care, and issues of food security. So you had a database of 3,000 numbers that you could rely on. Can you talk a little bit about what it took to build the trust to be able to develop a database like that? Because obviously, farmworkers aren't just going to give any random visitor their cell phone number. MARY JO DUDLEY: That's right. So I personally have been working with farmworkers for over 16 years. And that means regularly going to farms, regularly interacting with people. We do workshops. We do training activities. We do troubleshooting. Our workplace relations project-- we interview farm owners and managers and ask them how their workplace has changed over time, and what are the challenges as well as the benefits. And then, separately, we meet with farmworkers and talk about what it's like to work in that workplace. We analyze what they are both saying, and we host an all-farm meeting in which we address the challenges that they face. And we have developed, as I mentioned earlier, a series of tips and tools that are available for farm employers as well as farm workers. One of the things that this research highlighted was that workers often did not have a face-to-face interview with their employer. They came to work on the farm, they shadowed another worker, but they never had that, welcome to the farm. This is what we're doing here. And so we put together a bilingual tool which is a worker orientation checklist that farmers can use. When you have a new worker, did you talk about benefits? Did you talk about how to ask for time off? Did you talk about scheduling? Did you talk about training opportunities? So that's an approach in which we interacted with hundreds of farmworkers. And in the immigration arena, many of the farmworkers who came here without proper documentation have US-born children. However, in order to create a legal document that assigns a temporary guardian for their US-born children, they have to have a current federal photo ID from their own government. So 13 years ago, we started working with the Mexican and the Guatemalan consulates to bring them to upstate New York so farmworkers could get those necessary documents without running the risk of traveling from the North Country to New York City, where the possibility of being detained was very, very high. So in a recent mobile consulate event that we had with workers from Guatemala, we had 400 people come in a single day. And so when they come, we collaborate with partners. And during that event, clinic was present to give free health consultations. We have pro-bono immigration attorneys on site in case people have immigration questions. We have workplace safety people on site to share resources. And so over the years, many farmworkers have attended either an on-farm workshop, a research project, a consulate activity. And so that's how we have so many personal phone numbers, because we asked them if they would like to be informed of workshops, consulate visits, et cetera. So obviously, of those phone numbers, a certain percentage no longer were active. But once we went through, we found that we had this way to communicate with about 3,000 farmworkers. When COVID presented itself, we had to interrupt our face-to-face interactions. And so we started initially sending, via WhatsApp or text message, links to videos in Spanish, in Mam, in other indigenous languages about the transmission of COVID-19 and how to protect oneself. We also organized Spanish language calls with a trusted medical professional, Dr. Canario, who's the medical director of Finger Lakes Community Health. And these calls were simply Q&A. But this system allowed not only for us to communicate information to farmworkers, but they could communicate back to us. They could text us back and let us know if they needed masks, if they needed additional medical advice, if they needed legal referrals, and for many, if they needed food. So we transitioned our activities. We worked with a group of local volunteers, the Bryant Park mask sellers, who sold masks. And we have distributed now about 8,000 masks to farmworkers. But at the beginning of the pandemic, none of us were familiar with masks, and farmworkers had a lot of questions about how to wash them, how to dry them, et cetera. So we included with the masks a bilingual graphic which showed how the mask should be worn, how it can be washed. And on the reverse side, we included the phone numbers for all the federally designated migrant health clinics. So if it's a mask that we distributed in this area, it has the phone number for Finger Lakes Community Health, or if it's in Western New York, Oak Orchard Community Health. Or if it's in the Hudson Valley, it was then Sun River Community Health. Because we had this two-way text messaging system, we started getting requests for food for people who, during quarantine, could not leave the farm. That's not a typical activity that we had ever undertaken in the past, but we needed to develop a an emergency response to that. And fortunately, we had a farmer who donated a large amount of beef. We worked with CCE to store that beef, and we worked with the local food kitchen, with Loaves & Fishes, to cook those meals. And so we were picking up a hundred fully-cooked meals every week and delivering those. During the season, we also had farmers who provided produce. So we would deliver to those people who were in quarantine a box of shelf-safe food, produce, and cooked meals. However, this really underscored food insecurity within the farmworker population, not only during quarantine, but because their children were not attending schools. While the schools might offer the continuation of meals that could be picked up at the school, most of the farmworkers didn't have transportation to go to the school to pick up the meals. So it underscored how much reliance vulnerable families had when school lunches and breakfasts were no longer available to their children. During COVID, we undertook another activity. We have always supported farmworkers with legal clinics, but we could no longer do face-to-face clinics. So we would get a text message from a farmworker family that had a legal need. We would conduct a legal intake over the phone and then match that farmworker with a pro-bono immigration or family law attorney in their area. The immigration attorneys often receive funding to serve a specific geographic area. And then we would have virtual legal clinics. The attorney would be at their kitchen table. The farmworker would be at their kitchen table. The translator would be at their kitchen table. And in order to facilitate that, we had to teach farmworkers how to download Zoom on their phones. So my students would do dry runs with farmworkers who were going to go to a legal clinic, and practice before the clinic. And this allowed for farmworkers to receive that necessary support, those people who were in immigration and deportation proceedings to