Recognizing National Women’s History Month during the month of March, I invite you to explore these articles and videos highlighting gardening and landscaping accomplishments by women. The actions of these courageous females help pave the way for us, our granddaughters, and future generations. One of my favorites, Indigenous Spirituality inside Oregon Prisons is educational, inspirational, and thought-provoking. I shared the online video with others, creating meaningful dialogue about spirituality and inclusion. I encourage you to do the same. I invite you to select at least one article or video that touches your heart and share it with others.
Lastly, for fun, check out the two videos highlighting easy yoga exercises specifically designed for us…gardeners! Happy Spring gardening!
Cheers, Celina Ratliff Clackamas County Master Gardener | Statewide Master Gardener DEI Taskforce member
The older I get, the greater power I seem to have to help the world; I am like a snowball – the further I am rolled the more I gain. —Susan B. Anthony
Women Making a Difference Yesterday & Today: Celebrating Women’s History Month
Garden design was a man’s world in the early 1900s. Learn how a few women landscape architects determined to practice in their chosen careers slowly made their way into the field. This short video is from Smithsonian Gardens.
Check out the #HorticultureHERstory hashtag on Smithsonian Gardens’ Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for more tales of groundbreaking women!
Photographers Frances Benjamin Johnston (1864-1952) and Mattie Edwards Hewitt (1869-1956), separately and together as working partners, captured thousands of images of gardens and architecture around the country during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This video provides insight into how the Planting Fields Foundation archives are specifically informing landscape restoration plans, by showcasing a number of images by Mattie Edwards Hewitt that show the site in its prime circa 1925.
Garden Clubs of the Early 20th Century↗ Garden clubs of the early to mid-20th century were about more than just planting and socializing: they were an important force that brought women together to make change. Women’s clubs were one of the few means by which women could effectively exercise social power before universal suffrage.
Women’s Wartime Gardens↗ This collection highlights the history of how America confronted the rapid food shortages during World War I and World War II, primarily the role of women in sustaining the U.S’ food source.
Women’s Land Army (WLA) members participated in both urban victory gardening and rural farm labor, filling in for the 3 million farmworkers who had gone to war or industry since 1940. Image Life magazine, September 27, 1943
The Earth in Her Hands: Jamaica Kincaid in Conversation with Jennifer Jewell I New York Botanical Garden
Listen to celebrated author and avid gardener Jamaica Kincaid discuss one of her greatest loves, when she joins public radio host Jennifer Jewell for a riveting conversation about gardens, the plants that fill them, and the extraordinary women who tend them.
Indigenous Spirituality inside Oregon Prisons I OPB
In 1978 the American Indian Religious Freedom Act allowed Native Americans to practice spirituality in the open. This inspirational video highlights what female leaders are doing to enhance spirituality practices in Oregon prisons, including gathering and serving sacred foods from the earth.
Yoga for Gardeners↗ This all-level holistic practice is for everyone! Suited perfectly for the actual gardener, but also designed for the metaphorical gardener within each of us.
Note: this article was originally written for the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon (HPSO) Quarterly Magazine (spring 2022 issue). The wonderful team at the HPSO, especially Eloise Morgan, provided copy editing assistance on this article.
To observe Oregon State University’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration, the Master Gardener Program hosted a screening of the movie ‘The Ants and the Grasshopper’. The movie follows Anita Chitaya, as she travels from her home in Malawi, to farms and gardens across the United States to share her story of how climate change is impacting her village. Afterwards, Dr. Vivek Shandas of Portland State University joined us to discuss the intersection of historical racism, landscaping and greenspace, and environmental justice.
When Anita Chitaya was asked what Americans can do to help the people in Malawi, she responded that she wanted people to talk about climate change and tell people about the plight of her village. Her response struck me for three reasons. First, she could have asked for many different things, such as money or advocacy. Instead, she thought it most important to talk about climate change. She, like many of you, saw great value in spreading knowledge. Second, after considering Anita Chitaya’s request, I realized that I don’t personally talk about climate change, outside of my classes. The scientific study of climate change has firmly established that human-caused climate change is happening, is accelerating at an unprecedented rate, and represents a danger to the life as we know it on earth (IPCC, 2021). I firmly believe that climate change is the one of the most important issues of our time, and I regularly worry about the world that my grandchildren will inherit. Yet I still feel shy to broach the subject with friends and family. Finally, Anita Chitaya was working to amplify the voice and concerns of those most affected by climate change. And, the movie made it quite clear that those most affected by climate change often hold the least power. This is something that Dr. Jeremy Hoffman of The Science Museum of Virginia and Dr. Vivek Shandas of Portland State University have studied in cities across the United States. And their work has direct connections to landscaping and gardening, as well as to historical racism and segregationist policies.
Together with Nicholas Pendleton, Drs. Hoffman and Shandas looked at 108 cities across the United States (Hoffman et al. 2020). For each city, they looked at historical Home Owner’s Loan Corporation (HOLC) maps from the 1930s, to see which neighborhoods had been ‘redlined’. Redlining is the historical practice of refusing loans or insurance to entire neighborhoods, based upon racially motivated perceptions about risk of investment. HOLC maps categorized neighborhoods from “Best” (A neighborhoods, outlined in green), “Still Desirable” (B neighborhoods, outlined in blue), “Definitely Declining” (C neighborhoods, outlined in yellow), and “Hazardous” (D neighborhoods, outlined in red).
