Ep. 28 - Talking Safety: Johnsongrass, Armyworm, & New School Year

Safety is the theme of this episode, one way or another. Stone County Extension is back at it.  Updates on where we've been and the adventures we've gotten upto and summers almost over as far as summer break is concerned.  Anna gives some new school year safety and watching for buses.  Also she talks some canning safety.   Tyler talks about johnsongrass and is it a friend or foe and how to deal with it.  Also armyworms are spreading throughout Arkansas farmers need to be ready. 

Transcript

What's up? This is Tyler Caston. The first like 22 minutes of this audio sounds funky because we forgot to record. We're mainly talking about, you know, what we did, we've been doing on the Vet Science tour that I went on. State O' Rama, Anna went to, and then we are kind of mid-story WHEP. If it sounds too weird, you can skip ahead about 22 minutes. All right, enjoy the show. 

It's been a minute since we've been here. We've been busy.

We have been busy. We've been traveling across state lines.

Yeah. Shoot. And before that, we've been gone.

I was gone basically two weeks from home. But it's been fun. We've done some good things.

It's been some, yeah, interesting things. So July is normally like pretty busy for us. Like used to, normally it's a state chorus show and I used to work that and that was like several days. And then always our state O'Rama, which is like the epitome of the, is that the right word? The culmination of your project work. The climax of your project work. And that's where they're going, the seniors go and do competitive events, and that's always like at the end of July. Well, I lucked out this year, and last year I didn't have to go.

Well, and you also have your associate, your national meeting.

Yeah, national meeting, sometimes it can be in July. I think this year it was like in June, July, I didn't go because it's like I was already doing something. And then pop-up stuff happens. Like I got a call on like a Thursday or a Friday and it's like, please, do me a big favor. I need you to go on the vet science tour.

Yeah, in Louisiana.

Yeah, and so got told on like Thursday, Friday, left out Monday morning. I went down Sunday and then left out Monday morning at 6.30 and we I had a van full of 4-Hers.

Yep. You educated them too, I think.

Yeah. That first day I was just kind of listening to my headphones to drive and listen to music and podcasts and stuff. And so I didn't really interact. I was just kind of long travel day. Feeling the vibe. You got to feel the vibe of the group before you kind of reveal things about yourself.

Yeah.

But we're, this is the second day where I think we're headed somewhere and I seen a semi and I was like, man, I announced to like the whole van. I was like, man, you know what'd be fun? I think it'd be fun to drive a truck. And then it just started from there. And then I told them stories about my life. And hopefully they'll- Your youth. Yeah, youth, hopefully that they'll Learned from my mistakes, I guess. But we had a good time.

Yeah, it sounded like y'all did. You know people are having a good time when you don't hear complaining.

Yeah.

But where all did y'all go?

So we went to Baton Rouge and we hit a stop on the way down, but that was like the first day, get all the way down there to Baton Rouge and went to LSU, looked at the vet school there, LSU's got a pretty cool campus. I can see why people would want to go there. But then we left Baton Rouge and headed West. I guess like the bottom part of Louisiana and got over there. Dr. Midkiff, she knew as a vet that he had some property over near the coast. And so we went and looked at his farm and then took the kids out to the beach and went to a gator farm. I was just telling them, I was like, you're not going to see gators. I've been to a gator farm, but I've been to a commercial gator farm. They're like, no, you can't go in there and see them because it spooks them. And then they start biting themselves. And I was like, you're not going to get to see any gators if we're going to a gator farm like I went to.

You had them set up for disappointment.

Yeah, like we're not going to get to see any gators. But it was like an actual, you get to go around and they had it where you could put hot dogs on like a little cane pole and stick it out there attached to like some weed or lime and they'll come up and they'll eat it. So we went fishing. But you actually got to see neighbors. We got to see it. And we got to see them in the wild. We went, drove through like this nature reserve that was kind of around that area that veterinarian, the guy told us about. And so it was like a two mile loop and there's just like a marsh, I guess. And they're all in there. We saw.

Some swampy.

We saw some bigguns, a big couple bigguns.

Oh, that's fun.

Yeah. And then we made it home safely and that was cool. And then the next week was Aroma and I just kind of was here at the office catching up.

Yeah, we had a big time in Aroma. I think it's the most that we've had attend since I've been here, which, you know, is the post COVID days. But we had an FCS skill-a-thon team, so I was excited and they placed third. I thought that was great. You know, this was our first year practicing for that contest. And then we had one who just came for the day to compete. She did entomology talk. And it's always fun to, when they do, like Ava did public speaking and did well, it's fun to see them progress from, you know, county orama to district to state. and watched them grow. And then Addison got third at Livestock ID and it was very tight, I guess, between first and third was decided by three points. And then they attended several workshops. Madeline went to painting and we got to go to Crystal Bridges and go through different little exhibits and sections there. And I feel like everybody really just had a great time this year. We had fun.

Said I missed it.

Yeah, you missed it. the turnaround was very quick.

I think I was told you don't have to go to Aroma since there's no boys going. I don't want you grouchy on the WEP Nationals.

And you would have been really grouchy if you had gone to Louisiana, Aroma, and the WEP Nationals 3 weeks in a row gone. That would have been a little too much. So I'm glad you weren't some. I do get grouchy.

I get kind of complainy. and gripey.

You turn into a buzzkill Craig.

Yeah, a buzzkill Craig for sure.

And we didn't need you to be a buzzkill Craig driving all the way to South Carolina for the Web Nationals. But we had a big time at that. We lucked out because the location of it made for such a special time, I think, because.

Yeah, they moved the WEP Nationals around. Like last year we went to Nationals and we were in East Tennessee and it, Eastern deciduous forests. I mean, I've seen it. I live in it. wasn't nothing like, oh, I hadn't seen before, so I wasn't too impressed. But then this year, North Myrtle Beach.

It was Southeast mixed coastal plain and What WEP is, it's the Wildlife Habitat Evaluation Program, and it's one of our really cool educational series. And there's so much in it to teach the kids. Like we typically have weekly or twice a month sessions from January, end of January to end of April.

We might switch it up.

We might, yeah, you know, we get, some get a little burnt out on ID, whereas you've got new kids rolling in and some people.

Well, it's like we're really figuring it out. It's like at the state contest, it's like need to know your ID because if you perform well on the ID you'll do really well at the state contest but really it's about knowing the animals and what management practices and the habitat they live in and how to manage to get that habitat is really where the focus is on and so I think we're gonna and that's kind of the what more Advanced, I guess.

Advanced, and it's really the meat of wildlife management.

And for kids, it's kind of like.

