Hello my name is Kendra Brant and I attend Blue Ridge School District. I am 13 years old and in 7th grade.

Kendra Brant

My curriculum this year requires I take a class we call “Foods”. In this class my teacher, Mrs. Kristen Latting teaches us all things related to foods: measuring, grocery shopping, nutrition, reading recipes and actual meal preparation.

As a Susquehanna County Dairy Ambassador I felt it would be fun to do a dairy promotion in my foods class.  I decided to do a fun activity making shaker pudding. Shaker pudding requires you measure out milk and mix it with instant pudding. We then shake it up until it becomes a thick consistency of yummy vanilla or chocolate pudding. We enjoyed eating the pudding when we were done!

I was joined by Susquehanna County Dairy Princess Brooke Marvin and my sister, Dairy Maid Kaelynn Brant. We talked to the class about our dairy farm and the duties that are required to operate a dairy farm. We also discussed the importance of  including “3 Everyday” of dairy products into our meals each day. Brooke told everyone how to include dairy in their daily intake with yogurt, cheese, milk and of course ice cream.

We told some funny dairy related jokes and Mrs. Latting told a few of her own. We had a fun time sharing our love of dairy and my classmates seemed to enjoy it as well.

The Endless Mountains Children’s Choir will begin its spring semester with rehearsals on Thursdays, 6:30PM to 8PM at the South Gibson United Methodist Church, South Gibson, PA.  All children who love to sing are invited to join the choir. There is no cost for children to participate.  Robes and music are provided.  The choir is funded completely by fund raising events, donations and community support.

Varied styles of music are taught to the children which include classical, folk songs, gospel, spirituals, sacred, contemporary, Broadway, popular and multicultural music from many countries.  The children have sung songs in 13 different languages as well as performed music in American sign language. The choir is involved with community performances (as they are a community choir) during the year and are especially involved in performances during the holiday season. They have performed four times at the National Christmas Tree in Washington D.C. and have done a holiday performance at the capital in Harrisburg four times times as well. They also perform at many area hospitals and nursing home/assisted care facilities, in the area.

The children receive training in vocal technique, proper breath control, posture, phrasing, musicianship, vowel pronunciation, expression,  musical interpretation and historical background in the repertoire they are performing. They are also taught acappella singing (singing without piano or instrumental) in which their voices must blend and they must develop a good sense of pitch and level of vocal dynamics to maintain their independent vocal parts.  All children are encouraged to develop their talents and as a soloist they are all given the opportunity to sing solo parts in the concerts. Children perform many selections with our 2 sets of hand chimes, which enhance and make our choral performances more beautiful.

For more information or if you have any questions please contact Dr. Christine Plonski -Sezer, artistic director/founder at (570)756-2729 or: drcsezer@gmail.com.

The Jackson Pin Thimblers 4-H Window at Barnes-Kasson Hospital

On Saturday, March 11, the Jackson Pin Thimblers 4-H Club met in the main lobby of Barnes Kasson Hospital to celebrate Pennsylvania 4-H Week. Members of the 4-H Club spent about two hours decorating the entrance windows with the creative theme of, “Spring into 4-H.” While working together on our window display, we discussed important business including upcoming community service opportunities. Two, in particular, that we plan to take part in is Interfaith and the New Milford Fire Company Easter Egg Hunt.

Our next meeting is April 1st at 10 AM at the North Jackson Methodist Church. We encourage you to not only join, but to take a  close look at our window display.

Jetta

Sweet Jetta has been at our shelter since she was a kitten and is now almost 4 years old. True Friends is the only family she has ever known and we do our best to give her lots of extra love and attention. We know she would thrive in a REAL home with a family all her OWN.

She loves attention and will give you a lot of love in return. This friendly girl is already spayed and would be a wonderful companion.  It's time for Jetta to find the perfect home she deserves. Wouldn't you like to be the one to show her how wonderful a cat's life can be???

Hoping that our furry friends have some Irish luck on their side, we are waiving adoption fees on all dogs and cats that have been with us over 3 months starting St. Patricks Day until the end of March.  With Spring right around the corner, now is the perfect time to adopt a new friend, giving them a fresh start and a whole new life.

Fun Fact: A cat ran for Mayor of Mexico City in 2013. Jetta doesn't need to be mayor. She prefers to be the queen of your heart!