After defining the historical boundaries of the A, B, C, and D HOLC neighborhoods, the scientists generated Land Surface Temperature maps (LST maps) using publically available Landsat imagery. The LST maps were based upon Landsat data for summer months (June – August) of 2014 through 2017, when cloud cover was less than 10 percent. The resolution of the LST maps was fairly course (30 meters by 30 meters), but nonetheless provided data on neighborhood- and city-scale patterns of modern-day heat.
A HOLC map for Portland Oregon, circa 1938. Green areas were rated ‘A’ or ‘Best’. Blue areas were rated ‘B’ or ‘Still Desirable’. Yellow areas were rated ‘C’ or ‘Definitely Declining’. Red areas were rated ‘D’ or ‘Hazardous’. Creative Commons License. Original Source: Robert K. Nelson, LaDale Winling, Richard Marciano, Nathan Connolly, et al., “Mapping Inequality,” American Panorama , ed. Robert K. Nelson and Edward L. Ayers, accessed February 7, 2022, https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/
What they found was astonishing: 94% of the cities they examined had city-scale patterns of extreme heat in historically redlined areas. Let me put this another way: 80 years had passed between the HOLC maps and the LST maps that they used as data for this study and 50 years had passed since the Fair Housing Act of 1968 was passed to stop the practice of redlining. Yet, these neighborhoods still bore the signature of historical racism, in the form of urban heat. Notably, the largest modern-day difference between “D” and “A” neighborhoods was found in Portland, Oregon. On average, neighborhoods that had been classified as “D” in the 1930s were 13 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than neighborhoods that had been classified as “A”. Nationally, historical “D” neighborhoods were 5 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than “A” neighborhoods.
What could account for these differences in temperature? First, historical “D” neighborhoods lacked tree canopy cover, parks, gardens and other greenspaces and green infrastructure that can help to naturally cool a city. This is consistent with the historical disinvestment in redlined neighborhoods. Not only were loans and insurance withheld, but when trees were removed due to damage and disease, they were often not replanted. In addition, redlined neighborhoods were also the most likely to be developed. Residents in these neighborhoods often lacked the social capitol needed to successfully protest the loss of a public garden or park, or to fight a new road or highway. This meant that these areas, over time, were more likely to be paved, and less likely to have trees.
I asked Dr. Shandas, during our discussion following the film, how gardeners and landscapers can promote social justice and fight environmental racism through our work. He responded that urban greening and tree planting initiatives seem and obvious answer, but that they need to be planned and executed in close consultation with community members most affected by urban heat. Perhaps not surprisingly, these community members are often the most vulnerable to extreme weather and climate change, including the homeless or those in rental or federally subsidized housing and without easy access to air conditioning. For a good example of an effort to work closely with local communities to increase trees and greenspace in historically redlined neighborhoods, you can visit Dr. Hoffman’s ‘Throwing Shade in RVA’ website (Hoffman, n.d.).
Urban forests, such as the trees that provide beauty and shade on the Corvallis campus of Oregon State University, are important assets for moderating urban heat and integral to building and maintaining sustainable cities. Photo Credit: Gail Langellotto
I don’t purport to have great solutions or answers to heavy issues such as climate change, environmental justice, or historical and systemic racism. But, I take inspiration from the direction provided by Anita Chitaya, and I am working to become more comfortable talking about climate change. I’m also taking inspiration from the direction given by Dr. Shandas, and am trying to grow my service to community partners in a way that focuses on listening, learning, and following their direction. I also think that it is interesting to note how gardens, trees, and greenspace play a central role in who is exposed to versus protected from urban, extreme heat. As gardeners, these aren’t often issues that we consider or contend with. But, the Master Gardener program is focused on the science of gardens and other greenspaces, and Drs. Hoffman and Shandas have provided compelling evidence of the research-basis of patterns that we might not notice or that we take for granted in cities and neighborhoods across the U.S.
Hoffman, J.S. No Date. Throwing shade in RVA. http://jeremyscotthoffman.com/throwing-shade, Accessed February 1, 2022.
Hoffman, J.S.; Shandas, V.; Pendleton, N. 2020. The Effects of Historical Housing Policies on Resident Exposure to Intra-Urban Heat: A Study of 108 US Urban Areas. Climate8, 12. https://doi.org/10.3390/cli8010012
Laurie Lee Bartlett is the new Educational Assistant at the Curry Extension Office. She is looking forward to taking the Coos/Curry Hybrid Master Gardener class for 2022! As an educator and previous caretaker to her now grown son, she is starting the next chapter of her life with a desire to serve others. This includes reaching out to everyone who wants to learn more about home horticulture. Her family enjoys practicing sustainable gardening on their acre of land and taking care of goats and chickens. This winter she has been expanding her collection of air plants and orchids which she houses in her sunroom and office. Laurie is grateful for the opportunity to be part of the OSU community!
Amanda Woodlee
Amanda Woodlee is the Master Gardener program coordinator (EPA 2) for Umatilla County, based in Hermiston, Oregon. This position enables her to combine two of her longtime passions: gardening and education. Prior to coming to work for OSU, she enjoyed putting together an annual seed share and gardening expo for her local garden club, where she would talk to attendees about pollinators and compost and all things green. She is excited to apply that same passion and skill to developing, organizing, and enhancing Master Gardener events. When she’s not in her greenhouse or bringing up worms randomly in a conversation, she can usually be found with her nose in a seed catalog or a book, writing (with her garden and two bird feeders in sight from her desk), or studying languages (currently Spanish, French, and ASL). Her favorite thing to grow is the Pruden’s Purple heirloom tomato, and the best book she read recently is Alix E. Harrow’s The Once and Future Witches.
