Linn County Master Gardeners Honored

Clockwise from the top left: Rene Miller, Brenda Winslow, Bobbye Rainey and Nancy Ragghianti. Congratulations!

This award is presented to an OSU Master Gardener™ from each County by the Oregon Master Gardener™ Association (OMGA) working cooperatively with Oregon State University. This annual award recognizes outstanding dedication and service of an OSU Master Gardener at the county level.

Master Gardener of the Year

Brenda Winslow has been a Linn County Master Gardener since 2010. Over these years she has diligently staffed and answered hundreds of plant clinic questions at the Sweet Home Farmer’s Market. Within the very large Linn County, Brenda’s presence on the eastern side of the county has made a huge difference in keeping more Master Gardeners involved. Brenda has used her gardening knowledge to teach classes in Albany, Lebanon and Sweet Home. She started and fundraised for the high school and junior high school gardens and taught classes at the Boys and Girls Club. She has helped at the Demo Garden, ran clinic tables at the Harvest Festivals, worked container planting sessions and been a resource for the Sweet Home Beautification team and the Garden club. The BEEvent Pollinator Conference and the Albany Garden Tours fundraiser are other projects she has volunteered at. Brenda has been on the Linn Master Gardener Association Board for 5 years, and is currently 2nd Vice President. She is in charge of keeping membership lists up to date and helped produce our membership directory. Her knowledge and experiences are shared with enthusiasm in a way that encourages others. Thank you, Brenda!

Behind the Scenes Master Gardener Volunteer of the Year Awardees

Behind the Scenes Master Gardener Volunteer of the Year Awardees This award is presented to an OSU Master Gardener™ from each County by the Oregon Master Gardener™ Association (OMGA) working cooperatively with Oregon State University. This annual award recognizes an OSU Master Gardener™ who works quietly and unselfishly behind the scenes to further the OSU Master Gardener Program on a county level. This is not a person who is out in front working on projects, so that everyone knows their contributions. Rather, it is a person whom few may actually know the level of their contributions.

Rene Miller became a Linn County Master Gardener in 2018.  Over the past three years she has become a major team worker on the Pollinator Project.  She has helped with many cocoon harvesting classes and has lead sales of bee supplies.  She harvested and cleaned a lot of mason bee cocoons that are sold by Linn Master Gardeners to help fund the association. Recently Rene helped harvest and process teasel for a mason bee research project.  Besides the Pollinator Project she has also become a major team worker at the Willamette Community Garden.  Work there isn’t just gardening, but also helping non-master gardener community members learn more about best practices for vegetable gardening.  Rene is a volunteer garden educator at Waverly Preschool. She has answered questions at the Albany Farmer’s Market table and has been a volunteer on a Garden Tour.  Rene’s cheerful demeanor and having a collaborative attitude make it fun to work with Rene.  Thank you, Rene!

Nancy Ragghianti has been a Linn County Master Gardener since 2018. Nancy is currently a Member-at-Large on the Linn MG Board. She has worked at the Linn Demo Garden and at other events, but the thing that makes her special is her skills with website design and maintenance. www. LinnMasterGardeners.com was set up about 4 years ago. Nancy has done many updates and changes to make this an informative site for the public as well as for our association members. With COVID there were new challenges. The Linn MGA’s BEEvent Pollinator Conference went virtual. Nancy set up the on-line registration and the evaluation process for the conference. With the virtual conference, she set up a new on-line order and pick up process for mason bee supplies. She also publishes the Linn County MGs “Bee Notes” e-newsletter on the website. “Bee Notes” currently has very close to 800 subscribers. The association members and Linn Extension staff appreciate the ardent work she has done to make the website informative, useful and educational. Thank you, Nancy!

Bobbye Rainey became a Linn County Master Gardener in 2020. Before Bobbye went through Master Gardener training (pre-COVID) she volunteered at the Linn Demo Garden and continues to work there twice a week. She has enthusiastically worked on many projects and does whatever is needed whether it is weeding, planting, harvesting or some odd job. This year Bobbye has joined the Linn MG Board as a Memberat-Large. Twice a week she and another new Master Gardener have staffed the Linn County MG plant clinic help. She diligently answers on-line gardening questions from the public. Committing time 4 days a week, she has had a major impact. Additionally, Bobbye set up and staffed seven parking lot pickup sites in Linn, Benton, Marion and Lane County for people to pick up pre-ordered bee supplies. Part of this delivery process was gathering and bagging supplies, calling those who missed the pick-up and finding alternate delivery options. Bobbye’s friendly demeanor along with her professional collaborative style are an asset to our association. Thank you, Bobbye!

Starting from scratch and constantly learning

Master gardener trainee Allison Socha joined the Master Gardener Program of Linn & Benton County in 2020. Allison and her classmates adapted to the many challenges of 2020 by finding new ways to connect with gardeners and build community online.

Photo courtesy of Allison Socha

Tell us about your hometown.

I grew up in the Bay Area in Union City, CA. As a child in the 80’s and 90’s Union City was known as the Gladiolus capital of the world. However, like many places in the Bay Area, vast swatches of farmland were soon replaced with houses, houses, and more houses. As I became an adult, I realized that life in the crowded suburbs was not for me, and was especially not somewhere I wanted to raise my children. About two years ago, my husband and I got the idea to “move to the woods” and in June 2019 we were able to make that dream come true when we bought our house in Philomath. My hope is that this house in the woods will provide the perfect green backdrop for my 4-year-old daughter’s imaginative play for years to come. 

What’s a favorite garden memory? 

When my daughter was about a year old we started our first vegetable garden in our Bay Area home. We lived in a very hot part of the Bay Area that tomatoes loved. That first summer our cherry tomato plants exploded with fruit in the middle of the summer. I gave my daughter one of the sungolds with no expectation that she would like it, being that she was only a year old. To my surprise she absolutely adored it. She begged for more and more, and almost every tomato on the plant ended up in her stomach. She still loves tomatoes to this day, we can’t keep them in our house long. I will always grow tomatoes just to watch her enjoy them so much. Over the years, her love of veggies has grown, and she will scarf down peas and zucchini too. But nothing compares to her first love of tomatoes. 

