Ohio

AgrAbility does very important work, and the work impacts farmers in ways that staff know but do not always get to see. Ohio AgrAbility Rural Rehabilitation Supervisor Randy Joseph was privileged to be with an Ohio farmer who was able to travel through muddy spring fields and see his cows in the pasture. He shared the experience with the Ohio AgrAbility team, and it reminded all of them how important everyone's work at AgrAbility is. The work would be very difficult without their colleagues at Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities (OOD - state vocation rehabilitation agency).

"Steve received his Trackchair through OOD. He hasn't been able to visit his cattle in a very long time. The first picture is of Steve quietly sitting, watching his cattle. We stood there in silence for about ten minutes. I realized (once again) what an amazing opportunity it is to assist our farmers and witness the life changing event after the life altering event. I just want to thank our OSU team (and all of AgrAbility) for helping to make these moments possible.... Maybe someday, you will have the opportunity to be there for a "day one" experience."

Ohio AgrAbility staff have co-presented two webinars with the OSU College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). The webinars are part of a five-part webinar series, "Everyone can Garden! Gardening with Physical Limitations". This webinar series not only presents information from Arthritis and Gardening, but it also includes information on planning and planting a garden, how to improve soil, manage pests, when and where to plant a garden, harvest, composting, and canning and preserving your harvest. All of the webinars are co-presented by Ohio AgrAbility Disability Services Coordinator Laura Akgerman and an Extension educator (the director and associate director of OSU Master Gardener volunteers are co-presenting four of the webinars), and Family and Consumer Sciences Educator/Area Leader Kathy Tutt is co-presenting "Canning and Preservation Basics." The webinar series runs through August 31, and all webinars will be recorded and posted on the Ohio AgrAbility and CFAES DEI office websites. The webinars have been a great outreach opportunity for Ohio AgrAbility through a brief introduction to AgrAbility at the beginning of the webinar and by driving traffic to the webinar resources page on the Ohio AgrAbility website.

Submitted by Laura Akgerman