Welcome 2017!

The passing of another year marks the season where we reflect on the past and look towards the endless possibilities of the future…or at least that’s what we, the Salt Lake County Extension staff, are doing! And as far as we are concerned, the future looks bright!

Recap of what happened in 2016-

  • The ‘Grand Opening’ of our Demonstration Teaching Garden at Wheeler Historic Farm
  • The 4th annual Urban & Small Farms Conference was held in West Jordan
  • The 3rd annual Organic Growing Workshop took place at Wheeler Historic Farm
  • Our first ever “Pollinator Week Event” was a success
  • We kicked off our Senior Center Pop-Up Farmer’s Market Program
    • Over 1,100 seniors received fresh produce in Salt Lake County
  • 62 volunteers were honored for completing the Master Gardener program
  • 37 certified Master Gardeners were honored for continuing to serve our community
  • 2,197 public gardening questions were answered at our diagnostic help desk

 activities of 2016

Looking forward to 2017-

We are happy to announce that, in November, the county voted to approve Amendment A (the Zoo, Arts and Parks tax) which included $2.75 million to build a new Outdoor Education Center at Wheeler Historic Farm in Salt Lake County.

The new building will provide a facility for programming ranging from the USU Extension Master Gardener program to existing Wheeler Farm school tours, and also open doors for new program development in the fields of natural resource education, food and nutrition, farm-to-table classes and more! Youth and adults from Salt Lake County will be able to learn about soils, water quality, watersheds, trees and plants, current and historic farming practices and more, right in the middle of the city.

Wheeler Farm infographic

If this inspires you as much as it inspires us and you’d like to be a part of the new Wheeler Farm Outdoor Education Building, please donate! The Wheeler Farm Friends have committed to raising an additional $300,000 in matching funds and are looking for help in reaching that goal!

On a final note, we want to say “Thank You” to everyone who read(s) this blog, attended Extension classes and/or volunteered on behalf of USU Extension in 2016. It was an amazing year and we wish you a very happy 2017. May the future be so bright, that you gotta wear shades!

wear shades

~Auld Lang Syne~