(Atlantic, Iowa) – A tree that can live as long as 3,000 years (according to ArborDay.org), will be planted by the Atlantic High School Class of 1970, Saturday afternoon, on the grounds of the High School. Dr. Tressa Wilcox, of Atlantic, say a Gingko Tree will planted at 2-p.m. Saturday by the east drive of the Atlantic High School. The “50-year plus 1” event was delayed due to the pandemic. The AHS Class of 1970 planted a Gingko Tree back in 1970, also.

The class planted their first tree on the grounds of the downtown Atlantic City Park. It can be found on the northeast side, and a little toward the central part of the park. Dr. Wilcox said that first tree “is doing very well.”

Gingko leaves in the Fall

Since they graduated, the AHS Class of 1970 has lost 35 of their classmates.

Dr. Wilcox says school officials have been very supportive of the tree planting.

The hole the tree will be located in, is deep enough for the 12-foot tall tree.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Economic Development Board recently approved the rules for a new fund designed to help small meat processors. Iowa Economic Development Authority spokesperson, Kannan Kappleman, says the agency is charged with handing out the 750-thousand dollars.  “The fund provides financial assistance in the form matching grants to businesses for projects related to small-scale meat processing, licensed custom lockers, and mobile slaughter units,” according to Kappleman.

She says those rules lay out the requirements to receive the grants. She says the I-E-D-A website has a document on frequently asked questions and the rules. Kappleman says the shutdown of the large-scale meatpackers during the pandemic shined the light on the smaller operations. “So these smaller establishments were fulfilling the needs that were definitely in demand at that time,” she says.

The grants can be used to modernize and improve the operations. The Iowa Legislature passed and Governor Kim Reynolds signed what officially called “The Butchery Innovation and Revitalization Fund” into law in June of this year.

(Radio Iowa) – Many Iowans are now harvesting vegetables from their gardens and while our moms or grandmothers may have used pressure cookers to can them in jars, today, preserving the bounty is much easier. Food safety specialist Barbara Ingham says chopping and stewing your tomatoes before freezing them is the quickest and simplest way to store your harvest. “They come out of the crockpot kind of looking like what I would find in the grocery store in those nice 15-ounce cans,” Ingham says, “and then I freeze them in freezer bags once they’re cooled in those roughly two cup, 15-ounce quantities.”

Ingham says if you blanch and then freeze your corn, squash, and tomatoes before popping them in the freezer, they’ll last you for a good long while. “In the freezer, they’re safe indefinitely but we generally say about a year,” Ingham says. “This time of year, we’re looking to refill our freezer, so we hope that what was placed in the freezer last year is out of there.” Ingham says when it comes to corn, you’ll just need a sharp knife.  “It’s actually going to be a lot quicker if you can take the corn off the cob,” she says, “and just take those kernels and cook them, blanch them relatively quickly a couple of minutes in boiling water.”

Don’t stack up freshly blanched food in the freezer. Instead, she says to spread the packages around on the freezer racks so the food can freeze quickly to lock in the flavors.

https://blogs.extension.iastate.edu/spendsmart/2015/08/24/7857/

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Cass County Conservation is looking for volunteers for their 26th biannual Halloween Hike! We are looking for Actors, Hike Leaders, and Treat Makers. The 26th biannual Halloween Hike, will be held on Saturday, October 30th, as you follow a trail where meet the Lorax, his friends like Brown Barbaloots, Humming Fish and Truffula Trees.

Starting at 7:00 p.m. small groups will depart from the Camblin Addition of Sunnyside Park every ten minutes. Please call 712-769-2372 to sign up as a volunteer.

It is not the intent of Cass County Conservation to scare or frighten anyone, but to educate and entertain people of all ages. The hike is sponsored by the Cass County Conservation Board.

(Radio Iowa) – More details have been released as the investigation of the accidental death of a Kossuth County man near a hog facility continues. According to the Kossuth County Sheriff’s Office, the investigation has determined that M&M Pumping LLC of West Bend was using the open concrete tank on the property south of Algona for the storage of peptones and soybean wash water. On September 4, the contents of the tank began to foam over for an unknown reason. At that time, 33-year-old Randy Meyer of Whittemore was attempting to agitate or stir the contents of the tank with a tractor and auger when he was overcome by the odor of gasses.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency performed air quality screening assessments around the facility on September 16 and 17, testing for a limited number of pollutants. The Iowa DNR is working with the EPA to collect additional air samples so they can more comprehensively identify and characterize the odors being emitted from the storage tank. The DNR is working with the responsible parties, as well as state and federal officials, to address the environmental concerns during the removal and proper disposal of the waste material.

