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Summer Picnic Safety Tips

Keep your picnics safe this summer!

Keep your picnics safe this summer!

Summer months are a great time for picnicking with family and friends. Flies and other insects can be rather annoying, but the “bugs” you can’t see can be extremely harmful. Bacteria love the warm humid weather and grow more quickly in the summer than any other time of the year. The number of people who get sick during the hot months of the year is much greater. So read over the following tips to beat bacteria at your summer picnic.

Keep it Clean!

■ Find out if your picnic destination has a source of safe drinking water. If not, bring water or moist towelettes for cleaning hands and surfaces.

■ Always wash your hands with warm, soapy water for 20 seconds before and after handling food. Unwashed hands are a major cause of foodborne illness. Use moist towelettes if hand-washing facilities are not available.

■ Be sure raw meat and poultry are wrapped securely to prevent their juices from cross-contaminating other foods in the cooler.

■ Pack enough clean utensils for both eating and serving food. Don’t use the same utensil or platter for raw and cooked meat and poultry. Disposable plates and utensils help prevent cross-contamination.

■ Keep foods covered to prevent insects from enjoying your lunch!

Keep Cold Foods Cold!

■ Keep perishable foods cool by transporting them in an insulated cooler with plenty of ice or frozen gel packs. Perishable foods include meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, dairy products, pasta, rice, cooked vegetables, and peeled and cut fruits and vegetables.

■ Pack the cooler just before leaving home. Foods chilling in your refrigerator should be placed directly in your cooler with ice or frozen gel packs.

■ Avoid frequently opening coolers containing perishable food. It’s a good idea to store beverages and perishable foods in separate coolers.

Keep the cooler in an air-conditioned vehicle during travel and in the shade at the picnic site.

Some other resources to help or share:

UF IFAS Picnic Safety Video

UF IFAS Food Safety Factsheet for Potlucks

Fun Picnic Ideas to Try this Summer

Do you have a passion or skills that you would like to pass on to the next generation of parents, employees, civic leaders, and decision makers?  4-H needs caring adults from a wide variety of backgrounds, skills and experiences. For more information, contact your local UF IFAS Extension Office, or visit http://florida4h.org/volunteers.

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What is Gained through Sewing?

 

Sewing is much more than just making a garment or a bag, instead it is the vehicle to teach self-confidence through skill building.

Sewing is much more than just making a garment or a bag, instead it is the vehicle to teach self-confidence through skill building.

In today’s world, sewing is no longer a necessity as it was in our mothers’ and grandmothers’ day. Most women of that era knew how to sew and could clothe their families by using their sewing skills. Now, sewing can be expensive, so why should children be taught to sew?

The goal of teaching children, and adults for that matter, to sew is to gain self-confidence as they learn a new skill.  Hand sewing skills develop finger dexterity and the development of fine motor skills.  If you have ever hand sewn you know it can also teach you the value of patience. These skills can be used not only to create beautiful pieces of art and heirlooms to be passed down, they are the same skills needed to mend cloths.  Knowing how to put a hem back in pants and skirts as well as how to sew a button back on a garment is extremely important and can be very expensive to have done. 

Sewing teaches listening and following of directions.  Either a student listens to or reads directions in order to complete a project.  Reading and following a pattern is the hardest part of sewing for many people.  Throughout life we follow directions.  In our modern world we listen to the GPS to aid us in reaching a destination or follow the printed map. Did you make the connection between sewing and reaching a destination?

Not only can basic skills be taught through sewing, there is a lot of science, technology, engineering, and math that can be taught.  Many creative people are also great engineers.  A lot of the modern sewing machines are computer driven.  Just learning to operate some of them takes a technologically minded person.  Think of the science that goes into engineering the new fibers that are used to make not only clothing but all the other items we use made of fibers.  And the measurement skills, addition, and subtraction that go into sewing are naturally math concepts.

Sewing is much more than just making a garment or a bag, instead it is the vehicle to teach self-confidence through skill building.  If you don’t know how to sew yourself, either learn or find another volunteer who has the skill.  Let’s teach youth skills they will carry with them throughout life.