Invite Yourself to Eat Healthy Foods

In anticipation of holiday treat platters inviting me to sample sugary treats all week, I decided to build a small perimeter of defense.  I spent a bit of time last Sunday evening chopping vegetables, lettuce, spinach and kale to assemble some stacked salad combos to have ready for lunches all week.  The hard-cooked eggs, garbanzo and black beans were ready to add protein to the salads to sustain us through the day.  It had been more than year since I spent a Sunday evening chopping and preparing salads for lunches.  I think at one point, I had a salad for lunch most every work day for six months.  Isn’t it strange how a disruption can throw you off of a good habit?  A year or so ago, I was preparing the salads in wide-mouth quart jars.  They looked so pretty lined up in my refrigerator.  Last week, I put the salads in glass bowls instead.  Since I layer the salads, they are not as easy to eat from a jar.  The salad fixings mix better while I’m eating them from a bowl.  I suppose I could use plastic storage containers, but somehow the opaque plastic hides all the inviting colors of the tomatoes, carrots, broccoli and beans.  It seems if the food is prepared, easily accessible and visible, it gets eaten.  I suppose knowing that simple fact is half the battle in daily health habits.

It is surprising how we unwittingly invite ourselves to make food choices.  It is no surprise that the plate of chocolate fudge, peanut butter balls, caramels and cookies that is on a glass platter sitting on the counter invites us to nibble and nosh, even when we didn’t mean to do so.  I may have just gone to the kitchen for a glass of water, but if that goodies selection is sitting there staring at me, it is unlikely that I will leave the kitchen with just my glass of water.  The good news is that we can learn to make healthier foods just as inviting.  Have you ever done a household food andnutrition assessment? 

Instead of coming home from the market and putting the produce in the vegetable drawer, prepare it in ready-to-eat packaging.  A bag of carrots can sit in the back of the vegetable drawer for a long time without anyone being “invited” to eat them, but, get them out and peel them, chop them and put them in a glass container in the front of the refrigerator and they’ll invite every person who opens the refrigerator to consider the carrots as their next snack.   There are many consumer and food psychology principles we can put to work for us.  One of my favorite consumer psychologists is Dr. Brian Wansink.  A quick web sear

ch will reveal many videos as well as a list of books he has authored.  Dr. Wansink is famous for the discreet food invitation.  From school cafeterias to business lunches, he purposefully revamps food service opportunities as part of his research.  He has spent considerable time discovering the subtle changes in where foods are placed, how they are served, what containers we use and how it all comes together to suggest and influence our choices – healthy or unhealthy.  In one school cafeteria makeover, placing fruit at the front of the line in an attractive bowl dramatically increased fruit consumption.

 

Store nutritious foods where they are easier to access than less nutritious foods.  It is easier to keep on a healthy track if the healthy choice is the easy choice.  I invite you to think about your own food and nutrition environment and how you can invite yourself to make healthy choices.  

Unwrapping the Gift of 4-H

On December 23, youth from Teton County shared in the gift we call 4-H at a project day event.  Older 4-H members had been invited through the county 4-H newsletter to teach classes for the project day planned for the afternoon of Wednesday, December 23, a time when all schools in the county were closed for holiday break.  4-H members who provided leadership included Daniel Asselstine, Delaynie Beadle, Michaela Gunderson, Ben Roeder, Watson Snyder and Annie Townsend.  Each of the older 4-H members either planned and taught or assisted an extension agent teaching a class.  The learning was also supported by 4-H alum, Katie Townsend, and MSU Extension Teton County Administrative assistants, Jamie Smith and Rhea Brutosky.

