Durango Native Leads CSU Western Colorado Extension

Darrin Parmenter is synonymous with growing in Southwest Colorado. After serving La Plata County in the Colorado State University's Extension Office for 17 years, Parmenter is settling into his new role as Western Regional Director. You're watching the Local News Network, brought to you by Serious Texas Bar-B-Q, and Denise Elliot, State Farm Agent. I'm Connor Shreve. As Western Regional Director for CSU Extension, Parmenter oversees the extension's largest region, comprised of 16 counties.

It's everything from a Mesa County, which is Grand Junction, which is now urban, it's like a Durango in La Plata County, which is maybe you call it peri-urban, whatever you want to call it, to Dolores County, which has maybe 1,500 people in it, San Juan County to the north, that has got 700 people in Silverton, and then the really remote counties in the northwest corner, so it's a really cool differentiation between all the counties, the topography, the people, the politics, all that wonderful stuff that makes Colorado pretty unique.

To handle the longer road trips, Parmenter relies on podcasts and playlists created by his kids. Even though the promotion means Parmenter spends more time in an office than in the field, he says the core of his new job still has what initially drew him to extension in the first place.

I'm not a people person, but I love conversation, so for me to go out and travel, it makes that difference of really having those conversations with folks that if water's the big issue or if soil type or if affordability of housing, all those things are stuff that we can dabble in and try to help facilitate.

Parmenter says there is a clear challenge for growers in the western part of Colorado.

The water in the western part of the state that has the majority of the water and the eastern part of the state that has the majority of the people, there's a conflict there on who gets the water, who has first rights to the water, and then where that water goes.

Adding to that challenge is the region's inconsistent precipitation.

So instead of us getting 19 or 20 inches across the year precipitation, we may get 25 inches of precipitation, but it's to the follow of larger events. And with our soil, which is really clay-based, it has a tough time holding that water, so that water's going to move off it. It can be absorbed, whatever it is.

The first half of the 2024 growing season has been a good one, but Parmenter cautions growers to get complacent, warning that could change at any time. Still, gardening is an inherently hopeful endeavor, and with fall shoulder season approaching, he does have some advice for anyone hoping to get a crop in this season.

What I always figure is I grow what my kids like to eat, what we like to eat, and what I know does well. That's it. Those only come with three parameters. If you like to eat watermelon, man, you should try to grow it. If he doesn't work for three years, maybe be like, "All right, I'm not going to grow watermelon."

Even though Parmenter's professional role is expanding beyond La Plata County, he is still co-hosting "The Garden Guys Radio Show" weekends on KSUT. For more information about this and other stories, visit durangolocal.news. Thanks for watching this edition of The Local News Network. I'm Connor Shreve.