Financial Security for All (Quay County)

The 42nd Agriculture and Home Economics Seminar was held in May. The focus of this seminar was on water. Leeann DeMouche provided a wonderful workshop on home water conservation and one on the COCORAHS program for collecting and reporting precipitation. We had other workshops on Xerioscaping, irrigation systems, and low water crops. The Extension Office set up a booth on Emergency Preparedness and passed out 48 of the orange backpacks with emergency information in them. Sixty-two people attended the workshop and lunch. The luncheon speaker was on water policy in New Mexico and was provided by the state engineers’ office. Water is an important resource for our area and

Arrange for a program from the Environment Department on Septic Tank Maintenance. Only seven people attended, but they learned how to avoid expensive repairs to their system, by following a maintenance schedule and being careful of what they dispose of.

Approximately seventy-five Extension Association Members attend their club meetings each month. In January at program was provided to the clubs titled “How to Move to Green”. There were many ideas shared with ways to save money and our environment from weatherization tips, recycling ideas, to avoiding fast food. Participants learned what was available for recycling in our area at the time and how to prepare items for recycling.

Hosted our 2nd Pecan Treasures Food Show in 2008. The Agriculture Agent developed a Pecan Grading Show to accompany the Pecan Treasures Food Show. Both were successful. Developed two recipe books to distribute with recipes from the 2007 and 2008 shows. Approximately 50 copies of each were distributed. The 2008 food show had 20 food entries and 2 craft entries.

Developed the Pecan Treasures Food Show which is one step of a plan to increase our county’s economic impact of pecans. Many people have pecan tress, but do not have an easy way to get them shelled and sold, so the Extension Service is working on many ideas around this issue. The first annual food show had 25 entries and over 100 people who voted in the people’s choice in October 2007. Displays were prepared that discussed the Nutrition of the Pecans and how to improve production. Two families have begun packaging and selling their pecans locally.