Those terms get snoozy boring, but that's going to be it. if you're gonna be doing those types of things in your life, and a lot of hunters are, like we're, but we don't always know the terms for it or the proper way to even get to this level of management for our property.

But a goal is to get like in a, we haven't placed them, they only announced like the top 10 individuals and the top five teams and there's what, 40 kids, 50 kids and-- That was quite.

A day, it was more than that. yeah, 10 teams for 4-H. And FFA also goes, which is the Arkansas FFA team.

And I think last year at Tennessee, there were even more 4-H teams. But we haven't placed top five yet, and that's kind of a goal I'd like to get to call them top five. Tennessee seems like they're the team that's going to win every year.

You know, a lot of times you go to contest and the point spread between first and third is literally maybe not even an entire point, whereas it was pretty heavy. And so, yeah, our goal is to get our name called at Webb Nationals one of these days. But one cool thing about it being in South Carolina is they had it at their FFA center in North Myrtle Beach and it's on the marsh. So it's literally connected to this area. And I don't know, I didn't, I've not been to the ocean, but one other time in my life, and I didn't realize how much the tides affected those areas.

Yeah.

And seeing the little crabs and the oyster beds, and that was neat. We had a member with us who had never been to the ocean, so that was cool. And then you knew that there were shark teeth.

Yeah, I'm into that, like finding the shark teeth on the beach, and there's certain beaches that are more known for them. And I guess in North Myrtle Beach where we were around Cherry Grove is kind of known for them. So it's like, we'll probably be able to find shark teeth. So that's what we spend a lot of the time at the beach.

Yeah.

Like we went down a day early and got there. Like we drove. Night. Yeah, we drove all the way through, left at like 5.30 in the morning from Mountain View and arrived in North Myrtle Beach at like 9.30. And we time changes. So it's 830. But kind of looked around and I found one.

I found my best one the first night we were there and a few little ones.

And then the next day would be when we were going to check into the.

Yeah, that evening.

That evening we had to check in from three to five. And so we kind of spent that morning looking around and I found a.

Yeah. We all decided to go on this long walk and go towards, I guess it's the beginning of that nature preserve is where like the intercoastal waterway opened up into the ocean. It was the beginning of that nature preserve on the other side. And one thing that was cool is like it was really not it wasn't deep for a long way out in several areas but oh I know I know we'll get to that I know exactly where I gave my we walked over 3 miles and I ended up with like a big case of I guess like beach feet something I'm real I have to wear long sleeves and stuff so At the beach, I just can't.

I didn't get raw that first day, but that second, the next time I walked that, I did.

Your feet were, yeah.

Well, not my feet, but like chafed.

Got a little golden.

Yeah. I was like.

All that sand and walking in the water. Yeah. It was really cool. Yeah, I found my best one, but yours was. was a big tooth and it was just on.

Top like a fossilized grape bite yeah it's just I'd seen it there floating and I was like that wasn't what I thought it was and reach down and grab it sure enough it's like.

Yeah that was a dandy and then shells several of the kids got all we were finding the olives and the lettered olive is the state shell of South Carolina so those are always fun to find and I've gotten little sand scoops and tools and bags for everybody. And I think that worked out great.

Yeah.

To keep our treasures.

Then we checked into the FFA center and that they had like, it's a whole like, it's kind of like a camp essentially planned around this, the national contest. So like the, well, like the.

The activities.

Yeah, they have like educational activities. And so like the first days like check in and kind of meet everybody learn the rules and then the next.

Day they had their swap meet kind of thing.

Yeah they can get bring stuff from their state and trade.

And shout out to the music store in Mountain View they gave me a bunch of guitar picks so that was really cool that also that said Mountain View on them that the kids got to trade and Kristen had gotten some Razorback pens and we had some different different things Some states brought a ton of stuff. One gave away peaches. I think that was Georgia. Which it was funny during that first night, you're supposed to share a fact about your state. And they were like, South Carolina and something. And they're like, fun fact is, South Carolina's peaches are sweeter than Georgia peaches. And everybody's like, oh. So we had to buy some after that. Which it turns out they were good, but I don't know if you could say they were sweeter per se, but. that was not one. And then the view and you could just sit there and look out on that marsh. That was really nice.

It was cool. And the breeze coming off is nice and cool because it's kind of hot in the evening.

But it was cooler there than here. And it's like bunk.

Style, like you're in a, all right. Ours was like a bunk. So we're like sharing a bathroom with like other people and stuff. So it's like, I don't want to just sit in the bunk in there. in the air condition, so go sit up near this tree next to the marsh and that breeze just cool you off. It was nice. It was nice. And then some people would fish and we'd sit there and watch them.

Yeah, they weren't very successful, but we were watching.

Done. So education day, they took us on a dolphin cruise.

Oh, that was cool.

That was cool.

Oh yeah, we set. Tyler's like, let's set up front, which I wanted to because I didn't want to be packed in the back and it maybe be hot. And I was worried about getting sick. So a bunch of us had taken motion sickness meds, non-drowsy. And Taja's like, well, maybe we won't get out.

Yeah, 'cause they're telling us, like, they're like, wear stuff that you don't mind getting wet. And it's like, okay, what does that mean? Like, wear stuff where I'm gonna get soaked and I need to be wearing a swimsuit or like, can I wear jeans? And it's just like, I might get splashed.

You might get like spray.

Yeah. And so I was like, I bet that's how it is. They're making it sound like it's the Wild River ride at where you're gonna get soaked. And I'm like, I bet it's more like you just get splashed. And so we're all, they're about to let us on the boat. And so we get lined up and I'm like, get up to the front, get up to the front so we can kind of choose where we go. And so I'm like, let's sit up at the front so we'll be able to see.

Which we could see very well and the breeze was great.

So we got up front, but so.

We were still in the intercoastal waterway and we were just going along, you know, pretty slow because you don't want to make too many, make too many wakes going through there. But I guess he got tired.

We're in a no wake zone. And so as soon as he comes out of it, there's a boat in front of us.

Yeah, a fishing boat.

And they're probably going, Well, he goes to.

I don't think we're gonna get wet. And I mean, I didn't expect it. I was caught off guard.

I was with how much it was. Like he, so he goes around that fishing boat and it's like got a pretty big wake. So I guess if he hits that wake just right, it causes the front to splash down and make a huge wave.

We heard the slap and then.

I just saw it and there was nothing I could do.

I just heard the slap and immediately was like, oh no. Which if you are a person that has to wear prescription glasses, this is not the joy. But I had brought a washcloth and a Ziploc bag. I was prepared. But man, we were so right off the bat. Those poor kids who are in the very front, not only would it splash them, but it would roll off the, I don't know what the front of the boat was called.