Evie Smith
Evie Smith is the new Master Gardeners (25%) and Small Farm (75%) Coordinator for OSU Extension in Lincoln County. She is coming to OSU Extension from the University of California Cooperative Extension, where she worked in orchard crop research. In the past, she has worked in several different agricultural systems including mixed vegetable production, aquaponics and coffee. She has several years of experience working in a large mixed vegetable garden that donated everything it produced to the local food bank. She was involved in both volunteer coordination and agricultural management at the garden. She also worked on home gardening initiatives and small-scale agriculture projects in a variety of agricultural contexts in the southeastern United States (where she’s from originally), Guatemala, Cambodia, India and California. An avid gardener herself, Evie looks forward to learning about gardening in Oregon, and to using her experiences with volunteer coordination, gardening initiatives, and extension to support the work of the Master Gardeners in Lincoln County! In her spare time, Evie loves to hike, camp, and cook.
Jennifer Halter
Jenifer Halter has worked as a front desk Office Specialist for Washington County Extension since May 2016. She was excited to join the metro area Master Gardener team as part of her duties in October 2021. She always assisted MGs in the office, especially those working the phone helpline, an aspect of the job she loved. Jenifer is thrilled to work more with this great group and our exceptional volunteers. She tries to attend MG workshops and visit garden events when she’s able. After going to a Fall seed saving workshop at Jenkins Estate (Beaverton, OR) she aimed to grow more of her own garden plants from saved seeds. In 2021, almost all of her tomatoes were grown from previous year’s seeds! She recalled, “That workshop was so memorable and useful!” It was led by Washington County MG, Sarah Gramm Wolff, a volunteer at the OSU Extension Learning Garden at Jenkins Estate. Jenifer’s forester father instilled in her a love of nature, and she enjoys hiking, berry picking (especially huckleberries), doing yard work, biking local trails, and catching sunrises and sunsets. She looks forward to learning and helping MGs more in 2022!
Erika Szonntag
Erika Szonntag serves Jackson County in southwestern Oregon. Forty percent of her time is dedicated to managing the Master Gardener Volunteer Program, while another forty percent is dedicated to developing programming and otherwise disseminating information to the community on topics of home horticulture. Erika is really looking forward to supporting all the great work the Jackson County Master Gardeners are doing, including expanding their educational reach around native plants.
Before coming to Oregon, Erika was a professional gardener in Colorado while finishing her master’s degree in agriculture and watershed science. Erika also served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Paraguay (2014-2016) in agriculture extension. In her free time, Erika loves to hike and trail run with her dogs, mountain bike, paint and draw, and play in the snow. Her favorite things to grow in the garden are any type of salad green and sunflowers. She wishes she were better at growing root vegetables!
Brooke Edmunds
Brooke Edmunds recently transferred to oversee the Master Gardener Programs in Marion and Polk Counties in July 2021. She has been with OSU Extension since 2014 and previously was in the same position in Linn and Benton Counties. Brooke is an Associate Professor (Practice) of Community Horticulture with a home in the OSU Department of Horticulture. Her background is in plant pathology (M.S. and Ph.D) so you’ll find her nerding out over cool diseases and insects in the garden. In addition to coordinating the Master Gardener volunteer programs in both counties, Brooke contributes to statewide programs related to food gardening (Grow This! Champions and Microgreens are two current projects), and develops online educational material for the OSU Extension website. It’s an exciting time for the OSU Master Gardener Program and Brooke is excited to try out a new flexible format that includes hands-on garden based learning. Brooke’s personal gardening goals for this year are to try growing winged beans (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus) and to install a new trellis planted with Passiflora.
Danielle Knueppel
Danielle is located at the Josephine County Extension Office in Grants Pass and divides her time equally between the Master Gardener Program and the Small Farms Program. Danielle’s experience in horticulture includes farming at an organic fresh-cut herbs farm in Colorado, maintaining gardens alongside volunteers at the Cheyenne Botanical Garden, and working as a grower at greenhouses and nurseries in Colorado and Indiana, where she grew up. Before joining OSU, she worked internationally for several years on programs to improve livelihoods and food security among smallholder farmers. Danielle loves to garden and is excited to show new gardeners how fun, easy, and tasty it can be to grow your own vegetables, herbs, and fruits.
Applications for the second cohort of Master Gardener JEDI Task Force Members are now being accepted. Click here to submit your application. Applications will be accepted through February 28, 2022. We are specifically seeking applications from Master Gardener volunteers, across the state of Oregon, who are
committed to advancing Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusivity with in the Master Gardener program.
wanting to deepen their own understanding of inequities, historical racism, and colonialism within horticulture, Land Grant Institutions, and Oregon.
able to make a 12 month commitment (April 2022 – March 2023), of 4-6 hours per month, for Task Force work.
willing to be a bridge between the Task Force, and their local Master Gardener group, to ensure that the work that we do on the Task Force is brought back to county Master Gardener Programs.
JEDI stands for Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusivity. Sometimes, we call ourselves the DEI Task Force. Sometimes, we call ourselves the JEDI Task Force, because frankly, the word ‘JEDI’ is both more representative of what we are trying to do, and is also more fun to say.
