MOUNT VERNON — OSU Extension in Knox County is all about making connections.
“We make connections with people at all stages of life, from young children to older adults, from families and children to farmers and business owners, community leaders, and elected officials,” Extension Educator Sabrina Schirtzinger said.
Schirtzinger and Andrea Rees, 4-H youth development educator, reviewed Extension’s role and history with the Knox County commissioners on April 1.
Knox County’s agriculture includes 1,303 farms spanning 184,283 acres. The county ranks third statewide in sheep and goat production and ninth in poultry/eggs and hogs.
Schirtzinger meets regularly with county commodity groups such as the pork council, cattleman’s association, and sheep improvement association.
The 4-H club is a large component of OSU Extension. In 2025, 1,147 members, ranging in age from kindergarten through post-high school, joined 4-H.
Of the 1,147, 471 live on a farm.
“We have 141 Clover Buds. That is age 5 and in kindergarten through age 8. Our project members make up the remainder of that 1,147,” Rees said.
“We have 195 adult volunteers overseeing 50 community clubs here in the county.”
OSU Extension conducts soil testing, hay sampling, and feed and plant disease analysis for the community. The office is a resource in landscaping, beehive extraction, and food preservation.
“We get a lot of homeowner concerns. Our office associate has to be able to help people that call in with random questions,” Schirtzinger said. “They might not need us, but it’s where can she send them to get some assistance.”
Rees and Schirtzinger serve on community committees such as the Safe Communities Coalition, Knox County Local Food Council, Knox Substance Abuse Abuse Action Team, Creating Healthy Communities Coalition, and Family and Children First Council.
Funding OSU Extension in Knox County
In addition to Schirtzinger and Rees, the Knox County OSU Extension Office has two other educators, an office assistant, and two program assistants with the SNAP-Ed program.
Extension is in the process of filling one educator position.
The county commissioners funded $241,000 of Extension’s $846,104 2024 cost. Slightly more than $44,000 comes from program fees and donations; the remaining $561,104 comes from federal and state money.
County funds include a $47,500 cost share for each of the three educators and the full share of the office assistant.
The Amos Endowment funds the position of Extension Educator John Barker.
While Schirtzinger focuses on agriculture and natural resources, Barker focuses on agronomy, agriculture technology, and farm management.
“If we didn’t have my position, John’s position would move to another county,” Schirtzinger said.
In addition to Extension staff members, volunteers donated about 15,860 hours in 2024. Schirtzinger said those numbers are underestimated because Extension does not formally track volunteer hours.
Their value, if Extension paid them, totals roughly $531,151.
“We think it’s important to have these volunteers because if we didn’t have the volunteers, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do, so we make sure that we recognize our volunteers,” Schirtzinger said.
Local impact
Extension projects are found throughout the county and affect residents of all ages.
2024 highlights include:
•Ag and natural resources: community education, a citizen science project, workshops, three on-farm research projects (squash vine traps, stink bug traps, and debunking home remedies for weed killers), helped three farmers markets expand and piloted a Holiday Farmers Market
“They promote us, they assist us. They’re our eyes and ears in the community, and they do a lot of volunteer work for us.”
Sabrina Schirtzinger, osu extension educator knox county on the value of volunteers
•4-H: hosted five volunteer training sessions, conducted hands-on STEM activities for after-school programs at four elementary schools from August through May, and hosted Agricultural Awareness Day at the fairgrounds for fourth-graders
•Agronomy, ag technology, farm management: hosted a four-week in-depth series on agronomic production topics, helped with crop scouting, and conducted on-farm research in areas such as fertility, slug study, and documenting and mapping new invasive weeds
•SNAP-Ed: 5,203 participated in direct nutrition education programs, reached 13,062 through indirect programs, held 467 individual nutrition education sessions
“One of our biggest projects this year is working with Habitat for Humanity. We’re teaching the homeowners who are purchasing those homes on Columbus Road and throughout the area about their gardens,” Schirtzinger said.
“We’re designing their gardens for them and helping to implement them and then teaching them how to care for those gardens.”
For the after-school activities, Rees said she bases programming on what students tell her they are interested in.
“I kind of let them guide the year. I don’t necessarily pick what I want to do with them,” Rees said.
Growing needs
Looking ahead, Schirtzinger said Knox County OSU Extension might need a community development educator.
The position would focus on economic development, leadership development, organizational capacity building, and community planning.
“A lot of times community development individuals work with organizations and people in the community on projects that they might need help with,” Schirtzinger explained.
“They would work closely with the health department, or they would work with local food systems to help strengthen those projects that are already going on and give support and help in areas that we can’t.”
She cited her work with farmers markets but said additional work is needed to connect farmers to grocery stores.
“That’s a community development piece that can then be worked on,” Schirtzinger said. “A community development person can go in and do these little parts of an ag job or family and consumer science pieces that we can’t continue with our day-to-day tasks.”
Other areas a community development educator could cover include assisting local producers with advertisement, working with the Teen Advisory Council, and reaching out to organizations such as The Escape Zone or school districts.
The educator could also help build healthy programs such as active transportation and Get Healthy Knox County and provide leadership in CHIP (Community Health Improvement Plan) and CHA (Community Health Assessment) committees.
Schirtzinger said the commissioners would pay the $47,500 cost share for the position, and Ohio State University would fund the rest.
