- Author: Sophie Loeb
Over 2,000 attendees, first-time and returning customers alike, attended the UC Master Gardeners of San Mateo and San Francisco Counties Spring Garden Market on April 16th, some of whom lined up at 7:45 A.M. before doors opened at 9:00. The Master Gardener volunteers took demographic information while participants were waiting in line and found that 40% of attendees had been to a previous Master Gardener sale and 60% of attendees were new to the sale. The majority of attendees were from San Mateo, San Carlos, and Redwood City including frequent returners who like the quality and variety of plants.
“Several returning customers commented that they come back to our sale year after year because our seedlings are healthy and thrive in our area gardens. This was very gratifying to hear, since I know the growing teams are extremely committed to ensuring we can offer plants that are in prime condition at the sale,” commented UC Master Gardener Shilpa Thanawala.
The goals for the Spring Garden Market are to encourage more Master Gardeners to participate in volunteer activities, expand the promotion of the event, and increase the educational opportunities offered to the community. Approximately 100 UC Master Gardener volunteers worked to transport plants, set up displays and education tables, and work the “day of Sale”. Work for the market begins wells in advance with a Marketing/PR team publicizing Master Gardener events and educational opportunities throughout the year. From the Half Moon Bay Journal to local coffee shops, Master Gardeners worked tirelessly to notify an assortment of community niches about the opportunity to purchase quality plants.
The Spring Garden Market would not have been possible without the generous support of our sponsors: the San Mateo County Event Center and Lyngso Garden Materials. In addition, Terry Lyngso, provided information about top soil and soil mixes, compost tea and mycorrhizae, mulch, and soil amendments. Many of our partner organizations participated in the Spring Garden Market, including: the educational table run by BAWSCA provided information concerning water-wise gardening, the Lawn-Be-Gone program, and drought-tolerant plants; Mary Vollinger of UC CalFresh provided a table with nutrition related materials; Collective Roots, Najiha Al Asmar provided an educational table on communal growing, sharing, and eating of nutritious foods; the Office of Sustainability (Formerly Recycle Works) manned an educational table regarding renewable energy and resource conservation; and the Beekeepers Guild worked on an educational table to educate “newbee” beekeepers.
This year, the Master Gardener growing teams raised approximately 5,000 plants to sell at the market with more vegetables and herbs offered this year than in previous years. There were less than 180 plants left at the end of the sale, which were taken to Elkus Ranch to be donated to school gardens, urban gardens, and senior center gardens. Some of the many market highlights included Master Gardeners educational tables, such as: How To Grow Tomatoes/Tomato Information, Irrigating Edibles from Rainwater Storage Tanks, UC Master Food Preservers, and Deer and Gopher Control in the Garden.
Spring Garden Market Coordinator volunteer, Cynthia Nations, began planning the market last December. Nations commented, “The growers, the transport and set up team, and all the volunteers who worked the market made the planning experience pleasant. We have gathered both quantitative and qualitative data to begin planning the market for 2017.”
- Author: Sophie Loeb
For Master Gardeners seeking professional horticulture related opportunities post graduation, Horticultural Therapy is a unique option. Much of the Master Gardener curriculum can provide a useful base of horticultural knowledge essential to Horticultural Therapy. To become a Registered Horticultural Therapist, it requires a degree plus specific horticulture, HT and psychology classes, special projects, and an internship. By definition, Horticultural Therapy is the practice of engaging people in plant or gardening activities to improve their bodies, minds, and spirits. HT techniques assist participants in regaining lost skills and learning new ones, and assists in developing memory, cognitive abilities, language skills, and socialization. HT techniques can also be used in physical rehabilitation and vocational training using therapeutic gardens as a medium.
Suzanne Redell, Master Gardener and Registered Horticultural Therapist, began HT on a personal level after years as a high level Apple manager led her to find solace in the garden. Redell was inspired by her stress-busting experiences in the garden to begin taking HT classes at Merritt College, and Environmental Horticulture classes at Foothill College. For Redell, HT can be summed up as “working with special needs groups such as mental health, seniors, children, hospitals, to accomplish specific goals”. For example, for individuals with schizophrenia, Redell assigns tasks such as planting seeds and transplanting plants to help with focus. The approach for a stroke patient in need of re-strengthening muscles on the right side of the body would be much different, yet equally as specialized.
Success with mental health patients, according to Redell, can be measured sometimes by “getting people outside”. Redell notes the power a simple jaunt in nature can have on an individual's mental well being: “once they experience that-listening to the birds, hawks flying above- they transform, especially those who were depressed… when they see others gardening and enjoying it, that's where the magic is”.
Horticultural Therapy in mental health settings is not in-depth counseling, but rather, uses plant material as a medium for exploring human emotion and connecting garden activities to an individual's therapeutic goals. HT is a similar profession to Art and Music Therapy. The “intimacy” that surfaces from gardening can help individuals explain their feelings in a digestible way. Redell often uses images of a plant in various stages to help patients relate their emotions to natural cycles. For seniors, going outdoors and reflecting on memories in the garden can be healing.