Tell us about your current garden.

We moved to our two acre lot in Philomath just over a year ago. Most of our land is Douglas Firs on a steep hillside, but we have one flat spot perfect for a vegetable garden, although it doesn’t get quite as much sun as I would hope for. In January of this year we were able to get the spot cleared and built some raised beds surrounded by a 7 foot deer fence (because country deer jump higher than city deer). After the pandemic hit, I was so happy to have a space to grow our own little “victory garden”. I definitely still have a lot to learn about gardening in this Pacific Northwest. But I am happy with what we were able to produce this year. We had success with peas, strawberries, blueberries, tomatoes, and broccoli. 

Orange California poppies in a beautifully overgrown garden.
Eschscholzia californica, or California poppy. Photo by Madeleine Maguire on Unsplash

Describe a plant that reminds you of home.

Growing up in the Bay Area we spent many days hiking in the hills. My parents both love

California native plants and taught me to identify them as we meandered the trails. Of course, one of my favorite seasons was in Spring when the California Poppies would turn the hills a brilliant orange. When I was a little older, my parents ripped out their front lawn and filled in the space with native plants. It wasn’t long before the poppies took over, and every late March and early April their garden would explode with poppies. I saw a singular California Poppy come up in my garden here in Philomath this Summer, and it immediately transported me back to my parents’ garden, hiking the hills, and home.  

Why did you become a Master Gardener volunteer?

I decided to become a Master Gardener because I was new to Oregon and the Corvallis area and I wanted to expand my personal community while also learning about gardening techniques in the Pacific Northwest. When my family and I moved to Oregon we didn’t have any connections in this area, so we were basically starting from scratch. I thought that the Master Gardener program would be the best way for me to dive deeper into one of my interests while at the same time meeting new people who had similar interests as me. As I learned more about the program, I also realized how fulfilling it would be to already build a foundation of giving back to the community so soon after moving to a new place. I hope to be an example to my daughter in the importance of volunteering. 

What’s one thing people might be surprised to know about you and/or your garden?

People might be surprised to learn that I had very limited gardening experience and knowledge before I joined the Master Gardener program. You don’t actually need to have a lot of knowledge to start out with, just an interest and drive to learn more and give back to your community. I have learned so much this last year through my classes and hands-on activities but I know I have so much more to learn. Some of the most inspirational Master Gardeners I have met so far make it clear that they too are constantly learning and don’t have all the answers. One thing that surprised me the most about this program was that it is more important to know how to find the answers to gardening questions than to know the answers off the top of your head. 

Learn more about citizen science in the garden and how garden researchers work in this post.

Get The Valley Gardener Newsletter to stay connected with our upcoming learning opportunities for gardeners.

Sharing a love of gardening with children

Michele Ecker became an OSU Extension Master Gardener in Linn County in 2014. She is active in supporting the Linn County Master Gardener Association’s Albany Garden Tour. Michele is always willing to lend a hand especially with children’s gardening activities. Michele shared her story in Fall 2019.

Tell us about your hometown.

My roots are in the Midwest. My family moved to Oregon from Wisconsin when I was a teenager, but I’ve lived in the Willamette Valley since I went to the University of Oregon in the early 80’s. We moved to Albany in 1984 from Klamath Falls when my husband, Lane, got a job with the Oregon Dept. of Transportation. Our daughters attended St. Mary’s School, Calapooia Middle School and South Albany High School. I think Albany is a great place to raise a family and there are certainly a lot of good things to appreciate and enjoy here. One daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren currently live in Albany. I LOVE the long growing season in the Willamette Valley! I have a gardening friend in Wisconsin who is always envious when I send pictures from our early Spring garden.

What does being a Master Gardener volunteer mean to you?

I’ve always thought that it’s important to give some of my time for volunteering in order to connect with our community and help others. As a Master Gardener I can share my time and knowledge about gardening to encourage others and help them increase their gardening skills and knowledge. I enjoy problem solving too, so finding research-based answers for people who have gardening problems is fun for me, although I have to admit that sometimes I get frustrated on the occasions when it’s difficult to solve a problem with a definitive answer. My favorite activity is to combine children and gardening.  I’ve enjoyed being involved with a school garden and the Power of Produce (PoP) program offered at the summer Farmer’s Market. 

What’s a favorite garden memory? 

I have had many wonderful garden experiences! One favorite includes being in the garden on an early summer morning and just absorbing the smell, sight and quiet stillness. A fresh picked, warm and ripe tomato, eaten straight from the vine is my favorite taste sensation! In the fall I love to go to the apple orchard, taste the different varieties of fruit and fill boxes to take home for making applesauce or cider with our family.

Tell us about your current garden.

We live on a plot just under one acre with lots of mature fir and oak trees, so our yard is mostly shady. Deer and other “critters” frequently visit our yard too, so there are some challenges to address. The sun is best in the front, so I grow food, flowers and herbs in an area with southern exposure. I am fortunate to have a very handy husband who constructed raised beds and plumbed water for me. In a larger area on the other side of the yard, I grow mostly flowers with some food mixed in. I have a large pot with only edibles, so the grandchildren can taste flowers and herbs, which they enjoy. Tomatoes, cucumbers (grown vertically to save space) basil and zucchini are staples in my garden. I also like to grow beets, peas, broccolini, herbs for cooking, arugula, fennel, hops and pumpkins. A bay tree has grown happily in a pot for several years. A funny “fail” I had in the garden was growing carrots. On the third try, the carrot tops had grown about an inch high and I was very excited that I was finally getting carrots to grow. I was in the garden with my grandchildren, ages 4 and 7, helping my grandson plant seeds when my granddaughter called, “Look, grandma, I pulled out the weeds!” She had pulled out the entire row of carrot greens! I enjoy growing a variety of perennial and annual flowers including foxglove, roses, dahlias, black-eyed susans, Japanese anemone, iris, clematis, nasturtium, nigella, poppies, and more. Sharing bouquets of flowers with friends and family gives me great joy. 

