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Cheshire County
THE ORIGINS OF TODAY'S CROPS
Agriculture has developed very modern crops. Scientists have selected and hybridized, even cloned and tinkered with genes of plants and come up with the crops that feed the world. But while science has perhaps improved the performance of crops, it’s good to remember that they are not recent inventions. Today’s very modern crops have origins that go back thousands of years.
First, it might help to understand how we think agriculture developed. The transition from the hunting and gathering lifestyle to one based on farming was probably not a sudden shift in thinking, but a gradual process over hundreds, maybe a couple thousand, years. When modern man entered the scene many thousands of years ago, people relied on whatever animals they could hunt or whatever wild plants they could gather for their food.
Sometime between 13,000 and 10,000 years ago – archeologists aren’t quite sure – people started to grow some of their own food. At first, this may have involved little more than making sure that the stands of wild grasses that provided grain remained open, or maybe dabbling with some of the volunteer plants that sprouted up from stray seeds in their midden heaps (sort of the equivalent of a modern-day compost pile).
WHAT IS IT ABOUT TEENS!
It seems like to many folks “teen” is another of those “four letter words.” And yet, teens can add energy, enthusiasm and wonderful insight into a conversation or project. Remember the nursery rhyme, “When he was good he was very, very good and when he was bad he was awful?” This Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde personality is just a reflection of the changes teens are going through.
During the teen years, your child is struggling to develop their own adult identity. This means understanding who they are, how they fit in the world and what their own value system is. For this to happen they question those close to them. A simple request or statement is never enough. Questioning why, challenging the request or thought process, and even questioning the underlying principles is how they develop their own set of values. It is not that they are trying to be difficult, they are just trying to figure out what makes sense for themselves.
Does this mean that your teen needs you less? Absolutely not, in fact it means that your teen needs you even more. When asked, teens report that their parents are their most important role model. If, at the very time they are setting their moral code, you distance yourself you are forcing them to substitute others into this need for a role model.
One need teens have in their struggle for self identity is the need to experience challenges. Developmentally, teens need to take risks. This risk taking helps them understand what their abilities are, how they and others feel about them, and teen risk taking often plays out in experimentation with alcohol and other substances, taking chances that may endanger themselves or others. But risk taking does not have to be negative.
HOME AND GARDEN DIAGNOSTIC SERVICES
Soil Testing -
Insect Identification -
Plant Diagnostic Laboratory (Plant Diseases) -
FAMILY, HOME & GARDEN EDUCATION CENTER
The Family, Home & Garden Education Center at UNH Cooperative Extension in Manchester provides practical solutions to everyday questions for the citizens of New Hampshire. The center is staffed 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and Wednesday evenings 5:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Toll free number (NH Only): 1-877-EXT-GROW (1-877-398-4769) OR E-Mail your questions.
Helping You Put Knowledge and Research to Work in Cheshire County |
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