So much has happened lately, and I'm way behind on my postings, so I'll start with this one first and try to catch up over the next few days.
Recently I've been taking a class in gardening. It's offered in each county and comes out from Purdue University through the local County Extension office. What a wonderful group of people, from the County Extension Agent who was kind and patient, and so very knowledgable, to all the terrific people taking the class. It was great fun just to be in a room full of other people who loved gardening, and all of us so intent on learning more about our particular interest within the gardening world.
All of us had a slightly different take on the whole thing, from those who lived in town and mostly container gardened, to a market seller sharpening her considerable skills, to flower fanatics, at least one lawn nut and several like me, who wanted to just grow better veggies.
I learned so much during that time, but at the end of the classes, we had to gear up for a test, and pass it. Now, it's been over 20 years since I've taken anything more taxing than a blood test, so I was a bit nervous about the whole prospect, then got a cold and spent most of the week leading up to that big moment sniffling over the book, reading and rereading the pages, then just hugging it and hoping to soak up the answers by osmosis.
There was a lot of very basic science information that's heavy stuff, like the 16 essential nutrients that a plant needs to grow that there was no way my brain was ever going to memorize. Lots more that's just common sense once you understand the processes, and lots of complex structures that are hard to remember. There were 70 questions, and many had multiple parts, but in the end, I passed! What a relief!
So I'm now officially a Master Gardening Trainee. Over the next year, I need to put in 35 hours volunteering to help other gardeners, and spend some time learning more, then I'll be a full fledged Master Gardener. I'm really looking forward to the experience. It'll be fun.
4 comments:
How AWESOME!! What an accomplishment! I think back on my plant classes at Clemson and remember them being hard! It's hard to learn all about their requirements and how they all behave differently. They truly are their own living breathing world. I can't wait to see what you turn out next year!!
Congrats!!!
Congratulations! Where do we sign up to volunteer to be 'other gardeners'?
Good job. And I get to reap the benefits.
The volunteer hours have to be spent teaching other gardeners what we've learned through public events, like tabling at a farmer's market or answering questions on the extension office's gardener's hotline. At the County Fair, they maintain a pioneer garden with turn of the century plantings and we dress in period costume and answer questions. All hours even have to be approved in advance by the head of the program.
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