In order to make more continuing education (CE) opportunities available to Master Gardener Volunteers we are now officially approving CE credit for reading approved research-based publications that relate to sustainable gardening. These publications will provide in-depth information on a variety of gardening topics that volunteers can draw on when working in the plant clinic or providing community education. In addition this process will encourage volunteers to read OSU and other research-based publications with the added benefit of familiarizing volunteers with up-to-date resources that can be shared with clients.
Each publication will qualify for one hour of CE.
Some publications may take more or less time to read but 60 minutes is a good average.
How to determine if a publication qualifies for CE.
Publications from the following sources are generally deemed appropriate: OSU Extension Catalog, other Extension Services, governmental organizations (i.e. Department of Agriculture, USDA, etc.).
Where possible, OSU publications should be given preference. Publications should relate to sustainable gardening, home horticulture, or backyard and local food production. Coordinators may want to provide a list of suggested and approved reading with web links. This will make it easy for volunteers to access the publications and should prevent them from finding out of date publications that have been archived.
Example of a suggested reading list for August from the OSU Extension Catalog
- Conserving Water in Your Yard and Garden
- Fall and Winter Vegetable Gardening in the Pacific Northwest
- Blossom-End Rot of Tomatoes
- Picking and Storing Apples and Pears
- A Guide to Collecting Soil Samples for Farms and Gardens
- Cover Crops for Home Gardens
How to receive credit for reading research-based publications.
We want to ensure that you carefully and comprehensively read each publication, so that you are able to incorporate your new-found knowledge in your volunteer activities, as well as in your own garden. For each publication that you read, please report the following information in the Volunteer Reporting System (VRS), or turn in the following information to your Master Gardener coordinator.
- Author. Year. Title. Publication Number or other identifying information.
- Where you found or accessed the Publication
- What is the overall goal of the publication?
- List three things that you learned from reading this publication.
- List two ways you can use this information in your volunteer service and/or your own garden.
- Report 1 hour of CE per publication, in the VRS system (or the reporting system used in your county).
Example:
- Jones and Sells. 2004. Rufous hummingbird. EC 1570.
- I found it on the OSU Extension Catalog site. The direct link is https://catalog.extension.oregonstate.edu/sites/catalog/files/project/pdf/ec1570.pdf
- This publication teaches people about rufous hummingbird life history, behavior, and habitat.
- I learned:
- Rufous hummingbirds migrate to warmer climates in the fall, because there is no nectar in northern climates in fall and winter. In fact, they follow manzanita blooms as they migrate. I had thought that they migrate because they can’t tolerate cold weather (which is probably also true, but I had not considered the nectar connection).
- Rufous hummingbirds use spider webs to ‘glue’ together their nest materials. So cool!
- Hummingbirds can live up to 5+ years. I had thought that their small size and high metabolism would promote a shorter lifespan.
- I will use this information to:
- Tell people what to plant for hummingbirds: bleeding hearts, red-flowering currant, salmonberry, columbine, fushias, orange honeysuckle.
- Encourage people to consider how their cat might be impacting hummingbird populations.
