ENID —
Garfield County Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension Center doesn’t just provide research and services for area farmers and ranchers.
“I’d say 70, 75 to 80 percent of our clientele are urban or home-owner clientele,” said Jeff Bedwell, extension educator for agriculture and 4-H. “The array of topics we help people with cover agriculture to horticulture to home-energy conservation. We work with a lot of things.”
He said the extension office fields questions about lawn and gardens, how to keep pests out of homes and yard to water quality issues. The center also offers a Master Gardener Training Program, and soil testing for lawns and gardens is available.
“We focus a lot of our programming to agriculture because agriculture is such an important part of the economic scheme of Garfield County,” Bedwell said. “There’s just an awful lot of questions and support we provide the community outside the realm of agriculture.”
The center also focuses heavily on area youths and families. The extension office has an educator who works with schools and clubs and conducts outreach and another whose focus is family and consumer finance education.
“Largely, about everything we do in the community is for rural development,” Bedwell said. “We’ve offered programs for wind energy and of that nature for folks in the community. We cut a pretty broad swath when it comes to programming topics and agendas.”
Bedwell said those within the extension office use planning committees to help identify what warrants immediate attention and what topics educators can focus on to meet community needs.
He said educators attend various community events and use any opportunity to educate the community.
“We try to be highly visible, as much as possible.”
Progress 2012
Related Photos
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Educator Jeff Bedwell poses in front of Garfield County Oklahoma State University Extension Center. (Staff Photo by BILLY HEFTON)
Discussion
OSU Extension Center has expansive roots
- Progress 2012
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2012 ON THE HORIZON
The News & Eagle puts out an annual progress edition. This year's 2012 On the Horizon focuses on developments now and in the future. The stories in text format are available by scrolling down this page.
Links to pdf format: Economic Development I Health and Wellness I Education I Northwest Oklahoma I Family I Faith I Agriculture and Energy I Community Service
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Community Service
Enid News & Eagle's 2012 On the Horizon edition concludes with the role of community service.
Click HERE for text version of the stories.
Click HERE for pdf version of the edition.
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Chisholm seeks consistency
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A positive interaction
Karen Vanover and A.Z. Callicoat are past volunteers of the year at their respective hospitals, Vanover at Integris Bass Baptist Health Center and Callicoat at St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center.
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Foster Grandparents: The solver of all problems
“It’s something to get up for in the morning." — Foster Grandparent Ella Loggins
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Hear this
Hedges is committed to improving communications skills for those in need in northwest Oklahoma.
Executive Director Carmen Ball said Hedges is the only full-service speech and hearing center in northwest Oklahoma. -
Doing their part for the community
Stephanie Ezzell is active in the community in a number of capacities, including the popular Farmers Market, on the southeast corner of Grand and Garriott.
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Sorting out the service
The curbside recycling business began after Chris Feeney of Oklahoma Employment Securities’ Material Recovery, a recycling venture, repeatedly was asked why the option wasn’t available.
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Learning the language
Volunteers at Emmanuel Baptist Church stepped up to fill that gap with free ESL instruction last January, and now they have hopes of expanding the program to better serve the community.
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Tutoring joy
Each Wednesday after school, church members pick up students — there are 23 in this year’s group — and take them to the church building for a snack, some fun and plenty of homework help.
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