GARDEN VOICE

Thanks to our 2017 officers, project chairs and co-chairs for helping to get us where we are today. And, thanks to

those that have stepped up to new roles for 2018 for your commitment and dedication to our Master Gardener pro-

gram. You are all very much appreciated. 2017 was a busy year with events held around the state including our new

District Dig In’s, four Annuals to Perennials, four Advanced Trainings and many other events across the state. These

programs will continue in 2018. New this year is ‘Master Gardener Mondays’ which is available the fourth Monday of

each month via Zoom. These sessions will provide information on current events and programs and will include a

Q&A session with Janet.

Also, a new item is the Master Gardener/Consumer Horticulture Endowed Chair Initiative. This plan is necessary

to maintain the Master Gardener program at the current level for the long term. Our short-term goal is to raise $100,000 by October 2018

with the long-term goal being $2M over the next four to five years. I believe this is absolutely achievable. Just think, if 3,000 Master Garden-

ers gave $25 that would be $75,000. Some ways you can help make this a reality are: donating, no amount is too small; providing names

and contact information of those that may want to contribute; corporate sponsorships, annual pledges and employer matching gift programs.

More information will be shared soon including a Frequently Asked Questions page. Brian Helms, director, stakeholder relations, 501 671-

2156, bhelms@uaex.edu is available to answer your questions. County 76 is about working together to support statewide and local master

gardener programs.

The more we work together, the more we can accomplish for our communities and our counties and the stronger the master gardener

program will be. Join us at our next meeting, Tuesday, April 24, 10 – 3, at the Little Rock State Office, and share your ideas and suggestions.

What creative/innovative ideas are working in your county?

Connect. Learn. Grow. Be a part of County 76. Linda

A message from our president:

Master Gardeners Project Receive USA Today Readers Choice National Award

January 2018

In This Issue:

Advanced Training

Project Reports

Superteam Ordinary

Volunteers

Events, Workshops,

and Classes

A Note from Janet

February Gardening Ideas

Zoom

Officers and New Member

“County 76 is the advisory board

for the Arkansas Master Gardeners.

It is a volunteer organization pro-

moting volunteer horticulture educa-

tion and service to the community.

Members are graduates of the Ar-

kansas Master Gardener program

administrated by the University of

Arkansas Cooperative Extension

Service.”

County 76 Newsletter Volume 21 Number 1

In the contest in USA Today Readers Choice Award, voters selected

The Old Mill as second choice in Arkansas. The North Little Rock at-

traction with a Master Gardener project was second only to Buffalo

National River. It was ahead of other wonderful attractions such as

Crystal Bridges and Petit Jean State Park. On-line voting took place

over several weeks, and I am so happy that our Master Gardener site

and Central Arkansas attraction is so valued by Arkansans.

ADVANCED MASTER GARDENER TRAINING

Have you been a Master

Gardener for 3 years or more

and want to learn more?

Maybe you have always been

interested in herbs but have

only received one hour of in-

structions on them. Maybe

you love butterflies, but don’t

know which plants are best

for which butterflies or you

want to know more about

how to raise a caterpillar into

a butterfly. Advanced Master

Gardener Trainings go in to

more depth on a number of

topics. Not only do you learn,

but you have the opportunity

to meet other Master Gar-

deners from all over the state and earn levels of Advanced

Master Gardener status. Advanced Master Gardener Train-

ing may be just what you are need.

Is your County looking for a project that will benefit not

only your county but people from all over the state? Do you

have a well-known specialist or Master Gardener who enjoys

teaching others? Is your county too small to host a state-

wide convention, but you would really like to open your coun-

ty projects up for others to see? If you answered yes to these

questions ,then, hosting an Advanced Master Gardener

Training may be the answer. (Joyce Mendenhall)

Project Reports Communications: We have asked for photo entries for the 2019 Master

Gardener calendar and have received 5 entries. We are in process of

updating the county agent and new Master Garden President list, and

we are contacting the speakers on the Speakers Bureau to see if they

want to remain active, We will post an update when we have a complet-

ed lists. We are working on the electronic state map with members pho-

tos and a short list for signing in to “Zoom”. The new format of the Gar-

den Voice has been a success. (Jan Stewart)

Fundraising: Project members reviewed several new potential products,

which have been recommended by MG’s, to offer at fundraising events.

