Robert J. Bosold of Eau Claire, Ed Brooks of Reedsburg, Larry R. Johnson of Fort Atkinson, and Steve A. Larson of Whitewater will receive Honorary Recognition awards Wednesday, Oct. 30 from the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The Wisconsin Cheese Grading Short Course, an intensive two-day course covering the principles and practices involved in grading natural cheeses, will be held November 5-6 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Babcock Hall.

Discovery Farms welcomes Jim Leverich to its staff. Leverich will serve as Discovery Farms’ On-Farm Research Coordinator in western and southern Wisconsin.

Although white pine first brought loggers to northern Wisconsin, another evergreen giant – hemlock – actually outnumbered white pine at the time. Today, travelers driving across large parts of the Northwoods may see only scattered hemlocks or small, isolated groves.

Teryl Roper likes a good apple just as much as the next guy, but he also appreciates the value of an apple tree’s root system. As a University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension fruit crop specialist, Roper evaluates new apples in Wisconsin, and the different rootstocks to which they will be grafted.

Applications for the 2002-2003 session of the Wisconsin School for Beginning Dairy Farmers on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus must be received by Oct. 1. Classes begin Nov. 11 and run through March 28, 2003.

The eighth annual Great Lakes Dairy Sheep Symposium will be held on the Cornell University campus in Ithaca, N.Y., Nov. 7-9. Five of the previous seven symposia have been held in Wisconsin, which leads the nation in dairy sheep production.

Plants have never impressed anyone with their intelligence, but they do measure the seasons and tell time. After all, a Christmas cactus blooms only in winter and an evening primrose opens just at dusk.

On Saturday, Sept. 14, the Wisconsin Agricultural and Life Sciences Alumni Association will hold its 27th annual Football Fire-Up at the West Madison Research Station. The Fire-Up will start at 8 a.m. and run to 10:15 a.m.

Prospective students have until Oct. 1 to register for the 2002-2003 Farm and Industry Short Course at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.