So it pretty much was like getting wet on that ride. I was like, yeah, it's not gonna be like that. And sure enough, it was. We got soaked. But it was all right. We got dried off and it was nice and cool.

Oh man. He'd be like, let's turn on the AC and he'd take off and the breeze, it was beautiful morning. The ocean was calm because I thought, gosh, what if I'm puking?

Finally found some dolphins.

Well, but first though, we were going and he was like, I'm gonna give a prize to anybody that sees the first dolphin, so everybody be looking. And so we point, Tyler pointed out where one of our volunteers was staying.

Yeah, we went over to the, like drove over to that cherry grove and I'm like trying to pick out where hers is and point, so I'm pointing. And he stops at the boat. He's like, you see something over there? I see you pointing.

And we're like, no. So we stopped the boat for that. Well, then they apparently have people on jet skis that tell you if there's dolphins there or not. They're like, not any here. So we headed out further out into the ocean.

Yeah, we went over to North Carolina.

Well, then I don't know what I saw. So I go to pointing at it. He stopped the boat again.

Yeah, he stopped it again.

And I just wasn't even thinking like, I think I saw like a cruise ship maybe or something.

Yeah, we saw some huge, looked like a huge ship out.

Yeah, it was either that or a container. I don't know.

And so we're like, is that a cruise ship? And Anna's like pointing.

Yeah, pointing it out. And he stopped again. And we were the only ones that caused the boat to stop until finally, like we looked and looked and finally we found some dolphins. And they got really close to the boat. And that was super cool to start. That was one of my big things I wanted on the trip.

Yeah. So got to do that. Next day's contest and they send all the coaches. Like they send us like on a, like last year we went to an aquarium. So this year they sent us that Brook Ring Gardens, which is like, I don't know.

They said a hunting club.

It's like a nature reserve slash.

They said a hunting club had purchased 4 plantations.

Yeah, it's like 4 plantations that put together and it's these two, like this rich guy's wife was like an artist.

And she was rich in her own right, wealthy in her own right.

And so that they were into art and so they made this whole area like full of like these huge sculptures and it was neat.

It was really pretty. The trees and our sculpture tour was that guy knew a lot. That was very interesting. Like I was afraid that that's just not something I'm into. But that was really cool with him and the trees and the landscaping was beautiful. And then we did go on a little boat tour. We were supposed to see gators, but it was hot and they weren't out. But I guess they had grown rice and they are continuing to sort of in a way maintain this one field for people to see how they grew rice during the slavery days.

Yeah.

And showed us that and but no gators and we saw that area and that was neat. And I guess they have a preserve blocked off so that boats can't get through there. So we went all the way to there and back. And then you saw a barn owl just in the little trees near us and they had an orchid greenhouse. That was pretty.

It was neat.

It was really cool. They kept us there all day long. It was hot. And then they had a little zoo that had native. And they had the red wolves that I was thinking about when they had called here asking people's opinions. I don't think it's going to be good. I don't think it'll go well for them. But that was a cool experience. I felt like we got to see a lot of neat things while we were out and about.

Again, didn't place top five, got done with all that. And then we didn't want to drive back. So we kind of stayed that a little bit that last day.

Yeah, when we checked out. We also too, I wanted to say on the education day, the kids got a chance to saltwater fish and crab. The lady that was talking about gators was super cool. And she had different stomach contents. That was one of her doctorate studies. And talked about black bears and then estuaries. And I just wanted to add that in. And then we also tried oysters, several of us, for the first time. And I actually liked them. They were pretty good. I learned that some are better than others.

We were on a wet trip. We've kind of finished up at the FFA Center, but we're staying like one more day to drive home the next morning so it doesn't put us like middle of the night getting back.

Yeah, or staying just somewhere in between.

It gave the kids a chance to get a full day at the beach. And for us to look for shark teeth and whatnot, but one of our volunteers that went She had looked for shark teeth while we were at the FFA center and they weren't finding any. And that last day.

They're just little ones. Oh, I was finding those little ones.

Wasn't finding a whole lot. And I walked that mile and a half again just seeing if I could spy anything like I found that big one. And so I do that mile and a half and come back and then y'all had sandwiches. You were thinking you were going to have to come look for me.

I had just started to go look for you and there you were.

Yeah, I made my way back.

Cause it had been gone so long.

Well, how long, you know, how long had I been gone?

Well, I didn't have my phone or anything. I'd know.

I forget when I'd left.

But you had been gone probably an hour.

Yeah, I'd walk to that mile and a half down and then I just walked to the other side of that pier, so probably just like a mile-ish, little over.

So 2 mile round trip.

Yeah, so I just made my way back and I was hot and I was chafed and I was like, I'm going swimming. So I went, you told me that we'd had I went up there and ate one of them. And then I could see the 4-Hers out there kind of floating around. And so I was going to try to dive down and swim up on them and grab their legs.

Yeah, because we had read.

I was going to do that to Archer, but there's no way that would be possible.

But we had read they had one of the biggest great whites had surfaced within two hours of that area. a couple months ago. So that's one of the reasons it would have been really scary for him if he could have grabbed him. Yeah, but that adds to what you did next.

But there's no way, like the water's murky, you can't really see anything and the tide's like coming in and shaking you around. So if I would have went to grab somebody, I'd have grabbed probably a complete stranger. I grabbed the wrong one. But So I was like, there's no way that I'd do that. But I was like, what are y'all doing? And they were like filling around with their feet and they'd find like shells. And then there were big hermit crabs in them. So they were like collecting hermit crabs and naming them. And so we were out there. I never did find any. And we're just kind of swimming around and kind of looking. And I don't know. I was just.

The intrusive thoughts won.

The intrusive. I was just like, I was kind of thinking about this video that I'd seen of this lady I guess up in Alaska like swimming and there's like killer whales like swimming beside her and she's just going and I just happened to look up and there's that the pier you know we could see it and I was like I wonder if we could swim out like as far as that pier is to the end of the pier I wonder how if we could get out there and so we just kind of me and Archer

Just left the group. We see him leave the group.

Everybody kind of, we kind of started that way. And then the girls, I guess this, they just, a good thing they didn't go, but they're like, we're not gonna go. And so I was like, okay. And I was like, and Archer, he just kept going. So I just was kind of following him and we're just swimming. And we get out there a little ways and it's,

And we were watching them. And we were thinking, what are they doing?