receive the necessary support. And Governor Cuomo put into place the possibility for virtual notarization, so legal documents could be notarized via Zoom or FaceTime. So we were allowed to continue with those families who were interested in assigning temporary guardians for their US-born children. A parent who's undocumented who is facing deportation proceedings will often put into place a temporary guardian to avoid that those children become wards of the state. And they can name an individual that they know and trust. We did 10 virtual legal clinics, quite a bit of background work to make those happen. In addition to signing legal papers such as temporary guardianship, we also put together a packet of information for those people who were going to serve as a guardian, which includes all the information about the children-- their teacher, their pediatrician, their dentist, allergies, likes, dislikes. And we also used COVID to tweak our service directory. We have a Spanish and English language searchable database of services that are organized by geocode. So you put in your address, and you can look at the services, things such as housing, legal services, education, English classes, job training, safety, health services. And it's not just a simple list, but each service indicates, do they provide translation? If so, in what languages? Do they provide transportation? If so, how do you organize it? What is the general fee structure? And what are the documents that are required for one to access those services? Because you don't want to send an undocumented person to a government service where there are mandatory reporters. So we did a lot of revamping of our website. We have a Spanish language website, which is [INAUDIBLE], which is cell phone accessible. And also, during COVID, we developed visual materials on new regulations. There were state regulations, COVID farm safety regulations. There was not an easy way for those regulations to be communicated to farmworkers. So we developed an audiovisual animated video to share that information with farmworkers. Many things changed. The Driver's License, the Green Light Law was passed, so immigrants, regardless, could have access to driver's licenses. However, the DMV closed, so we mailed out a lot of Spanish-language driver's manuals so people could study for the written test. Also, right before COVID, the law that provides the Farm Labor Fair Laborer Practices Act, which revises the New York state labor law to include new protections for farmworkers, farmworkers and domestic workers were excluded from the National Labor Relations Act, which is the federal, which provides the right to organize, guaranteed workers' comp, et cetera, guaranteed day of rest. And that was changed in July of 2019, where the New York state labor law was revised through this legislation. So that raised a lot of new information. One of the things that we've been doing is, how do you take complex information and make it accessible to an immigrant low-literacy population? So I'm just going to show you this. As I said, the labor law affecting farmworkers changed, and it has many components. So how do you communicate it? [AUDIO PLAYBACK] - If you're a farmworker in New York state, there's a new law that you should know called the New York State Farm Laborers Fair Labor Practices Act. This video explains what this new law means to you. This material was produced by the Cornell Farmworker Program at Cornell University. Pause this video at any moment to take note of the information. This law went into effect on January 1, 2020. To whom does it apply? This applies to all farmworkers in New York state with or without legal status. Under the new law, you have eight rights that could be beneficial to you. Right number one, the right to 24 hours of consecutive rest per week-- you could choose to work during your day of rest, but your employer can't force you to work. If you're unable to work for 24 consecutive hours due to weather or crop conditions, this counts as your day of rest. You should always keep track of the hours you worked and make sure that your pay stub reflects the exact number of hours worked. PAUL TREADWELL: To watch the full video, please visit bit.ly/cfb_video or see the link in our show notes. Now, back to our conversation with Mary Jo. MARY JO DUDLEY: I wanted to show that to you because we're using this animated form-- and this is the English version, and we obviously have the Spanish version-- to communicate complex topics. As you note, this new law came into effect January 1, 2020. And we faced a stay-at-home order two months later. And it was critical because there are certain aspects of this law, including paid sick leave, paid family leave, that became very critical during COVID. How would farmworkers be paid for the time that they were in quarantine, or the time that they were ill, or the time that they were caring for a sick family member? So what this required is a different way of working, but the priority being to maintaining ongoing communication with farmworkers and this two-way communication, which included our text messaging system as well as regularly scheduled health related calls in Spanish with Dr. Canario. And our most recent one was about vaccines-- why do you need it-- and a Q&A-- what are the challenges with vaccines? And general calls with farmworkers that were regularly scheduled, where they could just talk about issues that they were facing. So we went from in-person, face-to-face regular communications to developing a system to maintaining communication, using text messages, WhatsApp, Zoom calls, and regular telephone calls. The concrete when your life is primarily focused on your work-- certain aspects of that take on greater importance, for example, your housing. If you're working 60 hours a week, and you go home to a house where you don't have hot water, or the house is falling apart, you never rest. But if you go back to a house that you're comfortable in, you're able to rest. And one interesting aspect of farmwork is that many of the farm employers provide housing because there's no other housing available in rural areas. So the quality of the housing is extremely important to those that work on farms for their general satisfaction and their well-being. KATIE BAILDON: Historically, farmworkers have not been protected under the National Labor Rights Act, right? But then there are some protections at the state level now because of the new legislation. Is that right? MARY JO DUDLEY: When the National Labor Relations Act was passed, at that time, that was still a time of the Jim Crow laws in the South. And so that worker protection which gives the right to overtime pay, the right to a day of rest, the right to organize-- in order to get the support of the Southern Congress people, rather than explicitly state a racial exclusion, they excluded two kinds of workers who were typically Black, domestic workers and