It’s harvest season, and WSU Extension is busy providing essential insights and instructions on gardening and food preservation to citizens statewide. It’s a historic tradition and important role, with WSU Extension programs extending back to the days of Victory Gardens during World Wars I and II.
Today, more than 40 volunteers continue that service in eastern Washington; each has completed training to become a certified master food preserver.
Lizann Powers-Hammond, area extension educator at WSU Benton/Franklin County Extension, trains volunteers from Spokane and Benton/Franklin counties. Volunteers must complete 30 or more hours of training and donate 50 hours of their time to helping the community with food preservation, food safety and food storage.
“Its great because each individual also has an inner circle that they are involved with, whether it be a church group or their extended family,” Powers-Hammond said. “So the information gets passed on an informal basis as well, and we are able to reach even more people.”
After completing their training, volunteers answer phone calls about food safety and preservation, host booths at farmers markets and talk to groups throughout the community.
The program’s main focus is food handling to ensure quality and safety.
“People are getting more creative and doing more specialty products,” Powers-Hammond said. “What they don’t realize is that there is a science to canning and food preservation.”
Ted Cress began volunteering last spring after he canned Asian pears and learned through the extension office that the best method had changed over the years.
“Volunteers come because they have an interest,” Powers-Hammond said. “And they also have a spirit for helping others.”
Cress and his wife Peggy have exceeded their 50-hour obligation to the program but are continuing to participate because they enjoy it.
“People call just looking for help not someone to gripe at,” Cress said. “They are all solvable problems, and people just need a little information.”
WSU at Large is an occasional series about WSU programs outside Pullman. If you have a suggestion for a program to be featured, please contact Camille Villanueva at today2@wsu.edu.
