350 4-H'ers gathered at Dorton Arena for a Hands to Service project repackaging food for hunger relief agencies. (Marc Hall photo)

4-H'ers attending State 4-H Congress this week in Raleigh committed to an ambitious goal of collecting 1 million pounds of food for North Carolina’s food banks as part of a campaign called Hungry to Help.

Conducted in partnership with the Food Banks of North Carolina, the campaign is designed to promote awareness of hunger in North Carolina and to help stop it. To get started, 350 4-H'ers gathered at Dorton Arena at the State Fairgrounds Wednesday to repackage 37,900 pounds of pasta from massive containers into smaller, family-sized portions.

More than 65 percent of all N.C. adults are overweight, and our state ranks fifth worst in the country for childhood obesity. Cooperative Extension is out to change these statistics through its Eat Smart, Move More, Weigh Less program.

The 15-week program helps people plan, track and live healthier lifestyles. A team of experts with Extension and the N.C. Division of Public Health developed the program.

Recognizing that farming is among the nation's most hazardous occupations, North Carolina Cooperative Extension offers educational programs to help farmers, farmworkers and their families lower their risk of injury, illness and death. Its latest tool in this effort is a kit of easy-to-use materials to teach pesticide safety to Spanish-speaking agricultural workers with limited formal education.

Extension tested the kit with workers and trainers to make sure the educational materials were simple yet effective. It also was reviewed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to ensure that it met the federal Worker Protection Standard's training requirements. The WPS calls for agricultural employers, owners, managers and labor contractors to provide training not only to those who handle pesticides but to all the people who are involved in the production of agricultural plants.

When Horticulture Agent Tanya Weyhrauch talks about Beaufort County's community garden, she refers to a quote by writer Linus Mundy: "Think small. Planting tiny seeds in the small space given you can change the world or, at the very least, your view of it."

With the city of Washington's lease of a one-acre space near the local airport, Weyhrauch and the county's Extension Master Gardener volunteers created a space where 140 people had the chance to plant plenty of tiny seeds as they learned more about gardening, got some exercise, spent time outside, improved their nutrition with fresh fruits and vegetables and saved on grocery bills.

With hunger in the United States at a 14-year high, a Hunger Issues Forum was held at N.C. State University's McKimmon Center on Dec. 4. The event was also a celebration of 40 years of N.C. Cooperative Extension's Expanded Foods and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP). Started in 1969, EFNEP's mission is to help limited-resource families and youth make good nutrition decisions with their limited food dollars.

Keynote speakers for the forum were Dr. Maureen Berner, associate professor in the University of North Carolina School of Government, and Dr. Sharon Paynter, assistant professor of political science at East Carolina University. The two spoke on "A True Portrait of Hunger in North Carolina: How Local Governments and Non-Profits Coordinate and Energize to Address Hunger." Their presentation included photos by Donn Young of Chapel Hill, who is helping capture images of hunger today in North Carolina at the state's food pantries.

Following their training this week, the teens will be expected to return to their communities and work on their own lifestyle changes, involve their household in changes, and conduct at least two programs that involve their family, friends and community.

Read more news from NC A&T State University, ag e-dispatch

The Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) invites
you to join us as we acknowledge 40 years of service at our upcoming
anniversary and Hunger Issues Forum Dec. 4, McKimmon Center, N.C. State University.

The Forum entitled "Cultivating Solutions to Hunger" will address issues in the community through keynote speeches and three breakout sessions featuring national and state experts.

Breakout session topics include:
* Hunger, Nutrition and Obesity
* Connecting People to Food
* Mobilizing Community Resources to Reduce Hunger

A few hours later, he was taking most of them back home unsold.

The problem? When customers asked him how to prepare eggplants, he had no idea what to tell them.

Brenda Sutton, extension director in Rockingham County, says that farmers and others like him are the inspiration behind a series of videos that instruct people on ways to prepare fruits and vegetables.

And, Sutton is the star: The Produce Lady, as she's becoming known far and wide.

Read more from the News & Record.