“The DEI cohort work connected me with other Master Gardeners in Oregon and our home OSU organization like nothing I have ever done before, and it opened my eyes and my mind to the reckoning work that needs to be included in my everyday life.” [N., Master Gardener Volunteer]
“As a retired HR professional, who has had a fair amount of DEI training and experience, I thought I had a pretty good grasp. The work of the task force is important to me, but I assumed that any training involved would be mainly repetitive. However, the breadth of this work and training has expanded my horizons, particularly with respect to learning about indigenous peoples. Any former training I had focused mainly on race, with sexual orientation lightly covered.
I’m already using my heightened learning in a graduate-level HR course I teach for school administrators and in my personal interactions. Yesterday, I was caught making an assumption about the gender of a person’s spouse – which was an embarrassing moment. But even apologizing for my error was easier because we’d recently discussed it in the group.
My main reason for joining the task force is to support cultural growth within the Master Gardener program. During my six years as an MG, it’s felt too much like an insular, old, white garden club. It’s time for change. “Gentle pressure, relentlessly applied.” *
*Not my quote, but I’ve never been able to find the verified author. It’s a super mantra when you’re trying to effect change.” [D., Master Gardener Volunteer]
“I went into this cohort with open eyes and heart, hoping to learn some ways to help those with a somewhat exterior of close mindedness to find paths to understanding. I was rewarded with a whole toolbox of great ideas and thoughts, words of wisdom from some incredible tribal elders and POC gardeners from other parts of the country. New resources and great interchanges with other gardeners addressing the issues that we find ourselves in daily. Some of the speakers were challenging, some made us uncomfortable, but all helped us to see, and perhaps walk in the other person’s shoes. My take away was a better understanding and greater sense of empathy to the plight of those that have for so long been underserved and mistreated. I think we all came away with a gift of knowledge and appreciation of our brothers and sisters.” [T., Master Gardener Volunteer]
“The DEI Task Force is what’s needed to help the Master Gardener program reach its full potential of public service. The meetings are a friendly arena to dive into learning about equity and understanding racism if you’ve been curious. If you’re experienced with anti-racist ideas and action the Task Force is a medium for connecting with very place-specific and deep cultural material grounded in how all Oregonians relate to land.
I feel good that I’m helping to craft the traditions of Extension service into a more whole framework for the future. It is exciting to be a part of a group that is transforming itself within a racial justice lens.” [E., Master Gardener Volunteer]
JEDI Task Force Outcomes, from Cohort 1 (April 2021 – March 2022)
We adopted a statement equity requirement for Master Gardener training and recertification, beginning in 2022. Culture of Gardening Story Telling Initiative
We began building a toolkit that coordinators can use to diversify speakers and curricular content in the Extension Master Gardener Program.
In late 2021, we surveyed Master Gardener coordinators and volunteers, to better understand who we currently serve and reach through the Master Gardener program. In order to provide tools and resources to coordinators and associations to do DEI work in their county, it is important that we understand the work that is currently being done, partners we work with, and capturing successes and challenges. The results of the survey will help us to get have baseline data of what we are doing, today, and to determine what types of training or resources are needed to advance our DEI goals.
The 32 DEI Task Force Members and ~10 OSU Extension Home Horticulture working group members participated in a total of 12 hours of engagement across 5 learning opportunities, organized as part of our overall commitment to DEI within the Extension Master Gardener Program.
OSU Diversity Strategic Plan (with Allison Davis White-Eyes, formerly of OSU’s Office of Institutional Diversity)
Ecological Framework for DEI and Racial Literacy (with Jeff Kenney of OSU’s Office of Institutional Diversity)
Bias Intervention (with Jeff Kenney)
Pronoun Use (with LeAnn Locher of the Extension Master Gardener Program)
4-week long Indigenous Cultures Field School Training (with Courtney Yilk, Wilson Wewa, Wenix Red Elk, Samantha Chisholm Hatfield, Louise Wilmes, and Heather Gurko, organized by Confluence)
We hosted two special events, open to the general public, in support of our efforts to grow the breadth of our events to include cultural practices and inclusion.
“The Work is in Our Hands” lecture, about the history and accomplishments of black horticulturists and garden clubs in the United States (with Abra Lee, who is writing a book on the subject, entitled ‘Conquer the Soil’). A total of 340 people attended the live presentation, via Zoom. Another 130 have viewed the recording, for a total reach of 470 people.
A screening of the movie ‘Gather’, with a facilitated discussion with Drs. David Phillips and Samantha Chisholm Hatfield of OSU, following the movie. Over 2,000 people registered for this event on the movie screening platform, Kinema. More than 1,000 people attended the movie screening and discussion, and 63 people have accessed the recording of the discussion.
We launched a story telling initiative, ‘The Culture of Gardening’ as a way to amplify and center the voice of gardeners growing plants to connect with their heritage, culture, and identity.
In 2020, we featured 7 stories of gardeners from diverse backgrounds, including recipes.
Gardeners in Oregon saw what climate change looks like last summer: widespread leaf scorch and leaf drop from trees, bees at risk from heat stress, and plants succumbing to a record-breaking “heat dome”. Dr. Vivek Shandas saw it too, and on the hottest day of the year he set out with his son to measure air and ground temperatures in some of Portland’s most vulnerable communities. His research on climate adaptation and climate justice shows that how people fare during extreme heatwaves is in large part dictated by where they live. Halfway around the globe, Anita Chitaya lives with climate change in Malawai, as a farmer and community activist. She traveled to America to speak with farmers, growers, community organizers, and politicians about climate change and how we can work together to reduce its rapid trajectory.