Describe a plant that reminds you of home.

While I was growing up my family moved a few times but mom always planted rhubarb wherever we lived. My siblings and I used to love pulling out a stalk of rhubarb, dipping it in sugar and eating it. I have rhubarb in my garden today and love to use it in different ways. A family favorite is a rhubarb bread recipe from my grandma that was printed in a “heart healthy” cookbook.

What’s one thing people might be surprised to know about you and/or your garden?

Dividing dahlia tubers is a great challenge for me, even though I’ve grown them for years and I try each year, I still have to consult with my brother-in-law who is an expert at growing dahlias.  

How did you begin gardening?

My gardening journey began when I was in elementary school and my family lived in rural Wisconsin on three acres. Dad decided we should have a large garden and each of us five children got to choose what we wanted to plant. I planted gourds and at the end of the season I sold them to the local grocery store and made some money. After my family moved, I don’t remember having a garden again. Eventually my family landed in Bend, Oregon, where we still grew rhubarb, but no other garden to speak of.

It was after I was married and we lived in a nondescript rental home when I wanted to plant some flowers in our yard. My husband’s grandmother bought me some stock and pansies and I wondered why they didn’t grow very well in the hard, cracked, clay soil. By this time I had three young daughters to “grow”, so I didn’t really have time for watering.

Why did you become a Master Gardener volunteer?

When our daughters were older, we planted flowers together at our own house. My youngest daughter, Alison, could walk down the fence, point to the variety of flowers and name them all at a very young age. Soon after, we removed a row of photinia and my husband made me some raised planting beds. We tried growing some vegetables and fruits, with varying degrees of success. I saw an article in the Albany Democrat-Herald about the Master Gardening class and thought it looked interesting. However, at the time, I was teaching full time and couldn’t take the classes. When I retired from teaching, the Master Gardener training was on my list of things to do. I asked a friend to join me, she said yes, and we took the training in 2014.

You can help grow knowledge, gardens and communities. Applications for the 2020 Volunteer Program are open until December 3rd.  Learn more and join us.

Putting down roots in the Brownsville community

Melissa Selby joined the OSU Extension Master Gardeners of Linn County in 2016. She lives in rural Linn County and is settling in as a small farmer, gardener, and part-time daylily hybridizer. Melissa shares tips for success with houseplants and sweet stories of growing up in a ‘gardening wonderland’. She shared her story in Fall 2019.

What is your hometown?

My hometown is Brownsville, Oregon.  My family and I have just purchased our own little farm in between Brownsville and Sweet Home and today was our last day of moving out of our rental, which was in town.  It has been a crazy few months and most of my personal effects are plants!  Although I am not originally from Brownsville, it is certainly where my heart is and am content in forgetting that I have ever lived anywhere else!

Describe your early gardening experiences.

My mom always maintained a large vegetable garden when I was young.  We spent weekends and after school hours there, watering and eating.  We would just take a knife, potato peeler and the salt and pepper out with us and eat and work.  The chickens would be let out to scratch around too.  My brother and I would entertain ourselves climbing a giant Oleander at the front of the garden which was also right by the street so we could quietly spy any unsuspecting neighbors who may be walking by.  We were also in 4-H and had a large barn of rabbits next to the garden, providing much mulch we had to shovel! One of our favorite things to do in the afternoons when we went to tend the rabbits was eat the pulp out of the cherry tomatoes and throw the skins at each other, boy would my mom be upset when we came in with all of those stains on our school clothes!  My mom was also no stranger to landscaping our yard, providing me with a wonderland to play in with My Little Ponies and my imaginary friend (who treated me nicer than my big brother!).  I owe my early love of gardens to my mom and all her hard work, now we share many fun conversations but these days I usually know what plant she’s talking about!  

What is your current garden like?

At our home that we sold when we moved to Brownsville I had been gardening for five years.  When we moved I spent months beforehand potting up precious things I wanted to take with me.  It took a whole vehicle and trailer combo to bring my loot (not including houseplants).  A large amount of it stayed in the pots where I have struggled to keep it alive through three summers.  More tender things were planted at the rental and I took splits from them to bring to my new place.  I have beautified many a rental house in my life using this method!  Even though it was hard work, it makes me happy to know that I have spread many flower friends around Earth this way.  I can’t wait to get started on my (hopefully) last garden and get these friends into the ground.  

I would consider my 60+ houseplants as part of my current garden.  Those I usually struggle to keep happy all winter until I take them outside for the summer, where they flourish.  Right when they are at their finest, I have to drag them in (hopefully) before a frost and then they slowly decline until I can get them outside again.  I used to find myself saying that I wasn’t good with houseplants, until a few years ago I realized that I have a few that are roughly 25 years old, so I guess I’m not that bad.   

Describe one plant that you grow which reminds you of home .

In my garden wonderland of a childhood front yard there was a silk tree (Albizia julibrissin).  When I was very young, it lived in a location where my mom did not want it.  She attempted to dig it out but when the shovel proved unsuccessful, my dad hooked up the truck and chain and dragged it out to the burn pile.  A few months later, there was the stump, sprouting in the burn pile.  My gardening mom, who (like most of us gardeners) has a soft spot for all things growing, decided that if it wanted to live so bad, she would put it in the front yard.  It was small while I was small, I even broke a branch trying to climb it too soon and was too afraid to tell my mom, but that die-hard healed up and lived there until I was in my 20’s.  It was massive, so massive in fact that it overshadowed much of the street and the solar panels on the opposite side of the roof.  That’s when my dad, who is more of a ‘cement it and paint it green’ kinda gardener, chopped it down for good.  Nevertheless, a few years ago, I was at my dad’s and potted something up with his native soil and wouldn’t you know, up sprouted a silk tree from a dormant seed in that soil.  As I have inherited a soft spot for all things growing, I now have a potted silk tree that I just may find a spot for on my new farm. 

