In December, the Housing Authority of the City of Frostburg hosted Jesse Ketterman, FCS Educator, to provide financial education to the residents. The Housing Authority provides affordable housing solutions for low-income families, seniors, and those with disabilities. On this visit, Jesse led a Financial Jeopardy game.

Contact Jesse Ketterman at jketterm@umd.edu if you want to learn more about available financial literacy programs.

Jesse Ketterman attended the Association for Financial Counseling, Planning, and Education Symposium in Columbus, OH. In addition to attending sessions, he presented a poster at the Personal Finance Seminar for Professionals. Participating in the symposium provides him with updates on personal finance. He also received Continuing Education Credits (CEUs) toward his Accredited Financial Counseling® certification.

Fifth graders at Westernport Elementary School were taught about the importance of wetlands and how they are natural filters. This lesson followed their Outdoor School experience in the fall. Students created their own personal wetland filters using natural elements to create the cleanest water.

Contact Sarah Llewellyn at Sllewell@umd.edu if you want your students or community group to learn more about Wetlands or other environmental or natural resources learning opportunities.

Celebrating together in December, the Allegany County Master Gardener Volunteers held their annual holiday gathering! The festivities included food, fun, and the creation of Fresh Rosemary Sourdough Focaccia! The MG Volunteers have enjoyed a great year together, reaching out to the community, and look forward to many more opportunities in the coming year!

The Tri-State Hay and Pasture Conference will be held at the Grantsville VFD 178 Springs Rd, Grantsville, MD 21536, on Wednesday, January 22nd, from 9 am-3:30 pm. The event will include a light breakfast and lunch. The cost is $30 if registered by January 12th or $40 for late registration and at the door. Credit card registration can be made via Eventbrite at https://go.umd.edu/wmdforage or contact the Garrett County Extension Office for cash/check registration at 301-334-6960. Checks will need to be made payable to Maryland-Delaware Forage Council.

The application for Extension's Workforce Development Internship, "Creating Leadership & Professional Development Through Extension Internships, Summer 2025," is open.

To learn more, visit https://go.umd.edu/extensioninternships

Please call 301-724-3320 or email tonir@umd.edu to register for the Private Pesticide Applicator License Renewal event, which will be held at the Allegany County Fairground on January 28, 2025, from 6 to 8 p.m.

Every year, volunteers, staff, and youth from UME Allegany County and our community participate in Beef Tagging, where steers and breeding beef are weighed. The beginning weight for the youth's beef project is recorded on the 4-H Livestock Registration Form. For those beef, the 4-H and/or FFA youth will show at the Allegany County Fair, and it allows youth the potential to exhibit at the Maryland State Fair. If you are interested in learning more about what goes into youth exhibiting at the local and state fair, feel free to reach out to our Allegany County 4-H Educator, Michelle Harman, at mharman@umd.edu.

In November, 26 Market Steers and 8 Breeding Beef were weighed and tagged at this event in Allegany County. We are so grateful for the 4-H volunteers, farmers, and community members who make this happen. A special thank you to the Cessna family, who allow us to use their farm facility during the fall for beef tagging each year.

Bishop Walsh School, one of two 4-H Schools in Allegany County, was recently featured on Maryland Farm and Harvest. Watch this clip, which starts at 10 minutes, to see 4-H volunteers and members in action. The Allegany UME Educators in multiple program areas have enjoyed helping to bridge the connection between Bishop Walsh and our local, state, and food systems communities.

University of Maryland Extension (UME) has started a strategic planning process to determine future directions of our programs. A listening session was recently held for Garrett and Allegany Faculty and Staff as well as a Town Hall meeting for our local stakeholders. The feedback gathered will play a crucial role in guiding the direction of UME’s initiatives, aligning them with the evolving needs of the communities they serve.

If you would like to MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD during this UME Strategic Planning time period, please share your insight by following the link below.

Making a “Healthy Bucket List” can help set clear goals for your family in 2025. Check out the full article below to plan your own family's healthy bucket list.

For more SNAP-ED ideas to start the new year right, check the EAT SMART webpage.

At the beginning of each New Year, we see the opportunity to press the “reset” button to make changes in our lives. These New Year’s resolutions usually focus on changing habits related to diet, exercise, alcohol, managing money, and personal organization skills. Less than 10% of people keep their resolutions throughout the year and many do not even remember their resolution by the end of the year. We often set ourselves up for failure by overloading our brains with abstract goals and too many changes at one time. Let’s think of these resolutions in a different way that will improve your chance for success. The key is to make any goal a habit first and break it down into small behavior changes. By breaking the goal down into small steps, you increase your chances for success by 50%. Try these 7 steps to be successful with your New Year’s resolutions in 2025.

