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Garden Gate:  Anyone Taken Master Gardener Program?  |
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EnchantedWoodsGirl
True Blue Farmgirl
959 Posts
Kathy
New Jersey
USA
959 Posts |
 Posted - Dec 18 2008 : 1:46:41 PM
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I am so happy I was accepted into our State Master Gardener program! It starts in January and has some wonderful things it will be teaching and then I will volunteer hours! This will be a big help to me.
If you have taken the program, please let me know what you learned from it and how involved and fun it was!
Kathy of the Enchanted Wood
Kathy of the Enchanted Wood
Farmgirl Sister #59
http://enchantedwoodmusings.blogspot.com/
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BarnChickCecily
True Blue Farmgirl
673 Posts
Cecily
Corydon
IN
USA
673 Posts |
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EnchantedWoodsGirl
True Blue Farmgirl
959 Posts
Kathy
New Jersey
USA
959 Posts |
Posted - Dec 18 2008 : 10:10:26 PM
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Hi Cecily - Just use a search engine like Google.com and look up Master Gardener program and the name of your county, that should find it for you. If you like send me the name of your town,county and state and I will find it for you.
Kathy of the Enchanted Wood
Kathy of the Enchanted Wood
Farmgirl Sister #59
http://enchantedwoodmusings.blogspot.com/
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La Patite Ferme
True Blue Farmgirl
623 Posts
Jenn
CA
USA
623 Posts |
Posted - Dec 19 2008 : 3:31:18 PM
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I would love to do this, but in our county the classes are during the day. Not worker girl friendly.
Cecily - in our county the program falls under the Farm Advisor/Cooperative Extension Office |
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Contrary Wife
True Blue Farmgirl
2164 Posts
Teresa Sue
Tekoa
WA
USA
2164 Posts |
Posted - Dec 19 2008 : 3:39:41 PM
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I have taken the MG classes, got my certification in 2007. I think the experience depends on where you take it. Some counties are very active with it and in some counties it's more of an after thought. I took a beekeeping class the same time and frankly, I thought the beekeeping class was much more interesting. While there were some really great profs that lectured to us, a lot of the info is just basic gardening knowledge. If you've gardened at all and/or done a lot of gardening reading, it will be stuff you all ready know. My experience was that basically they taught you how to look things up and to make sure you never said ANYTHING the sponsoring land grant university did not agree with. You will, however meet some very interesting people who are very knowlegable through the program.
Teresa Sue
Farmgirl Sister #316
MJ's Heirloom Mavens Badgebadger
MJ's Heirloom Mavens Bookclub Coordinator
"Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly." The Dalai Lama |
Edited by - Contrary Wife on Dec 19 2008 3:40:45 PM |
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EnchantedWoodsGirl
True Blue Farmgirl
959 Posts
Kathy
New Jersey
USA
959 Posts |
Posted - Dec 20 2008 : 06:44:54 AM
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Yes, I know what you mean about the hours - here they are two days a week from 9-12. Lots of topics and great speakers and some active classes in propagation etc. I am looking forward to garnering some knowledge. I know when we are done we volunteer time on the phone lines and that is great. I am also glad that they will make use of my writing skills in our local paper. I do believe here in my county they are pretty active.
Beekeeping sounds so exciting - I wonder if we will learn about that. Did you really handle the bees and get involved with them?
Kathy of the Enchanted Wood
Did you have to pay a materials fee for any of your Master Gardeners classes. I had to pay a $200 fee for materials.
Kathy of the Enchanted Wood
Farmgirl Sister #59
http://enchantedwoodmusings.blogspot.com/
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Contrary Wife
True Blue Farmgirl
2164 Posts
Teresa Sue
Tekoa
WA
USA
2164 Posts |
Posted - Dec 20 2008 : 09:36:19 AM
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The bee keeping was a different class offered through the Washington State University Extension. It was awesome. I don't have my own bees right now as I live like a few feet from chemically fertilized farmground, not to mention the pesticides and other chemicals that abound in this area. Bees are very chemical sensitive. We have 20 acres in Idaho, just 22 miles from where we live now and we hope to be moved there in two years. Then I will have my own bee hives. I'm pretty excited about it.
Our fee for the MG class was only 50 or 60 dollars and after we got our volunteer time done we got our money back. You have to take so many contiuing education classes every year to maintain your certification. Here you get to pick and choose from a curriculm and they are about 5 bucks a class. Really a lot of bang for your buck, as far as educational dollars go.
Teresa Sue
Farmgirl Sister #316
MJ's Heirloom Mavens Badgebadger
MJ's Heirloom Mavens Bookclub Coordinator
"Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly." The Dalai Lama |
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BarnChickCecily
True Blue Farmgirl
673 Posts
Cecily
Corydon
IN
USA
673 Posts |
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Mamarude
True Blue Farmgirl
107 Posts
Anna
Durango
Colorado
USA
107 Posts |
Posted - May 14 2009 : 8:33:20 PM
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I just finished the Colorado Master Gardener program here in La Plata County, it was an amazing class, fun to meet so many gardeners. After the class I started to realize that we barely scratched the surface in those 12 weeks, but I'm definitely more confident. Now to do the 50 hours of volunteer work!
Cherian |
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ddmashayekhi
True Blue Farmgirl
4739 Posts
Dawn
Naperville
Illinois
USA
4739 Posts |
Posted - May 15 2009 : 06:16:36 AM
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Congratulations Cherian! I would love to become a master gardener. I volunteer garden at the Morton Arboretum and last year put in 116 hours, so the volunteer work part would be easy for me. I'll look at the IL program and see when they will be doing it again.
Dawn in IL |
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brightmeadow
True Blue Farmgirl
2045 Posts
Brenda
Lucas
Ohio
USA
2045 Posts |
Posted - May 16 2009 : 09:53:20 AM
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I did my first year volunteering with the Master Gardener program here in Ohio last year, learned a HUGE amount about gardening. The Extension office in my county had the classes during the day, so I was on the waiting list for a night class for several years, then the next county over offered classes at night and weekends. It has been a fantastic experience.
This year we are sponsoring a community garden at the local OSU-owned demonstration farm. We've had over 50 people sign up for plots, the timing of offering the community gardens seemed to coincide with the recession and renewed interest in victory gardens, etc. so there's lots more opportunity for learning and for volunteer hours.
I highly recommend the program. Dawn, one caution, here in Ohio the bulk of your volunteer hours need to be with the Extension office that sponsors you, they accept a percentage of hours with other organizations towards the total, ut most need to be within their own program. This wasn't a problem for me, but it could be if you are committed to the other organization...
You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands - You shall be happy and it shall be well with you. -Psalm 128.2
Visit my blog at http://brightmeadowfarms.blogspot.com ,web site store at http://www.watkinsonline.com/fish or my homepage at http://home.earthlink.net/~brightmeadow |
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Garden Gate: Anyone Taken Master Gardener Program? |
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Anyone Taken Master Gardener Program?