Movie and Discussion: The Ants and the Grasshopper, and a climate change discussion for gardeners with Vivek Shandas
Join us for the 40th anniversary of OSU’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service, when we will gather virtually to reflect upon environmental justice as a component to achieving social justice. We will watch the documentary that chronicles Anita Chitaya’s story, “The Ants and the Grasshopper”. Afterward, stay for a live discussion with Dr. Vivek Shandas about climate change effects on vulnerable communities, the intersection of climate change and social justice, and what role gardeners can play to promote healthier living environments for all.
When: Monday, January 17, 2022, 6pm movie, 7:15 pm discussion Where: Online, via Kinema
About the movie, The Ants and the Grasshopper : How do you change someone’s mind about the most important thing in the world? Anita Chitaya has a gift: she can change farmers’ minds about what to grow, she can change what people love to eat, and she can even persuade men to fight for gender equality. Now, to save her home in Malawi from extreme weather, she faces her greatest challenge: persuading Americans that climate change is real.
About Dr. Vivek Shandas: Vivek Shandas is a Professor in the College of Urban and Public Affairs at Portland State University. His work focuses on developing strategies for addressing the implications of climate change on cities. His teaching and research examine the intersection of exposure to climate-induced events, governance processes, and planning mechanisms. As the Founder and Director of the Sustaining Urban Places Research (SUPR) laboratory at PSU, he brings a policy-relevant approach to research, including the evaluation of environmental stressors on human health, developing of indicators and tools to improve decision making, and the construction of frameworks to guide the growth of urban regions. Over the past several years, research from the SUPR Lab has appeared in the Smithsonian Magazine, National Public Radio, Washington Post, Minnesota Public Broadcasting, NY Times, Qatar Times, and several other national and international media.
About this event: The OSU Extension Master Gardener program is sponsoring this event as one small part of OSU’s 40th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Celebration. This event is open to all gardeners, including Master Gardener volunteers, and is intended to provide an opportunity to reflect on Dr. King’s legacy, and our programmatic commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as climate change.
How to access this event: Tickets are free but require registration. Once you register at Kinema you’ll be provided sign-in information from Kinema. You must view the movie and discussion through Kinema at the time this event is scheduled.
While this event is in the evening, Master Gardeners are encouraged to use their day of service.
Here are some ideas:
Make your commitments for the year to teach and reach gardeners who are underserved by our services
Make seed tape or mason bee houses to donate to your local community garden or school garden
If your Master Gardener Association hosts an annual plant sale, include plant donations to your local community garden or school garden in your propagation plans
For Master Gardener coordinators and local association leadership, connect to your local SNAP-Ed educator in your Extension office and ask “What can we do?”
Commit to supporting your local SNAP-Ed educator in every county, as a support to our joint Food Hero and Grow This! program.
Commit to planning a workshop that broadens community outreach. Plan for an event with childcare in conjunction with a community partner whose work you want to support.
Make plans and commitments for 2022 to explore the connection of gardeners to combat climate change as a form of environmental justice. Explore the intersection of those most vulnerable to climate change and climate change, and what gardeners can do to better connect these.
What are your ideas as gardeners for being of service to community on MLK Day? We’d love to hear them.
The OSU Extension Master Gardener program has revamped, revised, and re-imagined training for new Master Gardeners in 2022 to become more accessible than ever. Mixing the best of both worlds, online training will deliver our top-notch university-level gardening education, with localized and in-person hands-on training workshops organized by county-based OSU faculty.
Why are we doing this?
We’re better meeting community needs: In the summer of 2021, we conducted an extensive community assessment. Findings clearly show the general public wants flexible opportunities to interact, access content and learning on demand, and on their own time. Offering elements of training online and/or in-person will clearly meet that demand in a way we’ve never done before.
Many of our counties are large and have required distant travel to attend trainings. We’re already hearing from new trainees who are excited to finally be able to become Master Gardeners who have not been able to join due to the distance.
On-demand education also means that people with busy schedules can fit the training into their schedules in the way it works best for them.
We’ve lowered the cost, with many counties offering tiered pricing that includes reduced fees and opportunities for scholarships. Tiered pricing includes options for those who want to pay a bit more, to support others who choose the reduced fee option.
COVID is still here: it’s difficult to anticipate what 2022 will look like. Meeting inside, social distancing, and differing county impacts, all make maneuvering with COVID an ongoing challenge. This new model can better meet the need and demand while maintaining flexibility through this changing climate.
Capacity: We currently have a lack of faculty and staff available to teach Master Gardener trainings. Our “people power” is at an all-time low due to retirements and new hires.
Previously, many of our faculty would travel to teach in person, which is extremely time extensive. With the talented faculty we do currently have, they’re able to provide additional support statewide virtually, actually extending and expanding the reach of experts available to Master Gardener trainees.
Better delivery of adult education means more hands-on workshops, less lectures: Instead of using our in-person time for 3-hour lectures, our hybrid training model uses that time for hands-on, interactive, and experiential workshops. Instead of listening to PowerPoints, trainees instead learn from our expert faculty and Master Gardener volunteers in the garden.