farmworkers. Since that is federal regulation, the only way that can be changed is states can amend their labor law. And in 1990, I think, New York state amended its labor law with relation to domestic workers. Other states, as you know, have amended their labor law with respect to farmworkers, such as California. And that adjustment of labor regulations, when you have the right to organize-- that evolved into the birth of many labor unions. United Farm Workers, based in California, was an entity that focuses-- has focused on organizing farmworkers. The Farm Labor Organizing Committee in Ohio focuses on organizing farmworkers. The typical union structure-- since many states' farmworkers did not have the right to organize, some states formed farmworker organizations that didn't use the typical union structure. So for example, I don't know if you've ever heard of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. That was a coalition of farmworkers in Immokalee that, rather than focusing their energy on changing the relations between worker and employer, they joined forces and targeted those that were making the most money from their labor. And so they put forth a campaign, which was called A Penny A Pound, for those that were buying tomatoes. And they focused on Taco Bell, Whole Foods, Burger King. And eventually, they were able to convince those people who bought the tomatoes to pay a penny more per pound. And that extra income was distributed among the workers. We can turn back to-- the United Farm Workers, many years ago, had a grape boycott. And so that was a consumer boycott, where consumers were encouraged not to buy grapes grown in California. Or the Farm Labor Organizing Committee had the tomato soup boycott. They encouraged consumers not to buy Campbell Soup until they changed their relationships with farmworkers. So there are different ways to think about organizing, and there are ways that farmworkers have organized informally for many years. Probably the most predominant is there's an organization of dairy workers. It's called [SPANISH], and they have organized. But before organizing around changing the labor law with its provisions for farmworkers, they focused on driver's licenses, the Green Light campaign. So those workers said, we can't have a driver's license. We have US-born children. If something happens to our children in the middle of the night, we have no way to legally attend to their medical needs. Similarly, we have no way to legally arrive at our parent-teacher conferences. If you don't have a driver's license, and you live in rural areas of New York state or any other state where there's no reliable public transportation, most of the farmworkers rely on an informal system of transportation. It's called [SPANISH]. They will hire a local unemployed or underemployed individual to give them a ride to town. And that ride to town may cost $50. So this is still an issue for us right now as we're encouraging farmworkers to access COVID-19 vaccines, is the transportation aspect. So there's a two-prong approach. One is the federally designated migrant health clinics go directly to farms and vaccinate all workers. Or in some areas, CCE has hosted joint vaccination clinics with the County Health Department. But we need to ensure that there's appropriate and accessible transportation for farmworkers to arrive at those clinics. The most successful model that we've seen is where the employers transport their workers. So there was an outbreak of COVID among a group of Guatemalan workers for whom Spanish is their second language. And their employer told them that people would be coming from the county health department to ask them questions in Spanish, probably in some version of Spanish, and that they should speak to them truthfully. Someone arrived at their house. They gave their real name, their address, and that person took photographs of them and of their house. The next day, they appeared in the local newspaper, photographs of undocumented immigrants that tested positive to COVID-19, with their address in front of their house. The only option for those individuals is to flee, whether they're violently ill or not, because that kind of information is an invitation for ICE to go to that location. That week, we had various reports of ICE picking up other farmworkers in the area, who had worked on the same farm for 20 years, who had US-born children, and took them to our federal detention center in Batavia that had a significant number of COVID-19 cases, and their bail was posted at $19,000. Make of it what you will. But did that person do that intentionally? I imagine not. But it illustrates the gap between an understanding of-- that would be a HIPAA violation if that was a health provider, right? But it was a journalist. And they didn't know who it was. They didn't know the difference, right? In the current context of anti-immigrant sentiments, it fueled the fire. And we saw this in rural areas where social media, Facebook postings, et cetera, pointed to immigrants, and farmworkers specifically, as bringing COVID to their area. Farmworkers are essential workers. They worked despite statewide stay-at-home directives. They had higher exposure to infection. And initially, they did not have access to PPE. KATIE BAILDON: On a final note, Mary Jo shared with us what brings her hope for this work. PAUL TREADWELL: And it's really an interesting section because it's-- after listening to the lead-up to this part, it really seems like hope is a challenge to maintain. But Mary Jo had some words about that. So we hope you've enjoyed this conversation, and here's Mary Jo. MARY JO DUDLEY: I think it's hopeful that the New York state labor law has been revised to provide protections for farmworkers. And as long as we can communicate that in an effective way, that opens up options for better well-being for farmworkers. I think that the partnership and the trust that we've developed with farmworkers allows us to work together to create approaches and materials that respond to both immediate and long-term needs among this population. I believe that through the COVID-19 pandemic, when many people in New York state and other states perhaps changed their perspective towards food, it opened the question of, who is producing this food? Who is milking the cows? Who is harvesting our vegetables? And so I have hope. And I have hope that we're now talking about immigration reform specifically for farmworkers. Because if we could find a way to diminish the fear associated with living undocumented in the US, we open up opportunities to be more creative. PAUL TREADWELL: Thanks for listening to this episode. Extension Out Loud was produced and edited by Paul Treadwell with help from Katie Baildon. KATIE BAILDON: For more about this episode, including show notes and more, visit extensionoutloud.com, and be sure to subscribe to Extension Out Loud on your favorite podcast directory.

