Oregon Master Gardener

At our JCMGA Annual Picnic and the OMGA Joy of Gardening event, we recognized a number of outstanding people for dedication to the organization and we highlighted their hard work.  JCMGA has a Nominations Committee who gathered the names of qualified candidates for each of the categories listed below.  They decided on the final nominee list and then completed the nomination paperwork for OMGA. I want to thank the Nominations Committee for all their hard work: Colet Allen, Kathy Apple, Pam Hillers, and Barbara Low. Grace Florjancic was also a main contributor to our nomination forms.  Just to let you know: when we selected the County Growing and Belonging Award, we kept it a secret from Colet.

CONGRATULATIONS to the recipients of these

well-deserved awards and recognitions.

 

• Oregon Master Gardeners Association Longevity Recognition
  • 20 Years of Exceptional Service
    • Virgina Brown
    • Elaine Hamlin
    • Barbara Turner
  • 30 Years of Exceptional Service
    • JoAnn Dixon
    • Marjorie Neal

 

• Jackson County 2024 Master Gardener of the Year

               Susan Koenig 

Susan has been a regular presenter on the Medford Channel 12 KDRV-TV “In The Garden” weekly episodes for JCMGA. She has been co-chair for the Master Gardener “Winter Dreams-Summer Gardens” educational fundraiser each fall, and was a coordinator for our “Spring Garden Fair” each year before covid shut us down. Susan found an expert from the community to help members work on a business plan for our organization. She has served as president elect, president, and past-president. Susan writes articles for our “Garden Beet” monthly newsletters and, for the last three years, has provided educational gardening expertise leading OLLI classes as she represented JCMGA with Southern Oregon University.  Susan is also a part of the JCMGA Speakers Bureau and presents on a variety of gardening issues.  The year after she earned her Master Gardener certification she became the Apprentice Coordinator, bringing healthy treats for break time and coordinating different speakers for new students working in the gardens. She has been the Grant Application Administrator, finding and writing justifications to corporations for funding several projects. She has been a leader for many events such as our summer picnics and class graduations.  Susan Koenig is a remarkable volunteer worker for the Jackson County Master Gardener Association. She is dedicated to the art and science of gardening and excels with strong communication and research skills.

 

• Jackson County 2024 Behind the Scenes Master Gardeners

                Keltie Nelson

Keltie is a long-time member of the JCMGA.  She is always available to answer questions and provide help as needed.  She is a key person on the Marketing & Technology Working Group and a Mail Chimp guru.  Keltie has served as the JCMGA Assistant Treasurer and is currently the JCMGA Treasurer.  She has a firm hand on the budgetary aspects of the JCMGA and helps us to understand the financial documents so that we can make informed decisions. For years Keltie has been our go to person to help us with securing volunteers for our JCMGA events.  With her financial knowledge, JCMGA was able to make our budget.  Keltie may not be the face the county sees teaching a class, but she has supported our outreach efforts in essential ways. Keltie has kept up with communications about all our volunteer opportunities and social gatherings while also playing a role in managing the finances. She juggles many aspects that are not always seen or recognized but vital to the organization’s function.  Keltie Nelson has been an integral part of keeping JCMGA moving forward and helping the organization to accomplish its goals.

 

 

• Jackson County 2024 Growing and Belonging

          Colet Allen

Colet has been the leading force on the JCMGA Board for promoting inclusivity at all of our events and upcoming projects.  She has encouraged us to stretch our viewpoints to improve what we are doing in providing gardening education that includes underserved groups. Colet makes sure that we don’t forget the many groups that make up our community, including seniors and people with disabilities. Colet is someone who encourages us to do better and provides possible avenues for increasing our outreach.  Colet has served on the JCMGA Board for several years as Member-at-Large and this year was our OMGA Representative.  Colet Allen has been instrumental in moving our organization forward toward increased inclusivity in JCMGA as well as OMGA.