And it's like, I'm a pretty good swimmer. Archer's a good swimmer. I didn't think anything about it. I was like, this is going to be a piece of cake. And it was like, we just kind of swim out there. And we get out there and we get out there about as, we get out there a little ways before it's like, okay, you can't touch anymore.

Yeah, it was shallow a long ways now.

And so we kind of, it wasn't too much further that we swam past, we couldn't touch and got even with the end of the pier. And so we start making our way back. And Archer, he kind of went further than I did a little bit. Like I was like, I think we're good. Let's head back. And he'd be like, well, no, I don't think we're quite with the edge of it yet. I was like, okay. And so we kind of floated a little bit more. And I was like, that's good, let's go back. And so we started swimming back and it's, we're just taking our time like swimming like overhand stroke. And then I'd flip over on my back and kind of float when I needed to rest. And I was kind of backstroking. and not thinking anything about it. We're just kind of swimming in. And at one point, like I look and I was like, man, we still got a long ways to go. And I just happened to say to Arthur, I was like, I could see how some people would get out here and panic. And about that time, this girl pops up and she looks nervous as can be. And she's like, are y'all struggling? I was like, no. She's like, you're not supposed to be more than 50 out. I didn't know what she said. And I was like, sorry, I was like, we're just kind of out here. we just wanted to swim out here a little, further than everybody else. And she's like, you're not supposed to, she's like, you're gonna have to come give a statement. We're y'all struggling about this time. Like there's this buff dude shows up. He's like, are y'all good? And like, as we're like, we're swimming and we're floating and she pops up. Well, that kind of, I was like, scared, nervous, made me nervous. And that But then it's like we stood up and it's like we're in waist deep water. And it's like, because it's like, it's kind of getting tired. Now I'm getting accosted. Now I've realized, yeah, I'm a little tired, but oh, I can stand up. And she's like, you're going to have to come in. And so we're walking into the beach and I just happened to look up. No one's in the water. The beach is lined up and they're looking at me and Archer.

And they walk in hanging their heads too.

Apparently we'd swam out way too far and she is blowing her whistle. She's like, could you not hear me blowing the whistle? And I was like, I can hear nothing. Oh, we were just, I could hear the waves.

So our point of view is our volunteer had rented some beach chairs and umbrellas and I had no clue there was a lifeguard anywhere around because typically on the beaches I'm at in the Gulf, we're not where there's even a lifeguard in seeing distance. We're just sitting there and we're like wondering what y'all were doing. Like, oh, I guess they're swimming out. And talking about how her dad had swum out far and gotten accosted by the Coast Guard in the Gulf and watching and then thinking, well, they're kind of going far. And then all of a sudden we see a lady holding up like a red life preserver. And then she started blowing her whistle. And we were kind of getting tickled, but it was also kind of like, I have this thing where I hate getting in trouble. So it's kind of like thinking like that. And then, I mean, she blew the whistle and she blew the whistle and then she blew the whistle and we're both kind of giggling, but we're both kind of like, oh gosh, But they didn't look like they were struggling to me because we had literally talked about how people just need to break and float. And so I finally I couldn't handle it anymore. So I went down and talked to the girls and that's when they told me that y'all were swimming out even with pier. And I was like, oh, well then people started like, really kind of, before she went out, people started paying attention. I guess they thought were getting carried away. Yeah. And then so the next thing I know, she drops her radio. She was on the radio, drops her radio and starts out. Then boom, boom, side by sides come in, another lifeguard's out there. I hear like fire engines, sirens, the buff dudes in the tight trucks come out of nowhere running down. One lady She had a boogie board. She started heading out after the girl head now. If you'd have said, start a human chain. If I would have said start a human chain, people would have leaked up. I mean, everybody was waiting for someone to be like, panic, what I mean? But you could tell everybody was like ready. Like it was cool. Like people got out of the water, people got ready to get out of the way, people got ready to help, like, so humans are cool. But then also like we were really trying not to laugh because we didn't want to be disrespectful because they thought it was serious. We, I mean, I didn't think y'all were, but then it got me kind of, you know, you got to kind of like, but are they? And then I thought from the lifeguards point of view is people may not show that they're struggling. You know what I mean? But y'all never did the, I'm struggling. Yeah, the, never. But my father-in-law told me one time he was getting carried away and he was out going like doing the X wave. And the people on the beach were like, even at it. So I got, but we were like, we were trying to not laugh and then Amber got on to Ardrey like, do not laugh, but we kind of couldn't help it. But there's people watching.

Yeah, I was like, maybe that wasn't a good idea.

But we didn't know anything about this rule on how far you could go out.

Yeah, they got in trouble for being around the pier.

Yeah, we did for taking a picture in the water around the pier.

Yeah, not supposed to be.

Swimming within 25 feet.

Of the pier. I mean, sharks probably. Gather up around that thing.

So I think they just don't want people getting clunked against the wood pile. Well, and then like when they said a statement

right next to it.

Well, then they were asked him to go over there and talk to him. And I'm thinking, is he getting a file? Like, are we getting the bus?

Yeah, they're like, yeah, we'll need one of you to come over and talk. tell us what happened. And I was like, okay. And I was like, I told Archer, I was like, I'll go over. And I kind of walked over there and they're like, what's your name? I should have been like, Billy Bolin. Billy Bolin from Kansas.

Well, and we had talked about how when you said Arkansas their pot, them land lovers.

Land lovers. I'm not a landlubber. I probably was out there further than, any other swimmer.

Any of them coastal people.

Yeah, that is something like swim back and the embarrassment like hits me of all them people looking at me and I was just like thinking like, y'all couldn't have done that. It was a nice swim out there and back.

I mean, it was fine. You didn't do anything wrong. We didn't know about the distance. y'all were safe. 4-H member's parent was right there.

Yeah, that's what one of the guys said. He's like, no big deal. Everybody's good, because he's like, you good? And I was like, yeah, we're good. And he's like, man, if everybody's good, we're good.

You should have let him carry in. Isn't that what you said? That's just what the buff guy did.

Yeah, I was talking about the buff guys, and I was like, I should have just let him carry me in. But no, we walked up and they just kind of, I told the girl, I guess, she's like, what happened? And I was like, well, we just kind of went out there and wanted to see how far out there we couldn't touch. And then it was like, well, let's swim a little further. And then we swam back. And they're like, okay.

that was one thing. Like y'all were on your way back before the rescue attempt ensued.

That is one thing. It's like if we were in trouble, they would have had us saved quick.

Yeah, and I'm sure that's their thought, the quicker. And then I know she was probably panicking because there was two of y'all in one of her.

