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MID YEAR HOUSEKEEPING
Although the newest Master Gardeners in the Class of 2023 are appropriately asking a number of good questions, July is a perfect time to review a couple of items for all Master Gardeners. If these subheads are not on your radar, feel free to skip this section entirely and go directly to the events in Continuing Education below.
MG Volunteer Hours
If you haven’t already submitted your volunteer hours for activity between January and June, this is the moment to do so. Please complete the Qualtrics Volunteer survey linked here. https://cornell.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_aiagRHzCO3z8smO
Remember you’re responsible for keeping track of your hours which you describe in comments on the survey. We need the total number of hours per this calendar year 2023 as well as your legacy hours since you became a Master Gardener. These figures contribute to the annual award of green, red, blue, white and violet New York State MG pins which will be honored this September.
MG Clothing/Regalia
Once or twice a year, we receive word of Master Gardener clothing items for purchase. The details will be found in the MG newsletter when the clothing is next available.
MG Badges
You may or may not be wearing your red tee shirt, but you should always wear your MG badge when volunteering. A number of you have asked for a replacement. You received your first MG badge as part of the MG Training program. We, too, regret the loss of your MG badge which we have to order ($5 for badge & shipping) from Cornell. Once it arrives, you’re welcome to pick up the badge at the Riverhead office. Please arrange with Sarah Osborn (so348@cornell.edu) to make sure she’s in the building. If you’d rather receive your MG badge from Sarah via US mail, that’s another $5 to cover our costs of the required padded envelope and USPS mailing fee.
Or, if you need your badge immediately, here's our source if you want to order your own badge sent directly to your home.
https://cce.adminders.com/MG---Name-Badges
MG Badge TEXT changes
(Class of 2023: we're addressing your text change requests.) A number of you in other years have asked for text changes on the MG badge. I’ve always preferred the approach of my Master Gardener Director who listed a name and a hometown on the badge. Other directors opted for different wording on the MG badges, including “interim” or “intern.” Obviously, these all need to be switched out once a Master Gardener reaches the first 125 volunteer hours.
At any moment, we typically have about a half dozen new inserts waiting for those MGs who have requested a change for pick up in the office. Sarah is willing to physically push out the ½ inch Avery label in the name slot and insert the new one in your MG badge. Please drop Sarah a note to discuss her availability. If you would rather have the small paper insert mailed to you, please send Sarah a stamped, self addressed envelope at 423 Griffing Ave, Riverhead, NY 11901 with instructions for your preferred MG name and hometown.
An insight.
You can perform this magical name/text change yourself immediately at home in one of two ways. You can slip out the paper and neatly write your name and hometown on the other side. Or you can print a new ½ inch Avery label and slip it in the front!
A friendly reminder.
Sarah Osborn helps the Master Gardener Program in innumerable ways year-round. We're all very grateful for her efforts. Yet Sarah’s primary responsibility at Cornell Extension is the Agriculture Stewardship Program, not Community Horticulture, the umbrella for the Master Gardener Program. The little details which you might imagine require only a few minutes of time and attention should be considered in this wider context. That’s another way of saying we’ll address your MG requests, but this isn’t likely to happen in the turnaround time frame you’d prefer.
APPROVED SITES for SUFFOLK MASTER GARDENERS
The arrival of a new class of Master Gardeners brings the matter of Approved MG Gardening Sites into view. What has been Suffolk MG tradition?
When I completed MG Training nearly twenty years ago, the choices were clear. We could engage in just about any adult or youth outreach via information tables, workshops, or events. We could engage in a variety of continuing education activities. We could assist the MG program by teaching or volunteering at Spring Gardening School or the Plant Sale. If we chose to volunteer as a gardener in a public, demonstration garden, we were encouraged to garden where other Master Gardeners were already gardening.
