What do you do with a shoe that you aren't wearing anymore? If you're a 4-H member in Kendall County, chances are you've turned it into a garden planter. With instruction from 17-year-old 4-H Member Cydney Olah, youth took shoes from an area resale store and created a garden planter.    ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Judy Mae Bingman, University of Illinois Extension Marketing and Communications Manager...

How do you get kids interested in horticulture? In Montgomery County, you show them plants that eat things. 4-H members learned how and why carnivorous plants eat insects. Andrew Holsinger, U of I Extension horticulture educator, provided the hands-on instruction. When the county's classroom teachers heard about the program, the phones began ringing in the Montgomery County office. Now, more than 600 youth in 25 classrooms in the county know more about the life of carnivorous plants, and...