Today (Thursday) is 8-1-1 awareness day to remind you to call that phone number if you plan on any digging on your property. Iowa Utilities Board spokesman, Don Tormey, says the observance happens now because it’s — August 11th — or 8-1-1.

He says any type of digging requires a call — it doesn’t have to be a major project with excavators.

Tormey says there are all types of lines buried across the state, from sewer lines to fiber optic lines that each pose problems if they are cut.

Not only do you face a potential danger from hitting something underground, you can face fines for not calling before digging. Get more information at iowaonecall.com

Last weekend’s showers dumped up to seven inches of rain on parts of Iowa, while many areas stayed dry, but even with the scattered downpours, drought conditions persist over wide sections of the state. Angie Rieck Hinz (REEK HINES) is an Iowa State University field agronomist and says that’s typical and it’s bringing a drastic variation in crop conditions statewide.

Rieck Hinz is touring parts of north-central Iowa to inspect crops and says the drought isn’t keeping insects away from the fields.

Soybean aphids are problematic for some growers, while soybean gall midges are being found for the first time this season in three more counties: Kossuth, Humboldt and Webster. Rieck Hinz says a few crop diseases are thriving in the heat.

A new report is expected later this (Thursday) morning from the U-S Drought Monitor. Last week’s map shows more than 60 of the state’s 99 counties in some form of drought, with 13 northwest Iowa counties in either severe or extreme drought conditions.

The Corning Center for the Fine Arts will be hosting a natural basket weaving demonstration with artist Sandy Maxa on Saturday, August 20th. The demonstration will take place from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and admission is free.

Sandy Maxa will show off some of the baskets she has created using materials gathered right here in Southwest Iowa. She was demonstrate one of the techniques that she employs to make a basket.

The Corning Center for the Fine Arts is located at 706 Davis Avenue in Corning.

w/Kate Olson.

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(Atlantic, Iowa) – Learn all the basics of water bath canning and salsa making at a Food Preservation Workshop on Saturday, August 13, 2022, from 8:30 AM – 12:30 PM. The workshop, offered at the Cass County Fair Food Stand, is part of the Iowa State University Extension and Outreach program Preserve the Taste of Summer. Leah Brooke, human sciences specialist in food and health with ISU Extension and Outreach, will lead the workshop.

During the hands-on workshop, participants will: 

Learn the basics of water bath canning,
Hear the most up-to-date canning and salsa making recommendations,
Make and can salsa, and
Take home and enjoy a jar of salsa that they canned.

“These workshops are fun and helpful for beginning canners as well as experienced canners,” states Leah Brooke, workshop instructor. “We will provide the most up-to-date science and guidelines for water bath canning.”

The cost of this hands-on workshop is $40. Local scholarships are available- call the Cass County Extension Office at 712-243-1132 for details. Participants can register for the workshop online at https://go.iastate.edu/UQNM5W.

Find a wide variety of recipes, resources and upcoming classes on food preservation at the Preserve the Taste of Summer home page:  https://www.extension.iastate.edu/humansciences/preserve-taste-summer

(Radio Iowa) – A lush, green lawn is a source of pride for many Iowans and this prolonged drought is forcing many of us to quit worrying about having the best lawn on the block — and to let the grass go dormant. Adam Thoms, a horticulture professor at Iowa State University and a turfgrass extension specialist, says it’s stressful for grass to shake up the watering schedule, so he’s telling Iowans if their lawns are already turning brown, just let them go. “Putting them in and out of dormancy by watering and stopping and then restarting is really hard on the turf,” Toams says. “It’s okay to go into dormancy. The grass can last for 30 to 60 days with that straw-brown color and it won’t hurt it at all. It’ll come back out in the fall.”

Des Moines Water Works, which serves more than 600-thousand customers in 18 central Iowa communities, is asking residents to voluntarily conserve and cut back on watering. Toams predicts many folks in the metro area -will- cut back, as requested. “There’s some research out there that shows when they ask for those voluntary commitments that people do step up and follow those,” Toams says. “We always suggest that you don’t water every day anyway. It’s better to do a deep and infrequent watering. That forces the turf roots to go deeper to chase that water deep in the soil, so, that’s an okay thing.”

