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Meet Brad Pendergraft, Master Gardener Volunteer

Can you remember the moment you decided to become a gardener, or when you realized you had become one? 

When I was a young kid in the Texas panhandle my parents bought an extra strip of land beside the house we built for a garden. My Mom was the gardener and my dad did the rototilling; pretty traditional, but it was the 1950’s. Later we moved to Gunnison, Colorado where there had been a frost recorded on every day of the year, so as you can imagine gardening was difficult there, but my Mom did it. Seeing her perseverance over the years even in unpredictable conditions was motivating. I later decided I wanted to become a homesteader. 

What tool can’t you do without in the garden / what is a garden invention or plant variety you wish would be developed?  

When I first started gardening I bought tools from a company called “Smith and Hawkens”.  They imported forged tools from England. I love them. I fork my entire 40’ by 60’ garden using the four-tine digging fork and their long-handle shovel is my favorite shovel.

What plant do you wish you’d never planted in your garden?

Tomatillos are a mixed bag as much of life is a mix of good and bad. I love serrano tomatillo salsa, but if you compost the fruits of the tomatillos you end up with baby tomatillo plants everywhere, coming up like a carpet covering the garden beds. On the plus side, the plants add organic matter to the compost. 

I tie my tomatillos with bailing wire and stay vigilant about where the seeds end up.

Read more Meet Brad Pendergraft, Master Gardener Volunteer

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Meet Laurie Gilbert-Smiley, Master Gardener Volunteer

How did you come to be a gardener?

I had the privilege of being raised on a working dairy farm. My father raised most of the forage and also had a large vegetable garden. My mother devised many creative incentives to entice us to help in the garden, but they were never quite worth it… to this day, I deeply abhor a long handled hoe! My brother Joe threatened to turn my dad in for “transporting toxic waste” (garden produce). I wanted to call in an airstrike to vaporize the plot! Then, somewhere in my 30’s, a miracle occurred! I found I loved working the dirt and growing plants.

Nancy (left) and Laurie (right) weeding the pollinator garden
Nancy (left) and Laurie (right) weeding the Daun Martin-Poole Memorial Pollinator Garden at CCE

What is a unique project or endeavor you’ve taken on in your garden?

My gardening friends like to tease me about my love for heavy equipment. When I was learning to run the mini excavator, I started in the garden. It was a nice big “safe” space to learn to handle the controls! My joke is that I weeded the garden with an excavator! 

What benefits do you gain from gardening?

Dr. Chris Lowry, from Bristol University in the UK, has published interesting research on a non pathogenic soil bacterium called Mycobacterium vaccae. Gardeners encounter it while working with the soil, and it triggers an immune response. This response increases serotonin production, which elevates mood, and decreases stress and anxiety. To put it simply: working in the dirt makes you happy. Read more Meet Laurie Gilbert-Smiley, Master Gardener Volunteer

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Master Gardener Volunteer Program year in review

The Master Gardener Volunteer (MGV) program has accomplished so much in the past year, bolstered by the addition of a newly trained cohort last fall. Together with the veteran MGVs, they devoted over 1,000 hours to serving their community, strengthening the program, and increasing their knowledge. 570 of these hours were in direct service – teaching classes, writing articles, tabling, and answering questions from gardeners across the county. This group is tearing it up!

In May CCE held a Grow and Preserve Open House at the Extension Learning Farm to kick off the growing season and highlight the MGV and Master Food Preserver programs. Dozens came out to the high tunnel to plant seeds to take home and consult with Master Gardener Volunteers.

Classes
Two new MGVs jumped right in to facilitate the Seed to Supper course for beginning gardeners, which we offered in Morristown this year. In addition to these 5 classes, MGVs taught or assisted at nine other classes throughout the year, including several in our Grow and Preserve Series where we paired growing classes with preservation classes in the Harvest Kitchen. New MGV Brad and Linda led classes on Tree Identification, and Annie taught about Planning for Year Round Blooms. Loni brought samples to a high school session on Edible Wild Plants, and several MGV co-presented about growing their favorite fresh herbs.

Linda C teaches about growing fresh herbs
Linda C teaches about growing fresh herbs at littleGrasse Community Farm.

Blog posts
Master Gardener Volunteers wrote a total of 15 Fruition posts, plus another five that I contributed. From testing garden soil to growing tomatoes to getting great blooms on indoor plants, these posts cover a lot of ground. In case you missed any,  click the Gardening and Homesteading topic under “Posts” to find them all.

Growline
The moderators of our garden hotline ”the Growline” spent 80 hours answering 135 inquiries, often undertaking research on a new topic and occasionally visiting a site to gather more information. Though this is likely an undercount, it’s valuable to have a record of so many of the topics of interest to area gardeners and homeowners.

Field trips
The Master gardeners loves to learn and really enjoys visiting farms and gardens as a group in addition to our monthly planning meetings. The veteran MGVs met the new cohort in December for a wreath making session at the Extension Learning Farm where the group also helped with maintaining the ornamental beds in the spring and Nick Hamilton-Honey guided us through an enlightening Diversity training. MGV make wreaths together in December 2022

In May, Janet Lomastro led a hands-on small-batch composting workshop in Potsdam, a technique many in the group are now experimenting with at home. Master Gardener Volunteers learn about Janet's composting technique Read more Master Gardener Volunteer Program year in review