A beekeeping short course is scheduled through March in Milton and Cantonment. Classes, as follows, are  6-8 p.m. Mondays and 9 a.m. to noon Saturday:

•March 9: Honey Bee Biology, Anatomy & Hive Structure         

•March 16: Bee Nutrition and Bee Botany (identification of nectar plants)

•March 21: Bee-Yard field day

•March 23: Important Pest and Diseases — Identification and Management

Sessions are by interactive video, except for the March 21 field day.

Registration for all classes — presented by the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension Panhandle Agriculture Team — is $20 per person, or $30 per family. The fee covers course materials and refreshments.

Contact the Escambia County office — 3740 Stefani Road, Cantonment, 475-5230 — or Santa Rosa office — 6263 Dogwood Drive, Milton, 623-3868 — to register. 

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Beekeeping course available next month in Cantonment, Milton

It's no coincidence that the United States has one of the safest food supplies.

Plenty of work has been put into developing rules that producers, processors and distributors must follow to keep food safe.

Even so, there are plenty of instances when something goes wrong and people fall ill.

On Feb. 12, for example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared an end to a recent outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes, a bacterial pathogen.

Since October, 35 people in 12 states have fallen ill, and at least three have died, because of contaminated prepackaged caramel apples. Outbreaks such as this can catch the public’s attention — and can cause people to think twice about purchasing similar products, whatever the source.

Listeria — just one pathogen that can cause illness — is most severe when it affects pregnant women or people with weakened immune systems.

As modern medical science allows people to live longer and helps those who are immuno-compromised to survive, it becomes increasingly important to protect our food's quality.

Disease-causing organisms or chemicals may come into contact with food a variety of ways. These include using improperly composted manure, employees practicing poor hygiene, or allowing contaminants to spread to crops from nearby areas.

In 2010, Congress passed the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act. This legislation — which attempts to update food safety laws — is still being implemented. The final rules will be in place by October, though it is still unclear when enforcement will begin.

When it does, farms may be required to have a farm safety plan and undergo inspections, depending on farm size.

A farm safety plan includes a set of standard operating procedures that a farm must follow. These cover topics such as animal husbandry and grazing, water use and quality control, adjacent land use, fertilization, employee hygiene and training, and food security.

LEARN MORE

Visit the Small Farms and Alternative Enterprises team's website to learn more about food safety.

A Food Safety Plan Workshop will be held Feb. 26 at the Duval County Extension Office in Jacksonville.

Contact Dilcia Toro, 386-362-1725, ext. 102, for more information.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Here's why food safety should concern North Okaloosa farmers

The saucer magnolia — Magnolia x soulangeana — is one of the earliest flowering trees to bloom.

The goblet-shaped, pink to purple blooms cover the deciduous tree's bar stems just before leaves emerge. Each flower is 3 – 6 inches in diameter, and takes on a tulip-like structure that fully opens into a saucer position, earning the tree its two most common names: tulip or saucer magnolia.

This hybrid's parents are Magnolia liliifolia and Magnolia denudata, which are both native to Japan, logically leading to an additional common name — Japanese magnolia.

The genus Magnolia is one of the most ancient genera among flowering plants, with fossils dating more than 100 million years.

Similarly, beetles in the Nitidulidae family that existed back then are still the magnolia flowers' principal pollinators.

How to care for them

 Magnolias are shallow-rooted plants, and one of the surest ways to retard or possibly kill a new tree is to plant it too deeply.

When installing a saucer magnolia, locate the topmost root and position it slightly above the surrounding soil grade. Avoid disturbing the roots after planting.

Magnolias prefer to be grown in well-drained, moist soil. However, once established, they need no more than 20 inches of rain per year.

Mature trees can reach 20-30 feet tall, though the saucer magnolia is a fairly slow grower. Pruning can be done as needed after flowering, but before setting buds for next year.

The saucer magnolia's dramatic show of color is a wonderful break from winter's drabness.

Let's just hope that the last few frosts don't cut the blooming period short.

Sheila Dunning is a Commercial Horticulture Extension agent at the Okaloosa County Extension office in Crestview.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: EXTENSION CONNECTION: Magnolias are a much anticipated first sign of spring

Despite the past few years' soaring stock market, some Americans are nervous about their ability to retire comfortably — or even retire at all. Consider this:

• Almost half of American workers report being “not too confident” or “not at all confident” about being able to afford a comfortable retirement, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute’s 2013 Retirement Confidence Survey. The 28 percent who say they are “not at all” confident is the highest level recorded in the 23 years of this survey.

• Between 2010 and 2012, the percentage of people ages 45 to 60 who planned to delay retirement rose to 62 percent from 42 percent, according to the Conference Board, a nonprofit business membership and research organization.

If you’re in either of these groups, what can you do to possibly alleviate your worries?

Get specific about your retirement goals. Have you set a target date for your retirement? If so, how many years until you reach this date? Once you know when you want to retire, you’ll need to come up with some sort of “price tag” for your retirement years.

By considering your hoped-for lifestyle and projected longevity, you should be able to estimate how much money you’ll need. You may find it helpful to work with a financial professional — someone with the tools and experience to plug in all the variables needed to calculate your retirement expenses.

Next, review your retirement savings vehicles, such as your 401(k) and IRA. Are you contributing as much as you can afford to these accounts? Are you increasing contributions when your salary rises? Within these vehicles, are you choosing an investment mix that can offer the growth you’ll need to accumulate sufficient retirement savings?

Even after you’ve “maxed out” on your IRA and 401(k) or other employer-sponsored retirement plan, you can find other tax-advantaged vehicles in which to invest for retirement. Again, your financial adviser can help you evaluate the ones that may be suitable for your needs.

Still, even after maximizing your investments, you may come up short of what you’ll need, given your desired retirement date. You may need to consider working a couple of extra years. If you like your career, moving out your retirement date may not be so bad — you’ll bring more earned income and you may be able to delay taking Social Security, which would eventually result in bigger monthly checks. Plus, you could postpone withdrawals from your 401(k) and IRA, giving these accounts more time in which to potentially grow. (Once you turn 70½, you’ll have to start taking money from your 401(k) and your traditional IRA.)

This article was written by Edward Jones on behalf of your Edward Jones financial adviser. 

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: FINANCIAL FOCUS: Will you be able to retire when you want?