Fifty zucchini cars, outfitted to compete in four categories, packed the judges tables prior to the Zucchini 500 at the N.C. Research Campus Farmers Market in Kannapolis. The race itself was the big draw, with children of all ages enjoying the fun. Planned and hosted by N.C. State University and N.C. Cooperative Extension, the event was packed with imagination, creativity, local foods and loads of fun. The organizers planned the fun event to help raise awareness of the N.C. Research Campus Farmers Market and to encourage people to support their local farmers.

Bobby Waltrip, of the legendary Waltrip racing family, called the races. Jay White, Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners; Dr. Mary Grace, senior researcher with N.C. State's Plants for Human Health Institute; and Renee Goodnight, community outreach coordinator for the city of Kannapolis, were the judges. In addition to the races, zucchini cars were judged in the categories of Most Nutritious, Best School Spirit, Best NASCAR Theme and Most Creative.

With a renewed interest in home gardening and purchasing local food across North Carolina comes renewed consumer interest in preserving food at home, through canning, freezing or drying North Carolina Cooperative Extension centers are responding to this interest by offering canning classes across the state.

Once a hallmark of extension programming through Tomato Clubs for girls, canning and other home food preservation techniques had largely fallen out of favor with consumers in recent years. But this year, Cooperative Extension centers are reporting enrollment in canning workshops is up, and many extension agents are adding classes to accommodate demand.

Cabarrus County has scheduled nine workshops, up from the usual four, and all filled quickly. Several television news groups taped the Cabarrus workshops to use as on-air instructional pieces. Five workshops will be offered in Lee County, including one focusing on canning green beans and two on canning tomatoes. In Buncombe County, workshops are scheduled throughout the summer produce season on canning strawberry jam, dill pickles and relish and tomatoes, along with several lectures on home canning.

Read more from The Daily Reflector.

North Carolinians who want to improve their health by enjoying outdoor activity will benefit from a new resource developed by Eat Smart, Move More North Carolina. The group has just released Eat Smart, Move More NC: Your Road Map to Health, a foldable state map illustrated with North Carolina sites and opportunities for physical activity and outdoor recreation.

The Road Map, which doubles as a progress report on obesity in North Carolina, folds and fits in a car glove box like a regular street map. The map’s appeal to outdoor enthusiasts is that it highlights walking, hiking, biking and paddling trails throughout the state. The document also engages readers with the personal success stories of individuals who have been agents of change in their own communities -- making healthy improvements to work sites, schools and neighborhoods.

N.C. Cooperative Extension is one of 60 organizations that lead the Eat Smart, Move More NC (ESMM) movement. The shared vision among these partner organizations is a North Carolina where healthful eating and active living are the norm, rather than the exception.

The conference is April 8-10, 2008 at the Sheraton Imperial Hotel and Convention Center, which serves Raleigh and Durham. It is sponsored by the North Carolina State University Family and Consumer Sciences Program, North Carolina Cooperative Extension and the United States Department of Agriculture-Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service (USDA-CSREES).

Many of us make poor food choices when we turn to vending machines or snack bars in search of a quick bite to eat. Now there's a free guide to help busy consumers make better decisions when facing rows of colorful snacks and drinks.

The N.C. Division of Public Health and N.C. Cooperative Extension has announced the release of Eat Smart North Carolina: Snacks and Drinks, available online on the Eat Smart, Move More…NC consumer website at www.MyEatSmartMoveMore.com.

"Calories from snacking can wreck someone’s best intentions," said Carolyn Dunn, a nutrition specialist with Cooperative Extension and one of the co-authors. "We are trying to raise people's awareness that something as simple as the beverage you choose at a coffee shop can make a big difference in total calories eaten for a day."

Read more from WNCT - Eyewitness News.

The 2008 Priester National Extension Health Conference theme, “Building Healthy Communities, One Person at a Time,” celebrates Cooperative Extension's long history of promoting health and preventing disease for individuals of every age and background, in families of all types, living in rural, suburban, and urban communities. The conference showcases the successful programs of Extension professionals, their community and organizational partners and their students.