    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...

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...

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. And, you know, I keep telling him for what a great way to welcome folks into the family of boating but to get him started on a paddleboard or kayak. Paul Treadwell Just to get ridiculous here if I took my tube and I was going to be tubing, and I put a motor on it. David White number one, you can't do that. Because a tube if you look at it and says this is a port, okay, most of those products, if you look at them, say this is a toy. Now let's transfer that over and now you're going to be towed by a boat on that toy. That toy is no different than a surfboard pair of skis, or anything else that you want to be pulled on behind the boat, you need to have a life jacket on. And we'll take it one step further. If it's let's say a personal watercraft, if you are towing someone behind a personal watercraft, it has to be a three person, personal watercraft because you need to have room for the operator to spotter and in case something happens to that person in the water behind you. You need to be able to rescue them and bring them back to shore. So you know a lot of folks will have a two seater jet ski in a pulling somebody behind it. Well, if something happens to that person, they can't get them back to shore. Or a lot of times you'll see a two or 3% jet ski. And they're pulling like four or five people on a raft behind it. And again, it's fun, as we always say, Oh, nothing can go wrong. And they're correct. nothing goes wrong until it does. Paul Treadwell So if I'm going to water ski, I just can't go out with my buddy Fred and jump on the skis. Well, I can, but I'm not doing it safely or legally correct. Is it legal? Or is it just a matter of safety? Is there a law that says this has to be Yeah, the way? Okay, yeah. What laws do dictate what small boat owners have to adhere to? I mean, how do you find out about those things? David White Yeah, we're fortunate in New York, our partners in New York state parks have an awesome website. It has all The boating information it has all the information on getting your certificate boating is family friendly fun what we're talking about is all the prep time so that when you're out on the water you're just having a good time you can go online there's online boating safety classes you can take your registered for it they have the voter guide that tells you for the type of boat you have, what kind of equipment you need to have on board I got an A great discussion yesterday with one of the neighbors that you know he was going to be going out Lake fishing and I said you have to have a white all around light on board and he goes what for and like so people can see you night. We don't have headlights. So you know it's different. That booklet is online tells you all the things in it tells you about the type of craft you have. So it will tell you if you have a paddle craft, what safety gear Do you need to have? What are the rules of the road? Again, if you take that pallet craft and put in engine, what do you need to have? If you're in a 15 foot boat? What do you need to have if you're in a 26 foot power boat? So all of that's listed so it's all right there. I say to folks, your safety equipment just I travel with my boat safety kit. And I'm doing demonstrations and in that small Tupperware container is all the safety gear I need. I check it at the beginning of the year. I make sure it's all correct. It's you know the flares are not outdated, the fire extinguisher works. And I just have it all right there and it says right on both safety kit. So if there's ever a problem, there it is. I hope I never have to open it but I'm well prepared in case I do insurance. That's good to know. Paul Treadwell If people want to find out more about your work at Sea Grant, check the website is that how they would do it and David White the best way is to check our website you know, use your favorite search engine if you want to find out more about laws. Again, state parks has a great website US Coast Guard Auxiliary, our partners there have a great website Dec has a great website with a lot of the launch ramps. If you are a paddle craft person, here's a challenge to you is we're coming out of COVID pick a different body of water every weekend to go to find a launch ramp, launch your kayak make sure you're cleaning it before you go out to remove any invasive species. We got our clean green drying program going on. So make sure you're not transporting any invasive species. But New York has a wealth of water based resource and we have canals, rivers, streams, ponds, lakes, big lakes, little lakes. What a great thing to do with your family. If you're getting into paddle craft pick a different location to go every weekend. And I would guess within an hour drive everybody in New York, they could go someplace different every weekend during the summer. Paul Treadwell Thanks Dave for taking your time out. I know it's a busy time of year for you. We appreciate your Sage wisdom and advice here. hope everybody has an enjoyable time out on the water and stay safe. David White Absolutely. Thanks for having me and have a fun family friendly time out on New York water. Paul Treadwell Thanks for listening to this episode. Extension out loud was produced and edited by Paul Treadwell. Katie For more about this episode including show notes and more visit extension outloud dot com, and be sure to subscribe to extension outloud on your favorite podcast directory.

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:  Accessible version of Cornell Chicken Recipe:  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...

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 life principle is to figure out how to support poultry farmers. And that's something that's really important globally is making sure small farmers are successful. And mom has told me many times about how back when he was innovating and creating, that poultry farmers in upstate New York were suffering if they didn't have big enough broilers or they weren't producing what was needed for rotisserie chicken or fried chicken. And so he wanted to help figure out a way to create more yield for them. And that's, I think, a really noble thing that he did because he-- the chicken nugget is an example of how to use the leftover pieces that aren't maybe used in other recipes and to figure out how to use smaller broilers so that those farmers could be successful and not go out of business. REENIE BAKER SANSTEAD: I think one of the other family secrets is that of his six children, three of us became vegetarians, due to all the taste testing. [LAUGHS] PAUL TREADWELL: So are you still currently a vegetarian? REENIE BAKER SANSTEAD: I still am. PAUL TREADWELL: Oh, so-- REENIE BAKER SANSTEAD: So I have not eaten a chicken nugget since I was on the taste panel for them when I was a little kid. PAUL TREADWELL: [INAUDIBLE] secrets are coming out left and right here. This is amazing. REENIE BAKER SANSTEAD: So don't know what they taste like, yeah. KATIE BAILDON: Talk a little bit about what his job was at Cornell and how long he was there. REENIE BAKER SANSTEAD: So he started at Cornell in '49. And he retired in about '86. And he would have retired sooner, but mom had decided he was the kind of guy who needed something to do. So that's why she started Baker's Acres. And the joke was that he couldn't retire because he had to help pay for this endeavor that she had started. So he did finally retire in '86. And she was absolutely right. It was very hard for him to not go into work every day. But he grew up in Sodus, New York. So part of Baker's Acres is a apple orchard and that [INAUDIBLE]. And he actually went to school in [INAUDIBLE] at Cornell. So that really made him very happy to work in the orchards. But at Cornell, he was a professor in poultry science. He also became the head of the department many times. He even ran the Food Science Department for quite a while there. But he did a lot of consulting around the world for many, many different companies. But he truly loved Cornell and wanted Cornell to get credit for everything. SARAH SANSTED: Also Grandpa, I would say it wasn't that he wasn't proud of the chicken nugget. But that wasn't really what he was most adamant about it. It was the Cornell barbecue sauce that, I think-- I didn't actually find out that he had invented the chicken nugget until I was, like, 15 years old. I didn't know.   REENIE BAKER SANSTEAD: Well, it was just another product. It was one of the many products. SARAH SANSTED: It was one of the many products. Yeah, he didn't see it as the big breakthrough. REENIE BAKER SANSTEAD: I think McDonald's made it famous. SARAH SANSTED: Commercialized it, yeah. REENIE BAKER SANSTEAD: Yeah. PAUL TREADWELL: Thanks for listening to this episode. Extension Out Loud was produced and edited by Paul Treadwell with help from Katie Baildon. KATIE BAILDON: For more about this episode, including show notes and more, visit extensionoutloud.com. And be sure to subscribe to Extension Out Loud on your favorite podcast directory.