And that's one thing. Like I was watching Archer and like when I was backstroking, I was like, you good? And he's just like, yeah. I was like, you know, if you get tired, just kind of flip over and just kind of Breathe in and you'll float in salt water, no problem, and just kind of catch your breath.

But yeah, y'all never struggle. That's the key takeaway here is they never struggled.

But so we learned something, we'll never do that again, will you? So even on a green flag, you can't go more than 50 something out.

Yeah, that's a good point. It was the green flag, which is the calmest.

Respect rules. Don't panic is the biggest thing if you get out there. Like we weren't panicking. But like I said, we got out there and about the time the lifeguard reached us, I told Archer, I was like, I can see how somebody would panic. Like if you, know, because it's like you kind of out there past where the waves are. It is kind of, you got to.

It does pull you. There is a current.

Yeah, there's a current out there. And so, but it wasn't like strong. I don't know. It was funny.

There's video and photo evidence. Yeah, Amber got some. It was great. Oh, man. What fun.

So, bring your kids to join Stone County 4-H.

They'll get lots of experiences and education.

Life all times. We learn education. We do keep them safe.

Yeah. We did a good job driving. We had a safe trip. I was very thankful for that. No one threw up. It was a good, it was good.

Yeah. Well, So that's kind of what we've been having go on, past month, July, and then, there's stuff in June where you were out. I tried a couple of times to do a podcast by myself, but it's, I don't know.

You just feel goofy, I think is what happens.

With how we do it, it's goofy and it just didn't make sense. And I didn't have a whole lot of time. It's like, Even though it's like people are in the hay and they kind of, getting things going, it's like still getting a lot of calls about, spraying, where people worrying about Johnson grass. That's kind of what I'm talking about today when we get into our educational portion. I'm going to be talking about army worms, and some Bermuda stem maggot and then some Johnson grass because people are bringing in their Johnson grass to have a test.

It's getting dry right now.

It is getting dry. It don't take long.

And then eventually it will rain and that will affect Johnson grass, right?

Yeah, what are you, what were you gonna?

Today I was, I've had a few canning questions and things pop up lately I've been getting a few calls about, so I was gonna talk about that a little bit. And then with school starting, I wanted to bring attention to what the Stone County leader had in our local newspaper about bus safety. And we've got some changes this year that are going to affect times that you're going to be seeing buses. So those are my two, hitting some food safety and some personal safety is what my topics are today. You want me to go first? Yeah, you get into it. So I talked earlier in our episode today about peaches and I love white peaches and Susan Carroll, one of our EHC members, was wanting to can white nectarines. And so when we've got these varieties that are slightly different than what I would say traditional, there's a chance that they've not been tested for safety as far as canning. and some of the sweeter type varieties. So to me a white peaches taste sweeter and a white nectarine may taste sweeter. Well part of the reason that is their acid is lower. So then you're taking it out of a high acid food into a low acid food. So water bath canning is not going to be safe but in fact there's no safe recommendations for canning white peaches or white nectarines right now. So when we're in the peak of the season at the moment that is something to consider and there's not even a recommendation for how to acidify that to make it safe at this time. So I can't give you any safe canning recommendations for white peaches or white nectarines So in that case, you're going to want to cut those items up and freeze them, which they perform well. some things don't freeze well, whereas others do and peaches are going to freeze well. So in that situation, I just want you to chop them up and freeze them and not can them. And I would think about that with like, you'll go to the store and you'll see trendy things. Sometimes they'll have names like cotton candy or plum cots and there's interesting sugared varieties. And so those are probably not going to have safe recommendations either for canning. And then my other topic that had come up to me was tomatoes. And so I don't know if you remember which you don't like tomatoes, but tomatoes seem to be a much less acidic as far as taste. And that's a lot of new varieties and different breeding techniques. And so we can't just simply can a tomato now and assume that it is acidic enough. And like a couple varieties come to mind of not being acidic enough and like those yellow pear tomatoes. You know, they're a very sweet tomato. And so we have recommendations for how to acidify them canning. The recommendations are one tablespoon of bottled lemon juice or 1/4 teaspoon of citric acid per pint of tomatoes. That's to just get the pH low enough that botulism is not going to be passing from the spore form to the bacterial form. You can also do 4 tablespoons of vinegar per quart or two tablespoons per pint, but that may not give you the flavor you want. And if you, add this acid, but you can also add sugar to offset that taste and you're not going to affect negatively the safety because sugars are preservative, lowering the pH is also a preservative. And that's something that I want people to do whenever they're canning their tomatoes is you need to acidify your tomatoes. And then when I had talked to an individual this week, she had said someone's like, how does pressure can mine for 10 minutes? That's not going to be the correct amount of time in most cases for tomatoes. And tomatoes vary greatly. So like you've got whole, halved, juiced, stewed. So they're all going to have different times that you're going to need to can them. And you need to be looking for that from the USDA. So crushed tomatoes, and you can water bath or pressure can tomatoes. It's actually, I mean the whole process maybe about the same, water bath versus pressure, but you could do either. And I just want you to be sure and follow the recommendations from the USDA. And I have the so easy to preserve books at my office. And I've got crushed tomatoes have a certain time.

How much are those costing now?

They're 35 now. And when I first started, they were 18. And we only charge what we're charged. And we're getting it from the University of Georgia or through us, or I think about your only means to get it at a that the fair price. I've seen them on Amazon for $100, which is ridiculous, but it's my favorite canning book. And so crushed tomatoes, tomatoes whole or halved, they have different times. You can can them with or without liquid, so that's going to have a different time frame. Your juices are going to have a different time. So that's just something that you need to be looking for. Like let's say you're doing tomatoes whole or half packed in juice. You know that's going to be an 85 minute water bath time for pines or quartz whereas that's a 25 minute pressure canning time for pines or quartz. But I'm afraid a lot of people probably are not processing long enough whenever they're canning their tomatoes. So I just, I want you to, go to the National Center for Home Food Preservation or use the So Easy to Preserve book and just look for those USDA recommendations. Don't be just making up what I think is enough time, you know, when you're canning your tomatoes. And right now I feel like we're in the height of tomato canning. And that's one of my favorite things to have canned because you can't beat that flavor of homegrown tomatoes versus grocery store. Now you can get a lot of good ones at the farmer's stands, but you're not gonna be able to get that year round. So you can also always freeze your tomatoes. That's a great option too. I made chili the other day with frozen chopped tomatoes. So anyway, that's my canning bit for the day. And if you have any questions, please call me. I'm happy to look into it, but I cannot believe that school is starting next week.

I know it's good. It's gone by quick.

How are your two? Are they excited?

Addie's ready. I doubt Case. Case is probably like, Whitney's pretty excited.

