All trainees and returning volunteers are invited!
Spots will fill fast so RSVP today.
6/5 – Plant Problem Scenarios at Linn Demo Garden Albany Fairgrounds (10-11:30 and 12:30-2) RSVP required Practice three plant problem scenarios with the PPS team to hone your plant clinic skills. Great for returning volunteers seeking recertification.
6/12 – Water quality and your Garden + Urban Garden Row tour + Snack Social Oak Creek Center for Urban Horticulture (Corvallis). RSVP required. 10 am: Water quality and your garden: stream tour with Sean Fleming, Master Gardener volunteer and water resources expert. 11 am: urban garden row tour with Kathleen Dennis, formerly of Oregon Garden. Learn about a new volunteer opportunity 11:30 am: informal social at the gazebo, bring a snack to share or your own lunch
NEW: Plant Clinic at State Fair 9/3 – 9/4, Salem OR. Volunteers get free wristbands and parking permits. Sign up HERE.
Shoutouts –
Dual county MGV Trainees – online plant clinic mentor sessions for Linn Plant Clinic. Please RSVP HERE with some dates and times that work for you. You can attend more than one of these dates:
Saturday June 4, 10am-12pm (Elizabeth)
Wednesday June 8, 1pm-3pm (Diane)
Friday June 10, 9am-11am (Elizabeth)
Saturday June 11, 10am-12pm (Elizabeth)
Trainees welcome–Urban Garden Row at OSU: Especially for busy folks or those with limited transportation: Work alongside Kathleen Dennis, formerly of the Oregon Garden, to learn plant identification, gardening techniques, landscape design for urban garden features like containers and trellises. Create Social media and blogs about projects in the Urban Garden to reach local and Statewide audiences, especially gardeners growing in small spaces, containers and community gardens. Based at Oak Creek Center for Urban Horticutlure on campus. To learn more, please contact Elizabeth Records or attend the 6/12 tour.
Kudos – Seed to Supper in the Garden taught by the Community Gardening Education Team – “I am sending so much gratitude for your seed to supper event that I and my daughter and 3 year old granddaughter attended. It was very informative, and we really enjoyed it. Thank-you and everyone for all of their kindness and hard work!” – Laura – participant.
Volunteers needed –
Online Plant Clinic – check for messages on evenings and weekends. Volunteer from anywhere with an internet connection. Enroll HERE.
Office Plant Clinic sign ups open: The office is open to the public, and volunteers can sign up for plant clinic shifts as desired, to answer client questions or practice skills. Pairs of volunteers can currently sign up in the front office again! Sign up HERE. If you’re a trainee, please wait to connect with a mentor, before enrolling.
Farmer’s Market Clinic Table! 2nd Saturday and 4th Wednesday of each month. Certified Master Gardeners are required to give advice but trainees may volunteer as well. If enough people volunteer, we can have two shifts. Please contact Debbie Lauer at 541-929-7544 or DSL2017@peak.org to sign up.
Trainees and other Volunteers Welcome at the Fairgrounds Demonstration Garden. Wednesdays at 9:30 a.m. You can access the garden through the RV park entrance to the Fairgrounds. Sign up is not required and drop-ins are welcome. If you would like more information, please contact Denise Saunders at vdenisesaunders@comcast.net or Dan Dix at ddix@verizon.net
Community news(Please note that anything in this section is not eligible for MGV volunteer service nor endorsed by Extension, but is mentioned as a courtesy to our community.)
Get your tickets now for the 21st Annual Through the Garden Gate tour! Saturday June 18th, 2022, 10:00 to 4:00, Six unique & artful Albany gardens. Tickets on sale June 1 at linnmastergardeners.com
Open House: Oak Creek Center for Urban Horticulture
Jul 26, 2022 11:00 am – 2:00 pm. 844 SW 35th St Corvallis, OR 97333. Save the date for our open house and tour at the Oak Creek Center for Urban Horticulture. Open to the public; families welcome! Meet the bees, see the veggies, smell the flowers, & learn all about OSU’s latest projects. Learn more about OSU Department of Horticulture research projects including urban ecology and pollinator health research, honeybee research and demonstration hives, Oregon Bee Atlas, organic vegetable production, OSU Extension Small Farms Program, dry farming vegetables, OSU Master Gardener Program, and more.
Teresa Matteson, Resource Conservationist, demonstrates a worm bin to Master Gardener trainees at a 2022 garden lab. Thanks to MGV committee members who are teaching some of these garden labs, including the Community Gardening Education Team, Plant Problem Scenarios, Plant Sale Committee, and (from Linn County) Pollinator Project Team. Trainees love the combination of on-their-own schedule coursework and hands-on weekend garden labs.
