What do more than a dozen community and school garden organizers, members and directors of 15 non-profit boards, several K-12 teachers, a department chair from Loma Linda University a, retired USDA senior marketing manager, a sociologist, an anthropologist, a handful of IT and human resource managers, a structural engineer with a second career as a public health educator and 40 other San Bernardino County residents have in common? They all have a desire to give back to their communities and were recently accepted into our UC Cooperative Extension San Bernardino County Master Gardener program.

The Master Gardener 'class of 2021' hails from all parts of the county including Yucca Valley, Victorville, 29 Palms, Running Springs, San Bernardino, Redlands, Chino, Montclair, Chino Hills, Running Springs, Pinion Pines, Colton, Rancho Cucamonga, Rialto, and Ontario. They will be brought together for the first time ever in the history of the program entirely via Zoom! In exchange for the horticulture knowledge they receive during the 18-week training class, each has agreed to volunteer 50 or more hours helping county residents landscape more sustainably and grow fruits and vegetables in home, community, and school gardens.

Please help Master Gardener Coordinator Maggie O'Neill, our 150+ current Master Gardeners, and me welcome these new students into our program. I am excited to get to know them and inspired already by their passion and giving spirit. Besides helping residents landscape more sustainably, this year the Master Gardener program will focus heavily on helping county residents develop home, school, and community gardens. This closely aligns with the increased interest county residents have in growing food and adopting healthier lifestyles. Master Gardeners are in the process of developing vegetable planting guides for our three main climate zones (valley, high desert and mountains), ‘how to' videos on planting, growing, and harvesting cool and warm season vegetables, and conducting workshops (via zoom for the time being) to help current and new home, community and school gardeners become even more successful. And, of course, Master Gardeners will continue to staff our email and telephone helplines and hope to resume staffing their Farmers' Markets booths as soon as it is safe to do so!

I'm looking forward to another great year!