There is new Consumer Horticulture Agent who has joined the ranks of the Bladen County Cooperative Extension. Nancy Olsen recently began her duties at the Powell-Melvin Agriculture Center located on Smith Circle after teaching horticulture for ten years at Sampson Community College.
Prior to her teaching career, Olsen said she worked at the Cumberland County Cooperative Extension office.
When asked how she became interested in horticulture as a career, she laughed easily and said, “I grew up with Extension. I am originally from Kansas and participated in 4-H.”
Olsen said that her father had trial plots and the local Extension agent was a family friend. she said everyone in the family was involved in Extension and took courses offered by their local Extension office in Kansas.
She earned her Bachelor of Science degree and her Masters degree from Kansas State University. Olsen said she relocated to North Carolina after completing her Master’s degree.
Olsen said when she was child she would pull a wagon through her small town filled with vegetables and sell them to the local residents.
“It took me until I was more than grown to find out what I wanted to do,” said Olsen of her career.
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