Greetings Everyone,

September has come and gone too quickly this year! It reminds me of the saying 'long days, short weeks'. However, it was a good month to get farm equipment ready, harvest garden produce and visit some state parks. We had very little rain, except the last week of the month, which left the county very dusty and trees turning colors a bit earlier than is typical. Farmers have started bringing in the crop, with some nice numbers to report, my guess is that most fields will have been harvested by the end of October. Thankfully the dry conditions help reduce the amount of diseases like tar-spot from lowering yield numbers.

This month our office was able to host all the county 4th graders for the 2023 Ag Expo out at the Wabash County 4-H Fairgrounds. There were nine stations that each described a different topic: recycling, erosion/watersheds, 4-H showcase and pizza wheel, beekeeping, tobacco free coalition, eggs and poultry, sheep shearing, farm animals and farm equipment. A special thank you to all the volunteers and speakers who helped make this happen. We were also fortunate to have meals sponsored by local business: Farm Credit mid-America, Beacon Credit Union, and Wabash Farm Bureau, thank you for your support!   

As always, If you have any questions feel free to reach out to the Extension Office and leave your name, phone number and e-mail address. 

Phone: 260-563-0661 (Ext 1408) or emailing me directly at gschortg@purdue.edu

See other events below and feel free to reach out if you have any questions. 

Best Wishes, 

Geoff Schortgen 

County Extension Director,  Ag and Natural Resources Educator 

Part of being an Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension Educator is continued education to better help our county, area and state stakeholders. In mid-September I organized a program where county extension educators gathered at the Daniel's Turf Center for Research on Purdue's Campus to talk about turf related issues around the state. We were lucky to have 4 turf specialist speak on everything from the Purdue Turf Program, proper seeding rates, disease pressure and drones. Thank you to Dr. Aaron Patton, Dr. Cale Bigelow, Jada Powlen pHd, and Dr. Lee Miller! 

The Upper Wabash Invasives Network (UWIN) is a partnership between many organizations to help eradicate invasive species in our area. As a member of the UWIN I often teach and participate at our local Weed Wrangles. During these events we have an educational portion and then roll up our sleeves and get dirty in the field identifying and removing invasive species.