What does it mean to be a Master Gardener?
Oregon State University Extension Master Gardener volunteers are neighbors, friends and family who you can go to for garden advice that is grounded in science and locally relevant. We are garden educators and on-the-ground community scientists. Learn more about our mission, vision, values and priorities of the program.
Thank you to everyone who participated in our first ever Master Gardener Photo Contest! We are so grateful for the time and intention you made through connecting your art to the program’s priorities and values.
And the winners are…
Category: Place The places of Master Gardeners: beauty shots of demonstration and learning gardens. What would you put on the cover of a travel magazine featuring demonstration gardens?
First place: Denise Saunders, Benton County
Photographer notes: This is from the Benton County Master Gardener’s Demonstration Garden.
Notes from the judges: This photo tells a story of abundance and what can come from a well-tended garden, and from a demonstration garden. Specifically noting the incredible yield, and in a beautiful photo with diagonal lines, and wonderful contrasting colors. There’s also a sense of fun, realness and simplicity to this photo that we really love!
Second place: Geoff Puryear, Douglas County
Photographer notes: This is a photo taken earlier this year of the Xeriscape Garden at the DCMG Discovery Garden. I am the designer and lead maintainer of this space.
Notes from the judges: This is a beautiful landscape photo with great texture, shape and form, and gorgeous color. This tells such an excellent story about what you can see and learn in a demonstration garden, including the pairing of plants, use of gravel and rocks, and diversity of plants. This photo also ties into the Master Gardener program priority of climate change, demonstrating xeriscaping in the garden.
Category: People The people (Master Gardeners) in action, fulfilling the program’s mission and vision.
First place: Denise Saunders, Benton County
Photographer’s notes: from the Benton County Master Gardener’s Demonstration Garden
Notes from the judges: Master Gardeners working together: we are stronger as teams! This is also a great photo example of gardening techniques, with mulch, irrigation, and plant support structures in a demonstration garden. The diagonal lines in the plant structure are repeated in the lines of the irrigation and the colors in this photo are what a lovely day to work in the garden is all about: look at that bright blue sky!
Second place: Maryann Keiffer, Klamath County
Notes from photographer: The potatoes, both are from the potato in a bag program, purple fingerlings and red. The tomatoes and cucumbers are from the Master Gardeners plant sale along with the sunflowers which were given to me to plant in the beginning of the season.
Notes from the judges: This is a happy gardener with a successful harvest from the garden—even if we can’t see the smile under the mask, we’re pretty sure there’s one there. So many great angles in this photo, from the gardener’s pose to the lines of the raised bed to the two arching sunflowers that run vertically up the center. Thank you, Maryann for participating in the Grow This! Challenge with our friends at Food Hero and for capturing this great photo of your haul.
Category: Program Priorities Depictions of any of our eight program priorities: -Sustainable gardening skills -Plant and insect identification and education -Local food -Native species -Adaptive and accessible gardening -Climate change -Cultural connection -Soil health
First place: Heidi Nichols, Multnomah County
Notes from the judges: Wow! This photo is one of those magic moments many gardeners experience but don’t always have a camera at the ready. Excellent focus, composition and color combined with clear connection to our program priorities of native species, sustainable gardening, and even local food.
Second place: Donald Lyon, Linn County
Notes from the photographer: Elongated snout of harmful Asparagus beetle (Crioceris asparagi) helps identify it, separate from beneficial ladybug beetle.
Notes from the judges: Careful and close attention to the small things in the garden pay off, and that includes identifying insects. This is a fantastic close-up/macro with great composition, and even captures the insects from two angles, which is so helpful in proper identification. The use of select focus allows the viewer to really concentrate on the elements of the insects, and even the slight angle of the plant adds to this photograph’s overall attractiveness. Check out the texture on those antennae!
Thank you to OSU Extension Communications for supplying prizes for the winners. Also, thank you to the judges who included Ann Marie Murphy of OSU Extension Communications, and 2021 Statewide Behind the Scenes Master Gardener Award winner, Sue Ryburn for joining me in judging.
Finally, thank you to everyone who participated. There were many fantastic photos submitted and if you didn’t enter this year, start collecting your submissions for next year!
This question comes up, repeatedly, throughout the year, most recently in Marion County. If someone calls the Master Gardener help desk, or submits a question through the Ask an Expert Service, can Master Gardener volunteers provide advice or support for growing hemp or cannabis? The short answer is ‘no’.
Hemp is a legal crop so long as the grower holds a current license from the Oregon Department of Agriculture. The laws of Oregon allow personal garden of four hemp plants (or 4 marijuana plants), but this is not federally legal in Oregon or the rest of the USA. This personal allowance is different in other states by their laws. Thus, by university policy, OSU employees and volunteers may not interact with unlicensed hemp growers (even home hemp growers) nor cannabis / marijuana growers. As a volunteer with Master Gardeners you are not allowed to engage public on Cannabis sativa, be that hemp or marijuana. If needed, please direct them to our website to learn more about commercial production of hemp in Oregon and beyond: https://agsci.oregonstate.edu/hemp . We fully engagewith state-licensed hemp growers on the details of producing this crop, and anyone you engage with may read our literature and watch our hemp videos online at their discretion.
Each quarter, Gail Langellotto (me, the statewide OSU Extension Master Gardener Program Leader) provides a report to the Oregon Master Gardener Association Board of Directors. This blog post is a copy of that report.
