Month: September 2020

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2020 3rd Quarter Report

This past Friday, the Oregon Master Gardener Association (or OMGA) Board of Directors met via Zoom, for the 3rd quarter meeting of 2020. As the OSU Extension Master Gardener Statewide Coordinator, I sit on the OMGA board as an ex-officio and non-voting member and present a report on behalf of OSU.

Normally, OMGA meetings run from 10am – 2:00pm (or longer). However, now that we are meeting via Zoom, meetings are kept to 90 minutes. I thus tried to be extremely brief in this quarterly report, which can be found, below.

  • Wildfires and the Extension Master Gardener (EMG) Program: Like the rest of OSU Extension, the Master Gardener Program has both been affected by and has been kept busy by the wildfires. Many EMGs were evacuated from their homes for a period of time. There are three EMGS who have lost their homes and/or have experienced substantial property damage: one each in Lincoln, Jackson, and Marion counties. (Please note, that in my original report to the OMGA Board, I incorrectly stated that an EMG in Lane County had lost their property to wildfire. This was incorrect, and I apologize for my mistake.) Please be ready to lend support, when these folks are in a position to take stock of their needs, and how the EMG Program can help. At the same time, EMG faculty and volunteers have been asked a lot of questions about the hazards of ash to edible and ornamental plants in the landscapes. Brooke Edmunds was particularly timely in pushing out messaging and materials related to questions about ash and vegetables, garden plants, and bees. But most (all?) of us have been kept busy by the questions coming in through email, phone, Zoom, and Ask an Expert. I see and appreciate the messaging going out through local EMG social media channels. You were a great source of support for your communities, during a very difficult time.
  • Staffing and Hires: Andrea Stith will begin working as the Extension Master Gardener Coordinator in Wasco County, beginning sometime in October. She comes to us from the University of Kentucky, and has an extensive background in horticulture and in University Outreach and Extension. The announcement of her hire, can be found below.

OSU Wasco County Extension extends a warm welcome to Andrea Stith

We are excited to announce that Andrea Stith will be joining our OSU Extension team in Wasco County as a Master Gardener and Community Horticulture Outreach Program Coordinator. Prior to joining us Andrea served as a Master Gardener Coordinator with University of Kentucky Extension for 5 years. Andrea has a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from Western Kentucky University with a concentration in horticulture and a minor in studio art, and a Master of Science from Murray State University in Agriculture Education. Andrea loves flower and vegetable gardening and is excited to learn from everyone at Oregon State University. We look forward to seeing how Andrea’s applies her diverse skillset to meeting the educational needs of home horticulturists and small acreage landowners in Wasco County.

Andrea Stith will be leading the Extension Master Gardener Program in Wasco County, beginning October 2020.
  • More Staffing News: We are in the process of interviewing candidates for the EMG coordinator position for the North Coast (Clatsop and Tillamook Counties). During the OSU hiring freeze, it is notable that the Wasco County hire and the North Coast search have moved forward. It represents a very strong endorsement of the value that the Extension Master Gardener Program brings to OSU, during a time when OSU is experiencing serious financial strains due to COVID. This leaves us with one vacancy in Master Gardener Program coverage in the state: Eastern Oregon.
  • Master Gardener week will be October 26-30,2020. The event will include a Mini-Film Festival (October 26-28), the state of the Statewide Master Gardener Program report (October 29th), and a trivia contest focused on pollinators and beneficial insects (October 30th). An official announcement and link to register will go out, as soon as we finalize the registration page.
  • The Master Gardener Program has been working on a branding and identity plan that recognizes the individual personalities of county- and region-based Master Gardener program, but also unites us as a statewide program that is a vital part of Oregon State University. As part of this effort, we recently updated our program mission and vision, and have circulated a survey about the program priorities and values. Thank you to all who contributed.
  • The 2021 Master Gardener annual training program will be open to all current Master Gardener volunteers and all of the trainees from the 2020 training class. The 2021 training will focus on elevating the skills of Master Gardener faculty and staff in four domains: Teaching and Technologies in the Master Gardener Program; Best Practices in Adult, Informal Education; Growing Leadership; Broadening Outreach to Underserved Communities. A survey will be going out to Master Gardener volunteers, to get input on the types of classes that folks would like to see. The training will be delivered online, using a combination of Canvas (OSU’s ECampus learning management system), Zoom, and other methods.
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How’s the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion work going?

It’s been three months since we first posted here with a call for diversity, equity and inclusion in the Master Gardener program. Here is an update and what we’ve being doing since then.

We are approaching the work in three ways:

  • Ourselves: our own work. Looking at our own stories and history including the history of racism in Oregon and the founding stories of land grant institutions. We are looking deep into our field of work including colonization even in the naming of plants. We are learning to acknowledge this has been happening for years and before our time. This work improves our critical consciousness so we’re aware of inequities.
  • How and who Master Gardeners serve in the community: We’re asking questions like how do we as Master Gardeners serve our communities and neighbors? How far are we reaching into our communities, and who are we missing? Who needs gardening advice, support and education? What do we know and not know?
  • Systemic within the Master Gardener program: What does it mean to be a Master Gardener and who is the training program designed for? What are the barriers to the program and how can we remove them?

To this end:

  • We’ve convened a working group of Master Gardener coordinators from different parts of the state to participate in and lead this work;
  • I’ve had a series of conversations about our work with coordinators across the state in every county where there’s an active Master Gardener program, as well as with coordinators and program leaders in California and Minnesota;
  • 25+ Master Gardener coordinators recently participated in a 3–hour training on equitable leadership;
  • We are examining and planning ways to include diversity, equity and inclusion in training for all Master Gardener volunteers;
  • Enacting a series of feedback surveys for Master Gardener volunteers to ensure voices are heard. This includes surveys for feedback on our program’s priorities and values, and upcoming trainings for 2021.

“So with all of this we’ll be done, right?”  I think about the best answer for this is in a gardening analogy. A few years back my partner asked me, clearly exhausted, “Aren’t we done with the garden yet?” As I stood there with eyes wide open, I pondered how I was going to break it to her. As gardeners we all know that a garden is never done. It’s an ongoing journey of discovery, setbacks, and amazing results. And a lot of soil building. And so it is with doing the work of diversity, equity and inclusion. We’re in it for the long haul.

Recent podcasts you might enjoy listening to:

Botany, Geography, History & Power: at the Heart of the Garden, Jamaica Kincaid on Cultivating Place

Robin Wall Kimmerer, The Intelligence of Plants (original airdate of 2016 but just as great today as it was then)  on On Being with Krista Tippett

 ‘Make Farmers Black Again’: African Americans Fight Discrimination To Own Farmland on NPR

How Running’s White Origins Led to the Dangers of ‘Running While Black’ (Yes, this is about running, but there are similar things to think about with gardening, and includes a connection to Oregon) on Code Switch