Top 10 Reasons to LOVE the Utah State Extension Service…

I wanted to share with you why I (and really why YOU) should love the Utah State Extension service (or at least look for a local extension service in your state) and USE it.

MY TOP 10 REASONS TO LOVE THE UTAH STATE EXTENSION SERVICE:

1.  They are experts in their field.  It is run by REAL food scientists, horticulturists, home economists, and people who really KNOW what they are talking about. Everything is based in science and has been tested, so you can trust that what they are saying is the safest, best way to do something. Whether it be how to prune a bush, can your vegetables, or store food in mylar bags.
2. They are nice and HELPFUL! I’ve talked to my fair share of people who sounds less than excited that you interrupted what they were doing, however, I’ve never EVER had this happen with anyone at the extension service.  They are always EAGER to help.
3. They have offices all over Utah where you can take classes (my favorite being the cooking classes) for free or a nominal charge (only to cover supplies), bring in fresh weeds to have them identified, get your soil tested to see what other fertilizers you may need for a successful garden. (They even have a class to teach you how to prune fruit trees-where you go to someone’s house and actually prune trees to learn!) Basically, think of them as your 411 on ANY question you may have concerning food or gardening.
4. Speaking of thinking of them as your 411, you can also simply call them with a question and they will patch you through to a food scientist who can give you a factual answer.
5. They will save you a BUNCH of money-let me explain…Last weekend my husband and I went on a fun date to Wal-Mart (c’mon…I know there are others out there that do this to) to pick out plants for our yard. I was so excited that they had Azaleas and Blueberry plants, and others-who knew these grew in Utah, but they must, right? to be sold at Wal-Mart? WRONG! I went home and was researching how to take care of these plants and found that they hardly ever survive in Utah and if they do it is because you have to BABY them, put in new soil, and the works. Definitely out of my time range. Thankfully, we hadn’t planted anything and I was able to return $75 worth of plants that would have died over the year wasting all my money. Instead, I was able to find a great list of perennial (I hate buying new plants each year), easy to grow, low maintenance plants perfectly suited for Utah that we will be adding to our yard.
6. They cover topics like: 4H & Youth, Agriculture, Diversity & Civil Rights, Emergency Preparedness, Energy, Finance & Economics, Food & Nutrition, Horticulture, Natural Resources, Yard & Garden, and MORE! It’s a complete smorgasbord of information!
7. They will give unbiased, TRUE, and FREE information.  They are not sponsored by a company or anything other than a non-profit university-so you can trust they are giving you the real answer.
8. They have a lot of great FREE publications.  This was another item I returned at Wal-Mart, turns out not EVERY species of strawberries does well here.  I was able to see the best kind to grow here, the best way to plant, grow, and take care of the plants to get the most bang for my buck.  (If you too, are interested in this publication on strawberry growing, you can click HERE to download)
9. I figured out what that pesky weed is growing in my lawn. So over the past couple of years, we’ve been inundated with this bushy, mole of a grass looking weed in our yard.  We had always assumed it was crabgrass and we were buying every lawn fertilizer we could find that was a “crabgrass killer.”  Only, to keep having more and more of these dumb weeds popping up.  We just thought the lawn fertilizers weren’t working…until I was doing research on the USU Extension service website and found out that the weed isn’t crabgrass at all.  No wonder those fertilizers weren’t working!  It’s actually called Tall Fescue and is a common weed here in Utah.  Now, I know how to properly take care of the problem and get it under control.  They, do also offer the service that you can pick a weed and bring it freshly picked to one of their offices and they will help you identify it….AWESOME!
10. My personal favorite is that they can get answers from the food scientists who actually develop food storage. Who better to have an answer from? I had a question about powdered milk from a reader and was able to get an answer straight from a professor who studies powdered milk, they also work with the PhD that developed the dehydrated refried beans. These people are LEGIT!

I honestly can not tell you how much I’ve learned from the Utah Extension Service and other Extension services around the U.S. They are a HUGE wealth of knowledge and entirely under used. If you don’t live in Utah, you can still contact the Utah State Extension Service with questions and use their website as a resource, but you may want to see if there is an extension office near you for more local specific information. They are usually associated with a university so you may want to contact your local university to see if they have a public extension service.  To make taking advantage of their resources easier, I’ve included a list of helpful links below to get you started.  So, check it out and become knowledgeable for FREE!

• To visit the Utah State Extension Service Website, click HERE
• To see a list of the Utah State Extension Service Offices, click HERE
• To read their Frequently Asked Questions, click HERE
• To see a list of Utah State Extension Service Events near you, click HERE
• To look a list of FREE downloadable publications, click HERE

© 2010 – 2011, Crystal. All rights reserved.