What’s a favorite garden memory—a sound, sensation, smell or taste associated with a favorite garden in your life? 

The other thing that I plan on planting in my new garden that reminds me of that front yard wonderland is Lantana.  I spent countless hours catching butterflies from those plants and now as soon as I smell their distinct aroma, it takes me right back.  What’s funny to me about that yard is, as I got bigger, it got smaller.  My dad eventually removed everything living and filled it with rock, and the actual square footage is probably no more than 70 but my mom sure knew what to do with a small space to make it infinite for me.    

What does being a Master Gardener volunteer mean to you?

Being a Master Gardener means that not only do I get to help others have a more enjoyable and successful garden, but the learning opportunities are endless. I also get to surround myself with other fellow gardeners, which is great fun.  I enjoy giving to my community and Master Gardening allows me to do that and do it in a way that I love.     

What’s one thing people might be surprised to know about you and your garden?

Fall of 2018 I purchased around 1000 daylily seedlings from someone who was hybridizing but giving it up to move out of the country.  This summer about one third of them bloomed and my husband and I tried our hand at pollinating them, resulting in a large amount of new seeds to start and I am excited to see what we came up with.  It’s hard to be patient though, since it can be multiple seasons before you see results!  

You can help grow knowledge, gardens and communities. Applications for the 2020 Volunteer Program are open until December 3rd.  Learn more and join us.

Gardening “in my small slice of paradise”

Pashalle Johnson in her lush garden.

Pashalle Johnson joined OSU Extension Master Gardeners of Benton County in 2017. She has a degree in Sustainable Horticulture from Oregon State University and works as a horticulturalist. Pashalle often volunteers at Master Gardener Plant Clinics where she welcomes all gardeners to learn something new. She shared her story (complete with delicious recipes) in August, 2019.

Tell us about your hometown.

I am from the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, an archipelago of some 700 plus islands and cays which lies 50 miles south of the Florida Keys.  The Bahamas is a small island nation with a population of around 370,000 citizens, most of whom live on the New Providence Island.  Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas, is located on New Providence and is home to  the majority of Bahamians, some 270,000 primarily because it is the economic centre of the country.  As a member of the Commonwealth of nations,  Queen Elizabeth II,  is recognized as monarch  and both our educational and governmental systems are based upon the United Kingdom’s.

My family and I moved from Portland so that I could complete a degree in sustainable horticulture and have remained.  While living in Portland I became immersed in community gardens, and garden volunteering. I volunteered with a number of  non-profit agro-businesses, like Growing Gardens, The Urban Farm Collective based in north east Portland works to both build community and reduce food insecurity in poor neighbourhoods; Produce for People which fights food insecurity by enlisting community gardeners to donate directly from their individual garden plots to  and Zenger Farms a teaching farm with summer camps,  urban farming instruction and programmes that introduce urban kids to life on a farm. 

What does being a Master Gardener volunteer mean to you?

 Becoming a certified  Master Gardener allows me to realize one of my values, community activism, which is built into the programme.  The title, Master Gardener, indicates that my knowledge and experience goes well beyond that of the  novice gardener and lets people know that I am passionate about gardening.  Being a volunteer allows me to interact with the public in a meaningful way; helping resolve gardening issues, to give advice that is backed by the research and science-based information provided by OSU Extension. 

 What’s a favorite garden memory—a sound, sensation, smell or taste associated with a favorite garden in your life?

Harvesting and shelling peas with friends on weekends at my grandmother’s home is a fond memory.  My sister and I spent weekends at our my  grandmother’s Ivy’s home.  Ivy’s home was a boisterous and lively place constantly abuzz with activity; her garden surrounded the house. Vining plants like Malabar spinach and Noni, vegetable beds, fruit trees; tamarind, plums, avocado and my aunt Nita’s prized roses.  Dinner preparation usually began with harvesting and shelling Pigeon peas.  Pigeon peas, Cajanus cajun, are a perennial legume, typically a shrub that grows to about six feet . Harvesting and shelling these are typically a job for children. As there were always many hands and lots of giggling, the time passed quickly.  Pigeon peas are a great source of protein and an important food crop in many African, latin American, Caribbean, Indian and Asian cultures. The peas are consumed both as a green (fresh) or dried. Peas and Rice is served as a side dish with both lunch and dinner.

Peas ‘n’ Rice

2 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil                                1/2 cup tomato paste

1 small onion, diced finely                                   3 slices thick bacon, diced

1/2 green bell pepper diced                                               1 stalk celery, diced

3 c water                                                                                      fresh ground black pepper to taste

3/4 cup cooked pigeon peas                                              2 cups uncooked white rice

2 teaspoons fresh thyme

 1.   In a Dutch oven, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp, stirring occasionally. Remove with a slotted spoon; drain on paper towels. Reserve 1 tablespoon of bacon drippings, set aside or discard the remaining.

2.    Add the onion, celery and green pepper to drippings; cook and stir over medium-high heat for 5-7 minutes or until tender. Stir in the pigeon peas,  tomato paste, thyme, salt and pepper.

3.    Add the water,  and cooked bacon; bring to a boil. Stir in rice. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 45-50 minutes or until rice is tender. Remove thyme sprigs.

Tell us about your current garden

Currently, my garden, Camas Corner, (because of the beautiful clump of common camas that appeared my second year) is a 400 square foot perennial plot  in the Dunawi Creek Community Garden, part of the Bruce Starker Arts Park.  It is home to about 90 annual and perennial garden plots.  I have gardened here since 2013.  My garden style is that of the French potager or French kitchen garden which focuses on both beauty and production.  I grow vegetables, berries, herbs and flowers; the flowers adds splashes of colour but also attract beneficial insects to my garden which of course aids in good pollination. I practice a four-year crop rotation, intercropping and some successional gardening.  Because my space is small, gardening vertically allows me to grow much more food. This means I incorporate a fair number of vining plants and those vegetables that lend themselves to trellising.