These included knee pads, folding garden kneeling pad/seat, packable

Boonie sun hat, mini shovel, garden knives, pruning saws, MG label sun

block and more. The first fundraising event of 2018 raised $355 in

Washington County. At the County 76 meeting, attendees purchased MG

vests and tools, adding $432. We are still hopeful to get approval from

the U of A to enable credit card sales. Many thanks to Janice Dickerson

and Glenda Bell, who are sharing the Fundraising assistant chair position

this year. We send out good wishes for a speedy recovery to James

Lamb, one of the “fundraiser faithfuls”. We need James back in good

shape for the southern area sales events! (Ouida Wright)

RRR: Members of the RRR project play a vital role by serving on sub-

committee teams to conduct the business of our project. Since our Coun-

ty 76 October 2017 meeting, the following items are under way or have

been finalized. 2018 Award Nomination:. Twenty MG programs submit-

ted 47 nominations to the “Arkansas Master Gardener Awards Program.”

Judges across the United States are currently reviewing and scoring

nominations. Award recipients will be announced at the 2018 Arkansas

MG Conference in Fort Smith. The quality of the nominations has contin-

ued to improve each year. The 2019 State Award Package will be sent

out in May on Constant Contact, and it can also be accessed on the MG

website under Awards. Annuals to Perennials Programs: The focus of the

“Annuals to Perennials (A to P) programs” is on new master gardeners.

Master Gardeners completing basic training from August 1, 2017 -July 1,

2018, their mentors, and county agents are eligible to participate. The

dates, times, and locations of our 2018 (A to P) programs have been

finalized and will be posted on the website. Registration and speaker

information will be shared later. (Debbie Howell)

PNG: The PNG Committee used the time that we had to complete the list

of speakers and make changes in the subjects on the agenda so that

these would work better. We asked and were accepted by several peo-

ple at the meeting to speak and were told that they would be glad to

speak at 2018 PNG. It always seems we never do much when we put it

in writing, but we work hard and throw out suggestions the whole time

we are in session. (Joan Howard)

Advanced Training:. Upcoming advanced trainings were discussed.

Drew County will be hosting “Growing Tomatoes with Emphasis on Heir-

loom Varieties” on June 21 and 22. Other possible trainings are in the

works including “Salad Tables” (Lonoke), “Recycle and Re-

use” (Crittenden), and “Bringing Nature Home” with Doug Tallamy

(Baxter). The committee also discussed suggested topics for future train-

ings and the guidelines and forms for hosting. The following information

is now or soon will be available on the website: Guideline for Host Coun-

ties, Checklist for Hosting Advanced Training, Mentor Checklist for Host

County, Cover Letter Template and Sample Form. Once the training is

opened for registration, the following two forms will be available in fill-in

format: Application for AT class, Part One and Part Two, Registration

Form Template and Sample Form. (Joyce Mendenhall)

Building an engaged team is not just about finding the right people; it’s also

about keeping them motivated. For non-profits, that challenge becomes even big-

ger when working with volunteers. It can be difficult to find a model that works for

your team as well as your volunteers, and an unmotivated volunteer can waste

time and money, while a motivated volunteer can mobilize resources to their maxi-

mum potential.

Jaime Ulloa might have your answer, allowing you to build capacity by turning

ordinary volunteers into invested leaders.

Twelve years ago, Ulloa started volunteering — not in his native Peru, but in the

United States, where he was a short-term English student. Upon returning to his

country, he realized there was no culture of volunteerism in Peru despite the nota-

bly higher levels of poverty. He never volunteered in Peru because no one had ever

asked for his services. Ulloa used that insight to start Asociación Trabajo Voluntario

(Voluntary Work Association), which has since helped nonprofits in Peru build vol-

unteer capacity and introduced the idea of volunteerism to dozens of corporations.

