A little bit about my job here. Hocking County is part of the Extension region called the Buckeye Hills. It stretches towards the Ohio River, then down towards Marietta then sort of follows the Hocking River back up here to Logan.
This group of counties has in the middle of it an Ohio State research station called EARS. It was originally established in 1965 with the purchase of 728 acres near Belle Valley, in Noble County. Over the years many more acres were added, the majority being reclaimed strip mining land to have over 2000 acres of land, predominantly pasture. It is used as a research station to study nutrition, forages, animal welfare and safe handling predominantly of Ohio’s beef and sheep industry.
It is basically a huge, magnificent farm.
I go out periodically for meetings, updates, and educational seminars and hope to one day start my own research projects to better serve county residents. I brought you all back some pictures to enjoy.