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

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

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

CCE Assistant Director, Keith Tidball joins Extension Out Loud hosts Katie Baildon and Paul Treadwell to discuss CCE’s role in preparing and responding to natural, technical, and man-made hazards. Episode Transcript (pdf): https://cornell.box.com/s/zxpubzlszi6zn0dn586dfle11oc303p3 Links: CCE EDEN website: https://eden.cce.cornell.edu/ About APREP: http://eden.cce.cornell.edu/about-ny-eden/ Ready.gov website: https://www.ready.gov/ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) link: https://www.cdc.gov/

Have you heard the Parenting Tips podcast by CCE Suffolk County? Hosted by Rory McNish, the show features parenting educators who offer research-based advice on issues impacting modern families. Listen to an episode that explores temper tantrums and learn about the wealth of parenting programs offered by CCE from Family Health and Wellness director at CCE Suffolk County, Nancy Olsen-Harbich. Episode links: Parenting Tips Podcast: http://ccesuffolk.org/family-health-and-wellness/parenting-tips-podcasts  CCE Suffolk County Family Health and Wellness: http://ccesuffolk.org/family-health-and-wellness  Transcript (pdf): https://cornell.box.com/s/4j17itaya5pnabmd9nuw02s3a3mxg8ru

In this episode of Extension Out Loud, hosts Paul Treadwell and Katie Baildon chat with extension experts on how to prepare your home for the winter — from programs and incentives for winterizing your home for energy efficiency, to resources and tips for how to deal with energy outages during our infamous upstate snowstorms. Listen to the episode.  Guests include: Katherine Herleman, Extension Disaster Education Coordinator, Cornell Cooperative Extension Collin Adkins, Environment and Energy Resource Educator, Cornell Cooperative Extension Dutchess County Sean Welsh, Energy Resource Educator, Community Energy Advisor, Cornell Cooperative Extension Sullivan County Links to more resources: https://midhudsonenergychoices.org/ https://smartenergychoices.org/ https://www.nyserda.ny.gov/Contractors/Find-a-Contractor/Community-Energy-Resource https://www.nyserda.ny.gov/All-Programs/Programs/Community-Energy-Engagement-Program http://eden.cce.cornell.edu/ Episode transcript (pdf): https://cornell.box.com/s/hizjpwugwnc7sedyogx9zbz10j9dp0xi

The leaves have peaked. The air has chilled. The clocks have fallen back. It’s undeniably November, and everyone is talking turkey. Offering a bird’s eye view of the turkey scene in New York state, we are joined by Mo Tidball, a nutrition educator at Cornell Cooperative Extension Seneca County and the creator of the Wild Harvest Table website. An expert in all-things turkey, Tidball raises and sells heritage breed, free-range turkeys on her Seneca Falls farm. Episode transcript (pdf): https://cornell.box.com/s/msqnp2qvq0ndmac2pkh2zq5b231lkdgz Episode links: Wild Harvest Table: http://www.wildharvesttable.com/ USDA Turkey Basics-Safe Cooking: https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/food-safety-education/get-answers/food-safety-fact-sheets/poultry-preparation/turkey-basics-safe-cooking/CT_Index Photo of Mo by RJ Anderson.

In a special Veterans Day episode of CCE’s “Extension Out Loud” podcast, hosts Katie Baildon and Paul Treadwell speak with project coordinator Dean Koyanagi ‘90 on the scope of the Farm Ops project across New York state. Episode Transcript(pdf): https://cornell.box.com/s/lbjeuek2x4zrjmsm85er3wrnrh51a9a9 Links: Cornell Farm Ops program: https://smallfarms.cornell.edu/projects/farm-ops/ Cornell Small Farms Program: https://smallfarms.cornell.edu/ Armed to Farm: https://www.ncat.org/armedtofarm/ EquiCenter: https://www.equicenterny.org/

CCE summer interns extend and explore What may have felt like a short amount of time was long on influence for the 29 Cornell undergrads who spent their summer working and conducting research in New York state communities across New York state as Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) interns. During this episode we talk to 5 of interns about their summer of discovery. 2019 CCE Interns Video: https://youtu.be/No4bRCjjGOg Adjoa's Blog: https://sway.office.com/Z6XboHscj023CeP2?ref=Link Stephanies's Blog: https://sway.office.com/6LSfbGKhrmjtNw1i?ref=Link Jesse's Blog: https://sway.office.com/nhoYGKKEDzMA3M3F?ref=Link Rose's Blog: https://sway.office.com/QKYDa8azIHjOH1W1?ref=Link Johanna's Blog: https://sway.office.com/DnVhv4HvX7GYUfxy?ref=Link Episode Transcript (pdf): https://cornell.box.com/s/77b14ssse4zcz0ytj6eyf1l0qhojtt9g Credits: Title and End Music by Ryan Andersen - Bike Ride With You from the album Swimming. freemusicarchive.org/music/Ryan_Andersen/Swimming/ licensed under CC BY-NC 4,0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

We sat down with Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo, Representative for the 123 NY Assembly District and Chair of the Assembly agriculture committee to discuss hemp legislation, consumer protection and more. Recorded at Empire Farm Days. Episode Transcript: https://cornell.box.com/s/p6bqb8csctijk8yjdsf85cg4rowwvm4n Credits: Title and End Music by Ryan Andersen - Bike Ride With You from the album Swimming. freemusicarchive.org/music/Ryan_Andersen/Swimming/ licensed under CC BY-NC 4,0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

