By Andy Furman
NKyTribune staff writer
Jeff Hermesch, the Kenton County Cooperative Extension Service Director may work here – but his roots, gulp – are all Indiana.
“I was born in Millhouse, Ind.,” he told the Northern Kentucky Tribune, “attended Purdue University, and currently live in Lawrenceburg.”
And he works in Kenton County – that’s his saving grace.
He was proud that his Millhouse hometown, at one point, boasted the smallest post-office in the country – and yes, it does own a zip code — 47240.
He told the Covington Rotary Club that the Kenton County Cooperative Extension Service is a local community education provider, partnered with the University of Kentucky and Kentucky State University.
“We deliver practical, research-based training, soil testing, and community workshops,” he continued.
The Core Program Areas:
• Agriculture and Horticulture: Offers local farmers and gardeners expert advice, plant and insect identification, disease diagnosis, and soil testing services.
• Family Consumer Sciences (FCS): Focuses on family well-being through education on nutrition, food safety, financial management, and health.
• 4-H Youth Development: Provides hands-on learning, leadership training, and life skills activities for young people.
And the 44-year-old Hermesch is the perfect man for the position.
“I studied Turf Science at Purdue,” he said, “served as an Agriculture and Natural Resources educator, and for 12-plus years was with the Purdue Extension services.”
Kenton County has two locations, he said – the Durr Education Center (450 Kenton Lands Rd., Erlanger) – and Kenton Co. Cooperative Extension Office (10990 Marshall Road, Covington).
“I manage and oversee the budget, our properties, on-site administration and performance evaluation,” said Hermesch, who has been with Kenton County a little over a year.
But when we pulled back the curtain – it was baseball that was Hermesch’s target.
“I wanted to be part of the groundcrew for the Cincinnati Reds,” he admitted, “but when I looked at the long season, and the nights, I moved on.”
He moved to 4-H Youth Development. Building outstanding leaders with marketable skills to succeed. He said 4-H is open to all youth, 5–18-year-olds. And there is no fee to enroll.
“We just finished our work with the Kenton County Fair,” he said. “We also had a 4-H Camp with close to 200 youngsters for the week’s program.”
Hermesch says it was an all-education camp.
“We did zip lining, learned about fire arms and even did sewing.
“A real popular program,” he added, “was incubating chickens in the classroom.”
The Kenton County Extension Office Horticulture program provides educational training and technical assistance to the community, he said.
“Our technical services include soil testing, disease diagnoses, and plant weed, and insect identification.”
Cooperative Extension is the major provider of information for consumers and horticulture businesses.
The Family and Consumer Science offer KCEHA – Kenton County Extension Homemaker Association.
“This is a volunteer organization,” Hermesch said, “that works to improve the quality of life for families and communities through leadership development, volunteer services, and education.”
The group meets monthly and projects include: quilting, baking and cooking.
The Kenton County Family and Consumer Science Extension Agents work closely with members and clubs to provide educational programming and coordinate community activities.
And their biggest event is right around the corner – The Kenton County Extension Fall Kick-Off.
“It’s set for September 10 (Thursday) 4-7 p.m.,” Hermesch told the group. “It’s a hands-on activity. A tour of our new Story Walk.”
It’s a trail in the woods – at the 450 Kenton Lands Rd. location — with 20 posts.
“We take pages from a book and read a story along the trail which is less than a mile,” he said.
Jeff Hrermesch had his own Story Walk — without the pages – with the Covington Rotary Club at their lunch.
For Story Walk Information: 859-356-3155.