Around the Home and Farm: Your estate plan

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I shared a “Letter of Instruction” with the class, “It’s My Money , My Stuff and My Life” sponsored by the Greene County Council on Aging a few days ago.

The response was very positive but I reminded them filling out this document is time consuming but can help minimize attorney costs and save time for the executor of your estate. Although it is not a legal document it provides a good place to list family members names and addresses, assets including bank/saving accounts, stocks and bonds.

Also liabilities including credit cards, loans, insurance policies, and other holdings which need to be addressed on your death or incapacitation are noted. Also listed are things like Social Security numbers, passwords for accounts, and many other pieces of information your executor or power of attorney will need. All of these things and others can be complicated and depending on your filing and organization skills this document can help minimize the challenge of finding the important information related to your estate.

Consider helping your family by completing one of these documents and letting your attorney and executor or power of attorney know such a document exists. Keep in mind this “Letter of Instruction” is not a legal document but does contain a lot of personal information like account and policy numbers, SS numbers and much more! It is important to share this document with your attorney, executor or power of attorney but keep in mind it contains much personal and financial information so be careful when this document is shared especially with your named administrator to minimize potential problems.

With this information they could do a lot with your financial holdings. Some people take out all of the Social Security numbers, policy numbers etc. before giving a copy to anyone other than their attorney. If you would like a copy emailed to you send me a note and your email to [email protected].

Scholarship deadlines

Greene County Farm Forum will award up to $5,000 in scholarships to deserving current year graduating students or college freshmen pursuing higher education in a field related to agriculture. Those applying must be a resident of Greene County or have attended county schools. Applications are due April 20 and for an application email scholarship chair Jim Byrd at: [email protected] or call him at 937-429-1805. The Farm Forum has awarded more than $19,600 to deserving recipients studying programs in agriculture.

Greene County Farm Bureau will award up to two $1,500 scholarships for the 2017-2018 academic year. The scholarship recipients will be recognized at the Greene County Farm Bureau 2018 Annual Meeting to be held in August. Applicant must be an active member of Greene County Farm Bureau when applying for the scholarship, or have a parent, grandparent or guardian who is a Greene County Farm Bureau member.

Applications must be submitted on or before April 15. For a copy of the application log on to: https://ofbf.org/counties/Greene/ and scroll down to scholarship.

Farm bureau memberships

The Greene County Farm Bureau board under the leadership of President Dan Jones and Membership chair Dan Robinette are making the final push to increase membership in Ohio Farm Bureau by the end of March.

Membership dues are $85 for active farmer members but other community and young actives are available. Membership categories were initiated to involve more groups in helping give input into Ohio agriculture.

The Young Active member is for those age 18-24 ($25) while the Community membership $85 is for those interested in agriculture but not farming. There is a Group Membership $72 for businesses interested in agriculture as well. For more information on membership log on to: https://ofbf.org/counties/Greene/ or call the regional office in Wilmington at 937-382-4407 and ask for Ashley Rose.

The Ohio Farm Bureau has been instrumental in updating the CAUV requirements, funding water quality research and representing farmers and landowners in agriculture related legislation.

Crabgrass

We are coming up on the time (early April) when homeowners normally apply crabgrass control products to the lawn. Crabgrass control products are designed to prevent crabgrass seed from germinating. Each year is different in terms of soil temperature at the end of March and first week or two in April.

We normally look at applying pre-emergent crabgrass control products around April 10-15 but soil temperature dictates when crabgrass seed will germinate. Crabgrass is an annual grass and germination is tied to soil temperature. Crabgrass seed will germinate when we have the nighttime soil temperature not dropping below 52-54 degrees F. for five evenings in a row. You can track our soil temperatures at this Michigan State Univ. website: www.gddtracker.net/.

Use this website to track the amount of warmth the soil has accumulated in growing degree days (GDD) using 32 degrees F. as the base temperature. This website also tracks growing degree days using other temperatures as a base so watch which you use. Another way to determine when to apply pre-emergent crabgrass control is to link it to the blooming time of forsythia or ornamental pear trees. Sadly, the more fertilizer you apply this time of year the more often you have to mow as most of the nutrients go to the growth of the grass leaf blades and not into the root system.

Remember the clock starts ticking with reference to the length of time the crabgrass control product will work after you apply it. Applying pre-emergent crabgrass material earlier than April depending on soil temperatures may shorten the time the product is effective and permit crabgrass to germinate later in the season depending on the product you are using.

Submitted photo Greene County Farm Bureau President Dan Jones and membership Chair Dan Robinette.
https://www.fairborndailyherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/03/web1_HomeFarm.jpgSubmitted photo Greene County Farm Bureau President Dan Jones and membership Chair Dan Robinette.

By Jerry Mahan

Jerry Mahan is a retired OSU Extension Educator Agriculture and Natural Resources for Greene County. He can be reached by email at: [email protected].

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