She likes school, but you know, my mother-in-law and her have been going through, you know, clothes and She's grown an inch since April, so nothing's fitting right now. She's a long-legged gal, but she's excited about school starting. And I was thinking on my way to work this morning and have to start paying attention to the buses. And then I got to thinking, there was an article put in our Stone County Leader, and we have an excellent local newspaper, and they really hit it hard about flashing red kids ahead. And while I was driving, I know that there's this one area I have to be very careful when I'm on my way to school because of buses. But then they brought up the point that our school district has gone back to three separate school districts. And so we're going to have different bus routes than we typically have. So that spot that I know is prone to someone being there at a specific time, that's probably going to change because in addition to us going to three separate districts, the Timbo School District is going to have a different time frame because they're going to a four day week. So we're going to have to be really cautious about new bus routes, different times. So there will be some earlier and some later times that the buses are going to be stopping. And so that's concerning because the area that I have to be really careful of is around a blind curve. And you get around that blind curve and you have to very quickly stop for that bus. So I just want everybody to be very cautious when they're driving and getting used to these new routes this week and just be very safe with our kids. And so I was looking at some of the statistics that they pointed out in the leader this week, which is a great read for everyone. And so of course it's illegal to pass a bus in any direction while the red lights go. So if those red lights are flashing, you need to be stopped. There's no amount, you're not even turning. And so if they're even at a, say an intersection, my sister told me this because she has her CDL and she drives a bus, that if you're in an intersection and the lights go on, it doesn't matter what those lights are, like the stoplights, everybody needs to stop. So that was interesting to know. It's illegal to turn left or right in front or behind a bus while those red lights are going. And then I was sad to see a few statistics. So on April 28th of 2026, Arkansas school bus drivers reported motorists illegally passing school buses on that one day. So this is just one day. In the morning, 140 buses were passed. Midday, three buses were passed. And in that afternoon, 236. So that is just one day. And 1,715 drivers participated in the survey. So we don't know if that's even all the school bus drivers that participated. But out of those 1,715, you had almost 400 were passed. How dangerous is that for the children in our state and in our county to have people passing buses with kids crossing the road and And that's just really scary. And I'm just hoping that everyone is cautious. And I know that some people are a little road raging, you're kind of in a hurry, but that's just, we don't want to change the lives of everyone in that one moment of bad decision and lose a life or injure a life. And so I just want you all to be careful while you're out driving and whatever part of the state you are, every part of the country you are, for the buses, especially starting this next week.

Yeah, be chill.

Be chill, be calm, be safe. You know, these are children and I just can't imagine, I can't imagine that. So be careful out there.

Sounds good. I'll try. I definitely do pay attention to buses.

Yeah, what worries me, like I said, is those those blind curves and it's just real curvy where we're at. And then adding, like I said, this new time, that's going to be, that's going to be interesting. And I have to just be super careful on the roads. Well, deep subject them wells. That's what Brandon always says when I say well.

I used to, I'd say, well, mom would get on to me. She'd be like, Tyler, you don't need to be doing that. And I'd be like, well, she'd be like.

Would she really?

Ask her.

Well, when you have teachers as parentals, they kind of get onto your English. One of my nephews was, he got on to mom for how we had written up something for her truck that went to the C10 in the mountains. And he's like, I just like things done well. And I was like, well, mom, I thought Thought we had done it well. Like I thought it was good. If I had known that was wrong, I would have fixed it. Then I thought, well, I'm glad he's smart.

Yeah, good.

Smart in the English, the grammar.

That's good, that's good. I don't, I have grammar checkers on stuff that I send out.

I need grammar checkers. Too bad we don't have podcast grammar checkers.

Yeah, no, I'm not eloquent of speech.

No, I wish I was. It'd be nice.

Yeah, to sow what I'm talking, Johnson grass. We've had people bringing it in to be tested. Johnson grass, yeah. Johnson grass, weed or beneficial forage. What do you think?

I think it can be beneficial, right? My family's scared of it, so I don't know.

So let's.

It's just, I feel like it's how you're raised almost like. Most people I know growing up are like, no, this is going to kill my cows. Even though perillamint snuck in and did the job once, but anyway.

So about that, so yeah, perillamint, that's another one that can be a noxious, toxic weed that we want to worry about. Typically, perillamint grows in shady areas, but Johnson grass is a grass and it can It gets started by seed, it spreads by rhizomes, and it can very quickly take over a field. Grows real tall, can grow like during a drought, it'll be one of the, it'll still, it can tolerate drought, very drought tolerant. So it grows well. Problems with it, well, let's talk good things. It also is somewhat nutritious, you know, I'd put it, if we were ranking, I would say on nutrition wise, I'd give it a B. Have you ever seen like a, people like rank stuff and do a scale of stuff?

I like this grass ranking.

Yeah, grass.

Is it just a straight B? It's not a B plus or a B minus.

I mean, you know, depending on Depending on the circumstances, it could be a B plus, but nutrition wise, Solid B. I would say B. Like it's, going to have good protein, good enough protein to say, cover a dry cow. If they're, you know, when they're eating it, grazing it, probably provides good enough energy. The problems with it is that it's can build up prussic acid when it gets stressed, which if cattle or livestock consume enough of that will kill them dead. And then it also has issues with nitrates. When nitrates, it gets stressed, nitrates can build up high and that will also kill livestock dead. And so has issues. So it kind of depends on how we manage it. Like my dad, he kind of likes it sometimes because again, it's the only thing that'll grow. Other time you have to worry about it though. Is it high in nitrate? So I mentioned two things there, prussic acid, nitrate. One thing about prussic acid, if we're cutting for hay, prussic acid will like dissipate out after we cut it. So we don't really have, if it's high, like when we cut it, it's gonna drain out. nitrate, if it's high when we cut it, it's gonna stay in. And so your hay can still be high in nitrates.

And so that's why people bring it in to test it, is for the nitrates.

And so that's what, when I say we test here at the office, we are testing for the presence of nitrates. Prussic acid, we can't test for it. I'm not even sure if there is a test for it, because like I say, it dissipates out. But just being able to recognize the signs of stress. So when is stress going to happen on Johnson grass? Well, during droughty periods, if it's looking yellowish or wilty when it's stressed. Some people think when you see that it'll get like a purple, like purple dots on it. That just happens. That's not an indicator of anything. It could be like it could be signs of maybe some stress. Like it could be an indicator of say a mineral deficiency or nutrient deficiency or something. Like say when things get low in phosphorus sometimes it'll cause purpling of the leaves. I'm not saying that's what it is. could be what it is, but what it's not is that, oh, that's high in prussic acid when those dots show up. But it could be an indicator that it might be a little bit stressed because it's not, you know, bright green. So that is an indicator of stress, not necessarily an indicator that prussic acid or nitrates are high.

