At our first class, we were giver a folder with a name tag attached with the logo of the extension service, our names and STUDENT printed on it. We’re expected to wear every time we’re doing something official so that the people there have an idea of how much instructions we need. We get a new one with INTERN on it after we finish the class and until November. Then, when we have fulfilled all our requirements, we get one that says MASTER GARDENER.

The folder contained the schedule I already showed you, a page of certification requirements, a schedule of events for the coming year, and some basic information about the paid employees and committee heads.

We got a brief welcome from most of those people over the course of our 2.5 hour class.

After introductions, we got more detailed information about what is expected from us and how to meet those requirements.

Certification requires 35 hours of education from our training classes. 5 hours of education from field trips, videos, guest lectures, final exam review and any extra training workshops we participate in. In addition, we’re expected to complete 40 volunteer hours by November. 16 hours in the demo garden, 8 hours at any of various events (plant sales, farmers’ market booth, 4-H helper, etc.), 12 hours on the Infoline and 4 hours doing what we enjoy the most.

Annual recertification requires 10 hours of Education and 30 hours Volunteering, 9 of those in the Demo Garden and/or Infoline.

We watched this little video about the Extension service.

Then, we got a tour of the demonstration gardens. To my frustration, the gardens are so well labeled that they didn’t feel like we need a map. So, I can’t show you exactly how it’s arranged. There are all sorts of small garden areas, shade, crevice, water, bog, vegetable, herb, zen, serenity, pollinator, birds, natives, succulents….

I’m trying to remember if there are any other types specified. I’ll try to do better when I’m not in a crowd of 30 people. That should be easy to do because we will be doing mandatory work in each of 4 zones once a month for 4 months. That way, we learn some about each area and don’t pick favorites without knowing all the choices that are actually there.

When we went back inside, we learned to use the intranet. We will be logging our hours, using the calendar to let committee heads know when to expect us to come help out and log Infoline calls there.

“Infoline” includes checking the emails for home grower questions in addition to answering phone calls. We DON’T answer farming calls or email. Those go directly to the agent. We work with community gardens, schools and household growers, both inside and out. But, small scale.

We have to avoid giving brand recommendations, too. We can say “A copper based fungicide will treat that rust on your peach trees. You can get it at any of the farm and garden stores. You want to look for this strength and apply it this often.” But we can’t say “Get Ortho Coppercide at Lowe’s and use that to treat the rust on your peach trees.”

It can never look like the Extension Service is advertising any product.

I think that’s all the high spots. Next week, it’s Plant ID and Botany.