By China Cassidy The University of Arizona Cooperative Extension Office in Holbrook has a lot to offer residents in the region and Administrative Secretary Cathy Bawden, gave some insight into what those programs entail. Bawden said that when providing for a family, paying for college, or just looking to make a financial change, resources and support can seem limited in small rural communities. Whether the goal is to adopt a stricter budget to save for a family vacation, find resources to help jumpstart a business or simply become more self-sufficient, the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension can help. Bawden said that the goal is to help others meet theirs through science and research. “You have an idea; you know what you want to do. How do you do it and how do you get started?” Adamana resident Destiny Baleanu, who with her fiancé and three kids, received some of those answers as they work to convert their residence into a self-sustainable home. Baleanu and her fiancé want to learn how to build their own water structure. “I’ve looked on Pinterest and read some books but my fiancé and I are premature do-it-yourselfers,” said Baleanu. She said that she was excited to hear about UofA’s extension in Holbrook and was not aware she could utilize their services. After being told about Baleanu’s situation, Bawden connected them with someone who specializes in that area and may be able to help. Bawden said that they also assist potential new residents by connecting them to the appropriate contact to survey an area or test the soil on the land they are thinking of buying. “I get two or three of those a week now. People asking, where do I start? What do you offer? How can you help me?” said Bawden. “A woman who comes to the workshops just asked if I knew where she could get her wheat tested. We can help connect you to those resources,” added Bawden. According to Bawden, an advantage to the UofA extension office is that the information being used to provide the help has already had the leg work done. Like the chart she provided from the USDA which shows how a family of four can potentially spend $1,200 a month on groceries alone. The chart provided information on how to decrease that amount by nearly half. Offering tips on things like when the best time is to buy produce according to its availability and price, as well as when it can be bought at its freshest. In addition to the chart, the team at the UofA extension compiled recipes for homemade meals and added price comparisons for already made foods like tortillas, which generally cost more than a five-pound bag of flour that would yield dozens more. Bawden said the process of learning even basic home skills like sewing and canning can be started at the UofA extension. “We can do budgeting in the winter when it’s slow. We can do the cooking and preserving and how to use what we are harvesting out of our garden. We could do it as part of the class but I would say if people want a full-blown canning class, that almost needs to be a standalone kind of thing but if there’s interest, we can definitely set that up,” said Bawden. Every month, the UofA extension hosts a gardening workshop for community members of Holbrook and the surrounding areas. Though the curriculum focuses on gardening where novice and experienced gardeners come together to learn and share ideas relative to gardening in the area, Bawden said that is only a fraction of the services the extension continues to offer. “That’s the nice thing with this workshop format. We can do whatever you guys ask us to do,” said Bawden. With all the resources that can be found at the UofA Cooperative Extension Bawden offered, “Truly my purpose here is that there is so much knowledge out there, no one person can know it all. My job is to have the references to someone who is going to answer your question logically.” The monthly gardening workshop will be held again on the last Tuesday of every month. This month, the extension will focus on soils, fertilizer, amendments and what to plant. This month’s workshop will be held at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, March 31. Anyone seeking more information can contact the extension at (928) 524-6271.
