Preparing for the Holidays with Government Publications

November 19, 2019

‘Tis the season for indulging in your grandma’s world famous dessert, singing to your favorite holiday album on repeat, finding an excuse to wear your tacky sweater anywhere you can, and … reading Government books? That’s right! The GPO Bookstore is here to help you prepare right for the holidays.

If you’re anything like us, you’re no professional chef. And try as you might, you might not be 100% confident in your cooking skills come Thanksgiving Day. That’s where Food Safety: A Need to Know Guide for Those at Risk from the Department of Agriculture comes in. Especially if you are inviting older adults, children under five years, cancer patients, or pregnant women to your Thanksgiving dinner. This publication is designed to provide practical guidance on how to reduce the risk of foodborne illnesses so you can focus on family, football, and food, not feeling lousy!

One popular holiday tradition is sitting by the fireplace and admiring the Christmas Tree. But did you know pests can be found on fir Christmas trees? We don’t know about you, but the only things we want on our tree are ornaments, lights, candy canes, and garland! Christmas Tree Pest Manual from the Department of Agriculture and U.S. Forest Service is here to save the holiday. This publication includes information you need to know to diagnose and manage pest problems in your tree. In addition to the illustrated pest profiles, you will find practical advice on how to look for and recognize potential pests, how to select trees less likely to be damaged by pests, and how to keep pests at low levels.

What would the holidays be without a little excitement from gift giving? After tearing open wrapping paper, untying ribbons and bows, opening boxes, pulling out tissue paper from gift bags, and cutting open plastic to get to new toys, it’s almost inevitable that you create quite a bit more waste during the holidays than normal. Does your family ever re-use bags or ribbon year to year? If so, you’re already on the right track! The Consumer’s Handbook for Reducing Solid Waste from the Environmental Protection Agency describes how you can help solve the growing problem or garbage. It outlines practical steps to reduce the amount and toxicity of garbage. This handbook includes success stories, reusable vocabulary, and other resources.

The holidays are right around the corner … we can hardly believe it! We hope these publications help you enjoy every moment of this special time of year.

The GPO Online Bookstore – Easy Access to Federal Publications

HOW DO I OBTAIN THESE RESOURCES?

Sign up to receive promotional bulletin emails from the US Government Online Bookstore.

Shop Online Anytime: You can buy a vast majority of eBooks or print publications —with FREE Standard Shipping worldwide— from the U.S. Government Online Bookstore at https://bookstore.gpo.gov.

Visit our Retail Store: To buy or order a copy of any print editions from this collection at GPO’s retail bookstore at 710 North Capitol Street NW, Washington, DC 20401, open Monday–Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., except Federal holidays, Call (202) 512-0132 for information or to arrange in-store pick-up(s).

Order by Phone or Email: Call our Customer Contact Center Monday through Friday, 8 am to 4:30 pm Eastern (except US Federal holidays). From US and Canada, call toll-free 1.866.512.1800. DC or International customers call +1.202.512.1800.  Email orders to ContactCenter@gpo.gov

Visit a Federal depository library: Search for U.S. Government publications in a nearby Federal depository library. You can find the records for most titles in GPO’s Catalog of U.S. Government Publications.

Find more than a million official Federal Government publications from all three branches at www.govinfo.gov.

About the author: Blogger contributor Cat Goergen is the PR Specialist in GPO’s Public Relations office.

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Posted by Trudy Hawkins

Christmas Tree Manual, O Christmas Tree Manual, How Useful Is Your Guidance

December 1, 2015

That’s not the radio you just heard. It’s a fresh holiday beat from a Federal Government employee! Before you plug your ears or throw a cup full of egg nog at this blog post, please close your eyes and take a moment to think about the poor Christmas trees-in-training out there.

As they grow into canvases fit for a festoon of tinsel and popcorn garland, some Christmas trees are beset by damaging agents and mottled by disease. Insects, mites, fungi, and nematodes can lay waste to hearty spruce, pine, and fir. That all sounds so dire. Thankfully, it’s preventable and treatable. And there’s a government resource for that!  Ok, you can open your eyes now.

001-000-04764-7The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service’s Christmas Tree Pest Manual shows how to diagnose and control damaging Christmas tree pests. This tidy publication provides easy-to-use guidance to ensure that Christmas trees of the North Central and Northeastern regions of the United States are vigorously fit for their wintry spectacle.

A read thru of the varied afflictions listed in the manual will renew your appreciation for the health threats trees must overcome to arrive at your local home improvement store parking lot. Take the bagworm for example. While they might serve for a fitting ingredient in a wizardly potion, bagworm larvae thin foliage and render a Christmas tree unfit for sale.

In case you’re worried the topic of Christmas tree pest management is not in your wheelhouse, the manual includes some comforting language in the introduction. “You do not have to be a pest specialist to use this information. The manual was written in everyday language so that anyone with an interest in Christmas trees can read and understand it.” Whew! Now you can confidently pick up Christmas Tree Pest Manual and tell those loathsome yellow-bellied sapsuckers good riddance.

001-000-04767-1And if you’d like to take your pest manual reading to the next level, the USDA’s Major Forest Insect and Disease Conditions in the United States: 2013 is a concretely good deep-dive.

With early identification and control, injuries to stem, root, branch, and shoot don’t have to be the four horseman of the Christmas tree apocalypse. Because a winter wonderland without healthy Christmas trees is no winter wonderland at all.

How do I obtain these resources?

Shop Online Anytime: You can buy eBooks or print publications —with FREE Standard Shipping worldwide— from the U.S. Government Online Bookstore at http://bookstore.gpo.gov.

Shop our Retail Store: Buy a copy of any print editions from this collection at GPO’s retail bookstore at 710 North Capitol Street NW, Washington, DC 20401, open Monday–Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., except Federal holidays, Call (202) 512-0132 for information or to arrange in-store pick-up.

Order by Phone: Call our Customer Contact Center Monday through Friday, 8 am to 5:30 pm Eastern (except US Federal holidays). From US and Canada, call toll-free 1.866.512.1800. DC or International customers call +1.202.512.1800.

Visit a Federal depository library: Search for U.S. Government publications in a nearby Federal depository library. You can find the records for most titles in GPO’s Catalog of U.S. Government Publications.

About the author: Our guest blogger is Chelsea Milko, Public Relations Specialist in GPO’s Public Relations Office.

Leave a Comment » | Agriculture, Consumers, Department of Agriculture, Environment | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Trudy Hawkins

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