After 20 youth had sewn tote bags, sewn owl-shaped rice bags, baked and decorated cupcakes, learned about synthetic vs. natural fibers, made felted wool canning jar cozies, sheared sheep, learned jitterbug and two-step moves, made survival bands, painted chalkboard coasters and decorated gift bags, the group of 4-H members talked about the way people give their gifts to others.  One of the 4-H members learned her cake decorating skills from a volunteer 4-H leader and brought the gift forward to share with others.  Another 4-H member learned her sewing skills from her mother and with the help of evaluators/judges at sewing contests and was sharing that skill not only at 4-H project day, but also by helping younger 4-H members individually and through her club.  Another 4-H member gained dance skills from his parents and neighbors and then continued self-study using internet resources.  We talked about how important it is when someone shares the gift of their time and talent with you to wrap up that gift and present it to others.  4-H is one way to keep gifts giving well into the future.

 

To complete the project day, Extension Agents Brent Roeder and Jane Wolery discussed with youth that the 4-H members already contained the necessary gifts to excel on a local, state and national level.  However, 4-H members need to know what is available and how to unwrap a larger goal into smaller pieces.  Several 4-H members had personal experiences they shared related to opportunities, such as Rec Lab, interstate and international exchanges and National 4-H Congress.  The group discussed about 30 different 4-H opportunities and events just waiting be unwrapped by Teton County 4-H members.  

We invite you to think about the gifts you can give to others in 2016.

Here is a small sampling of opportunities available through 4-H (listed in no particular order).  To learn more, contact your local MSU Extension agent in your county.

1.  Ambassador program
2.   State officer
3.   Interstate Exchange
4.   State 4-H Congress
5.   Camp Counselor
6.   Rec Lab
7.  Winter Teen Camp
8.   State Leadership Forum
9.  State Award
10. National 4-H Congress
11. National 4-H Conference
12. Citizenship Washington Focus CWF
13. Leadership Washington Focus LWF
14. Make It with Wool MIWW
15. IFYE Program
16. Japanese Exchange
17. Natural Resources Camp
18. Nile Merit Heifer
19. Ag Youth Loan programs
20. Livestock judging and evaluation
21. Fall Ambassador training
22. Communications Contest
23. Alberta Leaders Forum
24. Citizenship Seminar
25. Horse and Livestock Leaders Forum
26. State Horse Show
27. Western Heritage Shoot
28. County Textile Show
29. Range Camp
30. Western National Round Up

That Invitation Keeps Ringing

My head finally got to the pillow at one o’clock this morning, so when I shut my alarm off just a few hours later at 5:45 a.m., it was hard to remember that I set it as an “invitation” to my morning exercise routine.  The alarm is just one part of an invitation to exercise. I also have my shoes and exercise clothes set out, making them easy to grab in the morning.  I usually have a device ready with an audio book to listen to or an old TV series to stream while I start my day on the elliptical. 

There are several strategies to use when “inviting” yourself to exercise.  One of the classes I taught, 4-Health (which was for parents of teens and preteens who were trying to establish healthy households) suggested doing an “activity inventory” of the home.  The inventory or checklist asked families to go room by room in their homes to see if equipment that would encourage activity was available and easily accessible.  Having supplies and equipment ready to use makes a considerable difference in the items getting used.  Families were encouraged to make sure that balls, jump ropes, bikes, skates, sleds, etc. were easy to find and use.  That list of “exercise equipment” makes me think that exercise sounds a whole lot like play. Sometimes it is easier to answer an invitation to play than to exercise. 

Families in the 4-Health class were encouraged to take breaks from sedentary periods for active play. For instance, if watching TV, get up and do a jump rope challenge during the commercials.  For commercial-free sedentary activities, a timer can be used as a reminder or invitation to get up and move.  Families were able to set up simple and fun activity challenges, such as obstacle and relay courses.  One group had a bucket at the bottom of their stairs that they threw ping-pong balls into and when they missed, they ran down the stairs and back up for another try.  Another group designed a foam ball and somersault activity in their hallway.  Sometimes all it takes to be active is a little creativity and an invitation.

Of course, like play, exercise is often more fun with more than one person.  Another common way to incorporate motion into your day is to make it social.  Invite a friend to join you.  You are less likely to talk yourself out of exercising, if you know someone has arranged their schedule to join you. 

