DARKE COUNTY – Tina McGillvary is the new family and consumer science educator for Darke County.
Her family is all from Troy in Miami County. She and her husband had moved to and lived in North Carolina for eight years, where McGillvary first learned about extension offices.
“I didn’t grow up in 4-H, I didn’t do any of this, and neither did my children,” McGillvary said. “So I started with 4-H and then worked into Family Consumer Science.”
Her family is what brought her and her husband back to the area. They wanted to spend time with their kids, grandkids, and parents.
“I got fortunate enough to see there was a posting for an FCS educator right here in Darke County, so it was meant to be,” McGillvary said.
Mcgillvary shared that she really enjoys anything related to local foods and hopes to work with local food areas around here and local farmers. Her favorite aspect of the job is teaching food safety, specifically food preservation. She likes working with fermentation, kombucha, jams, jellies, etc. She plans on checking into that in the community.
“I’m looking forward to learning more about Darke County,” McGillvary said. “I’ve already popped around a little bit, and I love the local food scene I’ve found in the restaurants and even the little shops. So I’m looking forward to finding out more about that and really highlighting that. I’m hoping to partner with people across the county for information on healthy food, healthy finances, and just being a healthy person altogether.”
