 Hey everybody, my name is Katie Lee and I am the 4-H Foundation Regional Extension Agent for Covington County and today I'm in one of my favorite farms. I'm in a tree farm and tree farmers across the state are growing many different things that we use. Could be paper products or it could be the pecans that you might be using in your next pecan pie or the peaches that you guys love for your next peach ice cream. The cool thing is Alabama tree farmers have us covered for all of our daily needs. The largest industry in the state of Alabama is forestry. Alabama forests provide more than 122,000 jobs in timber production and in timber processing. The forestry contributes to over 13 billion dollars to the Alabama economy annually. We have over 23 million acres of land in Alabama that is forest. Lob lolly pines are the most prevalent tree in Alabama. They are a tall fast-growing evergreen that grow about two feet per year reaching height of 50 to 80 feet. That is the reason why a lot of farmers choose to plant the lob lolly pine. Another pine that is planted in Alabama is the longleaf pine which is the official state tree of Alabama. That is because the longleaf pine first made Alabama famous for its timber products during the 1800s. So much longleaf pine was harvested that there's not much left today. Right now efforts are being made across the state to restore longleaf pine ecosystems which is home to many endangered species like the gopher tortoise, the eastern indigo snake, and carnivorous plants. So what does a tree farmer do? They plant the seedlings and watch them grow. They thin the stands when trees become overcrowded and they have prescribed burns which help keep longleaf pine forest healthy. Freshly burned undergrowth helps make way for new green sprouts. Directly behind me is the stand of longleaf pines that was actually burned five years ago. If you look closely to the tree right here you can see the burn marks on the bark where the fire flames reached. So how does all of this affect your life? Think about all the things you use daily. Everything from wood furniture to your baseball bat to your toilet paper even your musical instruments is all made from wood. In fact we use over 5000 wood products daily. So the next time you see a tree farmer thank them for everything that they do. Hello my name is Tanya Kirkland and I am the 4-H Foundation Regional Extension Agent for Henry County. Today we're going to show you how to make some pinecone flowers and some pinecone flower bouquets. First you want to put on some gloves to keep the pine combs from sticking you. Pick up some needle nose pliers, loppers, or even some heavy duty scissors. Sometimes you can even break them in half to make two separate flowers. Next you want to pick up the pinecone you want to paint and the spray paint you want to use and start spray painting your pinecone. To make a pinecone with a stem you want to use a hot glue gun and hot glue your stick to the end of the pinecone. Some of the stems you can go ahead and paint to make it look like a real stem of a flower. Now you want to add your dirt or your foam to your flower pot add marbles or even rocks to the top for decoration in preparation to make your bouquet. For the final step you will take your finished pinecone flowers and add them to the base of your flower pot. Once you are finished putting in the arrangement the way you like you can add whatever extra pinecone flowers you have not on stems to the base of the bucket for a beautiful arrangement and now you have a beautiful bouquet made out of pinecone flowers.