Larry Smart, professor of horticulture at Cornell University's School of Integrated Plant Science and Associate Director of Cornell Agritech talks about NYS hemp. In part 2 of this 2 part series, Larry discusses hemp production research and the newly funded Cornell hemp seed bank. Links: Cornell Hemp: https://hemp.cals.cornell.edu/ Cornell Hemp on Twitter: @Cornell_U_Hemp Episode Transcript: https://cornell.box.com/s/akv2k524e3n76vcoo6btj69hghdkqrul Credits: Title and End Music by Ryan Andersen - Bike Ride With You from the album Swimming. freemusicarchive.org/music/Ryan_Andersen/Swimming/ licensed under CC BY-NC 4,0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

Larry Smart, professor of horticulture at Cornell University's School of Integrated Plant Science and Associate Director of Cornell Agritech talks about NYS hemp. In part 1 of this 2 part series, Larry discusses uses of the hemp plant including CBD, hemp for fiber and hemp for food and feed. Links: Cornell Hemp: https://hemp.cals.cornell.edu/ Cornell Hemp on Twitter: @Cornell_U_Hemp Episode Transcript: https://cornell.box.com/s/vpo6nvh47g1z5zbdo04ki80w7p7214gy Credits: Title and End Music by Ryan Andersen - Bike Ride With You from the album Swimming. freemusicarchive.org/music/Ryan_Andersen/Swimming/ licensed under CC BY-NC 4,0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

At the annual Empire Farm Days event in Seneca Falls, NY, "Extension Out Loud" hosts sat down with Mario Miranda Sazo, a cultural practices specialist with Cornell Cooperative Extension's Lake Ontario Fruit Program. Mario shares how is career lead him from Chile to NYS and how digital agriculture may shape the future of the apple industry. Links: Lake Ontario Fruit Program and Mario's bio: https://lof.cce.cornell.edu/specialist.php?id=46 The Modern Acre podcast: http://themodernacre.co/ Cornell Cooperative Extension Program Work Teams (PWT): http://cce.cornell.edu/programworkteams/about Episode transcript (PDF): https://cornell.box.com/s/umo9vfvbk3a32z9epr66p7f6voptlaqo Credits: Title and End Music by Ryan Andersen - Bike Ride With You from the album Swimming. freemusicarchive.org/music/Ryan_Andersen/Swimming/ licensed under CC BY-NC 4,0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

How is the 2019 growing season shaping up and what should we expect from this year’s harvest? 8 CCE specialists from across NYS join Extension Out Loud to share their insights and observations. Tune in to learn what NY growers are facing in their fields, gardens and vineyards and how they are adapting to combat climate, weather, and pest challenges. Our guests for this episode: Judson Reid, Vegetable Specialist, Cornell Vegetable Program, Harvest New York Ethan Grundberg, Vegetable Specialist, Eastern New York Commercial Horticulture Craig Kahlke, Fruit Quality Management Specialist, Lake Ontario Fruit program Laura McDermott, Small Fruit and Vegetable Specialist, Eastern New York Commercial Horticulture Mike Basedow, Tree Fruit Specialist, Eastern New York Commercial Horticulture Kitty O'Neil Regional Field Crops & Soils Specialist, North Country Regional Agriculture team Hans Walter-Peterson, Viticulture Specialist, Finger Lakes Grape Program Jennifer Russo, Viticulturist, Lake Erie Regional Grape Program Download the episode transcript (pdf): https://cornell.box.com/s/4lzbgehux9aoy3fprpytlpu3od7r2d67 Credits: Title and End Music by Ryan Andersen - Bike Ride With You from the album Swimming. freemusicarchive.org/music/Ryan_Andersen/Swimming/ licensed under CC BY-NC 4,0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

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. Links: Original Cornell Chicken recipe published 1950: https://ecommons.cornell.edu/handle/1813/2652 Accessible version of Cornell Chicken Recipe: http://yates.cce.cornell.edu/resources/cornell-chicken-barbecue-sauce-and-safe-chicken-barbecues Episode transcript (pdf): https://cornell.box.com/s/3zbl6brclgefxe8cgs859xy9t2r0tf0n Credits: Title and End Music by Ryan Andersen - Bike Ride With You from the album Swimming. freemusicarchive.org/music/Ryan_Andersen/Swimming/ licensed under CC BY-NC 4,0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

In the midst of camp enrollment season, Shawn Tiede, the NYS 4-H camps specialist, and Jim Hooper, manager of 4-H Camp Bristol Hills in Canandaigua, NY, join “Extension Out Loud” to discuss what New York State 4-H camps have to offer. From crafts and physical activity to culinary workshops, this episode covers the breadth of learning opportunities available to campers. Shawn and Jim also highlight how camps have evolved to become more inclusive of all children and adolescents from all backgrounds. Links: NYS 4-H camps website: https://nys4-h.org/new-york-state-4h-camps Episode transcript (pdf file): https://cornell.box.com/s/9be6g4z3w4pdtz7693v1tqhvyd4h9o9k Credits: Title and End Music by Ryan Andersen - Bike Ride With You from the album Swimming. freemusicarchive.org/music/Ryan_Andersen/Swimming/ licensed under CC BY-NC 4,0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