Take a look around your home to see if you can find any “invitations” to be active.  If not, it is time to start delivering some invitations.  Put a basket of hand or ankle weights by your favorite chair, set out your exercise clothes and set your alarm, even if it is for a mid-afternoon stroll.  I think I’ll start working on inviting myself to put my head on my pillow a little earlier, because a good night’s sleep makes it much easier to accept the invitation to get out of bed and exercise.

An Invitation from the Stairs

I was sitting at a table with colleagues at a conference, when one of them asked me what I was enjoying most about the conference center. I didn’t even hesitate and answered, “The stairs.”  I went on to explain that I loved the large, beautiful, open staircases at the conference hotel, which had been built around 1910 and was refurbished in the late 1940's.  I said I loved the way the wide staircases were such an invitation to use the stairs.  We then discussed how none of us had even really looked for the elevators, since the staircases were such a prominent architectural feature.  Now, I have nothing against elevators, and since many of my family members have used wheelchairs, I think they are a necessary part of any public building that has more than one floor.  However, it is unfortunate that somehow, when elevators were added, stairs were hidden – no longer the open invitation they had once been. 

With the invitation these stairs offer, there is no need to look for an elevator. 

There are many invitations in life that we don’t even notice, but that create daily habits.  My colleagues agreed that they had taken way more flights of stairs than normal, simply because of the structure of the building.  A week after I returned from the conference, I was in Bozeman on the MSU campus for a few days.  While I was there, I stopped into Joel Schumacher’s office.  He is an associate specialist in Extension Economics. I told him how much I liked the way that the parking situation on campus invited me to walk everywhere.  Of course, working on campus and dealing with the parking situation daily, he thought I was crazy.  Each day I was on campus I walked from buildings on the south end to buildings on the north end of campus.  It would have been ridiculous to drive, as it would have taken more time circling to find a parking space than it would have taken to walk.  I don’t know for sure, but I suspect I could walk most of main street in Choteau in about the same time and distance as I got across campus, and yet, parking is easy here, crosswalks are not as well marked as on campus, and there aren’t bunches of other people walking; and somehow, I just do not make it a habit to walk to do my errands. 

The stairs in this hotel are so grand and indeed, this flight takes you a half-level to the grand piano and then onto the main lobby.  

4-H BioScience on MSU campus.

This has been an unusual year, as I’ve been on campus nearly once a month since last spring. I’ve been paying attention to how the built environment either invites or discourages us from daily healthy choices.  Joel and I were visiting about how the buildings on campus, built in different eras, reflect not only structural choices, but health choices.  For instance, when I stay in the Hedges dorms (built in 1965), the elevators and stairs are in the same general location, but the stairs are in stair wells.  I think there is a reason they are called wells.  They feel cold, dark and cavernous -- not exactly an invitation.  Joel mentioned that in one of the new buildings on campus (I’ve not been in yet) there is a prominent, open staircase as part of the design. Maybe we have remembered something at the turn of this century that we knew a century ago.   I worked in the courthouse in Sheridan, Wyoming, which was built in 1905. It had a gorgeous oak staircase that summoned me to use it often during the years I was there.

I invite you to start looking for and taking the stairs.   Start walking to do your errands -- just seeing you walking may be enough to encourage others. Start paying attention to your environment and listen to the ways it invites you into your habits.  If you find that the invitation isn’t in favor of your health, refuse the invitation and create a new habit.  Structure your life, so that you are invited to make healthy choices.

Dine In

For Thanksgiving, our family had planned to host, but when the guests we invited couldn’t make it, I “invited” myself to Mom’s for Thanksgiving.  She was already planning to host my sister and her in-laws. Mom laughed when I invited myself to Thanksgiving.  Apparently, my sister had “invited” Mom to host! 

Thanksgiving at the "cool kids" table.  We nearly ran out of black olives!