Some people turn on the sprinklers for hours at a time and let them saturate the grass, but Toams says most lawns don’t need more than an inch of water in a week’s time. If you’ve laid sod within the past year or are trying to grow new grass from seeds, you’re in for what could be an expensive, frustrating challenge. “Those are the ones that are going to get hurt by this drought. They’re the ones that need regular watering just because they don’t have a deep root system,” Toams says. “We do need to make sure that those get regular waterings. If you’re thinking about overseeding or adding seed to your yard, just wait. Right now is not the time. It’s too hot and it’s obviously too dry.”

If the dry weather lasts much longer and grass has been dormant up to six weeks, apply an inch or so of water in a single application. The grass won’t green up, but it’ll keep the roots alive. If the drought continues, water in that fashion every two weeks, but not enough to bring it out of dormancy. Toams suggests Iowans give their lawns a good dose of fertilizer this fall to help them recharge and ideally, come back strong next spring.

DES MOINES, Iowa (Aug. 8, 2022) – Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig commented Monday on the Iowa Crop Progress and Condition Report released by the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service. The report is released weekly April through November.

“With the State Fair set to open on Thursday, fairgoers are looking forward to sampling new foods, revisiting longstanding traditions and taking in all things Iowa agriculture,” said Secretary Naig. “Temperatures are looking to be warmer than average with only minor chances of rain over the coming weeks. With these persistent conditions, we continue to monitor drought across northwestern and southern Iowa.”

The weekly report is also available on the USDA’s website at nass.usda.gov.

Crop Report

Precipitation early in the week for a few areas and late in the week for much of the State resulted in 6.1 days suitable for fieldwork during the week ending August 7, 2022, according to the USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service. Persistent dry conditions and above-average temperatures are a concern for many. Fieldwork included cutting and baling hay and applying pesticides and fungicides.

Topsoil moisture condition rated 20 percent very short, 30 percent short, 48 percent adequate and 2 percent surplus. Subsoil moisture condition rated 19 percent very short, 33 percent short, 47 percent adequate and 1 percent surplus.

Corn silking or beyond was 93 percent, 5 days behind last year and 3 days behind the 5-year average. Fifty three percent of the corn crop has reached the dough stage or beyond, 2 days behind last year but 1 day ahead of the average. Five percent of Iowa’s corn crop has reached the dent stage, 6 days behind last year and 1 day behind the 5-year average. Corn condition fell to 73 percent good to excellent. Eighty-nine percent of soybeans were blooming, 9 days behind last year and 3 days behind average. Sixty-nine percent of the soybean crop was setting pods, 1 week behind last year and 1 day behind the 5-year average. Iowa’s soybean condition declined to 71 percent good to excellent. Ninety-six percent of oats were turning color or beyond, 9 days behind last year. Oats harvested for grain reached 82 percent, 1 day behind both last year and the average.

Ninety-five percent of the State’s second cutting of alfalfa hay was complete, with the third cutting at 28 percent. All hay condition rated 54 percent good to excellent. Pasture condition rated 36 percent good to excellent. Lack of rain and high heat caused some pastures to go dormant and CRP was released for grazing and haying in areas.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Education is getting a federal grant to put more local food in schools and early child care centers. It’s the second time the department has received the two-year grant for the Iowa Farm to School program. The Iowa Department of Agriculture contributes matching funds. Brenda Windmuller, at the ed department, says they’ll host more training for school workers on food safety and how local food can be incorporated into school lunches.

“Our big thing is that we want to make sure that the public is aware of what’s going on,” Windmuller says. “We want to increase the number of schools that participate in Farm to School initiatives, maybe eliminate some of that hesitation around it.” The U-S-D-A awarded the state a 67-thousand dollar grant to support Farm to School, while the state ag department will also contribute 25-thousand dollars. Windmuller says there’s no requirements for schools to participate in the program, but she says the funding will allow more education for school staff who are interested.

