Coordinator’s Column

Hello Gardeners,

We have some awesome updates from the Cultivating Companions: Growing Together Through Plants program. Just this past week, we finished up in our Medford and Shady Cove Library locations. We had great feedback from participants saying they learned a lot, had fun, and met more people. Some participants found they were neighbors! We even had a request for a Part Two of the program.  The other programs in Butte Falls, Ruch, and Rouge River are currently underway.

The librarians have been happy to have more programs happening at their branches. Some even joined us for classes and got a chance to learn and have fun. The libraries are a great space for these hands-on activities that bring our program closer for the residents of Jackson County outside of the Medford hub. I hope we are able to continue and grow this partnership in the future.

As with any pilot program, it has not always been smooth sailing. For instance, we found out there was an error on the library website saying the class was full in Ruch, so we are hoping to have more late comers join us in that library. Those that did make it to Ruch were really excited to get out of the house and have a fun time learning about plants. The class on pressed flowers did require some troubleshooting and may take a little more brainstorming to perfect, as I found out contact paper is not the easiest to work with.

With feedback from this year’s participants, we will be able to apply for more grant funding opportunities to keep the program going in more libraries. There are many directions this program could take to reach more people in the county. The grant we received this round was specifically for programming with older adults and focused on rural areas. I am excited to see what is next for this program.

A massive thank you to all the Master Gardener volunteers that made Cultivating Companions: Growing Together Through Plants possible. Thank you all for sticking with me through the maybes and unknowns as we got this new program off the ground. Many of the volunteers have said the classes are a blast of fun to teach.  If you are interested in volunteering with Cultivating Companions, keep an eye out next year for more opportunities!

 

 

 

 

Shady Cove Cultivating Companions Crew