Where do you find fresh salad greens being grown in the Montrose area, during the winter, without some type of man-made heat aids?  In a high tunnel on the Carlton Farm on the west side of the Borough of Montrose. Carlton Farms had an Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) contract with the local USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) office, in Montrose, to install this high tunnel during the spring of 2016.

Bob Wagner, NRCS Soil Conservation Technician for several counties in Northeast Pennsylvania explained that "... high tunnels are designed to help extend the growing season of various crops that different landowners may be growing. USDA NRCS involvement is to support farming operations in their efforts to extend the growing season of high value crops but also to provide the operations an opportunity to bring in more income. Hi-Tunnels differ from greenhouses in that one of the EQIP contract requirements is that the crop inside the greenhouse must be grown in the ground so that there can be a comparison of that inside crop to the same type of a crop being grown outside the tunnel. High tunnels also cannot have heating systems, however they do have some types of ventilation systems."

Jennifer Clifford, Farm Manager for Carlton Farms and NRCS NOWC Technician, and John Benscoter overlook the 'salad' greens being grown in the high tunnel during the winter of 2017

Jennifer Clifford, farm operations manager for Carlton Farms invited two US Dept. of Agriculture NRCS employees, John Benscoter NRCS National Older Worker Corp Technician and Bob Wagner NRCS Soil Conservation Tech.  in to look at the operation.   Ms. Clifford explained that, \ldblquote\'85 this is our first winter experiment and we have been very pleasantly surprised at how well the greens are growing, especially when you consider that the only heat source is the sun. There is no auxiliary heating source at night.\rdblquote   The mid-winter outside temperature hovered around 22 degrees on a partly sunny and windy on the day the NRCS men came out to the farm. The high tunnel inside temperature were 50+ degree temperatures which pleasantly surprised both men. More surprising were the greens (several types of lettuce and arugula) and rye cover crop that were growing on the ground inside the tunnel. Wagner noted that "... the greens were dark green, healthy looking and were very tasty. The growing plants were an excellent example of how a high tunnel can work in the winter let alone other seasons of the year."

Information about high tunnels and other USDA NRCS programs and technical assistance can be received by calling NRCS District Conservationist Ain welmon at the Montrose Field office at 570-278-1011, ext. 103.

The American Red Cross is urging all eligible donors throughout the New York-Penn Region to give blood or platelets following the recent winter storm, which forced 56 regional blood drives to cancel and blood donations to shut down, causing about 1480 donations to go uncollected. There is a critical need for platelet and type O negative donors.   

“The need for blood and platelets is constant despite the weather,” said Patty Corvaia, communications manager, New York-Penn Red Cross Blood Services Region. “Platelet donors and blood donors of all types, especially type O negative, are urged to give when it’s safe to travel to an area blood drive or donation center.”

Platelets are tiny cells in blood that form clots and stop bleeding. Although they are needed for many reasons, cancer patients often rely on platelets during treatment.

Type O negative donors are an important part of the Red Cross trauma team. Because it’s the universal blood type and can be transfused to patients of any blood type, type O negative blood is what emergency room personnel reach for when there is no time to determine the blood type of patients in the most serious situations.

How to help

Eligible donors can find a blood donation opportunity and schedule an appointment to donate by using the free Blood Donor App, visiting redcrossblood.org or calling 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767). The Red Cross is extending hours at many donation sites for more donors to give blood or platelets. Overall, the Red Cross has added nearly 200 hours to blood donation centers and community blood drives across the country over the next few weeks. Donation appointments and completion of a RapidPass online health history questionnaire are encouraged to help speed up the donation process.

Local upcoming blood donation opportunities will be available at: from 2 p.m. - 6 p.m., Endless Mountains Health Systems, 100 Hospital Drive, Montrose, March 27; from 1:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m., St Marks Episcopal Church, 1148  Main Street, New Milford, March 23.

When should I prune? How should I prune? Where should I prune? Why and why not prune? These and other pruning questions will be demonstrated on common trees and shrubs.  After you understand the basics of pruning you will be able to take your knowledge to most trees and shrubs for better growth, durability and health. To register visit: Montrose Adult School www.montroseadultschool.org. Click the Classes link. You can print out a registration form under the how to register section. To see what classes are offered, click Nature and Country Living to see the Master Gardener classes. Simply mail the form to the Montrose Adult School. For more information or help registering call the Penn State