Describe one plant that you grow which reminds you of home.

One of the greatest pleasures of my current garden has been successfully growing Bitter Melon (Momordia charantia). This vining plant, grows wild  in the Bahamas, similar to Wild Cucumber (Echinocystis lobata) found here in Oregon. It is a tropical and subtropical vining fruit grown from Africa, to Asian and the Caribbean. The leaves are served as a tea for curing the common cold or flu and are also cooked and eaten like spinach. The melon which grows to 6-8 inches, is eaten as a vegetable when immature and when fully mature becomes  sweet and changes from bright green to a beautiful bright orange-red that bursts open to expose  sweet red sticky gelatinous seeds. Served raw or prepared in desserts!

What’s a favorite garden memory—a sound, sensation, smell or taste associated with a favorite garden in your life?

The wonderfully pungent, spicy  scent of basil is something I look forward to each year.  Growing Basil, Ocimum basilicum, a member of the lamiaceae family, is one of the highlights of my summer garden, the delicious smell of pesto: pungent basil, toasted pine nuts or walnuts, drizzles of olive oil, fresh cracked pepper,  a few turns of salt and a little lemon makes me happy. I add basil in my dried herb mixture for grilling vegetables or meat on pasta and chicken.  I grow a bed of basil which provides enough to make a few gallons of pesto. My go to recipe appears in The Joy of Cooking:

Pesto from The Joy of Cooking

Enough for one pound of pasta

Process to a rough paste in a food processor:

    2 cups loosely packed basil leaves

    1⁄2 cup grated Parmesan

    1⁄3 cup pine nuts or walnuts, toasted

    2 medium garlic cloves, peeled

    With the machine running, slowly add:

    1⁄2 cup olive oil, or as needed

   Salt and pepper to taste

Use immediately or store in a covered glass jar in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

  What’s one thing people might be surprised to know about you and/or your garden?  

One surprising thing about my community garden plot is the sheer number of flowers, vegetables, and herbs I grow in my small slice of paradise!  I love to experiment with new foods, new flavors and to learn new things!  I have tried to grow a little bit of everything.  You name it, I have most likely grown it at one time and each year I attempt to grow one new variety or new vegetable.  My 400 square foot plot has over the years provided me with a great abundance of produce: purple sweet potatoes, quinoa, okra, bitter melon, oca, gourds: basket and luffa, red corn ( this year), dwarf blue corn (last year), cucumbers, parsnips, four varieties of potatoes, five different varieties of winter squash, summer squash: zucchini and crookneck, snow peas, snap peas, eight different types of tomatoes, basil, watermelon, cantaloupe, raspberries: black, gold, red, blueberries, Marion berry, Aronia, Swiss chard, spinach and a beautiful new variety of red kale, two kinds of pole beans and peppers. Somehow I make room for flowers and herbs such as common camas, echinacea, shasta daisy, sunflowers, chocolate cosmos, cape fuchsia, black-eyed Susan, dahlia, marigolds, alyssum, carnations, bee balm and lemon verbena for tea, borage, salvia and purple sage and more.

You can help grow knowledge, gardens and communities. Applications for 2020 Volunteer Program open October 1st. Learn more and join us.

“Talking less and doing more” empowers new gardeners

Person in garden gear with flower bulbs
Emily Herb showing off a nice collection of homegrown onions.

Master Gardener trainee Emily Herb brings the skills of an educator and sign language interpreter to re-envisioning the popular Seed to Supper classes in Benton County. Offered in collaboration between Master Gardeners, Oregon Food Bank and other community partners, Seed to Supper aims to connect low-income households with the know-how and resources to grow tasty and healthy food. Learn more and find out how you can get involved in Seed to Supper with Master Gardeners in Benton or Linn Counties.

A parsonage garden

I grew up in Southern Oregon where my mother’s family is from. We lived in Grants Pass, which was a small timber town at that time.  Grants Pass in the 1980’s was struggling with the fall of the timber industry and the houses, yards, and lives of residents reflected that struggle.  I do not remember many ornamental flowers or trees.  My father was a minister there and we lived in a small parsonage with a small yard. My mom was a gardener and did her best with that little yard. She was always fond of roses and iris, which grew well enough in Southern Oregon. When I was sixteen we moved to Corvallis, and I remember my mom’s excitement about moving to the Willamette Valley where almost anything could grow. When I first moved here I rode my bike up and down the streets looking at the magnolia and flowering cherry trees. I had never seen such full beautiful trees before. Corvallis amazed me with so many yards spilling over with beautiful plants.

Rescuing bargain flowers

All my early gardening memories involve my mother. She loved plants just like she loved animals and children, and she couldn’t stand to see them suffer. I have a childhood memory of when she and I were at the grocery store on our bikes and she came across a flat of half dead chrysanthemums the store was selling cheap. We had to figure out a way to bike all of them and our groceries home so she could save the mums from death.  My mom loved scouting out a deal and the hunt for the plants was a big part of the pleasure. We drove far and wide to go to nurseries and gardens all around the Willamette Valley. This was sometimes a trying experiences, but her passion and care instilled in me a love of plants as well as the knowledge of how to care for them.

A new family garden

My favorite gardening memories center around family gardening in the house I live in now. Eleven years ago my parents, my husband, my two children, and I moved into a house across from Corvallis High School. The house came with a coveted Corvallis double lot and we were able to buy another adjoining lot to make a very nice ¾ acre in the middle of town. Our front yard is terraced and we planted the first terrace with roses for my mother the fall after we moved in. It is filled with roses bought on sale at the annual Heirloom Rose garden summer sale.

