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Josephine County Master Gardeners

Photo credit: Lynn Ketchum (Cropped from original)
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A legacy of service to the Josephine County community

For many years, Master Gardener volunteers in Josephine County provided important programming and services to the community. These included:

  • Seeds of Spring, an annual home gardening conference featuring approximately twenty gardening related classes presented by top experts from the Northwest.
  • Seed to Supper is a free, comprehensive beginning gardening course that gives novice, adult gardeners the tools and confidence they need to successfully grow a portion of their own food on a limited budget. Participants learned about building healthy soil; planning, planting, and caring for their garden; and harvesting and using their bounty.
  • Sustainable gardening speaker series provided free one-hour seminars on gardening-related topics.
  • Young Master Gardener Program, a partnership with Josephine Community Libraries. Its purpose was to expand and enrich children's knowledge about plants, gardening and biology with stories, songs and hands-on activities. Books related to the topic, both fiction and nonfiction, were used to illustrate, explain and entertain. OSU certified Master Gardeners conducted the learning sessions at the Grants Pass branch. The ten-year-old YMG program was delivered once a month from September to May. Offered at the Grants Pass Library, it served two age groups: five and under and six and over.
  • Junior Master Gardener Program is an international youth gardening program of the university cooperative Extension network. The program engaged children in novel, “hands-on” group and individual learning experiences that provide a love of gardening, develop an appreciation for the environment and cultivate the mind. Thank you to the Oregon Department of Education and Farm to School for supporting this work.
  • The Josephine County School Garden program is designed to introduce gardening to young students using a hands-on approach. School gardens help reinforce classroom instructions while providing an engaging, healthy activity that promotes team building and community sense. Master Gardener volunteers helped plan, maintain, and educate youth in school gardens around the county.
  • Plant clinics with volunteers were available to answer plant questions year-round.

Master Gardeners are across Oregon

The Oregon State University Extension Master Gardener™ program educates Oregonians about the art and science of growing and caring for plants. We are in 27 counties across the state, and train thousands of Master Gardener volunteers. OSU Extension Master Gardeners are volunteer educators, neighbors, and on-the-ground researchers who serve their community with solid training in science-based, sustainable gardening and a love of lifelong learning.

Learn about the statewide Master Gardener program
Photo by Stephen Ward (Cropped from original)

OSU Extension is committed working with Josephine County residents and elected officials with the intent to restore vital local funding through the service district. With a few exceptions based on funding source and legislative requirements, Extension cannot assign faculty to or support programs in or for Josephine County. That means no Master Gardener volunteer hours logged in the community after the closure of the OSU Extension office may count toward the annual service hours required for recertification as a Master Gardener. However, current Master Gardener volunteers can remain engaged with the program and maintain certification by service to the statewide program.

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