April 2015-June 2015 | NSWCD-NRCS | (803) 276-1978 ext. 101 Newberry Soil & Water Newsletter USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service-Newberry Soil and Water Conservation District Cleanup, Cleanup! Everybody, Everywhere! Contents Cleanup, Cleanup! 1 schools, individuals, and local government office to do a city-wide cleanup. Be a Part of Your Local Voice 1 Gardening Series 2 Education 2 Grinding of the Greens Update 2 Getting ‘Down and Dirty’ 3 home, but in your community as well. Join us on Saturday, May 9th from 9 a.m. to 12 Envirothon 3 p.m. for our GAC Event. (Saturday the 16th is a scheduled “rain day” in case of Camp Conservation 3 inclement weather.) We will supply pick-up tools, gloves, vests, trash bags, and more! Shoe Drive 4 Come give Newberry a “Spring Cleaning” this year and let’s aim for a more beautiful “Little Farmers” 4 Each year, Keep Newberry County Beautiful (a program run by the Newberry Soil and Water Conservation District) hosts a Great American Cleanup, also called the GAC. This event takes place downtown Newberry, where we partner with local businesses, This year, as part of the merge with Adopt-A-Highway, we have decided to partner up with the state too! The Adopt-A-Highway groups will also be doing their quarterly cleanups in collaboration with our GAC Event. Now, we need YOUR help … as we all know, “spring cleaning” is needed not just in your Newberry County! Call Danielle Rowe to sign up for this event at (803) 276-1978 x-101 Be a Part of Your Local Voice in Natural Resources Conservation Our Affiliate Membership Program is still open and growing! Come join our family as we aim to help in local conservation through education programs, monthly events and workshops, soil sampling, and more! Memberships are 100% tax deductible, we offer a local discount card, two tickets to our annual banquet, and the assurance that every penny goes back into our programs and education and outreach efforts that help to conserve our natural resources. Special Interest Articles Individual Highlights Great American Cleanup in May 1 Part 2 of our 3-Part Gardening Series Continues in June 2 Scholarship Winners 2 Envirothon Team from MCHS 3 Introducing Camp Conservation 3 2 Gardening Series – Part 2 Do you naturally have a green thumb, Part 2 will branch off of Part 1 but still want tips or information on your (greenhouses, raised beds, traditional garden? Maybe you’re like the other gardening, and soils) to incorporate more 90% of us backyard gardeners and you information on irrigation, fertilizers, DON’T have a green thumb … well no pesticides, and organic processes. worries, because we have both thumbs covered! If you came to Part 1 of the Gardening Series, you know you do not want to miss The Newberry Soil and Water Part 2! To reserve your spot, call Danielle Conservation District is hosting Part 2 of Rowe at (803) 276-1978 x101 or e-mail our 3-Part Gardening Series on June 25th her at [email protected] at 7:00 p.m. “If you came to Part 1 of the Gardening Series, you know you do not want to miss Part 2!” “Grinding of the Greens” Update & Thanks! This past January, Keep Newberry County Beautiful hosted our first ever “Grinding of the Greens,” a tree recycling program, where we collected trees from local businesses and individuals in the community. Newberry Electric ground up the Christmas trees for us and we were able to donate all “Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself …” John Dewey said it best when he said, “education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” Here at the Newberry Soil and Water Conservation District, we take education very seriously and know that conservation initiatives start with educating our young people. Lack of knowledge is a big reason why people do NOT conserve, nor care about conserving their natural resources. This is why we created two scholarships for high school seniors and current college students going into the field of agriculture or natural resources related programs and that are actively involved in their community: the Newberry Soil and Water Conservation District Ag Scholarship (Value: $1,000.00) and the “Let’s Keep Newberry County Beautiful” Scholarship (Value: $1,000.00). of the mulch back to those that donated We are pleased to announce that Mark Sikora of Mid-Carolina High School and Andrew trees to us! C. Waters of Mid-Carolina High School are our two winners of the $1,000.00 scholarships! Both of these young men showed dedication and proved their efforts in We collected 76 trees this year! So we conservation through their work, study, and volunteer hours. would like to extend our gratitude to Mark Sikora will be attending Mississippi State University to study Agronomy; Andrew Newberry Electric for the labor and C. Waters will be attending the University of South Carolina to study Physical Therapy. equipment, Tractor Supply Co. and Aaron’s