Fleenor named UW Extension Educator

Sara Fleenor may be new to the position of Ag and Natural Resources Extension Educator, but she's no stranger to the philosophy behind the role.

For the past 12 years, she has served as 4-H Educator for Crook County. She will now add adults to her roster – and she couldn't be more excited to explore the possibilities.

Over her time as the 4-H educator, she introduced numerous opportunities for kids to learn about rural life.

These ranged from the hoop house and geodome on the fairgrounds; to the 307 Clinic for showmanship skills; to the facility at the fairgrounds for town kids to raise animals for fair if they don't have the room to do so at home; to the "know where your food comes from" program for elementary students.

"I come up with an idea and I make sure that it gets done – I don't let it just be an idea," she says. "If it's something I can get excited about, I do it."

Fleenor's passion for agriculture is something she's eager to find new ways to share. You don't get to be raised in Crook County without agriculture getting into your blood, she says.

"I like the word 'ag-vocate', because if we're not advocating for ag, then we get so much misinformation out there that it is damaging to agriculture. I guess that's my baseline of why it's important to me and why I work with the kids and work with adults to advocate for ag always," she says.

The role of Extension Educator has traditionally been perceived as one that focuses almost exclusively on producers, but Fleenor points out that there's as much to teach and learn about the western way of life as there is about ranching.

This might be a rural county, she says, but not everybody lives on a ranch.

This is especially important with the changing demographics of this area, she says. Her hope is to embrace the change by helping newcomers understand the land and the best ways to work with it.

"There's value on both sides of it," she says. "Our population in Crook County is changing significantly and we have to work with our people who are here. Some of them are going to have different needs than our traditional ranchers."

Fleenor intends to continue providing the answers for agriculturists, just as has always been done.

"Since way back when, the Extension Office had the answers to stuff," she says.

"I still want to be that person – I can still tell you what your lease rate should be and what your cow/calf ratio should be on your land – but I also want to teach you to grow a tree."

The information opportunities that the county has always relied on will still be readily available, Fleenor says, such as pesticide training, weed and bug identification and soil texture.

"All of the stuff that is traditional Extension work," she says.

At the same time, Fleenor aims to shine a light on what she describes as "ag education for people who are not traditional agriculturists."

For example, on a recent trip to a stock show in Houston, Fleenor noticed posters that provided basic information about cattle. She would like to create a similar service for the county fair.

"When people come to our fair and they're walking through and they don't know about cows and sheep and pigs, we can say, hey, here are some fun facts about agriculture," she says.

By providing information on everything from gestation periods to breed types to what kind of products the animal is used for, Fleenor aims to lay out the welcome mat for those who have not grown up in an agricultural setting.

Not only could it be of benefit to someone who is interested in Crook County's heritage but has yet to immerse themselves, she explains, it also supports the county's producers through education for the less familiar on what our agricultural community does and why they do it.

"It's our own propaganda, in a way," she grins.

Sharing the western way of life is something Fleenor has always been passionate about. As 4-H educator, she says, she would hear people say that they couldn't participate because they don't keep animals or don't want to take part in the agricultural side.

"But we've got so many other traditional Wyoming things," she says.

At college, Fleenor was surprised that not everyone was able to quickly sew a hem on a pair of pants that was too long or mend a hole in a jacket. There are plenty of skills Wyomingites take for granted, such as canning vegetables and growing a garden, she says, that are not as common in modern times or in other parts of the world.

Fleenor, whose maiden name is Heinert, grew up on a ranch near Hulett before heading out to attend LCCC and earn her degree in ag communications from the University of Wyoming. She got the well-rounded education of a ranch kid, she said, learning to work animals with her grandfather and maintain the household with her grandmother.

"I think that's why it's so important for me to keep pushing that onto the kids that are coming up. It never hurts to know how to bake and cook and sew and give shots to your animals and doctor them and not make excuses for why you can't do some of this stuff," she says.

Fleenor would like to help keep that sense of self-reliance alive, and hopes to introduce workshops and classes accordingly.

"Here's how you sew a bag, here's how you bake bread, here's how you make jelly. Homesteading is a big movement right now, and that's kind of what we've been doing for generations," she lists.

"Instead of doing it for 4-H kids, I'll be moving into doing adult education on the same information."

Meanwhile, there are more modern skills that current agriculturists might be interested to learn. For instance, Fleenor hopes to bring an expert in agricultural marketing in to give classes on website creation for producers.

One of the first new items on Fleenor's list is a partnership with Crook County Natural Resources District on May 8 for a workshop teaching the basics of container gardens.

The course will include utilizing small systems, planting raised beds, urban gardening and more.

"We're going to also do kind of a research project on growing trees," she says. "It's so hard to grow trees here, so we're going to do different types of tree and different irrigation systems or no irrigation system."

This will all take place at the learning lab on the county fairgrounds and the hope, Fleenor says, is to find out, "How we can best grow trees in our environment with limited resources such as water."

"We started this while I was still 4-H educator, because it's still an important thing. Whether it was my job or not, it's still important for our county to have some of these resources," she says.

"Now I'm just switched into a different job where I'm not working as much with kids but it's still all important."

Fleenor will still get to work with kids for part of the time, and will still be involved with 4-H for at least the time being.

"Until they have a 4-H person hired, I'm still going to be working that program so that nothing falls through the cracks, because that's an important program and we're not going to let it fail," she says.

Though still learning the job and aware there is plenty for her to brush up on, Fleenor is eager to get underway. She would love to hear from members of the community with suggestions or requests for the Extension Office.

"I really want people to come in and visit with me, tell me what needs there are in the county," she smiles.