National Farm City Week - The Nassau County Farm Bureau hosted a breakfast today celebrating the contributions of American Agriculture to our way of life. Nassau County Agriculture Agent Steve Gaul presented some important data about the significant economic and environmental impact of agriculture right here at home. Did you know that there are over 450 farming operations right here in our county? Did you know that those farms and the planted pines cover 265,000 acres in our county? Did you know that these farms and the related services and industries provide over one BILLION dollars in output impact annually? Our partners at the Farm Bureau remind us all to be thankful every day - especially during this season of Thanksgiving - for the abundant food supply we enjoy because of the work and diligence of our American agriculture industry. The University of Florida Extension Service is proud to share that message through our educational programs.

The first week of September Extension Faculty members from Nassau County traveled to Orlando for our annual Extension Professionals Association of Florida (EPAF) http://epaf.ifas.ufl.edu/ meeting. We participated in trainings, award celebrations, abstract presentations, and general sessions. Of course we had a little fun while we were there, but one thing is certain - the annual conference always makes us proud of the work we do, and proud to be faculty members of the University of Florida Cooperative Extension Service. Our work here in Nassau County is multiplied and mirrored in every county in the state and across the nation through the system of Land-Grant Universities and national partners.

I then took a nice personal vacation up the east coast of Maine and into Nova Scotia, and even there I saw evidence of the Land-Grant success. One little town in Maine claimed to be the birthplace of the 4-H program, fall fairs and agriculture expositions were being advertised, and a little gallery in Belfast, Maine, featured the "art of agriculture." The Canadian Extension System was also visible at a few points on my trip.

Now back to work, as the 4-H club season gets underway with preparations for National Youth Science Day, https://www.4-h.org/NYSD/index.php, the Northeast Florida Fair, http://www.neflfair.org/, and we anxiously await the birth of our newest 4-H member - I'll proudly post when 4-H agent Amanda Thien has her baby, expected next week!

County Commission Monthly Updates

We visited with the Board of County Commissioners on Wednesday, August 19, and highlighted some of the commercial agriculture and natural resource programming that is led by Steven Gaul, our Agriculture Agent. Steve presented his paper on Characteristics of Small Farm Operators in Florida, which was reviewed and published by the University of Florida for use state wide. You can view our monthly presentation by visiting the county website at http://www.nassauclerk.com/video/video.livemeetings.cfm. You can view the monthly activity report and review Steve's paper by clicking on Tab C of the agenda. I plan to present an update of this kind each month at the 3rd Wednesday meeting of the Board. Over the next few months we hope to provide some detail about each of our major program areas and share success stories from each of our agents about their work right here in Nassau County.

Tonight we celebrate the achievements of our 4-H members at the annual 4-H Awards program. This event is always a fun and exciting end to the 4-H year, recognizing the significant achievements of both the youth and adults who volunteer all year in this program.

FOCUS on Extension Programs

I spent a day in Gainesville on the University of Florida campus last week, meeting with my colleagues from throughout the state to discuss our goals and program focus for the organization and administration of Cooperative Extension. Each Extension faculty member in Florida is expected to participate on one or more of these goal teams. The University of Florida recognizes its county extension faculty members as full partners in the scholarship of the university. Extension scholarship is demonstrated through our service to the university, in our professional associations, and in the annual review of our portfolio of work and accomplishment in our local assignments. You can learn more about the goals and focus teams by looking at the information posted at http://pdec.ifas.ufl.edu/foci/. Some of the information is password protected for Extension faculty use, but you will see that the five faculty members here in Nassau County are active on many of the state teams.

The goals and focus teams continually strive to refine the mission of the Extension service. We help identify resources, request and provide inservice training for ourselves and our peers, and we write annual evaluation reports to document our local progress towards both local and state-wide efforts. I will continue to present highlights of these reports to the Nassau County Board of County Commissioners, and post links to these highlights through this blog. Your comments are always welcome.

IFAS visitors to Nassau County

County Extension Directors from the North East Florida District met in Fernandina Beach last Friday to share information and administrative updates.

We first met at the Hampton Inn and Suites downtown. A panel of local Extension partners presented information and challenges to all the directors. The panel included County Commissioner Danny Leeper, Port Authority Commissioner Melvin Usery, Amelia Hart from the Amelia Island Chamber of Commerce, Extension Volunteer Bea Walker, and Extension Agent Steve Gaul. Following the panel discussion, we walked to 29 South and had an excellent lunch and discussion of local, sustainable agriculture practices. We adjourned to the porch at 29 South for some administrative updates. This group of Extension directors meets three to four times a year, but it has been a long time since we have met under such pleasant conditions and had such a group of partners present to us. Thanks to the panel members and the hosts at Hampton Inn, 29 South, and the Fernandina Beach Visitors Center, we not only got our business accomplished but had some time for exploration as well.

One topic we seem to return to every meeting is "budget." Some of our colleagues in other parts of the state and nation are experiencing a lot of stress due to forced budget reductions. While we are not immune to those threats in Nassau County, we currently expect to survive the budget process this year. This will enable us to continue to provide meaningful programs and services to the citizens of Nassau County in the areas of agriculture and natural resources, 4-H youth development, environmental horticulture, family and consumer sciences, and community leadership development. Please let your county commissioners know that you appreciate their partnership and support of these programs brought to you by the University of Florida.

Florida 4-H Centennial

4-H in Florida is 100 years old! Well, the program is 100 years old, the young people are ages 5 through 18! We are celebrating the centennial year with special events, banners, themes for our programs and events. I had the pleasure of judging the clothing construction projects at the state-wide Congress this week. Young men and women from all over Florida meet for one week to demonstrate their project work, participate in leadership events, interview for scholarships and honors, and celebrate being in 4-H. Nassau County youth just returned with awards, trophies, scholarships, and a whole lot of memories. Amanda Thien, our Nassau County 4-H program leader, served as Dean of Women for the event. To find out more about 4-H in Florida and the centennial celebrations still going on, visit http://florida4h.org/.

Goffinsville Park

In 1992 I had the pleasure of reviewing preliminary planning documents for Nassau County's Goffinsville park and boat landing. At the time, we did not have a county coordinator, we did not have a parks and recreation department, and we did not have a county office of management and budget. Nassau County has grown. We have all of those departments now, and we also have a beautiful new park. On Wednesday, July 22, 17 years after we began the planning, I attended the grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremonies at Goffinsville Park, Nassau's newest county-managed property. The park boasts a boat ramp, fishing pier, and playground. There are picnic areas and comfort facilities. Our Environmental Horticulture agent, Becky Jordi, was instrumental in identifying the flora species and the nature trails are posted with identification markers. Take some time this weekend to check out the new park, and let us know if you spot other species that could be highlighted on the trails.