Sam Anderson and Yolanda Gonzalez urban agriculture specialists with the Cornell Cooperative Extension Harvest New York team join Extension Out Loud to discuss their work with growers and producers in NYC. They talk production methods, interesting value added products, community engagement, soil health, and the diversity of taste preferences in one of the most diverse cities in the world. Episode transcript (pdf): https://cornell.box.com/s/t85tipegny8eri3s3no235llf2moqnh4 Episode Links: Harvest NY Urban Ag | https://harvestny.cce.cornell.edu/topic.php?id=7 Oko Farms | http://www.okofarms.com/ EdenWorks | https://edenworks.com/ SmallHold | https://www.smallhold.com/ Square Roots | https://squarerootsgrow.com/ Credits: Title and End Music by Ryan Andersen - Bike Ride With You from the album Swimming. freemusicarchive.org/music/Ryan_Andersen/Swimming/ licensed under CC BY-NC 4,0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Episode art: photograph by R.J. Anderson/Cornell Cooperative Extension

Michele Ledoux, executive director, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Lewis County joins Extension Out Loud to discuss how the #2 maple syrup producing state in the U.S. produces, processes and markets a wide array of delicious sweet and savory maple products. Michelle also highlights the latest production innovations from the Cornell Sugar Maple Research & Extension program. Episode transcript (pdf): https://cornell.box.com/s/kdta4oas4n0qjuziua6n0olohee8opj9 Episode links: NYS Maple : https://www.nysmaple.com/ CCE Lewis County Maple page: http://ccelewis.org/agriculture/maple International Maple Museum: https://maplemuseumcentre.org/index.php Cornell Maple Program : https://blogs.cornell.edu/cornellmaple/ Northern New York Ag Development Program: http://www.nnyagdev.org/ Credits: Title and End Music by Ryan Andersen - Bike Ride With You from the album Swimming. freemusicarchive.org/music/Ryan_Andersen/Swimming/ licensed under CC BY-NC 4,0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Episode art: photograph by R.J. Anderson/Cornell Cooperative Extension

How can exploring one’s identity and self-purpose help youth get more out of programs, such as 4-H? Dr. Tony Burrow, associate professor in the Department of Human Development at Cornell’s College of Human Ecology shares his research on the benefits of helping youth think about long-term personal goals and self-identifying “their why” prior to introducing programming in clubs like 4-H. Tony is co-director of the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research Program for Research on Youth Development and Engagement (PRYDE), and a recent recipient of Engaged Scholar Prize from Engaged Cornell. Episode transcript (pdf): https://cornell.box.com/s/islq5r3bvhzzbos05oavuwitateedhyy Links: Program for Research on Youth Development and Engagement: https://pryde.bctr.cornell.edu Purpose and Identity Process Lab: http://blogs.cornell.edu/burrowlab/ Credits: Title and End Music by Ryan Andersen - Bike Ride With You from the album Swimming. freemusicarchive.org/music/Ryan_Andersen/Swimming/ licensed under CC BY-NC 4,0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

In the first episode of season 3, Julie Suarez, Associate Dean of Governmental and Community Relations in the College of Agriculture and Life Science at Cornell University, joins Extension Out Loud once again to discuss the provisions of the newly passed 2018 farm bill. Julie breaks down how the longest government shutdown in the books has impacted farmers, Cornell University’s role in the growing hemp industry, the farm bill’s emphasis on urban agriculture, innovative production, research, and more! See S1E1 for the first interview with Julie about the farm bill. Please, take our survey and let us know what you think about Extension Out Loud. All data is gathered is anonymous and will help us shape upcoming episodes. Survey: https://cornell.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eWm0KiYFdAF1afP Episode transcript (pdf): https://cornell.box.com/s/pgzw4ftuc9gkmvz08im02t6x6mfow55g Links: Grow NYC: https://www.grownyc.org/ Cornell Small Farms Program – the Labor Ready Farmer project: https://smallfarms.cornell.edu/projects/ Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Harvest New York Team – Urban agriculture: https://harvestny.cce.cornell.edu/topic.php?id=7 Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018: https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/2 Credits: Title and End Music by Ryan Andersen - Bike Ride With You from the album Swimming. freemusicarchive.org/music/Ryan_Andersen/Swimming/ licensed under CC BY-NC 4,0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

Join us as we talk to Kitty O'Neil and Mike Hunter of CCE's North Country Regional Ag team about this year's harvest. This is our final episode of 2019 - Join us again in the new year, and don't forget to take our survey and let us know what you think about Extension Out Loud. All data is gathered is anonymous and will help us shape upcoming episodes. Survey: https://cornell.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eWm0KiYFdAF1afP Episode transcript (pdf): https://cornell.box.com/s/xdeiq377cg3h2r7d58voi6aw39vpl46q Link: https://ncrat.cce.cornell.edu/

In this episode we talk with Hans Walter-Peterson - Team Leader for the Finger Lakes Grape Program and Tim Wiegle - Team Leader of the Lake Erie Regional Grape Program. Not surprisingly, our conversation focuses on the 2018 harvest for grapes. Please, take our survey and let us know what you think about Extension Out Loud. All data is gathered is anonymous and will help us shape upcoming episodes. Survey: https://cornell.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eWm0KiYFdAF1afP Links: Ginger Lakes Grape Program: https://flgp.cce.cornell.edu/ Lake Erie regional Grape Program: https://lergp.cce.cornell.edu/ Episode transcript (pdf): https://cornell.box.com/s/8rt3pia4r86iz08xo9xxlwie56f21dsk