“If all you want to do is maybe participate in Iowa Local Food Day, once a year, that’s something,” she says. “That’s how you kind of dip your toe in it, learn about it, and then maybe the next year, you can take the next step. Really, that is our main objective, to get more people engaged in the program, and to increase the numbers of participation across the state.”

Additionally, the Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa received close to 100-thousand dollars from the U-S-D-A to expand the school garden and increase food storage for students on the Meskwaki Settlement. They’ll also bring more tribal foods into schools and develop a tribal food sovereignty curriculum.

(reporting by Catherine Wheeler, Iowa Public Radio)

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa D-N-R is in the midst of its annual wild turkey count and is looking for some help. Wildlife Biologist, Jim Coffey, leads the survey, “We asked the general public if they do see wild turkeys to go to the Iowa D-N-R webpage under the turkey tab, and they can report that sightings. And that helps us get a good indication of the productivity for the for the summer,” Coffey says. He says the population has been pretty strong. “The last couple of years we’ve had good production. This year has been a little bit mixed with the with the early hatch — that seems to be down — but the second hatch seems to be up.” Coffey says. “And that’s usually a pretty good indicator in drought year conditions. We usually see pretty good nest success and drought years.”

You could see wild turkeys in a variety of places. “The first nest attempt is usually in some thicker covered has to be in the Woodlands,” he explains. “The last nest attempt will be out basically anywhere. But we tend to think in those areas like shrubs, raspberries, and plum thickets and things like that, it provides good overhead cover.” Coffey says the turkeys like that overhead cover to protect them from predators. You are most likely to see hens, which will gather together in groups to watch over the young birds. “The males do not care about the rest of them until springtime. So, you typically don’t see males with the with the hens this time of the year. But we do still count males in part of the survey — there is a section for that if people see males and male groups,” Coffey says.

Coffey says they typically see 50-thousand wild turkey licenses purchased each year — but most hunters never bag a bird. “That’s usually a surprise to people — we were pretty consistent with about a 22 percent success rate from year to year,” he says, “and I think people have kind of forgotten or we’ve gotten used to the fact that we think that everybody that buys a license should be successful. And that’s far from the truth. It is a hunt. It is challenging, and that’s what makes turkey hunting exciting. ”

Coffey says they consistently see from 11 to 12-thousand wild turkeys harvested in the springtime each year. He says they have a fall season, but it is not as popular among hunters. To learn more about wild turkey hunting or to report your turkey sighting, go to iowadnr.gov. The turkey survey lasts through August.

(Radio Iowa) – Drought conditions are expanding across the state, spreading throughout southern Iowa, but the northwest region is being hit hardest. Don Kass farms in Plymouth County, which is in extreme drought. He says his crops have been faring well so far, but he’s starting to see signs of heat distress. “It’s kind of spotty,” Kass says. “Some fields look like they’re there okay. Other fields, you can see that it’s lighter soil and that the lack of moisture is profound and they’re really suffering.”

Kass says it’s a critical time for corn and soybean development. He says the area needs to see significant rainfall soon to aid the crops’ pollination process. This year, the region saw its second driest June on record, what’s typically the wettest month of the season. On a daily basis, Iowa State University Extension field agronomist Joel DeJong says he sees corn leaves curling and soybean leaves turning over to protect themselves from the heat. “Every day that we’ve got this, particularly the really extreme heat, I think it’s hurting our yield potential significantly,” DeJong says, “more so, closer to Missouri and Big Sioux than it is as you go east.”

DeJong says he expects the region’s yields will be impacted more than they were during last year’s drought. That’s due to a prolonged period of higher temperatures. Compared to last year, the region has seen more 90-degree weather. The latest U-S Drought Monitor map shows around 60 Iowa counties are in some form of drought, with 30 counties abnormally dry, 20 counties in moderate drought, six in severe drought and four (Cherokee, Plymouth, Sioux & Woodbury) in extreme drought.

(reporting by Kendall Crawford, Iowa Public Radio)