Correction: Debbie Lauer’s email address had an error in eNews. The correcte email for Debbie is DSL2017@peak.org
Trainees & continuing volunteers – Fun roles & activities in the upcoming S2S in the Garden workshops 🌿April 23, 10-12, May 21, 10-12, July 23, 10-12, Sept 10, Potluck. Please click the following link to get to the “S2S in the Garden 2022 Signups” worksheet in eNews.
Farmer’s Market Clinic Table! It’s nearly time for the outdoor farmer’s market in downtown Corvallis. The first clinic table will be Saturday, April 16. Beginning in May the Master Gardener clinic tables at the Farmer’s Market will be the 2nd Saturday and 4th Wednesday of each month. Certified Master Gardeners are required to give advice but trainees may volunteer as well. If enough people volunteer, we can have two shifts. Please contact Debbie Lauer at 541-929-7544 or DSL2017@peak.org to sign up.
Shoutouts
Office Plant Clinic sign ups open: The office is open to the public, and volunteers can sign up for plant clinic shifts as desired, to answer client questions or practice skills. Pairs of volunteers can currently sign up in the front office again! Sign up HERE. If you’re a trainee, please wait to connect with a mentor, before enrolling.
Next Board Meeting is Monday, April 11, 3:00 – 5:00. See invitation from the board president to join.
April 18th BCMGA membership meeting – at 7 PM, we will be meeting in the Sunset room where we used to meet before Coronavirus changed everything. The speaker will be Kathy Clark and her presentation is entitled Making Smart Plant Choices for Less Work. Many of us have come to the uncomfortable – literally – realization that plant decisions we made in the past resulted in more work than we want to continue to do or can no longer do. Kathy will give us great ideas about how to make changes or, if you’re still a “youngster” , how to do it right the first time. If you won’t be attending in person, a zoom link will be provided in the email version of this newsletter.
Returning volunteers – need a replacement badge? Order them HERE.
LOTS of new volunteer opportunities, see below!
Free Seed Packets. We are fortunate to have several generous local garden supply companies who have donated commercial seed packets to the Master Gardener Program that we’ve primarily used for Seed To Supper. Although the packets expired last year, many still have useful viability. We have a large variety of vegetable as well as perennial and annual flower seeds for MG use! If you have a project that could benefit (community gardens, beautification areas, etc.) please contact Shikha Ghosh Gottfried at shikhagg@gmail.com.
Volunteers needed
The 2022 Plant Sale is on! Click HERE to volunteer for the BCMGA Plant Sale on May 7 at the Benton County Fairgrounds. Volunteers are needed for both May 6 (Set up) and May 7 (Sale day). If you have any questions or prefer to not use Sign-Up Genius, please email Leslie Hauser, this year’s Volunteer Coordinator, at lesliehauser107@gmail.com.
The Grow Team is looking for volunteers to help start seeds at the Philomath High School greenhouses to have plants ready for the annual plant sale on May 7. Please follow the link to Sign Up Genius to volunteer to help with seed starting. https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090C45AAAE2AA57-bcmg1
Mentors needed! We have a full class of people about to start training to become Master Gardeners. Mentors are key to helping these folks become effective problem solvers, as well as part of the Master Gardener community. At this time, mentors and trainees are unable to work together at the help desk in the Extension office but can do so in the conference room. They can also meet virtually from anywhere. Training for mentors is being updated to make these meetings easier, using new resources as well as refinements of the virtual help desk. There is a place for continuing Master Gardeners to serve at all levels, from working at the traditional desk to those totally online, so please volunteer to mentor the next generation and keep Master Gardeners thriving. Contact Alan Taylor, Mentor Committee chair, at tayloala@peak.org or 541-929-4141.
Community news(Please note that anything in this section is not eligible for MGV volunteer service nor endorsed by Extension, but is mentioned as a courtesy to our community.)
Job: The Oregon State University Division of Extension and Engagement invites applications for a full-time Office Specialist 1 for the OSU Extension Service Benton County Office. This position is located in Corvallis, Oregon.This Office Specialist 1 is a member of the OSU Extension Benton County Office support team and contributes to a welcoming and respectful workplace culture. This position provides routine office support tasks for the OSU Extension Benton County Office. The Office Specialist provides educational resources and general assistance to Extension clients and/or refers clients to the appropriate faculty or staff member. The ability to travel is required to perform office-related errands such as picking up or delivering materials to the OSU main campus, supply stores, printing and mailing. https://jobs.oregonstate.edu/postings/116390
Got Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs? Donate them for research! Jana Lee, a research entomologist at OSU, has a postdoc student needing brown marmorated stink bugs for his research, Ryan Paul. We would be willing to stop by local homes to collect any BMSB where people see them, or pick up any container with them. If any BMSB are put into a container, they need air since they will ‘stink’ themselves to death in a closed container. There should also be a wet towel, and some food like carrot stick, bean, apple slice or grape. If you have stink bugs, contact:
