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There's some strong economic benefits that are related to what OSU Extension Service District does that makes a difference to all of us. It's a really important broad support of the quality of life in Marion County. Extension has served the people of Oregon for more than 100 years.
Together, we make a difference in the areas of economic growth and community vitality. Here in Marion County, we work in partnership to create positive change for youth, families, business, and industry. Spread the joy of what it's like to live in a farming community. We're teaching people that have never cleaned anything in their life how to can fruit or how to make jam. With the OSU Extension Department, we influence them to do good in school. That way, they're able to compete in high school soccer, they're able to compete in colleges. You know, that's the goal, to get them into college. Very joyful for it, yeah. I feel happy because if I didn't have this opportunity, I wouldn't be here at the moment.
There are so many things that I've learned from doing 4-H. You get to learn a lot about teamwork. She's taught me a lot about persistence and I'm just still being patient. Can you help us do pretty much anything? I think it's really important for kids to be outside. We are an agritourism destination. We try to bridge the urban and rural gap by providing our guests with an educational experience when they visit our farms and then to appreciate, you know, the land that they live on and what comes from it. OSU Extension kind of helps build that up and kind of bring in more customers through that.
It kind of raises awareness about the importance of agritourism and it brings more people onto farms, kind of builds their interest and makes them maybe want to purchase more locally, which does provide more jobs on the local farms. You can learn to grow food yourself, which is important, and kids really, really like that. You show them some seeds, they get a chance to plant some seeds, you put water on it, they love it, they're in awe of that. To have the opportunity to attend workshops by veteran Master Gardeners here in the garden, so we have fruit tree pruning sessions, we have tools sharpening sessions, blueberry pruning, with anything that you could think of, we do have a workshop, hands-on nitty-gritty what's involved with growing that product.
Starting a forest from scratch is not easy, there's a lot of ways that things can go wrong, trees can die, deer can eat them all, learning through the different educational programs has helped me convert an abandoned yurt into very productive horse land. The Oregon State University Extension forestry program for me has greatly enriched my life and enhanced the success of my woodland project.
Good forest practices help safeguard water and the soil, and they help keep the forest growing healthy, less likely to have disease and sex and other problems, and it puts the land to productive use. The uniqueness about Marion County is the diversity of crops that are being grown, it's absolutely incredible, over 200 different crops being grown, and at this day and time, the level of research that's being brought to the farm by the Extension Service and beyond the cutting edge of so that we can be of the highest quality, and then they're also looking at the health of the plants, which in turn leads to the yield, to be able to go into the stores and see the fresh produce that's available and it's truly farm-fresh, it's being grown right down the road, right around the corner. I think that's the blessing of living here in Marion County, it's an asset to our community that is leveraged far beyond the dollars that are in the
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