Please note that the information referenced on the hyperlinks attached to this report can change rapidly, particularly for COVID guidance from OSU. I am sharing what I know, as of this moment in time. The guidance may very well change, in the near future.
Updates from OSU Extension
Dr. Ivory Lyles will start his tenure as Vice Provost of Outreach and Engagement, and Director of the OSU Extension Service, on September 30th.
The COVID-19 Safety Training for OSU Extension offices is being updated. It had been required for volunteers, participating in face-to-face programs and projects. I don’t yet know how it will be rolled out or required, in the future. But, as staying safe in the workplace is a high priority, I would hope that this training will be put to good use within the Master Gardener Program, and across all Extension programs.
OSU-managed, indoor, face-to-face programs and activities can proceed, where registration (day of or pre-registration) occurs.
OSU-managed, outdoor, face-to-face programs and activities can proceed, where registration (day of or pre-registration) occurs.
Where MGs might be participating in events not managed by OSU:
employees and volunteers are expected to follow OSU policy and OHA public health recommendations (regarding face coverings, for example), but we can’t impose our guidelines on events and activities that are managed by community partners.
we can opt not to participate in community partner events, in the interest of public health and safety.
2022 Master Gardener Awards
Nominations for county and statewide Master Gardener awards are due on May 15th, every year.
The 2022 nominations forms will be posted online. This will make it easier to track nominations, as they are submitted. The current system of sending them through email makes it difficult to manage, given the amount of email volume that Gail receives.
Please make sure that your county Master Gardener groups knows that they should start discussing potential nominees WELL IN ADVANCE of the May 15th deadline. I would suggest putting it on the agenda in January or February of each year, making final decisions in March of each year, and then using April to write up nominations.
Communicate with your Master Gardener coordinator throughout the process. Double check and cross check that everyone is on the same page, when it comes to the name(s) that will be submitted for awards.
2022 Master Gardener Training
Counties are currently planning for recruitment of 2022 Master Gardener trainees, and delivery of the 2022 Master Gardener training classes.
Many/most counties are planning for hybrid (online and in person) training options, that allow greater flexibility and opportunity for participation. The online options are also a safe option, given instructors’ and students’ (or potential students’) concerns about COVID. Your specific county program can share the details of their training series.
New in 2022: the statewide Master Gardener program office is developing:
a module that goes over the statewide policies and expectations, related to volunteerism with OSU and in the Master Gardener Program. This module is intended to serve as an orientation for new Master Gardener students, but will also serve as a good reminder/update for continuing Master Gardener volunteers. The module is required for all new Master Gardener trainees, and recommended / required (we haven’t settled on this, yet) every 2-3 years for continuing MG volunteers. This module will include information on:
What does it mean to be a MG: Representative of the University; Recognition of advanced training and study; Expectations for superior customer service and support
Required Paperwork: Code of Conduct, Conditions of Volunteer Service Form (every year), PD, OSU College of Ag Sciences CAREs document.
Our commitments to protecting children.
Criminal History Checks (every two years?): Why they are required. What happens during the Criminal History Check Process.
Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse: an abridged training from the Office of Youth Safety
Volunteer Service Hour Requirements: What counts as volunteer hours? How to record volunteer service hours. Why the volunteer hour reporting is important.
A module that grows the community education component of the Master Gardener Program. Master Gardeners learn sustainable horticulture from Oregon State University and extend this information to local communities by serving as volunteers community educators. The Volunteer Community Educator Curriculum helps prepare new and continuing volunteers for this role. It will be required for new trainees, as well as for recertification of continuing Master Gardener volunteers. We anticipate offering a menu of options that individuals can participate in to satisfy this requirement, most of which are one hour or less, in length.
Master Gardener volunteers who are active on the statewide or on local diversity, equity, and inclusivity committees can apply their work in these groups towards meeting the training or recertification requirement.
OSU Extension’s DEI training for volunteers (4 modules, about 1 hour of total time, in length: Introduction, Equity, Inclusivity, and Conclusion)
Recipes for Collaborative Communities course (from the Elevated Skills Training Series that was offered in 2021, through Thinkific)
Broadening Outreach with Community Partnerships (from the Elevated Skills Training Series that was offered in 2021, through Thinkific)
Webinar from OID: to be scheduled by and delivered through the statewide office.
OSU’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Celebration Keynote or associated events
Events organized by the Master Gardener DEI Task Force Events committee
Dates to Remember
Ongoing, Second Tuesday of Each Month: Level Up, Growing Oregon Gardeners Series. Remaining classes for 2021 include: native plants (September), climate change (October), and garden soils (November). The series will return in January of 2022.
September 12-17, 2021. International Master Gardener Conference: September 12-17, 2021. Registration has closed, but perhaps I will see some of you there?
September 25, 2021: Fall Master Gardener BioBlitz: One fall day to document garden biodiversity in Oregon. Join us with your camera on September 25, 2021 to capture the insects, birds, wild plants, and other wild organisms in your garden or a nearby community or public garden space.
Save the Date!: November 10, 2021: The Extension MG DEI Task Force Events Subcommittee is hosting a screening of the film ‘Gather’, at 7pm on November 10th. A 30 minute panel discussion will follow, featuring Dr. David Lewis of OSU. More details will be forthcoming. Please share this Save the Date with Your Volunteers.