Which could be occurring right now. It's getting pretty dry with nothing.

It's pretty dry. So we could have prussic acid. So we have to worry about prussic acid and nitrate if we're going to go in and graze. And so our recommendation is on really low Johnson grass, like smaller than 18 inches, we probably want to avoid grazing that during stress times. waiting for a rain or waiting for it to get at least above 18 inches to around a couple of feet because those nitrates they're going to be present lower in the plant even when they're there and as it goes up through the plant it kind of it's not as high and that's where cattle are going to graze they're going to eat the leaves up here and eat higher on the plant. So one thing is we want to wait till that Johnson grass is a little taller. If it is looking droughty, I probably wouldn't graze them. If it's looking wilty, I would wait till after a rain. Let's see. So for grazing, again, nitrates can typically happen, especially if we fertilized heavy with some form of nitrogen fertilizer and then it gets stressed. Those same signs of stress can have nitrates pop up. Again, nitrates, say we go in and we're just going to cut it for hay. Well, we're no longer worried about prussic acid, but we do want to check nitrate. You bring it to my office. I'm going to split it and drop this acid on it. that causes it to change color and just tells me that nitrates are present. It's usually at like the node, so I'll split them at like a node, drop it on there, and let's say it changes color. Okay, nitrates are present. It still could be safe. At this point, we'd want to send to the lab. It's an $8 test, and then the lab can test and see the exact parts per million that...

To see if it's in unsafe.

If it's in an unsafe range, I think on our test, I think it's at above 750 parts per million, I think. I did one recently. It seems like that's what I remember, that it's like below 750 parts per million safe to feed, I think is what it said.

I have a question. If they're bringing in, if they're wanting to test, do they need to bring the entire stock, the entire plant, essentially? What's the optimal?

Like if you're wanting to test for me to drop the acid on it, yeah, bring me just kind of throughout the field, take a few, cut me a few. Really, I would like the bottom of the stalk, but if you bring me the whole plant, that allows me, say I split the bottom, drop it on there and it changes. Well, then I can go, I'll move up the plant just to see if it's throughout the plant, then it's like probably definitely want to test. But if say it's not as I'm dropping it on there and it's not changing color. There's not nitrates real high in the plant.

Where they would probably be grazing.

Yeah, so probably safe to feed if I was guessing. I still recommend sending to the lab, but anyway, so I'd prefer like to have a whole stock. That's what I would want. If you're just kind of wanting to know and just want to bring in a few to see if it's there, I need the bottom. Like bring me the bottom stock and we can at least see if it's there. How I recommend people to test, we can send it off green. But you know I'll drop some on there and I'll do that where I go up the plant and then I'll I test a few. And so some of them will change, some of them might not change. So then at that point, I'm usually like, I'm pretty sure you're probably safe to cut. And then we will test, like we'll just test your hay. We'll run a probe through your hay bale. And it's all about accumulation. So yeah, this plant may have high nitrate, but it That's one little piece and the rest of around it's not hot. It's all about consumption. And so we do think about that when we graze. I have guys worried about it, but they just have like 1 little patch of Johnson grass out amongst the Bermuda grass. And it's like, well, even if, you know, I drop this on there and changes and then do another one and it doesn't change and it's like, we could test and are like, it's just a patch and it's like, you're probably good. They're probably not even gonna consume that very much. You know, it probably not their first choice. Like cattle are very picky and Johnson grass can very quickly become Just not as desirable. Palatable. Like you think tender, what would you rather, would you want something nice and tender and easy to chew or something that's kind of a little bit?

Saw tooth and crunchy.

A little bit. I gotta work on it. So thinking about that. So Johnson grass, can be beneficial. Just you got to know how to manage it. And then I wanted to talk about armyworms and pests because we're getting reports from southern Arkansas that they're starting to find armyworms. And this took place. I started seeing emails from our entomologists and Facebook posts popping up, they're finding them in South Arkansas. So what that means is here in probably a couple of weeks or a week to two week, what we need to be doing as producers and homeowners that say have Bermuda grass lawns, what the armyworm that's showing up right now is called the fall armyworm. And the fall armyworm typically consumes warm season grass and they really prefer Bermuda grass. And so they get blown up, they're a moth and it comes up from Texas. And so that's how they start in southern Arkansas and then they just slowly move up through the state and the moths will go out and find lush Bermuda grass fields if they can find it and they'll lay eggs and then those larva, which are the worms pop up and they'll feed on the grass. And if there's a huge population of them, Army worms can decimate. Yeah, they can decimate a field. So can be an issue. So what do we need to be doing? We need to have our spray equipment ready. making sure it's all functional, no leaks, all of our nozzles or everything's spraying within 10% of one another and it's working properly. We're ready to go. And then we're going to scout. And that's going to be we're going to walk out in our field and we're just going to look, you know, get down and look and they'll be hard to find sometimes, especially if they're real small. What I use, I use a sweep net. And that makes it a little bit easier to find because we're collecting them in that net. And then we can look and see, okay, there are army worms. And then we know, okay, we can look a little bit more. What you're looking for, the economic threshold on army worms is around 3 per square foot.

Which isn't very many per square foot.

Doesn't seem like it. And then what we're also looking for, if you get out there and you're seeing really long worms, like over an inch long, they've probably done most of their damage and they're probably about to burrow down, pupate and turn to that moth. And there's about a 21 day life cycle that they're on from where they, they're a moth, they lay an egg and then they're a worm. So they come out and they'll be real small, tiny little worms. The best time to spray them is once they're like a little over 1/2 inch or like right at that half inch to three quarter inch. That's like the best time, the prime time. So if you get out there and you're seeing a lot of small worms get ready, but it's probably like going to be the next day or the next day that you need to make the application. Again, if you've got, if you get out there and you've got a large variety of worms, like you're finding tiny you've got overlapping generations. And so get out there and scout. Also watch for birds, birds, crows, they'll land out in the fields and get out there and be scouting these next couple of weeks watching for them. Where they typically, where I get calls from first, like Pleasant Grove area, there's If you've got lush Bermuda grass out there, you want to watch that. And then out Timbo way, there's some lush Bermuda grass fields that need to be watching for them. And then everybody else be watching. But those usually my first call is those two areas. But they're, you know, think they're going to move up from the south and they'll be throughout Stone County. So we need to be looking, watching for them to be that half little that half inch length to go out and spray. What should we spray? Typically in the past, what a lot of farmers use is Lambda Psi. It's a contact herbicide and it is restricted use. So if you haven't got your pesticide license, there's no more classes this year, but you'll have to go online to get that. But Lambda Psi, it's contact, but that's what everybody think about it. It's the cheapest option. That's probably what everybody's using. There's I've heard some resistance might be happening and they're getting harder to kill. So we might want to step up with a different mode of action. We've got some like besiege. It has a little bit longer residual there. what it was a few years ago that they would tank mix lambda psi and this product called Dimalin and that lambda psi you spray it contact and then that Dimalin has a little bit of residual I think it's a little bit of an IGR where they consume it and then it'll kill and disrupt so when we're getting those overlapping generations that's where we're going to need to step it up and use like say something with a longer residual.

