Those of us who are active volunteers for Ellis County Master Gardeners know about our AgriLife Extension and what that is all about. However, some of our readers who are just now reading our newsletter may not be as familiar with that aspect of who we are.
Our Texas Master Gardener Handbook provides a great overview of what our local AgriLife Extension does and how we work together.
According to the 7th edition of our handbook (page 7), “Master Gardener volunteers are essential to more than 110 county Extension offices. Local Extension offices consist of county Extension agents for agriculture and natural resources, family and consumer sciences, 4-H and youth development, community development, and often horticulture, plus support staff and volunteers.”
As Master Gardener volunteers, our mission is to provide research-based horticulture information to the citizens of Ellis County. We take great pride in that mission.
One great resource for providing the community of Ellis County with research-based information is the AgriLife Extension website through Texas A&M University. To illustrate that, I will guide you through how to use that resource.
Click on this link: Ellis County – Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service
Once on the page, you can scroll through any topic you would like to find more information about. Examples are: Indian Trail Master Naturalist, Child Passenger Safety Car Seat Fitting Station, Ellis County Master Gardener Association, to name just a few.
If you scroll down from those listings, you will find AgriLife Learn and can enter topics you’d like to find more information about as well as learn what Texas A&M has to offer on those topics.
Scroll down further and you will find newsletters from the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, Ellis County. In that section you will find The Clover Leaf Newsletter (the publication for 4-H club), Healthy Happenings, and Ellis County Agriculture and Natural Resources publications.
Further down on the page, Upcoming Events are listed, as well as Topics for Ellis County and News from Across the State. As you can see, there is a wealth of information at your fingertips from this one resource.
I hope this “tour” of the AgriLife Extension website has encouraged you to do some research of your own on any topic that interests you. Or, call our Ellis County Master Gardener’s phone number and leave us a message; we will help you find the information you are looking for — after all, that is our mission!
By Beth Norris, ECMG