In the years we have been here, my mom and dad lined the north facing fences with rhododendrons. We went to all the local garden sales and created beds of shade and sun perennials. My husband, my gardening partner and personal backyard engineer, put in berries that came from his father’s berry fields and taught himself to prune the large gravenstein apple tree and pear tree that came with the property. I am lucky enough to have two huge vegetable gardens, raised beds, and a chicken mansion. My children learned to garden and weed with the family in this massive backyard. It has been our family group project and when I go outside I see all of us reflected in the gardens we have created. My mother died a year ago and my father is less inclined to work outside than he once was, but through the help of the children and my best friend who lives in the neighborhood, my husband and I are able to keep up and even continue creating our backyard project, which of course is never done.

Seed to Supper : hands-on

I decided to become a Master Gardener because I have a passion for growing food and I want to assist and teach people with limited access to fresh, organic produce the skills to grow their own. When I saw the Master Gardening Seed to Supper program advertised in the newspaper one year I decided that this might be the way to become involved in work I believe in. Since completing my Master Gardening training and starting on my volunteer hours I have had the opportunity to be part of a team teaching Seed to Supper and then part of a team who has redesigned the Seed to Supper course into a completely hands on class we piloted this Spring.

The new class that we taught this spring came from an interest among several people on the Community Garden Action Team (CGAT) to teach a basic gardening class that contained all the content of the original Seed to Supper class, but using a completely hands on approach out in an actual garden. The idea was to talk less and do more, or perhaps talk while doing. We all thought that gardening is something one learns best through practice. I volunteered to go through the Seed to Supper book and to organize the content of the text book into hands on “stations” that participants could rotate through to learn all the skills and concepts normally taught through power point slides in a classroom.

Gardening 101 & 102

Through this curriculum redesign we ended up with eight stations that teaches the same concepts of Seed to Supper, including some helpful redundancy. This past spring we taught the class over the course of two Saturday mornings out at Willamette Community Garden. We called the classes Gardening 101 & 102 and each class lasted three hours and included four stations full of content. The reviews back from our 20 students are very positive and we plan to teach more of this class in the future. It has been an amazing experience for me to get to be an important part of curriculum writing, program planning, and then teaching. This process has been everything that I hoped Master Gardening would be.

P.S.

Now I am supposed to tell you something surprising about myself. I don’t know if this is surprising, but I feel like in my life I am a generalist. I enjoy doing so many things that I find I am not an expert at anything; nonetheless I am proud and grateful for all the many things that are part of my life. I am a Sign Language interpreter by profession, but am a potter, gardener, cook, food preserver, musician, family member, and many more things in my “off time.” I am very happy to add Master Gardener to this list.

I grow things that remind me of my southern roots

Woman on a lawn tractor, smling
Susan Morton with her trusty lawn tractor.

Susan Morton brings the wit and wisdom of her career as a forensic scientist to her endeavors as a Master Gardener. Whether she’s playing the role of “Bee Czar” in organizing the Beevent Pollinator Conference, teaching new gardeners to grow produce on a budget in Seed to Supper, or serving on the board of the Linn County Master Gardener Association, Susan always shares a dry and delightful sense of humor. Susan has been a Linn County Master Gardener since 2011 and shared her story in winter, 2019.

A way for non-literate people to read nature

I grew up in the small town of West Point, Georgia, on the banks of the Chattahoochee River about 100 miles south of Atlanta. My father was an engineer, but he came from a long line of farmers and loved to garden. We had about half an acre of fruit and vegetables which we enjoyed all summer. His mother also lived with us and she, too, liked to work in the garden. I was their chief assistant. My job was picking, watering and keeping an eye out for pests. One of my fondest memories is sitting with my grandmother after I had been out picking shelling beans or peas for my mother to cook. My grandmother had very little education, but she knew how to plant by the signs. When I got older, I realized there was nothing magical or superstitious about these signs—they were a way for non-literate people to read nature to know when it was time to plant or harvest various crops. So, if you are in Georgia, plant your sweet corn when the wild dogwood is in full bloom.

A philodendron named Arthur

When I was deciding on a major in college, I was drawn to biology. I had to pick either botany or zoology and picked botany. I figured at least I would not have to chase my specimens. I attended a small women’s’ college which at the time had a very strict policy about students going out at night unescorted, with a male escort being much preferred. I had a philodendron named Arthur which my friends and I would list as an escort on our sign-out forms. And, of course, we took Arthur with us to theaters and concerts so as not to be dishonest. Arthur was cultured as well as cultivated.

In the early years of my career as a forensic scientist, I lived in apartments and could not do much gardening. I always managed to have at least a few house plants. Later on, I bought a small house with a large yard near the San Francisco airport. After years of deprivation, I gardened frantically.

When I put the house on the market, the real estate agent went through the house and made suggestions as to how to stage it. Then I took her to the back yard.  It was a wonderland. Didn’t have any trouble selling that house even in 2009 when the real estate market was in the dumpster.

Cluckingham Palace

As I neared retirement, I realized I had to do some introspection to figure out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I had never been big on introspection. Considering what bubbles up on its own, I was not keen on looking in there on purpose. But I did it. To my utter amazement I discovered that what would complete my happiness was chickens. CHICKENS. I decided to move out in the country so as not to have to deal with chicken laws. I came up to look at properties in this area.

After a couple of days of trudging through very gloomy places, I came to the place I am now. I got out of the car and fell in love. Lots of room to garden, but not too much land to take care of. Deer fence. But best of all was the view—over a waterfowl refuge pond with Mary’s Peak framed perfectly between trees. The real estate agent asked if I wanted to see the house inside. I just waved her off and said that if it had indoor plumbing, we were good.

So I got my chickens installed in their fancy coop dubbed Cluckingham Palace, and they give as much joy as I had hoped. After years of being cross-examined in court by lawyers, I find the chickens to be refreshingly noble and intelligent.

