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Expert gardening advice available at Ag Progress Days Yard and Garden Area

Need advice on plant or pest problems? A team of Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences experts will be available for consultation in the Yard and Garden Area during Ag Progress Days, Aug. 9-11. Experts include Penn State Extension Master Gardeners, extension educators and specialists in horticulture, plant pathology and entomology. Master Gardeners from across the state will dispense advice to gardening enthusiasts at the “Ask a Master Gardener” booth. There also will be presentations on container gardening, seed saving, building raised beds, winter sowing, flower arranging ...

Explore intersection of science, history at Pasto Ag Museum at Ag Progress Days

UNIVERSITY PARK — Visitors to the Pasto Agricultural Museum during Penn State’s Ag Progress Days, Aug. 9-11, can explore the intersection of science and history. “During the show, we will connect our agricultural past with present-day practice and research around food, environment and renewable resources,” said the museum’s director, Rita Graef. “Programs at the museum will immerse visitors in thinking about our food and fiber systems and natural resources. The museum provides an opportunity to explore important issues facing agriculture and the environment in a historical ...

Up in the Bavarian Alps, rugged trails with German cheer

SCHONAU AM KONIGSSEE, Germany — At 23 minutes before midnight, at 1,703 meters (5,600 feet) above sea level, the lashing rain and furious winds outside the darkened bunkroom prompted two questions to turn over in my head: Will the roof of this hut be ripped off in the dead of night? Will I ...

Ag secretary talks Spotted Lanternfly

MONONGEHELA — In Washington County recently, Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding was joined by Penn State Extension Area Master Gardener Coordinator Valerie Sesler, Washington County Conservation District Manager Matthew Golden, and other state and local leaders to discuss the threat that ...

Much of northern Yellowstone park to reopen Saturday

MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS, Wyo. (AP) — Yellowstone National Park is reopening its flood-damaged north loop at noon on Saturday, in time for the Fourth of July holiday weekend, park officials said Thursday. The announcement means most of the park will be open again after June 13 flooding closed ...

‘Biblical’ insect swarms spur Oregon push to fight pests

ARLINGTON, Ore. (AP) — Driving down a windy canyon road in northern Oregon rangeland, Jordan Maley and April Aamodt are on the look out for Mormon crickets, giant insects that can ravage crops. “There’s one right there,” Aamodt says. They’re not hard to spot. The insects, which can grow larger than 2 inches (5 centimeters), blot the asphalt. Mormon crickets are not new to Oregon. Native to western North America, their name dates back to the 1800s, when they ruined the fields of Mormon settlers in Utah. But amidst drought and warming temperatures — conditions favored by ...