UGA Extension Office

Our Impact

Making A Difference in Our County

University of Georgia Cooperative Extension is working hard for its constituents. The following are examples of Extension’s impact in the county over the past year.

 

AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES

Pike County Extension provides reliable, research-based education on topics ranging from backyard poultry and home gardening to pasture management and well water health. In 2023, Pike County Extension hosted 75 programs for the Pike County community and assisted 1,838 clients with one-on-one consultations regarding agriculture and natural resources.  

Master Foragers Connect with Nature and Build Community

Through sprawling urbanization and decreased green spaces, many feel disconnected from nature and their source of food. This feeling of disconnect culminated during the COVID-19 pandemic when people connected primarily via social media platforms. Social media movements including wild harvesting and homesteading have taken hold across the state of Georgia, but Georgians did not have a reliable, research-based resource to receive this type of information.

Pike and Spalding County Extension offices partnered with the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources to offer the first UGA Master Forager series. The twelve-month series, consisting of fifty-two hours of instruction, covered topics including wildcrafting, acorn harvesting, plant identification, natural dye, and more while focusing on hands-on learning rooted in facts. Graduates, those who completed all twelve classes, have the opportunity to partake in quarterly foraging continuing education opportunities. The series promotes foraging best practices, environmental stewardship, and community.

 

To date, the program has graduated ten master foragers from across the state of Georgia who remain active with foraging and the UGA Master Forager community. Prior to the program, foragers did not know how to recognize, process, and prepare wild food. One participant conveyed that she will never look at acorns the same way again while another noted that her husband was shocked by the amount of information she is putting to use from the series. Presently, foragers post recipes and photos on a private Facebook group for UGA Master Foragers which reinforces both the learning concepts and community. These individuals are back in the woods, back in nature, and feeling connected to the world around them.

 

4-H YOUTH DEVELOPMENT

Pike County 4-H had approximately 311 youth participate in our 4-H program for the 2023 program year. 5th and 6th-grade youth were seen face-to-face at Pike Elementary School and Pike Middle School. 5th-grade youth lessons focused on Healthy Lifestyles, and the 6th-grade lessons focused on Earth Science. Pike 4-H offered various activities and several after-school events throughout the year. Pike County was represented by 142 competitors at the district, state, and national levels in Project Achievement, SAFE Sports, Poultry Judging, Cotton Boll and Consumer Judging, State Horse Show, and Horse Quiz Bowl.

 

FAMILY AND CONSUMER SCIENCES

Due to the resurgence of consumer interest in locally grown produce at farmers' markets, Family and Consumer Sciences agents have developed a series of “Farm, Fresh and Fast” publications for local farmers markets and U-pick farms. These educational pamphlets, along with many other publications on health and nutrition, are also available at the Extension office. The easy-to-read publications will help residents make wiser food choices and save money because they have information on how to use fresh products when they are in season.

 

Download our 2023 Annual Report