I grow some things that remind me of my southern roots. I have to have butter peas in the summer and turnip greens in the winter. I also have a sweetshrub, Calycanthus albus. They grow brown flowers that look like loafer tassels and smell like Jergens hand lotion. Actually, it is the other way around. Jergens Lotion is scented the shrub’s flowers. When I was growing up, everybody had a sweetshrub planted by their trash cans. Trash cans do not smell nice during August in Georgia. The shrubs were supposed to mask some of the aroma.

 Master Gardeners & Seed to Supper

As soon after I moved in as my life permitted, I became a Master Gardener and have made wonderful new friends. I find helping others to enjoy their gardens as much as I enjoy mine gives me great satisfaction.  I also like to think I am keeping pesticide use down by showing people better ways to manage their gardens. Seed to Supper is the type of program that is the reason I became a Master Gardener. Life has been good to me, and I want to give something back and to help those who have not been as fortunate as I have.

Postscript

Now I am supposed to tell something astonishing about myself. Well, I have already confessed that I dated a philodendron in college. Not sure what I can say to top that, but I will give it a try:

  • I have been to Antarctica, Pago Pago, Timbuktu, and Tbilisi, among many other unlikely places
  • I have driven a locomotive
  • I spent an afternoon appearing before the Supreme Court of the Federal Republic of Nigeria impersonating a barrister
  • I single-handedly destroyed communism in Russia by explaining to a Russian housewife the benefits of having shopkeepers competing for her rubles rather than getting a salary, paid out of her taxes, whether they sell anything or not. The Soviet Union fell two years later
  • I won a Russian speaking contest in St. Petersburg. No idea what I said since I do not speak Russian. I may be engaged to be married. In my defense, several vodka toasts had taken place before the contest.

Seed to Supper is a comprehensive six-week beginning gardening course that gives novice, adult gardeners the tools and confidence they need to successfully grow a portion of their own food on a limited budget. CLICK HERE to learn more.

A rose is my connection to my mother

Paula Lupcho in her garden on a sunny winter day in 2019.

Lifetime Master Gardener Paula Lupcho has served over 6,000 hours as a volunteer and was named Benton County Master Gardener of the Year in 2011. She has held many positions on the board of the Benton County Master Gardener Association  and has mentored numerous Master Gardener trainees. Paula shared her story in winter of 2019.

I am a native Californian and grew up in Newport Beach, California. Because we lived on an island in the harbor, I learned how to swim about the same time I learned how to walk. My dad had two passions—deep sea fishing and gardening. My sister got the fishing gene and I got the gardening gene. She hated gardening and I hated fishing that was helped along by persistent seasickness. My mother’s parents were also gardeners/farmers. They had fruit trees, berry bushes, and vegetable beds.   It was a double dose of an inherited gardening imperative.

My earliest memories of gardening aren’t really memories but experiences that were captured in home movies. As a toddler, my sister and I were let loose into the yard with nothing but our undies when my father was out working in the garden. He grew great big tomatoes. We got to run, play, and get thoroughly dirty.   When he watered, we were thoroughly muddy. All was put right by a nice bath that Mom had waiting. I think that sunk into my own parenting mentality because I always thought my boys had a good day at school if the came home dirty.

Currently, my husband and I live in Benton County just west of Philomath. This is the second home we have built and the second garden that I have established from bare dirt.   We started work on the garden in 2008. The only plants on the property were native oaks and hawthorns, and conifers like Doug fir and Grand Fir from an old Christmas tree farm. It is amazing to me to see pictures of the house before it was finished with absolutely nothing in the ground. Today, pictures show a complete garden with fully mature trees, shrubs, perennials, and annuals. It took lots of hard work, but it is deeply rewarding to see it all come to fruition.

In each place that I have lived, I have been exposed to a wide variety of plants as in Southern California, which is a subtropical zone, to the Sierra Nevada alpine zone. The Pacific Northwest offered another huge palette of plants and most of them were unfamiliar to me. During my Master Gardener training, I was is a state of buzzing confusion as people rattled off names of PNW plants that I had never heard of. Over time, most of these plants now seem like old friends. But, wherever I live, I will always have at least 1 rose (with the exception of the Sierras). A rose is my connection to my mother, grandmother, and aunts. They all grew roses. It is one of my favorite memories of my grandmother’s home. Standard roses lined the front walk, and there was a large rose garden in the back. All of them were fragrant. I think Mr. Lincoln is my favorite. It has everything a rose should have; it is a gorgeous velvety red color and has the most wonderful fragrance. It’s perfect.

I suppose I am quite judgmental about plants. I have strong opinions about what a plant should or should not be. Shrubs and trees must have good shape and a strong silhouette—nothing floppy is allowed. Plants that are too exuberant and cause too much work to keep them in check are removed. No yellow or orange flowers are permitted—ever. Golden foliage is okay.   I love annuals. The riot of color that they add to the summer garden makes me happy. These rules have happened over time as I have matured as a gardener as I have found my gardening comfort zone.

Just after we moved to Oregon, I learned about the Master Gardener program. I attended one of the lunchtime lectures conducted by MG volunteers. It was the right time of year to submit an application to join the program. I was accepted and so lucky to be in a great class of trainees. Being a part of the gardening community was like finding my way home. I have loved every minute of being a Master Gardener. Giving back to the community through public service is the core of the program and is personally rewarding. But, I have gotten back so much more than I have given.   My real gardening education has happened over time as I continue to stay active and learn from fellow gardeners, most of whom are far better gardeners than I am. And, I have made lifelong friends along the way.

Do you share Paula’s enthusiasm for ornamentals? Find research-based resources for growing your best flowers, shrubs and trees with OSU Extension.

Barefoot gardener cherishes Albany childhood memories

Judi DeBord grew up in Albany Oregon. After some time away, she has returned to join her local OSU Extension Master Gardener program. She  gardens in neighborhoods where she spent girlhood days climbing street trees. Judi shared her story in November 2018.