1. Pick only one resolution. Make a list of things you would like to change and pick the one that is most important to you. Remember, that your brain focuses better on one thing at a time instead of trying to focus on several changes at the same time.

2. Identify small steps to be successful with your resolution. This means paring it down to the simplest tasks that are realistic to achieve. For example, if your resolution is “lose weight”, break it down into steps like eating smaller portions at meals, walking for 10 minutes after dinner, eat fruit instead of doughnuts in the morning. Select an easy task that you feel confident that you can achieve. Starting with a confident goal is a great start to the new year.

3. Make it a short-term goal, like 3 months. This takes pressure off when you think about making a change or giving up something for the whole year. Since most of our goals focus on creating new habits to replace our unhealthy habits, it takes about 66 days or more to change just one habit.

4. After a successful start in the first 3 months, you are ready to choose a more challenging task for the next 3 months. As the year goes by, you build on your success with new habits every 3 months or so. These successes lead to a boost in your self-confidence.

5. Write down your resolution and the reasons why it is important to you. Writing it down increases your chances of being successful. Thinking about why it is important will help to keep you motivated when you hit a rough patch. Consider keeping a log on your progress for your 3-month tasks. This helps to show how far you have come from the beginning to motivate yourself forward.

6. The people around you can have a significant impact on your behavior. Having a supportive group of family and friends can help you to achieve success. Avoid people who don’t believe in you or provide negative feedback. Positive feedback on your new habits increases your success rate.

7. Celebrate your successes along the way with small, healthy rewards but don’t be too hard on yourself. Everyone has set-backs – just pick yourself up and keep on going Select something that is rewarding to you and write down what you have to achieve to earn that reward. This helps you to achieve the big goal in the end.

The New Year is a great time to look ahead to a better you in 2025. New Year’s resolutions are about changing habits, and they can be positive and healthy if you are realistic and patient. Remember that many of the things that we would like to change about ourselves are the result of habits that we have had for many years. Breaking goals down into small tasks helps us to make those changes. Remember that change does not happen overnight or in a few weeks. Focus on small, little steps or tasks every 3 months. One of my favorite quotes is from Mark Twain who said “Habit is habit and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time.” Wishing you a happy and healthy 2025!

We are here to serve you and help answer any questions you might have related to 4-H Youth Development, Agriculture, Home Gardening, Health & Nutrition, Financial Wellness, and much more.

Dr. Jennifer Bentlejewski, WMD Area Extension Director jthorn@umd.edu

4-H Youth Development

• Michelle Harman, Educator mharman2@umd.edu
• Jessica Mellon, Educator jmellon2@umd.edu
• Sara Barnard, Program Assistant sbarnard@umd.edu

Agriculture and Food Systems / Environment and Natural Resources

• Sarah Llewellyn, Master Gardener Coordinator/ Agriculture & Food Systems Educator sllewellyn@umd.edu
• Andrea Uphold, Nutrient Management Program Coordinator auphold@umd.edu

MD - SNAP Ed

• Amanda Hawkins, Project Leader/Educator ahawkin7@umd.edu
• Shirley Guinn, Educator sguinn1@umd.edu
• Shayla Hitchens, Program Assistant sfelker@umd.edu

Family and Consumer Sciences

• Dr. Lisa McCoy, RD, FCS Educator lmccoy@umd.edu
• Dr. Jesse Ketterman, FCS Educator jketterm@umd.edu
• Shelita Jackson, Tech Extension Educator sjack111@umd.edu

Administrative Support

• Jody Parrish, Program Management Specialist jparrish@umd.edu
• Toni Richards, Administrative Assistant I tonir@umd.edu

Location: 1 Commerce Drive, Cumberland, MD 21502

Office Hours: M-F 8:30 am-4:30 pm excluding holidays

Phone: 301-724-3320

Website: https://extension.umd.edu/locations/allegany-county/

Facebook Pages:

Agriculture in Allegany County- University of Maryland Extension NEW

Allegany County Master Gardeners

University of Maryland Extension - Allegany County 4-H

Healthy Living in Allegany County- University of Maryland Extension

University programs, activities, and facilities are available to all without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, marital status, age, national origin, political affiliation, physical or mental disability, religion, protected veteran status, genetic information, personal appearance or other legally protected class.

If you need a reasonable accommodation to participate any program or event, please contact our office, at least two weeks prior, at 301-724-3320.