But simply building a sustainable business model wasn’t enough for Ulloa. Through

his experience organizing volunteer programs, Ulloa noticed that, like employees,

volunteers come in all shapes and sizes. There are the one-time helping hands who

build a home for a low-income family they never meet. There are volunteers who

contribute one skill set or another to a non-profit in a longer-term relationship.

There’s a third kind of volunteers, too: The individuals who truly get to know a com-

munity and take the initiative to design their own projects. These are the people

who go beyond the parameters of a project they are given, learn the complexities of

a problem, identify a solution and then lead others to take action. In other words,

these are entrepreneurial volunteers. From this group, some then go on to become

agents of change. Ulloa asked himself, “How can we turn ordinary volunteers into

extraordinary agents of change?”

1. Help volunteers to reflect on the context of their work. Volunteers need to reflect

on their experiences and draw their own conclusions. If a volunteer who builds a

house for a family talks to that family and finds out that beyond housing problems,

they are also facing lack of employment and healthcare, then that volunteer has

come upon a nugget of realization on his own and will be more committed to partic-

ipate in a project addressing these problems in that community.

2. Change attitudes about what’s possible. This is all about breaking paradigms. A

volunteer who gives his time to help out with one event might not think he could

ever go into a community, define a problem, and design his own solution. However,

if you show him a peer or co-worker who has developed a project that has achieved

meaningful impact, then he begins to ask the question, “Why can’t I?”

3. Relate to the volunteer’s identity. Encourage volunteers to participate in activi-

ties that reflect their identity. For example, someone who loves to run will be more

invested in leading a project that promotes running among teenagers to instill lead-

ership skills and endurance.

4. Optimize the flow of volunteer assignments: According to the concept of flow,

people are the most productive and satisfied when they are given work that is chal-

lenging but not overwhelming to them. In order to optimize the volunteer experi-

ence, volunteers should not be assigned a project so complicated that it will frus-

trate them or so simple that it will bore them. Volunteer tasks should be just chal-

lenging enough to keep volunteers engaged.

Ulloa believes there are dormant agents of change everywhere who just need to be

awakened. Through his new model — which creates a pathway for volunteers to

grow as citizens — he hopes to catalyze that change on a larger scale.

Written by Dianna Bai, graduate student at Johns Hopkins SAIS and Ashoka USA

Ventures intern. Forbes, July 3, 2012

Superteam - Ordinary Volunteers

Master Gardener and Horticulture Events

February 2018

1 - Registration for 2018 MG Conference begins (information found on MG ONLY portion of our website

that is password protected)

2 - Ag Expo, Lawrence Co

4 - Horticulture Garden Club, Jonesboro, AR

9 - 10 - Jefferson County Home & Garden Show, Pine Bluff, AR. 30th Annual Home & Garden

Show, Pine Bluff Convention Center, Time: 9-a.m.-5:00 p.m. on Friday, 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. on Satur-

day, Contact: 870.247.1177

Admission: Free Public Event Information Page

20 - Countdown to Spring Gardening Seminar, Jonesboro, AR

Event Flyer

26 - MGMonday 9:30 – 10:30 Zoom

March 2018

2 - 4 Arkansas Flower & Garden Show, Little Rock

10 - Dirt Friends Festival—El Dorado, College Avenue Church of Christ, El Dora

do, 9 a.m. to noon. Contact: 870.863-4375

10 - Janet B. Carson Scholarship deadline

12 - District Dig In, Forrest City (10-2)

16 - Greene County Spring Gardening Seminar

River Valley Lawn-Ft. Smith

19 - District Dig In, El Dorado (10-2)

Developing an Ozark Green Thumb-Baxter County

26 - Spring Seminar– Hempstead County

26 - MGMonday 9:30 – 10:30 Zoom

26 - District Dig In, Harrison (10-2)

April 2018

3 - County 76 Board meeting (10-2)

7- Plant Sale—Hot Spring County

Learning Fields

14 - Nevada County “A Time to Till”

20 - Planting Your Bloomers - Cross County

21 - Gardening A-Z, Izard County

Plant Sale - Saline County

23 - MGMonday 9:30 – 10:30 Zoom

24 - County 76 Quarterly Meeting, Little Rock

28 - Plant Sales: Baxter, Benton, Craighead, Drew, Montgomery Counties

February Gardening Ideas

It is time to beginning the cool season vegetable garden.