A group of people gazes up at a large walnut tree in Albany Oregon.
Judi DeBord (in red) returns to a tree of her girlhood adventures as part of a Master Gardener educational tour.

My hometown is Albany, Oregon. I was born and raised here, and graduated from South Albany High School in a year that will remain unspecified.

One of my earliest memories of gardening are of a pussy willow bush that grew outside my bedroom window. Every spring, my friends and I would pick several branches of the fuzzy-ness and make things out of them. My mother had to deal with the fuzz floating everywhere for days. We grew tomatoes and had apple, pear and plum trees in the back yard. Summer and fall were busy with making apple sauce and making plum, pear and apple leather in the dehydrator. We enjoyed our fruits all winter long.

One of my favorite childhood memories is of climbing the beautiful, old trees in and around downtown Albany. My cousins lived “in town”, and when I spent the night at their house, we’d go off for most of the day, exploring. We climbed any tree we thought we could climb without getting caught or needing help to get back down! Sometimes it was a contest to see who would climb the highest. We also came to know every inch of Bryant Park, scouting for tadpoles, guppies, frogs or any other creature we could catch and fit into our cup or box. Of course, my aunt made us relinquish all captives before we came in the house, unless we managed to sneak into the basement before she saw us!

I grew up outside of town, with open fields all around our house. In mid-summer, the grass and scrub bushes grew taller than we were. We built forts in the grass, forged trails, rode bicycles, picked seed heads to wear, and played until my mother called to us and ordered us in for dinner.

One aspect of gardening I enjoy today is the smell and feel of good soil. I don’t know many people who garden barefoot as much as I do; maybe it’s from all those summers running around barefoot as a child. As soon as it seems warm enough outside, which for me is usually sometime in April, I’ll be out in the garden, with gloves on my hands but shoes on the sideline. Once in a while I’ll pay a small price – a splinter or thistle in my foot – but it always seems worth it.   Maybe someday I’ll invent a ‘tactile gardening sock’ for other barefoot gardeners like me.

Being a Master Gardener volunteer has been on my goal list for a long time. The Master Gardener program offers volunteers an opportunity to learn from nationally recognized experts from all around our state, which is just amazing. I’ve enjoyed volunteering many times before, mostly focusing on educational activities. Having access to resources to help others grow some of their own food, or grow beautiful ornamentals is fun and very fulfilling, even when things don’t go according to plan!

Join Master Gardeners in Linn County Oregon, or take a FREE short gardening class with us! Learn more HERE.

Millersburg gardener shares produce to connect with neighbors

Jesse Garcia joined the OSU Extension Master Gardener Program of Linn County in 2018. Jesse balances a full time career with volunteering and gardening. Raised in Oklahoma by a family of gardeners, he is now at work on creating a garden where he now resides in Linn County. Jesse shared his story in October of 2018.

Man in sunglasses greeting visitors at a garden tour.
Master Gardener volunteer Jesse Garcia greets visitors at Through the Garden Gate in 2018.

Elizabeth Records – OSU Extension: What can you share about an early gardening experience?

Jesse Garcia: My earliest gardening experience would be when I was very young, early grade school age in my hometown of El Reno, Oklahoma. I would go into the garden with my mother. I often asked her questions about the different types of plants, such as tomato, watermelon, and peppers. My mother displayed lots of patience in answering my questions. I truly believe this early experience is what directed my curiosity in gardening that I continue to this day.

ER: Tell us about your current garden – who, what, when and where?

JG: I currently do not have a home garden. I moved to Oregon in December, 2016 and recently bought a house in Millersburg (July, 2018). I am still in the process of landscaping our yard, which is a work in progress. I do plan to continue my home garden. I will put into practice the knowledge/training that I learned from the OSU Extension Office’s Master Garden program. In the past, I grew a vegetable garden for many years in Oklahoma. My garden consisted of many varieties of tomatoes, potatoes, onions, green beans, snow peas, squash, kale, spinach, lettuce, and peppers.

ER: Describe one plant that you grow which reminds you of home.

JG: Growing tomatoes has always reminded me of the times that I spent in the garden with my mother. But my father also influenced my gardening habits. Many years ago, he gave me some Amaryllis belladonna bulbs (also known as “Naked Ladies”) from the family flower garden to transplant in my own garden in Oklahoma. At the time, I only focused on vegetable gardening. “Naked ladies” are now included in my gardening. I hope that I will have some success with them in my future garden even though the growing conditions in Oregon are not similar.

ER: What’s a favorite garden memory—an experience, sound, sensation, smell or taste associated with a favorite garden in your life?

JG: As a very young boy, I was asked to deliver vegetables from the family garden to our neighbors. To this day, I do continue taking vegetables from my home garden, door to door. I do this as a way of getting to know my neighbors.

ER: What does being a Master Gardener volunteer mean to you?

JG: I talked with volunteers at the Master Garden booth (Corvallis Farmer’s Market, July 2017) they encouraged me to apply to the volunteer program, even though I currently work full time. I am so glad that I took the time to complete the application and was accepted into the program. I was able to attend all training sessions and to complete my required volunteer hours for the program.

The class has provided me a very good foundation for gardening in the Pacific Northwest. The Master Garden volunteer experience has been a very rewarding experience. I continue to build upon my gardening network with some of the local fruit growers. I enjoy meeting new people at the Master Garden volunteer events.

ER: What’s one thing that people might be surprised to know about you and/or your garden?

JG: I would have to say my culinary interests. I often try new recipes on the grill and I have become somewhat experienced in smoking meat such as ribs, chicken, brisket and everyone’s favorite (do not laugh) bologna. Yes, in Oklahoma the true pit masters like to include smoked bologna with their finest cuisine.

Did you know that numerous Master Gardener volunteers balance work and volunteering? Learn more about joining us in Linn or Benton Counties.