June News

Anthracnose

Rain has been over-abundant in the last couple of weeks.  So, of course, it is no surprise that anthracnose is already showing up.  Anthracnose is primarily a foliar disease affecting many deciduous trees including ash, elm, oak, and maple. So far, all the reports we have received have been on maples, but it is likely other species are showing symptoms and we just have not heard about it. Leaves are already heavily spotted. Often, we don’t see a lot of defoliation with anthracnose (except for sycamore anthracnose), but infections on maple seem to be severe enough this year to be causing some defoliation. This will not be fatal, but it will put some additional stress on trees as their “food factories”, the leaves, drop off prematurely.  The food that trees make for themselves is different from what fertilizers provide, so extra fertilization is not warranted.

The fungi are able to infect the young, tender leaves, especially during cool and wet springs, like we’ve been having this year. The disease is caused by several different fungi. The fungi are host specific, so the maple fungus doesn’t infect oak trees, and so on.    Symptoms vary with the plant host, weather, and time of year when infection occurs, but this disease often produces brown or black blotches (fig. 10) and curled or twisted leaves. Infection is more severe when prolonged spring rains occur after new growth is produced. Although the symptoms appear in late spring into the summer, the initial infection took place in the early spring at bud break and before the leaves hardened off. Once the symptoms show up, it is too late for any chemical applications to be effective.

Management: Cultural methods are usually sufficient to reduce the severity of anthracnose in our region. These include:

• Pruning trees to open up the canopy for better air circulation.
• Maintaining tree vigor with proper watering during times when rain is inadequate.
• In the fall, cleaning up and destroying fallen leaves to reduce the source of inoculum.

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Some Good News!

After a parent at Sanford Middle School in Minneapolis reached out to principal Amy Nelson suggesting ways of getting food to local kids in the district, the educator never imagined the overwhelming response she would receive from the community, as well as towns and cities beyond.

Over the weekend, many local grocery stores were closed due to protests fueled by the death George Floyd. The sudden closure of these essential businesses quickly limited many families' access to food.

Nelson initially posted a callout on social media, asking for 85 food kits to be donated to help students and their families. Soon after the message went up, it quickly became clear to Nelson that the turnout was going to be much bigger than they had anticipated.

"Aldi, Target, Cub (Foods) — they were all burned out and looted," Nelson said. "The same with Walgreens and CVS. There's nowhere to go (to) buy groceries, diapers or shampoo."

On Sunday morning, people from as far away as Wisconsin descended on the school, which is currently closed due to COVID-19, bringing bags filled with groceries and toiletries. The middle school is within a three-block radius of the 3rd police precinct that was burned during the protests.

"I think people were looking for something to do," Nelson told TODAY Food. "We had countless people drive up. They were at a grocery story 25 miles away and people there were buying from our same grocery list."

Initially, Nelson had expected to receive donations from 10 a.m. to noon on Sunday. But when she arrived at the school at 8 a.m., there was already more food than she knew what to do with. Nelson, who has been a teacher and administrator in Minnesota for 20 years, said she has never seen anything like it.

As the piles of groceries mounted, Nelson realized she'd be able to help those beyond her school district. Thankfully, she explained, The Sheridan Story, a local organization that works to fight childhood hunger, was able to step in.

"I told them, 'We’re going to have a lot of people,'" she recalled.
To help get the word out, The Sheridan Story shared some photos from the incredible day on Instagram.

"As we get close to wrapping up the day, but certainly not our work, our words are few and full of love - the outpouring of community support we experienced today was… simply beautiful.

‘Feisty’ 103-Year-old Grandma Celebrates COVID Recovery By Drinking an Ice Cold Bud Light
This 103-year-old woman was given a slim chance of survival after she was hospitalized with a case of the novel Coronavirus earlier this month.
Jennie Stejna, a “feisty Polish grandmother” from Easton, Massachusetts, was the first resident of her nursing home to be diagnosed with the virus after she contracted a low-grade fever. Despite being moved to a quarantined ward, her condition worsened.

Nursing home staffers eventually called Stejna’s granddaughter, Shelley Gunn, and advised her to say her final goodbyes before it was too late. According to the Easton Wicked Local, Gunn’s husband asked Stejna if she was ready to go to heaven—and Stejna reportedly responded with a resounding “hell yes”.

To everyone’s shock, however, Stejna made a full recovery from the virus.

As a means of celebrating her recovery, nursing home staffers gave her a bottle of Bud Light—a drink which Stejna loves, but has not gotten to enjoy in a long time.

Since Stejna’s story has been shared across international news outlets, social media users have hailed the grandma for her strength—and for her good taste.