Grandparents who are the primary caregivers for their grandchildren face some unique challenges as well as the potential for special joys. Here to help them is the GRANDCares Project, which offers grandparents a variety of useful tools to cope with their unique family situation and added responsibilities. It also provides grandchildren with positive youth-development experiences through its Youth Club. 

The latest CTAHR Impact Report, focusing on positive community impacts on the island of Kaua‘i, is now up on the college’s website. This issue pays tribute to outstanding faculty, staff, volunteers, and projects on the Garden Isle. Find out about how these initiatives are making life better for Kaua‘i and the whole state!

Coffee production education is getting into full swing with the start of another coffee-growing season. The Kona Cooperative Extension Service and Kona Research Station are welcoming farmers to attend upcoming coffee events. Coffee berry borer (CBB) 101 workshops will be conducted in Kona on February 5 and 8.

Hydroponics and other soilless growing systems are the wave of the future: they’re compact, water efficient, and prevent many pest problems. Find out more about them at the Hydroponics Open House in Waimanalo, hosted by O‘ahu County Extension agents and CTAHR researchers. It’s a pop-in event, which means that participants can come by anytime during it for lots of helpful information.

MS alumna Melelani Oshiro will be the new assistant Livestock agent on the Big Island, based at the Kona CES office. Mele has a wide range of experience, having worked for Mark Thorne (HNFAS) as a research assistant on pasture and cattle production; at a horse stud farm in New Zealand; and as a veterinarian technician. Please welcome Mele when she starts on March 1!

Shannon Sand (NREM) will be the new assistant Extension agent in Agricultural Finance. Based out of the Komohana Agriculture Research & Extension Center in Hilo, she will have state-wide responsibilities. Shannon has earned master’s degrees in Agriculture, Agricultural Economics, and Food and Resource Economics. Please welcome her when she starts work in June!

Dig in and add some spice to your life! The Pearl City Urban Garden Center is hosting a Cooperative Extension workshop on “Multiplying Organic Bacterial Wilt-Free Ginger.” Pathogen-free planting material is essential when growing ginger, but there’s been limited access to organic seed pieces. Now you can find out how to grow your own!

Savannah Katulski, a Kaua‘i junior Extension agent, has been awarded a $750 scholarship by the Roy A. Goff Memorial Endowment Fund to support her participation in the Beef Improvement Federation Symposium and Convention in South Dakota. Savannah will use this opportunity to bring research information, new tools and resources back to Hawai‘i to help improve beef carcass quality and genetics for local production systems.

Want to know more about the state of ag education throughout the state? There’s no better way to find out than by reading the Final Report on a Coordinated Framework of Support for Preschool through Post-Secondary Agriculture Education in Hawai‘i, submitted to the Legislature by the P–20 Ag Ed Working Group, of which CTAHR is a member.

Want to spread the good word about ag and hang out with happy fifth-graders? Volunteer for the annual CTAHR Agriculture and Environmental Awareness (AEA) Day! The purpose of AEA Day is to create a greater awareness and understanding of agriculture and the environment among students and teachers and to introduce students to career opportunities in agriculture and environmental studies.

As part of a collaboration between livestock Extension agent Kyle Caires and King Kekaulike High School’s Agricultural Program in Maui, Phase III of forage research and pasture trials started on January 2 with new plantings of pasture grasses and forage crops. This collaboration has generated valuable data for industry and provided hands-on learning opportunities for high school ag students.

Extension faculty and staff at the Poamoho Station just presented a Cucurbit Powdery Mildew Management Field Day. Besides giving the participants an overview of the disease and its effects, the field day offered the results of a trial comparing three commercially available products reported to control powdery mildew on cucurbits.

Kyle Caires (HNFAS) wrapped up a productive year in livestock extension by hosting an animal health and handling workshop on Maui for more than 40 4-H youth and adults in early December at Kaonoulu Ranch. Attendees got hands-on experience administering dewormers and vaccines, as well as trimming hoofs and treating hoof problems in sheep and goats.

Those at the Kona Research Station got a first-hand lesson in the value of CPR and first aid when ag tech Nick Yamauchi used these skills to save Marc Meisner’s life during a medical emergency in the field. At the annual 2018 Hawai‘i County staff meeting held December 7 in Kona, Nick was awarded a certificate of commendation for his outstanding, life-saving aid.

Zhiqiang Cheng (PEPS) and Norman Nagata (TPSS, Maui CES) organized the 2018 Maui Turfgrass and Landscape Pest Management Workshop at CTAHR Maui Extension Office, including updates on important turfgrass and golf course pests such as frit fly, take-all patch, mini ring, rover ant, coconut rhinoceros beetle, and lobate lac scale.

Civil Beat recently published an article about the workshops CTAHR and the island Invasive Species Councils have conducted on how eco-tour operators can avoid spreading Rapid ‘Ohi‘a Death (ROD) and other pathogens, weeds, and pests. The workshop leaders include Extension forester J.B. Friday and ROD educational specialist Corie Yanger (both NREM).

Ken Leonhardt, Ilima Ho-Lastimosa, and Ted Radovich (all TPSS) represented CTAHR’s holiday spirit in fine style at the 2018 Waimanalo Christmas Parade, featuring Ken’s 1924 Model T and a “certified-organic” tractor loaded with gifts and cheerful candy-tossers that reminded onlookers of how long CTAHR’s been making life better for the community.

The seminars for the O‘ahu County Sustainable and Organic Agriculture Extension agent position have been completed, so please evaluate the two candidates, Amjad Ahmad and Mitchell Loo. CVs and some video presentations for candidates for junior/assistant Extension agents in Agricultural Economics, Agricultural Finance, and Livestock are available as well.

The Women in Ag Learning Network will be holding a virtual conference featuring information, tips, and tools that ag educators and service providers can use to deliver more engaging and effective programs for beginning women farmers and ranchers. The conference will be held from January 29 to 31, from 7:00 to 11:00 a.m. each day Hawai‘i Time.