for allowing us to host the event and dropoff in their parking lot, and to the City of Newberry for their labor and willingness to donate all of the trees they picked up! We anticipate doing this event again next January, so mark your calendars! We are excited for Mark and Andrew and wish them all the best in their college education. We eagerly anticipate the continued education efforts by offering the Scholarship Program for two students next year as well! We will release the new scholarships for the 2016-2017 school year at the beginning of the 2016 year. 3 Camp Conservation “Nature is not a place to visit … it is home” -Gary Snyder Do your kids love the outdoors? July 20th- Get ‘Down and Dirty’ … with Your Soil! Soil, possibly the most overlooked, underrated, taken for granted, yet major partner in farming and gardening, constantly needs a little TLC. At the Newberry Soil & Water Conservation District, we encourage you to get down and dirty with your soil! Soils should be tested yearly … yes, that’s right, yearly in order to ensure proper nutrients and a good balance for healthy farming, gardening, and grazing. 24th the Newberry Soil and Water Conservation District will be partnering with many local business, agencies, and individuals to host our annual Camp Conservation! This year, we will be doing a week long camp PACKED with educational activities, experiments, games, and outdoor events! The USDA says that “Soil is a natural body comprised of solids (minerals and organic matter), liquid, and gases that occurs on the land surface, occupies space, and is We think learning should be fun … and it IS characterized by one or both of the following: horizons, or layers, that are … and we can prove it! distinguishable from the initial material as a result of additions, losses, transfers, and transformations of energy and matter or the ability to support rooted plants in a Camp Conservation is will be for youth ages natural environment.” So, why not take care of it? 6-14. We will have lessons and activities to Ideally, a healthy soil should contain about 45% minerals, 25% water, 25% air, and 5% accommodate various age/grade levels. organic matter. For more information on soil testing, getting your soil tested, or any other questions, call Danielle Rowe at (803) 276-1978 x-101 Mid-Carolina High School Teaming Up for Envirothon Every year DNR hosts Envirothon, a competition for high school students to test their knowledge on soils, water resources, forestry, wildlife, and other current environmental issues. This year, we are sponsoring Mrs. Ann Darr’s Biology students from Mid-Carolina High School as they will be representing Newberry County! We want to send Mid-Carolina High School students the best of luck!! We encourage you to get your kids involved with the Newberry Soil and Water Conservation District, conservation initiatives, and teaching them about the rural side of life. Through engaging activities, we will show kids there is more to nature than just meets the eye. 4 NSWCD-NRCS 719 Kendall Road, Newberry SC 29108 (803) 276-1978 ext. 101 [email protected] Our Mission is to develop and implement conservation initiatives which ensure the wise use of natural resources. Find us on the Web: www.nswcd.com www.facebook.com/NSWCDandKNCB www.twitter.com/NSWCDKNCB Shoes Go Out To Help Those in Need In collaboration with Funds2Org, Keep Newberry County Beautiful hosted our 2nd Annual Shoe Drive to collect shoes to help impoverished nations. Funds2org supports MicroEnterprise in impoverished nations in 13 third-world countries; they work with people who are sent through a free training program on how to run their own little business selling shoes. These individuals are then given a free supply of shoes to get their business going. After the business has been established, they can then return and purchase the second set of shoes at a very low cost. This enables them to make a huge increase in income, pay for educational expenses, housing, food, clothes, and more. This year, we hosted the event for the month of February only, and collected 118 bags of shoes, with each bag containing 25 pairs of shoes. This totaled just 50 pairs shy of 3,000 pairs of shoes! This well exceeded our amount from last year’s 111 bags in about 3-4 months. We anticipate close to the dollar amount donated to us, as was last year’s amount ($850.00), that we will be able to put into next year’s shoe drive and even hosting more Keep Newberry County Beautiful events! KNCB will be making this an annual event (every February) that we hope can continue to grow in our community! To sign up to help with next year’s shoe drive, contact us at (803) 276-1978 x-101 for more information. NSWCD “Little Farmers” of the Quarter: Preston Lominick and Harper Lominick *Photo Compliments in this article are from Setzler Farms & Buddy Lominick
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