What are University of Maine Cooperative Extension Master Gardener Volunteers?

Barbara Murphy: Hi, I'm Barbara Murphy. Extension educator with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension and I am based in Oxford County is South Paris. Master gardeners are people of all types, male, female, young and old, working and retired, who want to affect change through the use of gardening. The University of Maine Master Gardener Volunteers program is one of our flagship programs run through Cooperative Extension. Participants spend 40 to 45 hours indoors, usually during the winter, learning the art and science of gardening. Topics can include soils, botany, volunteerism, compost and many, many more. After the training is done, participants are then required to return 40 hours of volunteer services in gardening projects in their home counties. Master gardener volunteers can get involved in any number of community projects. Some examples include Kids Can Grow, where master gardeners are matched up with kids in their kids in communities where the kids actually get to grow their own garden in their backyard. Other projects include Garden Angels, where master gardeners and senior citizens pair up to keep senior citizens active gardening in their own home yards. Another project is Maine Harvest for Hunger, where vegetables and produce is grown and donated to people in need in Maine who don't have great access to fresh fruits and vegetables. [music]