Holidays aside, I’ve been thinking about invitations lately.  Not the major invitations, like weddings and parties, but the daily, routine invitations.  December 3 is national “Dine In” day.  The goal is to invite people to remember family meal time.

Growing up, my mom was a master of the invitation to the family meal.  I took this routine for granted.  The majority of our meals were eaten around a table that either had placemats or a tablecloth and the places that were set properly with cutlery and glasses.  Food was passed around the table in serving bowls.  There was plenty of meal time conversation, as in addition to our immediate family, we generally had a few hired hands and an extra neighbor or relative at the table with us. 

Unfortunately, my own family routine is generally a far cry from my childhood mealtime memories.  Depending on our work and my daughters’ activities, we may eat in shifts at the counter, serving from pots on the stove.  What we really like, though, is when we are all together, often enjoying the company of a guest or two, eating at the table and enjoying mealtime conversations. 

Eating together may look different in different households, but “Dine In” day on December 3 is an invitation to consider your family goals and how planning a mealtime together can help families feel closer and provide better nutrition.  Family mealtime can happen with any meal – breakfast, lunch, dinner or even a snack.  It can include a tablecloth and full place settings or paper plates. I know a dad who makes a lunch-time date weekly with his school-age children.  I know families who eat breakfast together daily as it is the one guaranteed time they can all be together.  Dr. Sandy Bailey, MSU Extension Family and Human Development Specialist says, “Research shows that eating a family meal together helps family members make better choices in what they eat. Children learn a broader vocabulary as they listen and talk with other family members. They also learn social skills that they can use in other settings. Family mealtime also sends the message to family members that family time is important!”

Gathering around the table with family and friends.
This photo is at my Grandma's table, probably before I was born.
My sister's family now gathers around the same table.   

I invite you to make the commitment to Dine In with your family, friends or guests on December 3.  Our Thanksgiving meal certainly did not lack in good conversation, aided in part, by the arrival of a cherished cousin. It was a great day with conversation of shared memories, exciting excursions, and life lessons learned.  I’m glad I invited myself to be part of it!

Resources that may be of interest to you below:

Disclaimer:  No endorsement of these products is intended nor implied.

Conversation Starters:

https://store.extension.iastate.edu/Product/Mealtime-Conversation-Cards

Conversations to Go:  I'm not sure if it was Santa or the Easter Bunny who first brought these to our house.  They have been well-loved.  A quick search revealed that there is a "money" set and "travel" set.  

Dinner Time Games:  Another gift brought to our family that has been well-enjoyed.  Not so much conversation, but fun mealtime activities, nonetheless.

A search of a major online retailer revealed several options of table topics, chat packs, and

conversation starters.  There are some designed for couples.

Make Meal Time Family Time  

If you want a list of conversation starters I've been gathering over the years, email me.  

Portion Control and a Light Fruit Dessert

The last post with the pumpkin dip had me thinking of a recipe I tried at an Extension Dining with Diabetes class I recently attended. The Fresh Fruit Tarts below use wonton wrappers as a low-calorie (and portion controlled) alternative to pie crust.  I suspect the pumpkin dip would be delicious in a wonton cup.

Fresh Fruit Tarts

Serving Information
Serves 12 (1 serving = 1 tart)

Ingredients
12 wonton skins
2 Tbsp. sugar-free jelly or fruit spread
1½ c. diced fresh fruit*
1 c. non-fat yogurt, any flavor Cooking spray

*Select fruit combinations based on what is in season. Any of the following could be used: bananas, strawberries, blueberries, grapes, kiwi, raspberries, peaches, orange sections etc.

