Check out the Spring Newsletter!
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USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) offers disaster assistance and low-interest loan programs to assist you in your recovery efforts following drought. Available programs and loans include:
For more information on these programs, contact the Athens-Hocking County USDA Service Center at 740-797-4610 or visit fsa.usda.gov/disaster.
- Non-Insured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) - provides financial assistance to producers of non-insurable crops when low yields, loss of inventory, or prevented planting occur due to natural disasters including qualifying drought (includes native grass for grazing).
- Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP) – provides compensation to eligible livestock producers who suffered grazing losses for covered livestock due to drought on privately owned or cash leased land
- Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP) - offers payments to eligible producers for livestock death losses in excess of normal mortality due to adverse weather. Drought is not an eligible adverse weather event, except when associated with anthrax, a condition that occurs because of drought and directly results in the death of eligible livestock. Mycoplasma bovis for bison has also been included eligible for LIP
- Tree Assistance Program (TAP) – provides assistance to eligible orchardists and nursery tree growers for qualifying tree, shrub and vine losses due to natural disasters including excessive wind and qualifying drought.
- Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-Raised Fish Program (ELAP) - provides emergency relief for losses due to feed or water shortages, disease, adverse weather, or other conditions, which are not adequately addressed by other disaster programs.
- Emergency Loan Program – available to producers with agriculture operations located in a county under a primary or contiguous Secretarial Disaster designation. These low interest loans help producers recover from production and physical losses.
- Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) - provides emergency funding for farmers and ranchers to rehabilitate land severely damaged by natural disasters and to implement emergency water conservation measures in periods of severe drought.
For more information on these programs, contact the Athens-Hocking County USDA Service Center at 740-797-4610 or visit fsa.usda.gov/disaster.
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Out on a Limb
Leave the Leaves this Fall- Helping the Environment
By Dani Gill, Hocking SWCD
Every fall as the leaves hit the ground, they get raked into a pile… then what? Do family members jump in them? Do you leave them? Does someone come to pick them up?
In Logan, upgrades were made to assist with leaf collection in the last few years. A newer truck and leaf vacuum will soon start sweeping the streets to collect your leaf piles along the road. After clean-up, they are deposited in a pile to breakdown, but you could also utilize the leaves yourself. Did you know that the leaves from your trees are a valuable commodity that is easy to deal with in your own backyard?
Fallen leaves have been found to help suppress weed growth and help retain moisture for plants. Leaves have been found to have the same moisture retention properties as wood mulch, but free!
As leaves breakdown into soil, they are utilized by many macroscopic (visible with the naked eye) and microscopic (must be viewed under a microscope) organisms. Many species of caterpillars will pupate overwinter in or just below the leaf litter. Some solitary bees line their nests with leaf pieces for winter. Leaves provide shelter for butterflies and other arthropods during the winter, which provides food for birds and other animals. Even some mammals, like the red bat, will utilize leaf litter to hide in as protection from what winter brings.
If you don’t plan to let the leaves lie- we understand, have you thought about the benefits of leaves after composting? By creating a small compost area (around 4’x4’x4’) out of old pallets, chicken wire, wood or anything that can be put together to still allow for air flow, you can start your own composting journey. Yard waste, leaves, small sticks, weeds and kitchen scraps can be added to your bin and let to sit overwinter. You can turn it- meaning flip the soil, a time or two and will begin to have amazing soil for spring plantings and to spread in your gardens. This could reduce the amount of fertilizing costs for you while helping to cut down on waste stored, fuel and other expenses when the City needs to collect leaves.
By utilizing the leaves for yourself, it also reduces the amount that make it into storm drains causing issues. Remember storm drains lead to the river and eventually the ocean so what ever goes in can eventually come back out causing issues down the line.
So next time you are raking your leaves, stop and think… I can ‘leave the leaves’ to help the environment.
By Dani Gill, Hocking SWCD
Every fall as the leaves hit the ground, they get raked into a pile… then what? Do family members jump in them? Do you leave them? Does someone come to pick them up?
In Logan, upgrades were made to assist with leaf collection in the last few years. A newer truck and leaf vacuum will soon start sweeping the streets to collect your leaf piles along the road. After clean-up, they are deposited in a pile to breakdown, but you could also utilize the leaves yourself. Did you know that the leaves from your trees are a valuable commodity that is easy to deal with in your own backyard?
Fallen leaves have been found to help suppress weed growth and help retain moisture for plants. Leaves have been found to have the same moisture retention properties as wood mulch, but free!
As leaves breakdown into soil, they are utilized by many macroscopic (visible with the naked eye) and microscopic (must be viewed under a microscope) organisms. Many species of caterpillars will pupate overwinter in or just below the leaf litter. Some solitary bees line their nests with leaf pieces for winter. Leaves provide shelter for butterflies and other arthropods during the winter, which provides food for birds and other animals. Even some mammals, like the red bat, will utilize leaf litter to hide in as protection from what winter brings.
If you don’t plan to let the leaves lie- we understand, have you thought about the benefits of leaves after composting? By creating a small compost area (around 4’x4’x4’) out of old pallets, chicken wire, wood or anything that can be put together to still allow for air flow, you can start your own composting journey. Yard waste, leaves, small sticks, weeds and kitchen scraps can be added to your bin and let to sit overwinter. You can turn it- meaning flip the soil, a time or two and will begin to have amazing soil for spring plantings and to spread in your gardens. This could reduce the amount of fertilizing costs for you while helping to cut down on waste stored, fuel and other expenses when the City needs to collect leaves.
By utilizing the leaves for yourself, it also reduces the amount that make it into storm drains causing issues. Remember storm drains lead to the river and eventually the ocean so what ever goes in can eventually come back out causing issues down the line.
So next time you are raking your leaves, stop and think… I can ‘leave the leaves’ to help the environment.