Local Interest

By Tammie Ostdiek, Extension Educator – Food, Nutrition and Health

Family and friends gather in the kitchen and around the table during the holidays. But nobody wants to miss the fun times with family and friends because of foodborne illness. Follow these food safety guidelines to reduce the risk of contamination.

PLAN AHEAD – Thawing turkey in the refrigerator will require about 24 hours for every 4-5 pounds. A 20-pound bird will defrost in about five to six days. A thawed turkey can safely remain in the refrigerator for one to two days before cooking. Turkey can be submerged in cold tap water for thawing. The water should be changed every 30 minutes and the turkey cooked immediately after it is thawed.

Karla H. Jenkins, Cow/Calf and Stocker Management Specialist
Panhandle R&E Center, Scottsbluff

Recently I attended a high school football game just a few blocks from that community’s local cattle auction. As I watched the players warming up, I hardly noticed the bawling noises made by the calves who had been delivered earlier that day in preparation for the big sale the next day.

University of Nebraska-Lincoln scientists conduct agricultural research at many locations in western Nebraska – the Panhandle Research and Extension Center plots; the Panhandle Research Feedlot; the High Plains Ag Lab near Sidney; and in fields belonging to cooperating farmers.

One of UNL’s lesser-known research laboratories attained a landmark this year. It was 100 years ago, in 1918, that the federal government gave the university an 800-acre piece of rangeland in southern Sioux County to conduct regionally relevant research.

On a recent warm, late-summer day, as many dry edible bean growers in Nebraska were watching their fields turn color and preparing for harvest, four scientists paced through a bean field north of Scottsbluff made up of hundreds of tiny plots, each one a different line or type of bean – representing different varieties of dry beans from all over the world.

Farmers in this area grow mainly pinto beans, great northern, and light red kidneys, and smaller amounts of others such as black beans, navies, and chickpeas.

Wellness is the theme of the 2018 Western Nebraska Early Childhood Conference, scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 6, 2018 in Scottsbluff.

Keynote speakers in the morning and afternoon sessions will focus on family resilience and recovery in the face of crisis, as well as paying attention to the well-being of early childhood educators.

The conference is intended for child-care providers, teachers, and educators from child-care homes, child-care centers, preschools, and Head Start. It will take place from 8 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. at the Western Nebraska Community College Harms Advanced Technology Center in Scottsbluff.

        Nebraska Extension will be offering the ServSafe® Manager Training Program for food service managers and employees Oct. 10-11, 2018 from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at the Panhandle Research and Extension Center, Bluestem Room, 4502 Ave I, Scottsbluff. 

        Registrations are due by Sept. 24. Find the registration form and more information at https://extension.unl.edu/statewide/northernpanhandle/ or contact Nebraska Extension at 308-432-3373 or Jamie Goffena at jgoffena2@unl.edu.

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