WHY APPROVED SITES
Why? Basic arithmetic puts the answer in focus. How can MGs maintain “Master Gardener gardens” that were established from the inception of the Master Gardener program in 1977 until 2023? This can be accomplished if, and only if, the newer classes of Master Gardeners jump in and volunteer here.
The Master Gardeners who installed and maintained different gardens in 2003 and 2013 had terrific ideas and enjoyed working together. For all the obvious reasons, a good number of those Master Gardeners are no longer active in 2023. Although we train as many MGs as we can every year, there aren’t enough new Master Gardeners to tend the number of Master Gardener gardens from Huntington to Sayville and Bellport to Mattituck.
When I travel to my office my heart sinks when I drive by three “Master Gardener-designed gardens” that have been neglected. I’m reminded of why Approved Sites linked here are circulated among Master Gardeners.
It’s the very same reason why we’re reluctant to add multiple new gardening sites to the Approved Site list. It’s not that the gardens proposed are unworthy of attention. Quite the contrary. Instead, it’s the honest recognition that the long-term maintenance of the sites probably extends beyond the years of commitment on the part of the MGs proposing the initiative. If Master Gardeners are unable to take care of the Approved Sites we currently have on our list, how wise or sustainable is it to add multiple new sites that will require additional maintenance for the next 10 or more years?
What's a bit different since I've been Master Gardener Co-ordinator?
More school and community gardens have been added to the APPROVED LIST out of concerns about food security that mushroomed around the time of the pandemic with more food gardens than ever in our Suffolk Master Gardener lineup.
Too, the arrival of the pandemic under my watch meant that many MG volunteer sites were restricted or not accessible in 2020 and 2021. In those uncertain times, Master Gardeners had permission to earn hours volunteering at any garden, approved or not approved, given the considerable public health constraints throughout the County.
Action Projects are a relatively recent component of MG Training. The contours of the Action Projects give MGs perspectives about possible community engagement. Of course, this is terrific! Yet if Action Projects are focused on creating, installing and maintaining new demonstration gardens, these new gardens have unintended consequences. They inadvertently shrink the pool of MG hands that could be volunteering at existing gardens.
We now ask prospective Master Gardeners to look at the approved list of MG sites when they are applying to the program. We also ask them to identify places where they could volunteer among those sites. I introduce new classes to larger existing MG gardens in need of additional volunteers during spring cleanup at the Herb Garden, the Children’s Garden and this year, the Medford LIRR Station. I also encourage Action Projects related to leadership and advisory roles, activities such as information outreach, whether through events, libraries, or workshops, better signage at sites or new features such as composting or rain barrel initiatives at existing sites.
The MG Classes of 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 have options for their initial 125 hour commitment.They are welcome to be involved in adult and youth education and assist the Master Gardener program and Cornell Extension in a variety of ways. If they wish to be primarily engaged in gardening per se, half of their 125 volunteer hours should be at an Approved Site. The other 62.5 volunteer gardening hours may be at a public site that's not approved.
SITE APPROVAL
The question, “How can I get my site on the Approved List?” inevitably follows.
The Master Gardener Advisory Committee is the group that makes the decision about the viability/approval of a new site after considerable review. They meet two or three times a year to address Master Gardener matters. Applying for site approval is a process: paperwork and then a committee meeting for discussion and review. Application forms can be found here. Note that the Master Gardener applying, as well as a representative of that site, must submit details about the roles assumed.
Proposed new sites hosts, like the applying Master Gardener, must provide details about the scope of gardening activity. The Master Gardener Advisory Committee then uses a set of criteria to evaluate the new site request. Criteria include how many other Master Gardeners are or will be engaged at this site, how accessible and public is the site, what is the breadth of the activity supported by the site, how sustainable are the details of a 3-5 year commitment to the site.
As noted above, we’re shy about add new gardening sites not because the gardens MGs propose are poorly chosen. Rather, we’re reluctant to add to list when current Master Gardeners tell us about the difficulty in maintaining and sustaining existing sites.
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