Extension Sustainability – Master Gardening
By Alan on Mar 09 in Blog tagged Blake Thomas, Dennis Adamson, Extension Sustainability, gardening, Master, Master Gardener, Orchid, Paige Gardner, protect, Roslynn Brain PhD, The Family, threatened | Comments Off
Extension Sustainability
“… credible information and trainings fostering increased awareness and behavioral change to improve environmental, social, and economic conditions.”
Master Gardening
By: Dennis Adamson
Recently Alan recently received an e-mail from our friend Roslynn Brain, PhD, the Utah State University Sustainable Communities Extension Specialist.
You might remember an article I did on a presentation of hers for the Utah Master Gardener Conference in the fall of 2011. Go to:
https://thefamily.com/2011/11/09/sustainable-gardening-with-dennis-adamson/
In her recent e-mail she said, “I thought you may want to explore and do a write up about my new statewide website and social media regarding Utah State University Extension Sustainability. I have lots of fact sheets out now – and you can see many of them on each of the sub pages (land, air, food, water, and energy) Lot’s of interesting, exciting stuff!” The website is:
https://extension.usu.edu/sustainability
I went to the site and was impressed by all of the work that she and graduate assistant, Blake Thomas, working on his MS in Human Dimensions of Ecosystem Science and Management in the Department of Environment and Society at USU
and undergraduate research assistant, Paige Gardner, majoring in Art Education and minoring in Sustainable Systems are doing.
Just what is Extension Sustainability? The site explains it as: “… credible information and trainings fostering increased awareness and behavioral change to improve environmental, social, and economic conditions.”
“[It] is the capacity to improve environmental, economic and social conditions.”
“To live sustainably is to follow an ethic, not a rigid set of rules … a human matter, not exclusively an environmental one … it must include successful problem solving and objective measurement … energy and natural resources serve as its core basis. The most common misconception about sustainability is that it has to involve sacrifice and, in relation, that its main focus is on recycling and consuming less.”
One of the articles found on their home page was, “Local Land Trust Purchases 30 acres to Protect Threatened Orchid”. This was particularly interesting to me since the area that I live in used to have hundreds of acres of fruit farms. Now there are few orchards left. My city was famous for its fields of strawberries and the annual city celebration is called Strawberry Days. There are no longer any commercially producing strawberry fields in the city. All of the strawberries used in the strawberries & cream cups sold during the celebration have to be imported from outside the state.
Another project that Roslynn is the director is Utah-Farm-Chef-Fork.
http://extension.usu.edu/sustainability/htm/programs
She states that it is, “ a USDA Specialty Crop grant we received to train farmers and chefs about effective communication regarding local food sourcing.” When I searched for information on this program I found, “Join us at a Utah Farm-Chef-Fork farmer or chef/owner training and learn benefits as well as ways to overcome common barriers with sourcing locally, and develop a local-sourcing game plan to help your business. Receive Utah State University accredited Utah Farm-Chef-Fork certification for your completed efforts”. It has a place where interested individuals can click to register for free training.” There is one at Thanksgiving Point, where I am an Advanced Master Gardener, in April. I will see if Roslynn would allow me to attend to report on this initiative in a later blog.
Deuteronomy 30:9 ”The Lord thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand … in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good: for the Lord will again rejoice over thee for good…”
Dennis Adamson – Master Gardener
For The Family
Be A Master Gardner And Grow Your Own Produce. At Home!
By Alan on Apr 24 in Blog tagged cost, Family, food, garden, gardener, grow, herbs, home, Master, money, nutrition, organic, own, prices, Produce, save, small area, vegetables, why? corn soy beans | 10 Comments
This is Dennis Adamson, a Master Gardener to help “Strengthen The Family .”
This Monday I started my 2nd year of Advanced Master Gardener training. It is a 4 year follow-on to the Master Gardener program and has extensive requirements beyond that of the Master Gardener program. You have gotten to know me through my articles (links below) on my cold frame, greenhouse and tomatoes ripening in my workroom. I plan on writing a weekly gardening article for TheFamily to try to get each of you excited about the upcoming gardening season. Gardening can be one of the most rewarding hobbies that you can have. My grandchildren say that they like to come to my farm and pick the fruits and vegetables. My ‘farm’ is a 1/3 acre lot where I have maximized my growing space.
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Why garden? (Alan says, “We should all return to our roots”. Ha! )
In this Friday’s newspaper was an AP article by Christopher Rugaber and Jeannine Aversa showing how high food prices will soon spur inflation. Corn, soybeans, wheat and other grains have shot up since last summer. This raises the cost of feeding livestock which in turn raises the price of beef, poultry and dairy products. Bread and produce will also follow suit. Grocers who contained prices last year are expected to increase them this year. While most of us don’t have the land, time or energy to produce grain or livestock, we can grow fruit, herbs and vegetables, even if we live in apartments or have homes on small lots.
There are many other reasons, besides economics, to grow our own gardens:
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- ..Nutrition: studies have shown that our nutrition improves when we grow our own produce
- Exercise
- Gives us a sense of accomplishment and helps individual development
- Decreases stress
- Improves our environment
- Can ensure that our produce is grown organically, if so desired
- A positive way to bond with your children and spouse
- Helps build neighborhoods and communities, especially through shared excess produce or community gardens (yes, you too can learn to find hundreds of ways to use zucchini)
- Teaches children responsibility and how nature works
- Being out in nature has been found to increase our satisfaction with life
Isa. 51: 3 …”he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.”
Next week: Why it is important to know something about plant classification.
My mentor, Larry Sagers, says that there are only 2 kinds of people, “Those that are Master Gardeners and those that want to be Master Gardeners”. For those of you interested in the Master Gardener program, read the following:
The Master Gardener program was started by Washington State University in 1973 and is now found in all 50 US states and at last count in 3 Canadian provinces. The programs are usually administered by the county Extension Services. Utah County is fortunate to have 2 programs. The ones in Utah County start in September. The afternoon one is given at the Utah County Extension Service in Provo, UT under the direction of Adrian Hinton, the USU Extension Horticulturist. The evening program is at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, UT under the direction of Larry Sagers, the USU Extension Horticulture specialist at Thanksgiving Point. He also writes a weekly article on gardening for the Deseret News, a Salt Lake City newspaper and he has a garden program on KSL radio on Saturday mornings where individuals can call in to have their gardening questions answered. I did the Thanksgiving Point Master Gardener program in 2007.
The American Horticultural Society states: The Master Gardener program, conducted throughout the United States and Canada, is a two-part educational effort, in which avid gardeners are provided many hours of intense home horticulture training, and in return they “pay back” local university extension agents through volunteerism. Master Gardeners assist with garden lectures, exhibits, demonstrations, school and community gardening, phone diagnostic service, research, and many other projects.
Master Gardeners in Utah must complete 40 hours of classroom training, complete comprehensive worksheets and a final exam and do 40 hours of volunteer service to gain a certificate. The title is used only when providing unpaid service for the Extension Service or projects supported or approved by them. It is not intended for private gain or to promote a product, business or individuals. If you are interested in doing the Master Gardener program (no previous experience is needed, just a desire to learn more about gardening) contact your local Extension Service for the times and location of the closest ones to where you live.
Until next week,
Dennis Adamson
Master Gardner
For The Family
Links to Previous articles:
http://thefamily.com/2010/11/be-prepared-build-a-greenhouse/
http://thefamily.com/2010/11/greenhousecold-frame-follow-up/
http://thefamily.com/2010/11/greenhouse-and-cold-frame-update-its-winter/
http://thefamily.com/2011/01/lettuce-and-spinach-grown-during-winter-with-cold-frame-update/