Redell concluded on her experience as a Horticultural Therapist: “It is just profound and it is just a privilege to work with people. We cannot make them well, but if we can improve their quality of life, that is what we are aiming for”.
- Author: Sophie Loeb
UCCE Master Gardener Coordinator, Leslie Parent, has a firmly rooted legacy in landscapes, plants, and gardens. What began as a childhood joy of watching and helping her mom landscape the yard morphed into a curiosity to know plant names and gardening ways, and eventually into a career. Parent, too, has always been interested in artwork, and so, to combine her love for nature and art, she transferred from UC Santa Cruz to UC Berkeley in 1979 in order to pursue a major in Landscape Architecture and “put it all together in some sort of aesthetic”. Working with her landscape architecture clients, Parent found that while everything looked beautiful on paper, there was a pattern of things “not quite working out” in practice.
“I needed long term knowledge of the landscape and what you need to maintain it. In 2006, I saw a flyer for the Master Gardener program. Sustainable gardening and science, I thought- that would be a good enhancement to my landscape architecture background,” commented Parent.
The Master Gardener program of San Mateo and San Francisco counties was a late bloomer; some of the surrounding counties had supported the program for 30 years when Leslie first joined. Leslie's movement in the young organization, then, was initially out of need for leaders. Parent co-managed volunteer work in the greenhouse and helped raise the program's first 5,000 tomato seedlings. She noted: “what happens when you do something like that, you get noticed and put on the list.”
Though she herself could not have predicted being in the role she is in today, those around Parent, including the Master Gardener president at the time, saw her leadership skills, background, and training as obvious qualifications for the coordinator post. Parent says her success in understanding the intricacies of what volunteers accomplish in the program stems from having been involved from the beginning, and from having held multiple positions: helper, co-chair, and president.
Parent's values her work at the Cooperative Extension because it relies on a community serviced based model and connects the UC system with the public. Her first exposure to the Cooperative Extension dates back to the 80's when Parent was working in a landscape architecture office and called the Cooperative Extension advisor for support. Now, Parent is the one fielding phone calls about pests, plant diseases, and gardening tips.
At times, the balance between being both a Master Gardener and a UCCE representative, a community and an academic role, respectively, can be challenging for Parent, though she has found support from the cooperative tool: coordinators from around the state, who provide valuable resources and feedback on materials disseminated to the public. The statewide Master Gardener office has also been invaluable in keeping the Master Gardener messaging in San Mateo and San Francisco counties consistent with UC Agriculture and Natural Resource (UCANR) division, current UC research, and policies.
“Since there so many specialized areas among our volunteers and in the office, I don't feel lacking in expertise in any area… I am more of a generalist in my work,” added Parent.
On a day-to-day basis, Parent works with a range of people- garden novices and experts, volunteers, researchers, and academics- and never fails to appreciate the challenges that sprout in her office. Many residential gardeners enjoy having a space to talk through some of their gardening conundrums, though Parent notes that most are their own teachers, informed of what to do without professional assistance. For cases involving beginning home gardeners, Parent and her colleagues generally suggest workshops in the area to alleviate dense phone helpline conversations.
Much like the sustainable landscapes and gardens she works so diligently on, Parent is constantly cultivating her role into the most sustainable position for future coordinators. It is Parent's can-do spirit that brought her to UCCE in the first place, and it is her humility, adaptability, and engagement, that keep her thriving.
“I am definitely the type of person to say what the heck and see if I can do this...and learn from it…” 
- Author: Sophie Loeb
The Urban Epicurean Festival held on Saturday, November 7th and Sunday, November 8th at Fort Mason in San Francisco, was a celebration of local makers and the bounty of the season. From the team that produces the long-running and well-loved San Francisco Bazaar craft festival, the Urban Epicurean Festival was comprised of over 200 vendors filling Fort Mason Center. A modern marketplace where craft, food, drink, and lifestyle converge, Urban Epic Fest was a chance for people of all ages to enjoy a festive and sustainable event with purveyors from their own backyards. Complete with a cocktail bar and food trucks, the event drew foodies and holiday shoppers for spirited fun. Attendees were able to purchase unique art, handmade goods, artisanal food, local wine and beer, while attending workshops on topics ranging from home brewing, gardening, flower arranging to urban beekeeping.
The Master Gardeners of San Mateo and San Francisco counties hosted an information table to answer attendee garden questions, and hand out materials. Master Gardener Jamie Chan was involved in the production of the event: “Urban Epic brought together so many of the things I personally am passionate about. The Bay Area is rich in creativity and love of the land. I want the Urban Epic Fest to be the representation of the bounty we can find here everyday. What better way to celebrate Fall and kick off the holiday season than to attend Urban Epic Fest? Learn to pickle, sip Bay Area-made wines and shop local, all in one place.”
Master Gardener Tyler Robertson noted some of the event's successes: “It was definitely a younger crowd, but we need more young people so it was good in that sense... A few young people approached us because they were just starting out with gardening and are happy to know there's a hotline they can call.”
To find out more about the San Mateo and San Francisco County Master Gardeners, please visit http://smsf-mastergardeners.ucanr.org/