Equipment
Measuring cups and spoons
Small saucepan
Muffin tin (mini-muffin tins may work best)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375º F and spray muffin tins with cooking spray.
2. Press wonton skins into muffin tins allowing the corners to stand up over the edges.
3. Bake wontons until lightly brown, approximately 4 -6 minutes. Watch carefully, as wonton skins bake very quickly.
4. Remove from oven; carefully take each wonton out of muffin tin and allow time for cooling.
5. Warm jelly or fruit spread and lightly coat bottom of each wonton.
6. Fill each wonton with fruit and a rounded dollop of yogurt on top.
7. Garnish with small piece of fruit or a dab of jelly/spread and serve immediately.

Contact your local Extension Office (associated with your state's land-grant university) to obtain more resources about Dining with Diabetes or other special foods needs.

Pumpkin Dip and Other Treats

A friend brought me a tasty dip that helped satisfy that pumpkin craving that seems to magically appear this time of year.

The recipe is basically:

Pumpkin Dip

2 cups of canned/pureed pumpkin or pumpkin pie filling
1-2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (if not using pumpkin pie filling)
1 3 oz. package of instant vanilla pudding (sugar-free if you desire)
8 oz. of whipped topping or 8 oz. of whipped cream (if you want the full fat version)

Mix the four ingredients together.  Refrigerate to let flavors blend.  Serve with graham crackers, apple slices or baked cinnamon-sugar tortilla chips.

I made tortilla chips to go along with the dip.  Cut whole wheat flour tortillas into triangles.  Spread in a layer on a baking sheet.  Spray with pan spray, sprinkle with a touch of cinnamon-sugar blend and bake at 350 for 10 minutes.  If not crispy, bake for a few minutes longer.

The recipe should be easy to modify.  For instance, I bet a combination of marshmallow creme and cream cheese with the pumpkin pie filling would make another great dip.  If you wanted, you could use low-fat cream cheese to make a lower calorie snack.

You can make your own pumpkin pie spice by mixing together:

1 ½ teaspoons ground allspice
3 tablespoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground nutmeg 

The baked tortilla chips reminded me of a recipe from a "Foods with Flair" class I gave during the holiday season several years ago.

Dessert Nachos with Fruit Salsa

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

10 flour tortillas (7 to 8 inches wide)

1 large package (8 oz.) cream cheese

1/2 cup orange juice

3 tablespoons honey

Mix sugar and cinnamon in a shallow bowl. Working with 1 tortilla at a time, brush both sides

lightly with water, then cut into 6 equal wedges. Dip 1 side of each wedge in sugar mixture. (Just knowing me, I doubt I ever did this one wedge at a time.  Feel free to spread the wedges on a baking sheet, spritz with water or pan spray and sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar.  Lining the pan with parchment or foil will make for easier clean up.)

Arrange in a single layer, sugar up on baking sheets. Bake in a 500° F oven until crisp and golden, 4 to 5 minutes.  (Be careful if using parchment in a 500°F degree oven.  You can also do this slower and lower -- 350°F oven for ten minutes, more if needed for crisp chips.  In my oven somewhere between 10 and 15 minutes is about right.)

In a 1– to 2-quart pan or glass bowl/microwave, combine the cheese, orange juice, and honey. Whisk over low heat until cheese melts and sauce is smooth, about 3 minutes. 

Mound tortilla chips on a large platter. Offer cheese sauce and fruit salsa to spoon onto chips. Makes 10 to 12 servings.  I often skipped the cheese sauce to save calories and just offered the chips with fruit salsa.

Fruit Salsa

Peel and dice 2 large (about 8 oz. total) kiwi fruit. Rinse 2 cups strawberries; dice fruit.

In a bowl, mix kiwi, strawberries, and 1 can (11 oz.) mandarin oranges, drained. Makes 3 cups.  I don't get too stuck on the specifics when making fruit salsa.  If I have frozen blueberries, I add those. Mangoes would be delicious if available in your area. Frozen fruits will work, but the salsa will be a bit runny.  The point is to add fruits and their vitamins and nutrients to your holiday foods.  

