The Jan. 2 Maine Sunday Telegram included a story describing UMaine Cooperative Extension’s Master Gardener volunteer program. Classes begin at various locations around Maine in January, February and March.  The story includes comments from Extension’s Tori Jackson, who teaches the classes in Androscoggin and Sagadahoc counties.

Kate Yerxa of UMaine’s Cooperative Extension wrote about the importance of activity for kids during the winter months. Yerxa writes despite the challenges of encouraging kids to play on cold winter days when daylight is short, exercise helps keep kids’ minds sharp and ready to learn, reduces stress, and builds healthy lifestyle habits for the future.

The Morning Sentinel has a story about the UMaine Cooperative Extension’s Somerset County Master Gardener program, which begins next month. The focus this year will be on ornamental horticulture.

Alan Majka, a registered dietician and UMaine Cooperative Extension faculty member, was quoted extensively in a Maine Today Media story about techniques for the safe handling of leftovers.

Kate Yerxa, a UMaine Cooperative Extension nutrition educator, contributed to the Bangor Daily News a story about the health benefits of beans. Yerxa says beans are a perfect way to eat healthy and inexpensively.

Lois Berg Stack of the UMaine Cooperative Extension faculty comments in a Maine Today Media story about the notion that poinsettias are poisonous to ingest.  While she doesn’t advise eating them, Stack agrees with other experts who call reports of the plant’s toxicity “a myth.”

John Rebar, executive director of UMaine Cooperative Extension, has a letter to the editor in Friday’s Bangor Daily News. The letter thanks U.S. Sen. Susan Collins for her support of the University of Maine Potato Integrated Pest Management program. The program provided in 2008 and 2009 early warnings and strategies that averted an estimated $43 […]