Pa e 4
THE WALSH COUNTY PRESS ° WEDNESDAY, MAY I 8, 2016
FROM THE
EDITOR'S DESK
BY ALLISON OLIA4B
EDITOR, WALSH COUNTY PRESS
It took a lot of debating to be able in town winning some big honor we
to put a story about the Press on the would be more than happy to place
front page of the Press. I hate to be it on the front." So, modesty aside,
that person bragging about some- I am beyond proud of our little
thing so silly as a few awards, but I team.
thought, "If we were to be writing There are quite a few weekly pa-
this about some other organization pers across the state and to say that
we are among the best of the best is I waited until I had the chance to go
a pretty huge honor. That second through them all with the office staff.
place in General Excellence sure as We are proud to serve Park Riv-
heck feels just as good as a first in er and the surrounding area. We are
my book. proud to represent Walsh County as
We were not able to attend the the Walsh County Press.
awards ceremony this year as it was Thank you for your kind words
held in Crosby, N.D., and that is of encouragement and suggestions
about a 9 hour round trip tbr this through the years. They make us bet-
small staff, but we were thrilled ter. They make tks want to come back
when the results came across the week after week and continue to do
wire. our jobs to the best of our abilities.
First things first, I forwarded the These awards arentjust for us, they
results on to my morn. She, of are for each and every one of you,
course, then posted her excitement the people we serve. Thank you.
to Facebook. While we could have Like" the blsh CourtO' Press on Face-
had the results in last week's paper, book.co,,,.
Hello,
Well, we finally got a day dry
enough m do our branding. Thanks
to a bunch of Kling cowboys and
a bunch of their friends, it was a
great day! If you've never been to
a good, old fashioned rope 'em and
drag 'em branding, you've missed
something. Kid start helping out
when they are five or six years old
and I guess our crew fit that.
From around six to near eighty.
And every one a good hand. Still,
one of nay favorite branding took
place in the beautiful Blue Buttes
a few years ago.
I tell you what, it was a cowboy
crew. From eight months to eighty
years old. Cowboys and cowgirls
everyone. Abby, who was about
six years old, ate fifty pounds of
half raw rocky mountain oysters.
Cooked over the branding fire. No
spices. Just a nice stick and oys-
ters flesh from the calf. Shirley
asked if she could have one for our
dog, and was sternly told, "NO!
We're not wasting them!"
After forty-nine pounds she
complained to her mother that
slie was getting a stomachache!
Jade was busy elsewhere with
a bunchoffriends. I suppose they kind of weird, but they had a
were all from about five to twelve plan. I guess it was a scientific ex-
years old. They've never had periment. They were going to find
much for toys, so they try to make out if snakes eat wood ticks! Re-
do. And they invented games that ally! Did I tell you they had caught
many kids never learn to play. At a grass snake and after chasing
least I hope not. each other around with that snake
I was watching this bunch of tbr an hour, they had decided
young cowboys playing in the they should feed the snake?
shade of the trees. It was a beau- There were calf wrestlers that
tiful day. All of a sudden they lay didn't weight eighty pounds that
down in the grass and began would have worked any man to
rolling around. Then they would death. They didn't care how big a
stop for a while and look each oth- calf the heelers came dragging
er over. Then down in the grass from the herd. They would dive in
and roll again. Curious, I had to there and grab those feet. And un-
walk over and inquire as to what like some of us older guys, they
they were doing, would jump up when it was done
"Catching wood ticks!" and run to the next one. I had to
They would roll around under have help up, and then would
the trees and then pick the wood ease over toward the cooler.
ticks off each other and place We laughed over a story as
them in a bucket. I know it sounds one dad told of his son taking some
jerky to "show and tell". When the
teacher asked where they got the
meat, he simply explained they just
take a spotlight in the pickup and
shoot a deer!"
The beaver were building a
dam near their house last spring.
Dad was going to sneak out and
shoot them. Well, the young cow-
boy insisted on going along. And
knowing there would be lots of
questions, Dad said, "If you have
any questions, ask them now, be-
cause we have to be completely
quiet when we get down by the
creek."
The young cowboy had one
question. "Are beavers good to
eat?"
Waste not. Want not.
It was a reat day. But at then
end, when the adults are all lean-
ing back and having a beer, and
completely wore out. The young
cowboys and cowgirls were gal-
loping up and down hills, picking
flowers, looking tbr snakes, and
chasing each other with calf nuts.