 

• 2024 State Master Gardener of the Year Nominee for Jackson County

                     Marcie Katz 

Marcie Katz, my nomination for Master Gardener of the Year, is Jackson County’s version of the Energizer Bunny!  2023 found COVID receding and Jackson County Master Gardeners working to resurrect activities.  Marcie was JCMGA Board President as well as Demonstration Gardens chair, Wanda Hauser Garden GEM, Garden Apprentice Coordinator, Garden Enhancement Committee member, and Practicum mentor.  She co-chaired the first Spring Garden Fair held at the Southern Oregon Research and Extension Service Center when the Jackson County Fairgrounds no longer was a feasible location.  In 2024, Marcie is Past-President, and continues as Demonstration Gardens chair, Wanda Hauser Garden GEM, Garden Enhancement Committee member, and Spring Garden Fair co-chair.  In addition to her tireless hours on committees and Practicum mentoring, Marcie selflessly stepped up to fill the void left by two leaders in our association who had family health emergencies. She took on leading an additional practicum and purchasing the supplies needed for the practicums.  She is a resource for a myriad of details, and can be seen weed whacking all over the JCMGA gardens. And the best part? Marcie Katz is friendly (we rarely see her without a smile on her face,) helpful, and supportive.

 

 

• 2024 State Behind the Scenes Jackson County Nominee

                            Virginia Brown 

Virginia Brown, 2004 Master Gardener, became a Practicum mentor in 2012 when the hands-on propagation course was first introduced. When one of the co-chairs resigned, she volunteered to step into the position despite working full-time.  Virginia has served as the (almost) silent partner, spending hours planning the program, but rarely being the voice of it.  Two weeks into this year’s Practicum though, the “voice” became ill, so Virginia stepped up once again.  She has done it masterfully, assuming responsibility for running weekly mentor meetings, teaching students, developing schedules, keeping track of supplies, overseeing the propagation of plants, dealing with a deteriorating greenhouse and electrical problems.  Virginia Brown has a long history with JCMGA, working tremendous hours.  Having recently retired, she was ready to spend more time volunteering with JCMGA. In addition to serving as a Practicum Mentor, she was a member of the Curriculum Committee in both 2023 and 2024, and she was the co-leader of Practicum. She described herself as Jane’s right-hand gal. No one anticipated that she would need to fulfill her role and Jane’s this year as the leader of Practicum. Virginia guided the group (which has not always been easy,) kept the mentors on track, covered curriculum issues, and dealt with the many logistical issues that arose. She stepped up and attended every committee meeting of the Curriculum, including Seed, Greenhouse Maintenance, and Native Plants Team. A great facilitator, her attention to detail is amazing. Virginia Brown is a great listener and a supportive, dedicated leader. Her contributions to the program are immeasurable.

 

• 2024 Statewide Growing and Belonging Award

       WINNER OF THE STATE AWARD

       Kendyl Berkowitz    

Kendyl Berkowitz is CEO of Rebuilding Together Rogue Valley, a foundation that procures grants for low-income/ handicapped individuals to adapt their living quarters to their physical needs.  While still a 2023 student, she presented the JCMGA Fundraising Working Group with a Fortune Brands $10,000 grant to increase our accessibility.  With it, An ADA-certified contractor converted the Lavender Demonstration Garden’s major paths to concrete, making them accessible for wheelchairs and visitors with walking difficulties.  This garden is featured on the Lavender Trail and has many visitors each year. Since then, Kendyl has written another grant to fund a summer program for older adults in outlying areas to participate in horticultural therapy activities and she continues to search for other applicable grants.  Kendyl manages a staff of three and a much larger Governing Board.  She wrote $500,000 in grants last year.  She does 3-4 major speeches each month. She also just finished a fundraiser that brought in enough money to build access for 10 seniors.  Kendyl has a great deal of knowledge in finding and applying for grants and has many times been successful in acquiring those grants.  Last year, Kendyl approached me with an idea focused on indoor gardening that expanded our programming for the disabled community. Together we received a grant to fund the program Cultivating Companions, to increase socialization of rural older adults. Kendyl is also helping with the curriculum and teaching of this program. In the future we hope to find grants to fund this program for more underserved groups in our county.  Even though Kendyl has been a Master Gardener for only one year, she has been able to reach many people throughout our county and state, helping organizations to become more inclusive.  Kendyl Berkowitz is a high achieving go-getter who raises others up with her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was lucky to attend this year’s Oregon State University Extension Service Joy of Gardening Conference, two days of research-based classes on edibles, ornamentals and pollinators. It was held in Corvallis, OR on July 7 and 8. The conference was well organized and had excellent presenters. I learned a great deal about gardening that can be applied to my personal garden as well as Jackson County Master Gardener Association projects, training and gardens.