Snow peas, English peas, spinach and more can be plant-

ed.*

Prune hybrid tea roses.*

Prune fruit tree, grape vines and blueberry plants.*

Use a dormant oil on fruit trees and ornamentals with in-

sect problems.*

Pull or spray winter weeds before they bloom, especially

sticker weed, spurwood.*

Prune summer blooming shrubs including crape myrtles,

altheas,buddleias and summer blooming spireas. *

Overwintered tropical should be sheared back.*

Cut back and divide ornamental grasses.*

Use caution with outside plants if they are frozen as they

break easily.*

Start seeds indoors for tomatoes, peppers and eggplants.*

* Janet Carson, U of A Master Gardener Calendar,

February 2018

A Note from Janet Carson

Hard to believe we have already made it through a whole month in 2018!

Time is flying by with so many activities. We have gone live with 2018 MG

conference registration where 114 people registered in the first day! We are

live with registration for District Dig Ins which are happening in March in

Forrest City, El Dorado and Harrison. In addition to our events, there are

horticulture seminars or field days all over this state. It is hard to keep up,

but my how gratifying to see how much interest we have in gardening!

We are also in full swing with our first ever online MG training class. We are talking to class

members via chat, email and other online options. Each new trainee has been assigned a

mentor, and Mimi did an outstanding job with mentor training. To recap for folks, counties

now have three options to deliver basic master gardener training—regular face-to-face with at

least 20 new volunteers in the class, via zoom in Oct/Nov. in a county setting, or in the comfort

of home at your computer in Jan-March. Counties can do one or all three options, the choice is

up to the county. We have had questions about merging the systems, but I think since two are

new to us, let’s get the feedback and statistics from them, before we try muddying the water

with other options.

We still have room on our Rhine Study tour August 20-27. We just added some outstand-

ing garden add-ons, including the world’s largest flower auction in Amsterdam which I have

always wanted to see. If you want to look at options and join us, call or email Michelle at

michelle@learncationtravel.com

Phone: 253.509.0865

I hope to see you at events across the state, and I also hope you have time to get outside

and work in your gardens. It has been colder than normal this year, and we do have some

damage, but good weather is on the horizon and gardening season has begun!

Janet

Master Gardener Mondays

Master Gardeners and County Agents:

Julie Treat and I are becoming addicted to Zoom! In order to take our zooming one step further, we are going to hold a Zoom town-hall type meeting every month on the 4th Monday when possible. We will use this one hour session to talk about cur-rent issues, talk about upcoming events and answer your questions. You will have our undivided attention along with everyone else who logs on.

Here is the link and instructions to log on.

Join from your computer at this link:

https://uaex.zoom.us/j/739109634

It will be a new way for us to conduct a meeting too, so let's try it and see how it goes. We have 300 slots available via our extension zoom account, so as this gains in popularity we may need to do group sessions. But let's test the waters and talk Monday! I hope to see or hear you then!

- Janet

Janet B. Carson

Extension Horticulture Specialist

University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service

2301 S. University Avenue

Little Rock, AR 72204501-671-2174/ Fax 501-671-2303

jcarson@uaex.edu

Zoom

Welcome New Members– January 23, 2018

Jo Wise- Pulaski County

Garden Voice Editor—Jan Stewart

County 76 Officers President

Linda Soffer

Vice President

Patsy Louk

Secretary

Mary Wells

Treasurer

David Anderson

Assistant Treasurer

Past President

Jane Burrow

County 76 Agent

Janet Carson

County 76 Coordinator

Julie Treat

The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its

Extension and Research programs and services without regard to race,

color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age,

disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, or any other le-

gally protected status, and is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity

We welcome new ideas and thoughts regarding the

Garden Voice for future issues. Please email me:

j.stewart25@yahoo.com