UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- In today’s busy world, it can be challenging to find time to spend with family. This year, the Family Room Building at Penn State's Ag Progress Days will offer a variety of interactive displays that will get visitors thinking about the overall health and wellness of themselves and their families.
The various exhibits are sponsored by the following Penn State Extension teams: Food, Families and Health, Food Safety and Quality, Nutrition Links, and Pesticide Education. The Penn State University Police Community Education Program also will participate.
Located on Main Street between Eighth and Ninth streets at the Rock Springs site, the Family Room's programming will include the following:
--Hourly Cooking Demonstrations. Attendees can learn new recipes, nutrition tips for preparing healthy meals and food safety facts. They are invited to sample the resulting fare and receive a copy of the featured recipe.
--Naturally Flavored Water. Visitors can taste water flavored with fruit, learn the importance of water in their daily diet and get ideas for making flavored water at home.
--Home Food Preservation and Consumer Food Safety. In anticipation of National Food Safety Month in September, Penn State Extension food safety specialists and Master Food Preservation volunteers will provide research-based information and hands-on activities demonstrating how to store and preserve food safely.
--LIFT: Lifelong Improvements with Fitness Together. As people age, they begin to lose strength, resulting in muscle weakness and difficulty moving. When this happens, physical activity slows, and people become more sedentary. LIFT helps older adults improve strength, flexibility, balance and overall health.
--Let’s Cook with Extension. From a Pennsylvania Dutch kitchen to Southeast Asia and all points in between, learn about meals that stick to your ribs and engage the mind and adventurous spirit of everyone at your table.
--Understanding Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia. In partnership with the Alzheimer’s Association, Penn State Extension will offer information to help visitors recognize the 10 signs of dementia. Educate yourself on the importance of keeping your brain and body healthy to prevent dementia.
--Step Up Your Pest Control. Visitors to the Pesticide Education Program exhibit will learn ways to improve pest control using integrated pest management strategies. Control options include cultural, mechanical, biological and, when needed, chemical.
--First Aid and Firearm Safety Tips. Children can meet a police officer and visit with members of Centre LifeLink to learn helpful first-aid tips. Firearm safety material also will be on display, and visitors can receive a gun lock (while supplies last).
--Master Health and Wellness Volunteers. These Penn State Extension volunteers have a desire to help others while extending the efforts of educators within local communities. Through training, volunteers are prepared to work in the community giving presentations and food demonstrations, assisting at health fairs, and participating in other outreach events.
Sponsored by Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, Ag Progress Days is held at the Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center at Rock Springs, 9 miles southwest of State College on Route 45. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Aug. 13; 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Aug. 14; and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 15. Admission and parking are free.
For more information, visit the Ag Progress Days website. Twitter users can find and share information about the event by using the hashtag #agprogressdays, and Facebook users can find the event by searching @AgProgressDays.