Or, if you want, you can go back to that pumpkin craving and a vegetable to your treats.  Below is another recipe from the Foods with Flair class:

Pumpkin Parfaits

2 cups cold skim milk

2 small pkg. butterscotch sugar free instant pudding (or regular, if you wish)

1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1 cup non-dairy whipped topping (or whipped cream, your choice)

Beat all together. Pour into 6 large parfait glasses or a serving bowl. To serve, top with whipped topping and nutmeg. Can also be poured in to a graham cracker crust.

I hope you are able to be thankful this season of all the delicious and flavorful parts of your world.  

Give Yourself a Raise?

From MSU Extension


Most people would give themselves a raise if they could. Yet, some Montanans are missing the opportunity to do just that. More than 60 percent of American workers have access to an employer-based retirement plan, but those who don’t take advantage of it are leaving money on the table, according to Joel Schumacher, associate specialist with Montana State University Extension.
Schumacher said there are several ways workers can increase their income by participating. Many plans are defined contribution plans which typically have a formula that determines the matching contribution an employee is entitled to receive from his or her employer. For example, a company may contribute $1 for every $2 the employee contributes. The formula may limit the matching contribution to a percentage of the employee’s salary, such as the first six percent. In this case, a person who contributed six percent of his or her salary receives an additional three percent for the same work. For someone making $35,000 per year, this is worth more than $1,000.
Contributing to a retirement plan also lets the employee take advantage of tax benefits. Contributions to defined contribution plans are a pretax deduction. According to Schumacher, an employee earning $3,000 per month who does not contribute to the retirement plan will take home approximately $2,290 (total deductions vary depending on tax withholding status, tax brackets and other factors.) If this same employee contributed $150 (five percent) to the defined contribution retirement plan, the take home pay would be reduced by $115. The payroll tax savings would be $35. If the employer also matched 50 percent of the contribution, the employee would receive $225 in the retirement plan, at a personal cost of $115. This amounts to an additional $1,320 annually.
Schumacher recommends that employees who are not certain of the benefit package offered by their employer should first talk to the employer’s payroll or human resources office for guidance. Understanding and maximizing employer benefit packages may be the easiest way to get a raise, he said.
MSU Extension offers consumer economics education throughout the year.

Solid Finances

When I was growing up, my mom used to say, “It’s just as easy to love a rich man as a poor one.”   I don’t really know whether or not that is true.   While it may be just as easy to love a rich man, in the dating years of my life it wasn’t just as easy to find one.  My husband was told growing up that you can “Marry more money in twenty minutes than you can make in a lifetime.” Apparently there wasn’t a line of wealthy women waiting to date him. Rest assured, we both married for love. 

I suppose those oft repeated quotes are well-meaning.  Parents advising their children often equate wealth with security.  As well, money is one of the top reasons for discord in a marriage.  Any time a resource is limited, it can be a source of conflict.  Rather than marrying money, it might be better if we advised young people how to equip themselves with the skills to earn and manage their own money.

I’ve read that if you want to improve your skills in any area, you have to study or practice daily.  A financial advisor coached that you should read, learn or do something about money each day. I’ve heard it said, “Where your attention goes, your energy flows.”  If you are interested in improving your skills in the area of finances, MSU Extension and Extension partners in South Dakota and Idaho have devised a way for you to learn about finances from the comfort of your computer.

The Solid Finances series, taught by webinar, starts October 7.  The series covers Managing Your Money with topics on plugging spending leaks, emergency savings, home buying and organizing records; Retirement Planning with the top ten need-to-know items, getting started late, and a retirement question and answer session;  Investor Protection and Student Loans with topics from predatory lenders, identity theft, applying for federal student aid and student loan consolidation; and Montana-specific classes including estate planning and your rights over your remains.   You can listen and interact with these sessions live or listen to recorded sessions.

The Solid Finances webinar information can be found at www.msuextension.org/solidfinances. The website contains information on how to register for the free classes.  Be sure to check out past recordings and resources from previous years of Solid Finances classes as another free resource to become educated about money. 

