On May 24, I completed the fourth year of my adventure, returning to work for CSU Extension here in San Luis Valley, in charge of rebuilding this Extension program. Let me tell you, the first two years went so slowly, and these last two flew by! Every once in a while, Ruthie and I still look at one another and say, "What in the world were we thinking? (It is always meant more as a statement than a question.)  But at this landmark, it is a good question to revisit. 

Why am I doing this? Why did the amazing people I now find on my team join me in this mission, and why do they work their hearts out for this community? Why have the six boards of SLV County Commissioners, CSU at the state level, and our SLV business community and private citizens all stepped up their moral and financial support to help us to rebuild? Why does Extension even exist – and why should anyone care?! 

CSU Extension believes that every person from every walk of life can experience their healthiest, happiest, most productive life if they continually engage in lifelong learning. At SLV Area Extension, everything we do is designed to foster healthy youth and families, prosperous farms, ranches, and businesses, and strong, resilient, proud communities. We offer a myriad of educational opportunities to SLV citizens where they live, work, and socialize. 

Four years ago, as I sat in the back of multiple county commission meetings, listening and observing, trying to decide if I would take on this challenge, 90% of the discussions I heard were about the many negative issues in our communities, all of which cost us all so much:  the sick, addicted, criminals, jails, drugs. It hit me like a nine-pound hammer. In the community where my children are raising my grandchildren, we were feeding the negative and starving and locking the doors on one of the primary organizations that truly could have a positive impact on our citizens and communities. That was the turning point for me, and I knew I needed to get on the playing field to help rebuild SLV Area Extension to create that positive service and value to our community. 

Here are a few of the things our new Extension team are doing to help strengthen our citizens and community: 

Continuing her collaboration with Steven Hunzeker and SLV Health on related educational programming, Janae Naranjo is now supporting two newly formed efforts hosted by SLV Health, both open to the public. The first is a grief management group, details of which are still being developed, so stand by for more information. The second is a Lunch-and-Learn series which will be held on the first Tuesday of each month, June through September, at the SLV Health Education and Conference Center, 1921 Main Street in Alamosa. The first of these will be at noon on June 3, addressing Advance Directives". A light lunch will be provided, and RSVP is requested. To RSVP or for more information, please call Janae at our office, or Helen Ross at 719-274-6058. 

Janae will also teach a Cottage Foods course open to the public on June 12 and another Serve Safe class open to restaurant and commercial kitchen professionals on June 24. Call Janae at 719-852-7381 for information and to register for any of these events. 

Another recent program series, which was received with great enthusiasm, was a Homesteading Workshop series, which featured many community members sharing skills from beekeeping to soap making and tortilla making to regenerative agriculture practices. Mollie Wells and Carol Gurule, two of our 4-H Youth Development Specialists, and Madeline Wilson, our Ag Production Systems Specialist, combined forces to organize and deliver these programs in Antonito, Alamosa, and San Luis. As a measure of its success, they have already received requests to do a similar program in three more SLV communities this fall. 

Carol and Mollie, along with our third Youth Development Specialist, Cody Groff, and Youth Program Coordinators, Barb Macias, Kallie Shawcroft, and Jesse Entz, are currently teaching a Strengthening Families Communications series which helps parents and youth, and youth and their peers, communicate more clearly and effectively.  

This series has been proven through research as an effective prevention curriculum. This incredibly active youth team is also providing the following youth development events next month:  Archery and Outdoor Adventure Days June 12, for the City of Monte Vista and Kid's Connection, collaborating with CPW and Veterans Groups; Assisting with the SLV Conservation Camps the first and second weeks of June, teaching the segments on Rangeland Management, plant identification, insects, and felting wool; they have just started summer outreach programs for robotics and "Color Our World" which is open to the public at the Antonito and La Jara libraries through the summer; July 18-19 will be a beginners and intermediate livestock judging camp, open to all 4-H members at Ski HI; and in addition, a lamb and goat showmanship clinic series which is open to all project members, exact dates and locations to be announced; and, the youth team will be escorting a contingent of our SLV 4-H members to State 4-H Conference in Ft Collins the third week of June. This includes Mollie and Janae taking their Quiz Bowl and Livestock judging teams, respectively, to compete in this state-wide competition and then attend leadership development workshops. Whew!! 

Madeline Wilson continues to work on her major field research and education projects, such as revegetating our dried-up farm ground and using lower water for alternative crops. She will have two CSU and one ASU summer interns joining her next week to work on these critical projects. In addition, she and community partner Angie Mestas are organizing a two-day, cross-border conference and range school entitled Working the Llano Sin Agua, which will be held in the SPMDTU building in Antonito July 10-11. Throughout the summer, Madeline offers field consultations on Wednesdays to assess forage resources and basic soil health. Contact her by email to set an appointment: Madeline.Wilson@colostate.edu. 

Besides doing my best to keep the road clear in front of this fast-moving team, I am continuing our work with our Coffee Project, promoting stress management and good health among our farmers and ranchers. Last week, as a part of this program, we had a dozen farmers and ranchers participate in our Antonito Ag Social. I am also responding to ag business and natural resource management questions as the production season hits full tilt. 

Our Master Gardener team will be meeting next week to organize and plan their nearly 300 hours of community volunteer projects for the summer, including Ask a Master Gardener Wednesdays, during which time they will gather in our office to take and find answers to your plant and gardening questions. 

Finally, for all you generous givers out there, please remember our cause the next time you can donate. Mollie's position is 100% community-funded through gifts, and we continue to build an endowment fund so that we can make it permanent. 

I invite you to join us in any of our many programs and become a part of the positive CSU Extension experience! To learn more about any of these events and opportunities, call Jennifer Vandiver or Sara Seger at our office at 719-852-7381. They are the wranglers who keep all this going for us.