Are you still looking for that perfect Christmas gift? How about tickets to an Ice Hogs game? Farm Bureau members can purchase tickets for Farm Bureau night at the Ice Hogs for only $11. Farm Bureau night takes place on Saturday, February 5th. The puck drops at 7:05 p.m. as the Hogs face the Abbottsford Heat. The seats are located in the Mezzanne sideline. Contact our office today for more information or to purchase your seats.

Don’t forget if you ordered fruit and nuts, you will be able to pick them up on Tuesday, December 14. The Women’s Committee will have the fruit baskets ready for pick up that same day at 11 a.m. The ladies have 123 baskets to assemble this year. If it isn’t a record year for them, it is certainly a tie. We generally have a little bit of extra fruit and nuts if you didn’t get your order placed in time.

The Carroll County Farm Bureau will be having its Annual Meeting on Thursday, December 16 at 10 a.m. in the Farm Bureau Boardroom. This will be a business meeting only for the purposes of electing directors.

Just recently I received the results of the PEARS reports that I type up each year detailing the accomplishments we have had here in the county. These reports are then scored against other counties in our same membership group. This year when we come back from the IAA Annual Meeting in St. Louis, our delegates will come home with a plaque that has on it a Gold Star for Membership Quota, a Silver Star for the Women’s Committee, the Primetimers, and Ag Literacy, a bronze star for Young Leaders, Multi-County projects, Commodities and Marketing, Health & Safety, Local Affairs, Communications and Promotions, and Member Relations.

Being the over-achiever that I am, of course I wanted higher marks, although for the first year in our new membership group, it was the first time against some stiffer competition, along with being lumped with some bigger counties. I am still quite proud of what we are able to accomplish here in Carroll County.

I will have a report next week on the delegate session of the IAA Annual Meeting along with a report on how our two Young Leaders, Ed Livengood and Jon Lower did in the Young Leader Discussion Meet.

Do you need to take your pesticide test this year? Reorganization of the University of Illinois Extension is resulting in regional private pesticide safety education clinics over the next several months. A $30 clinic fee and pre-registration is required. Each clinic will be offered from 9 a.m. to noon. Exams will be administered from 1 to 3 p.m. Clinic participants will pay a $30 clinic fee and a separate $30 license fee to IDOA.
The clinic schedule for those locations closest to us is: Jan. 6, Clock Tower, Rockford; Jan. 7, Rock Falls Hotel & Conference Center, Rock Falls; Feb. 18, Knights of Columbus, Kankakee; Feb. 22, Holiday Inn City Center, Peoria; Feb. 25, Chateau Hotel & Conference Center, Bloomington; and March 1, Best Western Prairie Inn, Galesburg.
Farmers may register for a clinic by calling or by going online to www.pesticidesafety.uiuc.edu, click on “training schedule” and then select “private.”

Farmers who are unable to attend a clinic may use the online private pesticide safety education training program that is available on the same website.