There could be better advice given than to marry for money.  We could start using this adage instead, “Make your own money and manage it well.”  Besides, I’ve heard that people who marry for money earn every penny!

Planting Science Seeds for a Future Harvest!

The 4-H BioScience program 2015-16, a science experience for students grades 8-11, started August 3-7 on the MSU Bozeman campus and continues until February through experiments and video conferencing with MSU professors.  Eight Teton County youth, Berit Bedord, Jacob Boetticher, Lila Bradley, Jill Donaldson, Bryce Gramm, Oliver Jorden, Ashley Pearson and Sam Stutz have formed two BioScience teams in Teton County this year.  They are coached by Lisa Bedord, Brenda Boetticher and Jane Wolery. 

While on the MSU campus, students participated in three modules – neuroscience, metabolomics and infectious disease.  The 4-H members work with MSU professors and graduate student mentors.  The teens from Teton County were able to use their own blood to separate red and white blood cells.  The blood was then tested for a variety of nutrients, but the students concentrated on the omega-6 and omega-3 scores and the ratio.  One of the students had an excellent ratio of nearly 1:1 and credited his diet of home-raised, grass-fed beef.  The typical American diet is more askew with ratios of nearly 20 to 1 omega-6 to omega-3.  Diets high in omega-6 and low in omega-3 may make a person prone to poor brain function and health conditions such as headaches, ADHD, depression as well as cardiovascular and autoimmune diseases.  4-H members worked with Dr. Edward Dratz and his team of students drawing the blood samples and analyzing results.  They will continue throughout the year with metabolomics by completing some dietary analysis.  The 4-H members may also get to test an app being developed by an MSU grad student that will simplify dietary input and allow users to choose a nutrient of focus, such as sodium or vitamin D.  Students also did a simple zinc test and learned more about zinc’s important role in the body.

The neuroscience module is a little mind boggling.  4-H students puzzled over optical illusions and sensory input as they learned how the human brain connects to the rest of the body.  One of the more electrifying experiences was using a spiker box to see if impulses from one person’s ulnar nerve, found along the outside of the arm, could be sent to another person and control their movements.  It was a little unnerving, to say the least, to have finger movements controlled by another person.  As part of the unit, students will explore hand sensitivity and see if they can use the elasticity of the brain to change how their hands feel stimuli.  They will be creating a 3-D hand homunculus as well as studying about auditory and taste sensory inputs.

The teams participated in an infectious disease unit and were able to test their own nose and throat cultures and explore their own microbiota, guided by Dr. Jovanka Voyich.  They also used samples of a “patient” from a case study.  Students learned to use agar plates, do Gram staining and catalase tests.  One team had a patient in her early 20s present with non-bloody diarrhea following a visit to a relative’s dairy farm.  At first she thought she was just exhausted, but the students determined through a variety of tests that she had an e-coli infection.  As part of the continued work the teams will choose an infectious disease experiment to explore further using skills they learned in the lab at MSU.

While on the MSU campus, students were able to tour the Schutter Diagnostics Lab, where plant and insect diseases are identified and monitored and learn how the lab’s efforts affect agriculture producers as well as urban consumers.  Students also got a tour of Cooley Lab with a graduate students studying the herpes virus.  Cooley lab is a hub for biomedical research.  Students received a tour of the Renne Library and learned about services available on campus.  They were also able to spend time at the Museum of the Rockies, enjoy the features at the planetarium, use the fitness center on campus and stretch out with climbing at the Spire climbing center just a few blocks from campus.  

Of the eight members involved in the SEPA (Science Education Partnership Award) funded BioScience program, five are new to 4-H since April.  A few who joined specifically to take part in BioScience Montana now plan to take other projects and participate in leadership trainings.  Extension Agent Jane Wolery says one of the best parts of the BioScience program is how students start to see other opportunities and gain confidence in their ability to maneuver on a college campus, interact with professors and gain exposure to different areas of study and careers.