May 15, 2022: Master Gardener Awards nominations are due.
Announcements
Culture of Gardening Blog. If you and your Master Gardeners have not yet seen the new ‘Culture of Gardening’ blog, please take a look. We have been receiving a lot of positive feedback from diverse communities, who are happy to broaden their understanding of diverse identities and cultures . . . and how these identities intersect with plants and gardening:
Master Gardener Photography Contest: Please make sure to communicate with your Master Gardeners colleagues about the fun opportunity to participate in our first ever photography contest, currently open for submissions, through October 25th. Now is a great time to capture in photos the bounty of the summer harvest, the beauty of our demonstration gardens, and all of the hard work MGs are putting in in the community.
Recruitment Materials: Priorities, Values, Mission, Vision One Pager (double-sided): You can learn more about the Master Gardener Program on our website, and can share this information with prospective Master Gardener volunteers who want to know more. We also have a one-pager (double sided) that can be used to talk about our program.
We will be calling for applications for the 2nd Cohort of the Master Gardener DEI Task Force. The call for applications will go out in early 2022, with new members joining the cohort in April 2022.
This is a question Master Gardeners get asked a lot. We can answer that question in words, but better yet, let’s answer that question in photos.
OSU Extension Master Gardeners are invited to participate in a statewide photography challenge and contest. • How can you capture in photos what you love about the Master Gardener program? • How would you show others what you see about being a Master Gardener? There will be prizes!
When: The contest is now open. Submissions will be accepted until September 30, 8 p.m. Winners will be announced on October 25th.
There are three categories:
The places of Master Gardeners: beauty shots of demonstration and learning gardens. What would you put on the cover of a travel magazine featuring demonstration gardens?
The people: Master Gardeners in action, fulfilling the program’s mission and vision.
Program priorities: photos depicting any of our eight program priorities: -Sustainable gardening skills -Plant and insect identification and education -Local food -Native species -Adaptive and accessible gardening -Climate change -Cultural connection -Soil health
Rules and Usage:
Photos must be taken during 2020-2021;
Photos must be taken by current OSU Extension Master Gardener volunteers;
Photos submitted become the rights of the OSU Extension Master Gardener program and may be used in program communications (website and in print). They will not be shared for use by any third party other than OSU. Photographers will be given photo credit.
Master Gardeners sign photo use waivers as part of the program, but have the option to opt out. Please obtain approval for the use of their image. For people in any of your photos that *not* Master Gardeners, photo releases must be obtained and submitted. Please use the Model release form;
Participants can enter up to five photos per category (total of 15);
All entries are to be digital and cannot exceed 10MB each.
How to Submit:
Fill out the form, upload your photos, include any photo releases:
Prizes: First-place winners in each of the three categories will receive signed, autographed copies of the books Trees to Know, and Shrubs to Know. In addition, an OSU Foods of Oregon reusable tote.
All second-place winners in each of the three categories will receive signed, autographed copies of the book Trees to Know. In addition, an OSU Foods of Oregon reusable tote.
Judging: Judges will be a small panel of staff from the statewide program, Extension communications, and Master Gardener volunteers.
Tips for taking photos for the Master Gardener photo contest
Equipment: You don’t need to own expensive nor professional photography equipment to take great photos. Current mobile phone technology is great! It’s how you capture the moment!
How to take great photos of people: Photography style suggestions from OSU Extension provide good examples:
Some things to keep in mind:
Shoot in high resolution mode;
Landscape and vertical images are welcome;
Photograph people the way they see themselves;
Capture people in their element, with clues about who they are surrounding them in the space;
Try different set-ups and arrangements: different size groups and different angles and directions;
What stops you in your tracks and makes you take in a scene? Capture that;
Different angles, from on the ground, or from directly above, make for interesting photos.
Culture and detail: Sometimes subtle details can show diversity, such as a religious head covering, assistive device or a gender-inclusive sign on a restroom door. Who the camera is focused on can also send a message. Who are you centering your camera on? Photography is a great way to explore all of the people and places of the Master Gardener program. Representation matters.
How to take great photos of a place: Think big picture: • Try using portrait mode if you have it available on your phone; • Panoramic mode can be a great way to create a wide or tall shot of a space; • Drone photography? If you’re a drone photographer and familiar with drone regulations, what about a photo like this or this? Now there’s a challenge.
Ideas for photographs that represent our program priorities:
These might be photos of people, or of places, or of both! How would you show our program priorities to someone asking about the Master Gardener program?
Some examples (but use your imagination)…
Sustainable gardening skills: Master Gardeners working together on just about any project in a garden.
Plant and insect identification and education: a workshop of people looking at insects, artful photographs of insects or plants submitted to a plant clinic, hands exchanging a plant or insect for identification, Master Gardeners working together at plant clinic, macro (close-up) photograph of a really interesting and common insect (or one we should all be on the lookout for)
Soil health: making compost, compost set ups in a demonstration garden, earthworms in a gardener’s hands, digging, mulch spreading.
Lighting
Outdoor lighting is going to be your friend;
Avoid using flash or shooting indoors if possible;
Seek “magic light” or “golden hour”—this kind of light occurs early in the morning, or in the evening, when the angle of the sun makes gardens and people glow, filling the photograph with warm light;
Watch for shadows that obscure faces or key elements of your subjects.
Photo Adjustments Please don’t use date stamps on your photos, watermarks, frames, or additional art or text on your photos.
