Murphy – After almost 17 years as the county extension agent for agriculture, Keith Wood is retiring for N.C. Extension’s Cherokee County Center.
“It’s been a good job I’ve enjoyed,” Wood said. “I’ve learned as much as people have learned from me.”
Wood had worked on the family farm in Andrews for years with his brother before starting with the extension office in April 2004. At the time, it was hard to feed three families off the farm, and when the position opened, he figured it would help the family, plus give him a chance to get insurance and retirement. He had a degree in agronomy from N.C. State University, which made him qualified to be an agriculture agent.
The goal was to work for five years but, as he said, that five years took a little longer.
He enjoyed working with people, helping people and sharing what he knew. A majority of his time was spent focusing on horticulture and gardening, with livestock as the next most popular focus.
“We just tried to meet whatever needs people asked for,” Wood said.
He especially enjoyed working with the Master Gardeners program and often called on them for help. He was mainly a row crop farmer, so he learned a lot from the volunteers in the program, especially Martha Penz. He said each volunteer had their own expertise and were a wealth of knowledge.
“I tried to find out what their expertise was and use that,” he said.
Wood thanked the county government and N.C. State for the opportunity to serve the community.
He assured that while he is retiring from the Extension service, he is not retiring. He has a contracting license and a home inspector license, and will likely do home inspections as well as help on the farm, where he and his brother are constructing a storage building.
He also may return to the Extension office as a Master Gardener, something he never accomplished in his years are the office.
“I’ll just have to see how busy I am,” Wood said.
Extension Director Doug Clement will be taking over the agriculture responsibilities at the Cherokee County Center.