Oh, to be young again.
Later, Dean
Happenings at Our
Good Samaritan
Nannette Hoeger, Activities Dir.
We had a great Nursing Home
Week! Now it is time to celebrate
Syttede Mai. Please come over to
listen to Kevin and The Crew on
May 21 st.
,This-week May,l 5th - 21 st
May 15th 2:30 Worship w/Fa-
ther Luiten, 3pm Whist/Cards
May 16th 10am Embroidery
Group, 1:30pm Drive RSVP, lpm
Peeling Potatoes, 5pro Rosary,
6:45 Bingo
May 17th Settede Mai, l pm
Frying Lefse, 3pm Lefse and cof-
fee
.Ma 18th 3:15 Bingo, 6:45
Community Prayer Group
May 19th .3pro Planting, 6:30
Movie Night
May 20th 10:30 Nail Time. 3:30
Outdoor Strolls
May 21 st 9:30 Mass w/Father
Luiten. 2pro Dance to Kevin and
The Crew
Next week May 22nd 28th
May 22nd 2:30 Worship w/
Pastor Merchant, 3:30 The year
1959
May 23rd 10am Embroidery
Group, 1:30 Drive RSVP, 5pm
Rosary, 6:30 Men's Night
May 24th 1 pm Crochet Group,
lpm Baking Cinnamon Raisin
Bread
May 25th 11 : 15 Resident Coun-
cil, 3:15 Bingo, 6:45 Community
Prayer Group
May 26th 3pm Auxiliary Lunch-
eon hosted by Mountain Lutheran
Church, 6:30 Movie Night
May 27th 10:30 Nail Time, 3:30
Outside Strolls
May 28th Mass w/ Father
Luiten. lpm Bible Trivia. 2:15
Bingo
Thank you to our many volun-
teers: Father Luiten, Lois Ydstie,
Mary Seim. Shirley Sobolik, L in-
da Larson, Jeanean McMillan, Pas-
tor Hinrichs, Terry Hagen, Corinne
Ramsey, and Kevin and The Crew.
If you would like to volunteer
please call Rose Ulland at 701-284-
7115.
WHAT
lPublleNeal Walsh County Health District
, ..... ,., .... ""°'°°' Short Shots
Mental health includes our emo- usual activities
tional, psychological, and social Having low or no energy
well-being. It affects how we think. Feeling numb or like nothing
feel. and act. It also helps determine matters
how we handle stress, relate to Having unexplained aches and
others, and make choices. Mental paros
health is important at every stage of Feeling helpless or hopeless
life. from childhood and adoles- Smoking, drinking, or using
cence through adulthood, drugs more than usual
Over the course of your life. if Feeling unusually confused.
you experience mental health prob- forgetful, on edge, angry, upset, wor-
lems, your thinking, mood, and fled, or scared
behavior could be affected. Many ,-- - -Yelling or fighting-with fami-
tiactors contribute to mental health ly and friends
problems, including: Experiencing severe mood
Biological thctors, such as swings thatcause problems inre-
genes or brain chemistry lationships
Life experiences, such as trau- Having persistent thoughts and
ma or abuse memories you can't get out of your
Family history of mental health head
problems Hearing voices or believing
Mental health problems are corn- things that are not true
mon but help is available. People Thinking of harming yourself
with lnental health problems can get or others
better and many recover corn- Inability to perform daily tasks
pletely, like taking care of your kids or get-
Early Warning Signs ting to work or school
Not sure if you or someone you Help is available in our county.
know is living with mental health First Care Health Center in Park
problems? Experiencing one or River and Unity Medical Center in
more of the tbllowing tbelings or be- Grafton both offer some assistance
haviors can be an early warning sign with mental health issues. Your doc-
of a problem: tor can also refer you to a special-
" Eating or sleeping too much or ist. The Northeast Human Servic-
too little es Center can also screen and refer
Pulling away from people and by calling 701-795-3000.
Where Doesthe Need for College
Remedial Work Begin ?
