Indiana

Indiana AgrAbility rural rehabilitation specialist Steve Swain moderated two roundtable discussions at the Health and Human Sciences Spring Training Update at the Beck Center on the Purdue Agronomy Farm. The training is an annual event to bring the Purdue Extension Health and Human Sciences educators in the county offices up-to-date on available programs and trainings by the Extension specialists on campus. The round table discussions centered on aging farmers and their attitude of not having a disability but just getting older, and how to provide information to help them continue farming safely.

Submitted by Steve Swain

On April 7th, 29 veterans and their families attended a mushroom cultivation workshop presented by the Farmer Veteran Coalition of Indiana and Indiana AgrAbility in North Salem, IN. This was a two-part workshop. In the morning session, Dr. Catherine Aime, a Purdue University mycologist, presented "Mushrooms 101: The Basics about Fungi." In the afternoon, participants learned how to inoculate logs with shiitake mushroom spores and how to grow and harvest their mushrooms. Veterans were able to take home 3-5 inoculated logs.

Submitted by Katherine Prasuhn

In celebration of Disability Awareness Day, Indiana staff did a presentation on "Gardening for all Abilities" at the Lawrenceburg Public Library. It was a joint venture sponsored by the library, the Good to School project of Dearborn County Extension Service, Friendly Bean Café, and Southeast Indiana Community Garden project.

Submitted by Linda Tarr