Agriculture

Shelby gets $20,000 for food banks program

Shelby County has received $20,000 – the largest piece of the $47,500 distributed – from state agricultural development funds for is “Farms to Food Banks” program.

Gov. Steve Beshear announced the grant this week, which also includes four other grants: Allen ($5,000), Casey ($2,500), Jessamine ($10,000) and Garrard ($10,000).

Collins student returns from ag leadership event

Collins High School student Spencer Hammond recently returned home from Kentucky Farm Bureau’s Institute for Future Agricultural Leaders, where he and 41 other high school students from around the state attended the 5-day summer leadership conference, held in June at the University of Kentucky.

An identical IFAL conference also was held at Murray State University for an additional 42 students.

Most of us have learned to fear bamboo. I used to think that the only good place for them was in planting beds that were smack-dab-in-the-middle of parking lots…no chance of a runner reaching your garden in that case.

It’s the horror stories that stick with us. We usually only hear about the invasive claims about bamboo and how it escaped a neighbor’s yard only to take over your prized perennial bed.

Well, anything left unchecked can become a problem, and there are ways to contain invasive bamboos; and some that don’t even need it.

Collins student Eades wins state FFA contest

Sarah Eades, a senior member of the Collins High School FFA, won the state championship for extemporaneous speaking at the convention held at Rupp Arena in Lexington and will advance to the national competition in October in Indianapolis.