Around one-fourth of the stu- tent testing, parents and students
dents appearing on campuseswill not be aware of a growing
isn't ready for college-level work need tbr remedial work until itis
and require enrolhnent in no- too late.
credit remedial courses, resulting Focusing on remedial work at
in a number of consequences., the college level is trying to solve
Remedial courses waste stu-the problem after the fact. By the
dent resources because they have time students get into high
to pay tuition for courses that do school, remedial work may be
not count toward graduation, too late because the problem had
When confronted with reme- developed long before high
dial coursework, students are dis- school.
couraged from pursuing careers To search for the root causes, I
requiring acollege education and consulted Nell Mertz, a retired
are the most likely to drop out of grade school teacher with
academia completely, decades of experience who
Remedial courses divert col- worked to keep all students per-
lege faculty from teaching the forming at their best.
courses for which they wereNell explained how grade
hired, school teachers could recognize
The sad truth is that many stu- the particular needs of each sin-
dents in need of remedial courses dent in a 22-student classroom
are not aware of their deficien- and rescue them when they fell
cies until faced with college en- behind.
trance exams or other While she felt that the aca-
measurements used in junior and demic progress of each student
senior high school years, could be managed with 22 stu-
While the need for remedialdents in a classroom, the year she
work discourages some, others ended up with only 14 students
tackle the remedial work with a resulted in remarkable progress
75 percent success rate. for everyone in the class. That
This may sound good but it is suggests something about class
safe to assume that most of the sizes.
25 percent who failed the reme- Nell noted that when students
dial program dropped out of col hit middle and high school, they
lege and ended up in jobs that are become more independent, less
rewarded with lower job saris- responsive to guidance, play to
faction, smaller salaries and less peers, and do less homework, all
job security, of which make identification of
For the past few years, theremedial needs more difficult.
North Dakota University System But the real beginning of the
has been following "Pathways need for remedial work begins
Plan" to reduce the need tbr re- betbre children appear for
medial work by getting highkindergarten or first grade. Stu-
schools to align course work and dents bring to school what they
standards with the institutions of absorbed at home.
higher learning. If parents bad-mouth schools
While the need tbr an inte-and teachers, kids will think less
grated approach is obvious to ed- of the system. If parents ridicule
ucators, authority to mpose the instructional material, kids
mandates or directives by the are less likely to study. Generally
Board of Higher Education or speaking, parents with low ex-
from the Department of Public pectations of their children are
Instruction is limited. Under our seldom disappointed.
decentralized education system, Without effective remedial at-
school districts establish their tention beginning with families
own standards, and continuing through the
Our widespread phobia over glades, middle and high school,
testing handicaps change. The the outlook for many in the fu-
federally-sponsored No Child ture generation will be bleak and
Left Behind and the state-spon- society will be saddled with a
sored Common Core both fal-larger dependentpopulation. And
tered on requirements for testing, that is very expensive for every-
Without uniform and consis-one involved.
If parents bad-mouth schools
and teachers, kids will think
less of the system.
Extension Exchange
an event
The middle of May brings sun-
shine, field work, flowers and
graduation celebrations. As fam-
ily and friends gather to celebrate
the accomplishments of Walsh
County's seniors at open houses,
it is important to know the safe
steps to handling and serving food
to groups.
When preparing for your spe-
cial event, remember that there
may be an uninvited guest ready
to strike. It's called bacteria and it
can make you or your guests sick.
Some of the leading causes of
foodborne illness outbreaks in-
clude:
Preparation a day or more
ahead of time
Food left in the danger zone
longer than two hours (41 to
140°F)
Cross contamination
Proper cooking or processing of
foods destroys bacteria and most
cases of foodborne illness can be
prevented.
WHEN YOU PLAN
in the refrigerator and freezer.
For outdoor events, ensure
you have a source of clean water
and develop a plan for transport-
ing equipment for cleanup after the
event.
WHEN YOU SHOP
Do not purchase danaaged
canned goods.
Buy cold foods last.
When shopping, be sure fresh
fruits and vegetables are separat-
ed from household chemicals and
raw foods such as meat, poultry
and seafood in your cart and in
bags at checkout.
Check that fresh cut fruits and
vegetables like packaged salads
and precut melons are refrigerat-
ed at the store before buying.
Do not buy fresh cut items that
are not refrigerated.
WHEN YOU PREPARE
FOODS
Wash hands for 20 seconds.
Wash, Rinse and Sanitize
utensils and surfaces often. This in-
eludes cutting boards, counter
tops and utensils before and after
food preparation.
Rinse fresh fruits and vegeta-
bles under running tap water, in-
cluding those with skins and finds
that are not eaten. Dry fruits and
vegetables with a clean cloth tow-
el or paper towel.
