Lavender Agritourism in Arizona: Bringing New Life To A Pioneer Farm Webinar

University of Arizona Cooperative Extension Gila County presents: Garden and Country Extension Webinar Series. A Zoom webinar (60-minutes or less) featuring a variety of horticultural and natural resource topics relevant to the environmental conditions and residential concerns of Gila County, Arizona.

Featured Topic: Lavender Agritourism in Arizona: Bringing New Life To A Pioneer Farm

Featured Speaker: Terry Gorton (Vesci) is the former Assistant Resources Secretary for the State of California and past USA General Counsel for Wirsol International, a leading worldwide solar developer. Terry has served on the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Sustainability, California State and Regional Community Economic Revitalization Teams, the Tahoe Conservancy and Chair of the California Fire Strategy Commission. Ms. Gorton is a practicing California attorney, and served as Governor Pete Wilson’s legal and campaign counsel and as the first and only woman to Chairman of the California Board of Forestry, the nation’s oldest environmental board. Former board member of LEAN Energy US, she has received numerous awards, including the National Performance Review Award, presented by the Office of the Vice President of the United States, and the US Rural Economic Development Award. She has been featured in Cosmopolitan Magazine, Arizona Highways Magazine, Good Morning Arizona, Travel and Leisure Magazine, San Diego Magazine as a “woman to watch” and the Los Angeles Times and Wall Street Journal.

Webinar Overview: From the early 1880s when Almay Moroni and Rosetta Hunt passed through Pine, Arizona, this area has attracted visitors. Rosetta saw her native Italy in the beautiful mountains and begged Almay to stay. They did, acquiring most all the land nearby, including our farm. They raised a huge family, farmed corn, and cattle and left a wonderful legacy. In 2015, we purchased the farm from the Hunt Family and began the restoration of the old farmhouse as true as we could to John and Annie Belle (including our Lavender Kitchen where we use Annie Belles old kitchen to teach heritage food techniques and food preservation classes along with our culinary Lavender classes). With historic water rights, we asked, “What won’t Elk eat?” we came to the realization that lavender was the answer. We didn’t know much about lavender back then but, now, here we are in love with Lavender or as Olivia calls it, “Lovender” and the Elk pretty much stay away. The lavender grows higher every season and we get to meet you all: our fellow “Lovender” friends enjoying this beautiful mountain valley that Rosetta first called home more than a century ago.

Webinar Facilitator: Chris Jones, Extension Agent, University of Arizona Gila County Cooperative Extension

Zoom Link: https://arizona.zoom.us/j/98681332967 Please log in up to 10 minutes prior to the webinar.