(Radio Iowa) – This is Farm Safety Week as harvest season gets rolling, and all farm hands are warned to stay especially vigilant for field fires during the drought. Iowa State University Extension ag engineer Kris Kohl says after a series of rural fires in 2012, a study was conducted that focused on variables like temperature, humidity and wind.  “We didn’t get any correlation to super high temperatures or really low humidity,” Kohl says, “but when you hit wind, if the wind was over 20 miles an hour in dry conditions, things can take off and burn really bad, really fast.”

Combine/Field fire east of Earling (File photo)

Kohl suggests farmers use a leaf blower to blast the dust and debris off their hot machinery, especially when the weather is perfect for a wildfire. “When we get to those kinds of conditions where we’ve got wind speeds predicted over 20 miles an hour, those are the days you’ve got to really watch out and make sure the combines are clean,” Kohl says. “Probably clean them off every couple of hours to make sure we don’t get a field fire taking off.”

Kohl recommends producers have a disc attached to a large tractor rather than trying to use water to battle any potential fire out in the fields.

w/Kate Olson.

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The Atlantic Parks and Recreation Department Board met Monday evening at a cool and windy East Ridge Park. During their meeting, Parks and Rec Director Bryant Rasmussen brought up one of what he called “A hot topic”: A Memorandum pertaining to the City of Atlantic taking over operations at the Sunnyside Pool. That includes the hiring of life guards and their job duties. The YMCA currently runs the facility. Rasmussen said their Aquatics Director handled all the scheduling of the lifeguards and other such matters.

The Board passed a motion saying the City wishes to take over the day-to-day operations of the pool. Rasmussen said he doesn’t think that will step on any toes at City Hall.

The Parks and Rec Board will hold an open meeting 5-p.m. Oct. 4^th at City Hall in Atlantic, separate from the previous meetings that have been held within the community, under the direction of YMCA Director Dan Haynes.

Atlantic Parks & Rec Board: Director Bryant Rasmussen (Left), John Krogman (Center,away), Stuart Dusenberry (Center, near), & Erin McFadden (right); Not visible, Jolene Smith.

Already several representatives have come through to look at the pool and discuss the options that are available, and what the associated costs might be. Currently, he said there are multiple options and price ranges that are being examined. In other business, Rasmussen said construction is finished on the washed-out part of the Schildberg Recreation Area trail, with the installation of rip-rap, but Heuton Construction said additional dirt work was necessary to remove and add-in. Their recommendation was to wait until spring to replace that trail, in order to allow the dirt to settle. Rasmussen said he is working to get on the calendar with some concrete workers to get the trail finished as soon as possible in the spring.

And, he said the City’s plan for shoring-up Bull Creek was approved by the Army Corps of Engineers.

DES MOINES – Today (Friday), Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a proclamation relating to the weight limits and transportation of grain. The proclamation is effective immediately and continues through October 17, 2021. The proclamation allows vehicles transporting corn, soybeans, hay, straw, silage and stover to be overweight (not exceeding 90,000 pounds gross weight) without a permit for the duration of this proclamation.  

This proclamation applies to loads transported on all highways within Iowa (excluding the interstate system) and those which do not exceed a maximum of 90,000 pounds gross weight, do not exceed the maximum axle weight limit determined under the non-primary highway maximum gross weight table in Iowa Code § 321.463 (6) (b), by more than 12.5 percent, do not exceed the legal maximum axle weight limit of 20,000 pounds, and comply with posted limits on roads and bridges.  

 See the proclamation here. 

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa is seeing a number of dairy producers leave the industry while many of those who remain are growing in size, according to a survey from the Iowa State University Extension. I-S-U Extension dairy specialist Jennifer Bentley says it’s been a shift over the past several years. “We’re still as a herd size in Iowa a little less than 250 cows per herd, but we are seeing dairy farms exit the dairy industry,” Bentley says, “however, a lot of our dairy producers are increasing their herd size.”

The surveys are done every five years and the results of the 2020 survey were just released. Bentley says the new survey shows producers are adapting to advances in automation. “Technology practices are increasing with robotic dairies, we’re starting to see more producers implement that into their operations with facilities,” Bentley says. “When we take a look at other technology practices or management practices, a lot of the genetics, more genomics being used on the farm.”

She says the pandemic has been tough on dairy producers. “A majority of them would say that yes, COVID-19 significantly had an impact on their dairy operation,” Bentley says. “We are seeing increased mental health stress on farms. Our survey results showed, over the last five years, dairy producers in general are experiencing more stress.”

Bentley says the typical dairy herd in Iowa has less than 250 predominantly Holstein cows with a rolling herd average between 18- and 26-thousand pounds.