Just in time for Thanksgiving! Our 3 Harvest Highlights 2018 episode is an exploration of the wild harvest this year with Moira Tidball- CCE Seneca's Nutrition Issue Leader and creator of the Wild Harvest Table website. We discuss a range of issues, including the use of ingredients such as squirrel, canned Canada goose and much much more! Please take our survey and let us know what you think about Extension Out Loud. All data is gathered is anonymous and will help us shape upcoming episodes. Survey: https://cornell.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eWm0KiYFdAF1afP Episode transcript (pdf): https://cornell.box.com/s/4m5ll5odmknr28kyynz4dmw54m7q85jo Links: Bio of Mo : http://localfood.cornell.edu/moira-tidball/ Wild Harvest Table website: http://www.wildharvesttable.com/ Hunting and the Local Food Movement: Insights from Central New York State: http://www.wildharvesttable.com/2017/10/13/hunting-and-the-local-food-movement-insights-from-central-new-york-state/ National Center for Home Food Preservation website: https://nchfp.uga.edu/ NYS DEC Venison Donation program info: https://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/8351.html Credits: Title and End Music by Ryan Andersen - Bike Ride With You from the album Swimming. freemusicarchive.org/music/Ryan_Andersen/Swimming/ licensed under CC BY-NC 4,0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

It's our second Harvest Highlight. Apples and Berries are where it's at this episode! We talk with three of our specialists in the field to learn about this years growing season and harvest/ Our guest are Craig Kahlke -Team Leader, Fruit Quality Management Lake Ontario Fruit Program, Mike Basedow -Tree Fruit Specialist Eastern New York Commercial Horticulture Team and Laura McDermott - Team Leader, Small Fruit and Vegetable Specialist Eastern New York Commercial Horticulture Team. Season 2, Episode 2 transcript (pdf): https://cornell.box.com/s/utvfvmuvnnjid7cp9ie716ip4vpj6igm Links: Lake Ontario Fruit Program - https://lof.cce.cornell.edu/ Eastern NY Commercial Horticulture Team - https://enych.cce.cornell.edu/ Credits: Title and End Music by Ryan Andersen - Bike Ride With You from the album Swimming. freemusicarchive.org/music/Ryan_Andersen/Swimming/ licensed under CC BY-NC 4,0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

The first of our 2018 Harvest Highlights series. Today we talk with Ethan Grundberg and Judson Reid, two of our vegetable specialists, about the growing season and what this years harvest looks like. Please take our survey and let us know what you think about Extension Out Loud. All data is gathered is anonymous and will help us shape upcoming episodes. Survey: https://cornell.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eWm0KiYFdAF1afP More info on CCE Area Teams: http://cce.cornell.edu/page/areateams Episode transcript (pdf): https://cornell.box.com/s/x8hvef4yg3mc2nroliufc70foz087wdf Credits: Title and End Music by Ryan Andersen - Bike Ride With You from the album Swimming. freemusicarchive.org/music/Ryan_Andersen/Swimming/ licensed under CC BY-NC 4,0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

In the last episode of the farm bill series, Extension Out Loud hosts discuss nutrition programming with Lara Parrilla, nutrition & community development issue leader with CCE Tompkins County and Randi Quackenbush, advocacy & education manager with the Food Bank of the Southern Tier. Please take our survey and let us know what you think about Extension Out Loud. All data is gathered is anonymous and will help us shape upcoming episodes. Survey: https://cornell.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eWm0KiYFdAF1afP Episode transcript (pdf): https://cornell.box.com/s/8uyzznbuoe75kjuqn73dv64ulzb54o8s Relevant links: Lara's bio: http://ccetompkins.org/staff/lara-parrilla Rani's bio: https://www.foodbankst.org/staff-listing Eat Smart NY: http://eatsmartnewyork.org/ Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP): https://fnec.cornell.edu/for-partners/programs/efnep/

In this episode we talk with Dr. Andrew Novakovic, E.V. Baker Professor of Agricultural Economics at the Dyson School at Cornell University. This conversation explores the economics of dairy and current challenges that dairy farmers are facing with a focus on the impact of the farm bill on the NYS dairy industry. Please take our survey and let us know what you think about Extension Out Loud. All data is gathered is anonymous and will help us shape upcoming episodes. Survey: https://cornell.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eWm0KiYFdAF1afP Episode 4 transcript (pdf) https://cornell.box.com/s/pisaz8165y8jp39z9nbsaeph9su43ji6 Relevant Links: Federal Milk Marketing Orders: https://www.ams.usda.gov/rules-regulations/moa/dairy Margin Protection Program for Dairy: https://www.fsa.usda.gov/programs-and-services/Dairy-MPP/index Credits: Title and End Music by Ryan Andersen - Bike Ride With You from the album Swimming. freemusicarchive.org/music/Ryan_Andersen/Swimming/ licensed under CC BY-NC 4,0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

Guests Jerry Bertoldo, dairy specialist with CCE Northwest NY Dairy, Livestock & Field Crops Program and Tom Overton, CCE associate director and director of PRO-DIARY, discuss CCE programs supporting dairy farmers across New York State. Download episode transcript (pdf) : https://cornell.box.com/s/jdwwfe6ueoxlyyyoy28qug24kt4elm3h Relevant Links: Cornell Cooperative Extension : http://www.cce.cornell.edu NWNY Dairy, Livestock & Field Crops Team : https://nwnyteam.cce.cornell.edu PRO-DAIRY : https://prodairy.cals.cornell.edu/ Dairy Acceleration Program : https://prodairy.cals.cornell.edu/dairy-acceleration/ Dairy Profit Teams : https://nyfvi.org/nyfvi-dairy-program/ NY FarmNet : https://www.nyfarmnet.org/ Title and End Music by Ryan Andersen - Bike Ride With You from the album Swimming. freemusicarchive.org/music/Ryan_Andersen/Swimming/ licensed under CC BY-NC 4,0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

What does international trade have to do with the dairy industry? Agricultural economist Dr. Andrew Novakovic explains in this snippet from an upcoming Extension Out Loud podcast episode. Hosts Katie and Paul and their guest went on a timely tangent about trade, tariffs, and NYS dairy that gives important context to the trade negotiations that are currently underway. Check out this snippet and tune in next week for the full interview.