So that would be a better control.

So we have a little farmy, farmy worm, farmy worm, the fall army worm kind of managing it.

They missed their chance by naming it the farmy worm.

The farmy worm. And but on our and I'm looking at it right now. I'll put it up in the podcast, I think, and then we've got you can find it online, but it has the recommended, you know, insecticide insecticides that work on army worms that, and the darker gray is the longer residual ones. So something like Zeta Cypermethrin, Mustang Max is a brand name, Lambda Psi, there are some generics out there. I would recommend doing a tank mix if you are going to spray army worms, get some Dimelin and tank mix, Lambda Psi and Dimelin. But scouting is where we, and getting the timing right is really how we manage these armyworms.

And be calibrated. One thing that would worry me with fall armyworms is if we're gonna have these really dry conditions, losing, you know, your forage.

Yeah. So, and so as farmers think about that, you know, lamb to size, pretty cheap per acre to just spray that. And then you add something like Dimlin, I think it's a little bit more expensive. So that's going to increase your cost per acre. And you're like, I don't know if I want to spray that. Well, think about if you're having to do multiple applications of Lambda Psi, that Dimlin's probably going to pay for itself where I could have went out and made one application, put out that insecticide with a longer residual rather than I've had I had multiple generations I went and sprayed got what's there then new ones hatched and then they're there where that dimlin would have been there to get those newly hatched is what I'm saying so sometimes you spend a little bit more up front is a good investment so think about that and there's some others that I'm not even seeing on this list I know that there was one I won't even mention it just because it's not on the list, so it may not even be labeled anymore. They may not even make it, but it was one that was pretty long residual, but it was very expensive back in the day. So that may be why it's not on our list anymore. Just cost is not...

Well, and you can always call and ask.

I just have to look up that label of that product just to kind of like wrap up the day. I was going to mention the Bermuda Stem Maggot. I think it's a bigger deal here than a lot of people realize, but it's a little fly. that it's preferred hosts Bermuda grass. What the Bermuda stem maggot does is a little fly and it lays the egg on Bermuda grass and the larva hatches and goes inside and just consumes the inside, makes it nothing. you can actually go out and it looks like it's been hit by frost or something and you can grab it and that piece will just pull out and then.

So it'll look, does it look like a little brown potentially?

Yeah, it looks like a little brown piece. Like in your Bermuda grass, you look out there and it's just brown color or like the tops are brown.

And that's something I never knew about until working here. You don't hear about it.

Yeah, but it essentially once that, you know, the little larva gets in there and does what it does, like limits how much that Bermuda grass grows. And so you're losing, you go out and people be like, I cut 5 bales per acre. And it's like, well, you had Bermuda stem maggot, you might could have got 7 or 8 bales per acre if you'd have controlled that Bermuda stem maggot. So you're like, well, how do I control it? So it's very This is another one, very timing oriented. You want to be out there scouting, seeing if you have them. If you've noticed, you think back, you have Bermuda grass and you're like, it did look frosted when I went and cut it this last time. So It's again very timing oriented because we're trying to kill that adult fly. Once that larva hatches and gets inside we can't control it any longer. It's protected. So the timing is we go out and we cut hay. We know we have that Bermuda stem maggot. Well we're going to come through within 7 to 10 days of cutting hay. So we want to cut bale and we really want to get those bales off the field and then go out and spray with just we can use on that fly like a Lambda Psi, something, contact herbicide, Mustang Max, Lambda Psi, something like that will control that fly. And again, if you have issues with it, I bet he's knocking your yield back quite a bit. So it'd be a good management practice to, inspect your Bermuda grass, look for signs of Bermuda stem maggot damage, and then be out scouting. So how do we scout? They're attracted to like the color yellow. We'll put up like sticky traps in the field, these little like postcard looking things and they're sticky on both sides. We'll just put them on a stake and, you know, not very high out in the field, set up, you know, a foot, 2 foot high, and they'll fly and get attached to that. Then we'll go out and we'll look, Okay, we've got Bermuda stem maggots here. We also do the sweep net. And how to identify them, they're a little tiny fly, but they've got like a yellow abdomen or thorax, I guess is what you would call that part. And then they have 2 black dots like on their hiney, or black dots on each side. I think it's either two or four like little dots that line up. But you can.

So they're kind of unique looking.

They're kind of unique looking. Can take a second to, but once you see one and then.

Once you know what it is.

Then you'll be like, there's one, there's one, there's one. And you're like, oh no. Yeah. And so That's what, kind of talk about we're in that timing. Johnson grass, check your Johnson grass can be good, but we got to manage it properly. If you do want to get rid of it, use Outrider. It's like a product made to be sprayed like on Bermuda grass or it can be sprayed on fescue as well, but it targets like nutsedge and Johnson grass. So it won't kill other grasses, but really targets those and it works really well. May have to do multiple applications because those rhizomes underneath the ground can sprout again. So it may take a few years, but if you're wanting rid of Johnson grass, Outrider's the way to go. There is a new product, I think, and we're going to be doing some demos, but I can't even remember what it's called. It's Outrider active ingredient, and then I think some sulfuron mixed. I can't remember.

So that'd be good to know the results on that.

We've got some, and we're going to be doing some tests with that on some sedge. But that's kind of what we, wrap up the episode. You got anything else? I know y'all have got to go to a dentist appointment.

Yeah, we've got a little girl here going to a dentist appointment. She's real excited. But yeah, it's good to be back. it's been, I don't even remember the last time we recorded one of these, but it was nice that we had a couple of people call and say, where are y'all at? We're needing to be editing it.

We did have some folks say like, hey, are y'all going to do another podcast?

Yeah, when's your next episode? So we appreciate y'all listening.

Yep. All right. Well, thanks for listening. Stone County Extension Saves the World. We'll try to get back to weekly.

Yeah.