Thaw foods in the refrigerator.
WHEN YOU COOK
Use a food thermometer to
check tbr proper internal temper-
atures (USDA guidelines).
o Poultry, casseroles, leftovers
165°F
o Ground beef 160°F
o Pork, beef, lamb roasts and
steaks ! 45°F. Allow three-minute
stand time.
o Fish - varies by type
o Egg Dishes 160°F
Throw away any food that will
not be cooked if it has touched raw
meat, poultry or seafood.
WHEN YOU SERVE FOOD
Keep hot foods hot and cold
foods cold!
Food should never sit at room
temperature for more than two
hours!
[lot foods should be held at
140°F or warmer. This can be
done with chafing dishes, crock
pots and warming trays. Bacteria
that cause foodborne illnesses
grow best in lukewarm foods.
Keep foods cold by nesting
dishes in bowls of ice. If this is dif-
ficult for you to do, then use small
serving bowls and replace them of-
ten.
Always replace empty dishes
rather than adding fresh food to a
dish that already had food in it.
Use clean dishes and utensils
to serve. Bacteria can survive and
grow in food left on utensils.
WHEN YOU ARE DONE -
FOOD STORAGE
Refrigerate or freeze food
within two hours of cutting,
Event planning
Cont. page 5
Walsh County Extension Office
Park River- 284-6624
Frost and Fruit Trees
With the frost many people are
asking how cold before I lose my
fruit tbr the year. The numbers I
am about to quote comes from
Michigan and represents the low-
est temperatures a fruit tree can en-
dure for 30 minutes without dam-
age. You should not lose apples at
30 degrees or above. -You will get
10% kill on your blossoms at 28
degrees for 3o minutes and you
will get a 90% kill at 25 degrees
for 30 minutes. Pears are very sim-
ilar. Plums I would call full bloom
at his stage so 10% kill is 27 de-
grees and 90% is 23 degrees.
Apricots are very similar to plums.
Peaches if they are in full bloom
10% kill occurs at 27 degrees
and 90% kill at 24 degrees.
Preliminary Soybean
Survey Results
The North Dakota Soybean
Survey results are now in. Here are
a few things that soybean pro-
ducers my find interesting. Seed-
ing between 155,000 to 165,000
seeds per acre provided the high-
est yield in 2015. NDSU is rec-
ommending to aim at 150,000 es-
tablished plants per acre. Row
spacing between 15-22 inches
provided the highest yields and 30
inch row spacing had the lowest.
Growing soybean after corn re-
sulted in a 4.4 yield bushel high-
er yield compared with soybeans
after soybeans. Seed treaunents re-
sulted in higher yields in 2015.
Fields with irnn deficiency Chloro-
sis (IDC) issues had a 3.1 lower
yield per bushel then fields with-
out IDC. So the take home lnes-
sage here is that if this is a prob-
lem plant varieties with IDC tol-
erance.
Herb Gardening
Basics
There has been a lot of interest
recently on planting herb gar-
dens. There is a mistaken belief out
there that herb gardening is hard
and takes a high level on knowl-
edge to be successful. There are a
couple of critical factors in herb
gardening and if followed it is rel-
atively easy to grow. Let's start
with easy first.
Chives are one of the easiest
herbs to grow. You can buy sets at
your local greenhouse or find a
friend that have them and divide
them and plant them. You need to
plant them in fertile soil in full stm-
light. They are not particular about
soil type and they can be contain-
er grown and are perennials. They
like good fertility and you need to
keep the quackgrass out of them as
it is the one of the few ways to fail
with chives. They do not compete
with grass. You need to deadhead
them (keep from flowering). You
can use them fresh or freeze them.
Garlic needs to be planted in the
middle of October. This is a plant
that needs to be planted in the fall
and harvested late next summer
with the leaves start to collapse and
dry down. They need to be plant-
ed three inches deep with the
pointy side up. I like the stiff
neck or the elephant garlic. Once
harvested they need to be hung out
and dried. Some people like to
braid them and hang them in the
garage in late summer early fall to
dry out. Each bulb will have ap-
proximately 6 plantable cloves.
Winter Onions are planted the
same way as garlic. They are
perennials and will be back every
year and in fact I have some ready
to eat right now. A note of warn-
ing. They can be invasive and take
over large parts of your garden if
not managed and consumed. If you
want to see them I have them.
More on herbs next week
