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A young girl with a snail-shaped watering can.

Ages & Stages in the Garden: Ages 6-8

A garden can be used to teach many concepts to a board range of ages. When working with early elementary youth you will want to consider characteristics of their development when planning lessons and activities.

Woman browsing a digital tablet in her garden.

SDSU Extension Master Gardener Program Volunteer Policy Guide

This guide offers current and prospective SDSU Extension Master Gardeners information on: applying for the program, maintaining certification, categorizing and reporting service hours, understanding the various levels of volunteer service and much more!

Five jars of canned stewed tomatoes sitting on a gray kitchen towel with a gray background.

Canning Tomatoes Safely

Home canning tomatoes is a great way to preserve them for later use. It is critical to use proper methods of heat processing to ensure a safe finished product.

Several cans of homemade salsa sitting on a table.

Canning Tomato-Vegetable Mixtures

Tomatoes are unique when it comes to home canning recipes. Some tomato and vegetable recipes recommend using a boiling water bath canner, some recipes recommend a pressure canner, and some recipes offer both options.

dial on a pressure canner

Altitude Adjustments for Home Canning

There are many guidelines to follow when canning, an important one often overlooked is checking one’s need to adjust for altitude.

Tick that is dark brown to black in color with a reddish-orange abdomen.

Protecting Yourself From Ticks

During wet springs, tick populations tend to thrive in South Dakota. These parasitic arthropods require blood to fulfill their nutritional needs and commonly use humans as a host. Some ticks can also carry bacterial diseases that are a threat to human health.

Mosquito with darker coloration and mosquito with white band on proboscis.

Be Ready for Mosquitos

With the very wet 2019 spring and recent rains, it inevitable that mosquito populations will be high this year. Although there are over 20 species of mosquitoes that call South Dakota home, there are really only two species that account for the majority of observed individuals.

collection of pressure canned food

Water Bathing vs. Pressure Canning

Water bathing and pressure canning are two common ways to preserve foods by canning. These techniques use heat processing to preserve foods, and which technique you use depends on the acidity of the food.

A dial pressure canner gauge

Testing Dial Pressure Canner Gauges

For accuracy before use, it is recommended that dial gauges get tested each year. Gauges that read high cause under-processing and may result in unsafe food.