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In Becker County we now have 19 Master Gardeners. Three new Master Gardener Interns have joined us.
They have completed the core course and will be working on their volunteer and education hours to become Master Gardeners. We warmly welcome them to our group.
We are small in number, but big in energy and community involvement. In 2008 we had 15 active Master Gardeners that donated 842 hours of volunteer time in our county, educating the public about gardening and related issues. The national monitary value of volunteer time given by the Independent Sector for 2008 is $20.25 per hour. This equates to $22,659.75 donated to Becker County. We also participated in 277 hours of continuing education during 2008. The figures for 2007 were 842 hours at $ 19.51 equaling $30,669.72 with 340 additional education hours.
The Becker County Master Gardeners have had a busy 2008. We are a small but energetic group. We have assisted many of you throughout the year by answering your gardening questions, whether you catch us officially at the weekly Plant and Pest Clinics we offer throughout the growing season, or whether you catch us at church, the grocery store or over the back fence. We have participated in many community events and projects such as teaching community education classes, making presentations at garden club meetings, holding hands-on horticulture events, writing gardening columns for the local newspaper, and sponsoring a gardening display at the Becker County Fair.
Our state Master Gardener program encourages us to participate in activities that highlight the following topics: Gardening as it relates to envirnomental issues such as pollution and water runoff, invasive species, diseases and insects; Building community capacity by working with diverse groups of people, providing access to gardening for people of all ages and abilities, and working with other organizations; and Increasing awareness of Extension programs and university research-based information. If you have a project or event in mind and you would like to have Master Gardener involvement, feel free to contact us.