In addition to attending, I volunteered to help new attendees staying in the dorms to get their room keys, building passes, and directions to registration, etc. I also wrote a process to provide guidance to participants and the planning committee, and submitted it to the planning committee for use in 2024. Volunteering gave me insights and great appreciation for how hard the Joy of Gardening planning committee works and the value they bring to the Master Gardeners of Oregon. Thank you, Oregon Master Gardener Association.

The conference was excellent and every presentation provided new information to help Master Gardeners deal with current issues. I learned lessons that will be passed back to the Joy of Gardening planning group, and can also be applied to projects here at JCMGA. There were two outstanding Keynote speakers:

Tom Kaye on Coping with Climate was informative, had a good sense of humor and summarized recent research on how plants respond to changing climate. We hope he accepts our invitation to present at the 2024 Winter Dreams/Summer Gardens (WD/SG).

Dr. Melathopoulos is affectionately called “the Bee Guy”. He spoke at last year’s WD/SG and is scheduled again this fall. We hope he will update us on the fabulous Citizen Science efforts of Josephine County Master Gardeners, especially their findings about rare bees. Josephine County Master Gardeners will continue collecting data on rare bees in spite of their county commissioners’ defunding decisions. OSU is helping. This is great news.

The Joy of Gardening Conference is also a place to connect with groups to make a difference. I took a class on “Citizen Science”, an approach in which volunteers help conduct scientific research. Master Gardeners may be able to earn volunteer hours and provide a valuable service as they gather data, and it doesn’t take much effort! Please contact Grace Florjancic with any questions.

Grace and I participated in a round table discussion where we learned that most chapters are looking for ways to increase participation, retention and expand volunteers and membership. Grace and I discussed our efforts with creating Friends of the Gardens. The round table was an opportunity for different chapters to compare their issues and problem-solve. I think it should be included every year.

I was so thrilled to see how well JCMGA is doing as a chapter. We had the greatest number of people mentioned for awards. Lynn Kunstman was awarded the Master Gardener of the Year at the state level. She so deserves this recognition.  Thank you, Lynn, and congratulations. You go, girl!

OMGA raises scholarship money, via a raffle, to help people attend the Joy of Gardening Conference. This year, their Send a Friend project provided five people across Oregon the opportunity to attend. Next year, JCMGA could look into a similar fundraising effort. Perhaps it could be a reward for one of our Friends of the Garden or an outstanding student in the 2024 class.

In closing, I would like to mention another lovely activity at this year’s Joy of Gardening. Attendees visited the Polk County Inspirational Garden. We were met upon entering the garden by a Master Gardener and given refreshments, learned some history and took an informative stroll through this reclaimed area. I will let you learn about this beautiful space, its creation and development on your own virtual visit.

The Inspirational Garden has an acronym with an interesting history. FIG stands for Friends In the Garden. This beautiful place is managed and maintained by the Master Gardeners of Polk County and Friends, who are all volunteers. Brooke, the interim State MG, helped get the friends part of this in place as it was known that Master Gardeners alone could not do this on their own. Thank you to Brooke for helping to make that happen. This is a good example for us all. Many chapters have a claim to fame. It would be nice if these outstanding works were shared with OMGA and OMGA could advertise to all what Master Gardeners are doing throughout the state.

Attending the OMGA Joy of Gardening Conference was inspirational and provided me with many learnings to pass on to others. I encourage everyone to attend when they can.