Master Gardener / University Extension programs???
Posted: Wed Aug 16, 2023 9:37 am
There was a thread on this from 2015 but I thought I'd make a new one instead of necro'ing.
viewtopic.php?p=91055&hilit=master+gardener#p91055
Every state has a master gardener program run by a land-owning university. The idea is that people become trained by the university to be knowledgeable about growing and maintaining plants in their own area, and then volunteer their knowledge to the community to promote healthy successful gardens and growing.
To become a master gardener it varies a little by state, where I am, it's a 200 dollar three-month hybrid class. Then you have to do a 40 hour internship. Then to keep an active master gardener status, yearly you have to log 20 volunteer hours and 10 continuing education credits, which mostly come from attending in-person or virtual trainings, other people's seminars, workshops, etc.
I think if I lived in the boonies and didn't have anywhere to easily get involved in gardening, and my aspirations were in restaurant management and chess, it wouldn't make sense.
However gardening has become my biggest hobby and a lifelong aspiration. I used to volunteer under a master gardener in an herb garden and I dream a lot about having a charitable lavender garden. I'm also a stone's throw away from dozens of places I could get involved in, public forage forests, horticultural centers, university gardens, butterfly sanctuaries, etc. I want the connections most of all, to talk to people, to be in those conferences and after-seminar Olive Garden dinners.
I think it makes sense, but everyone I've told about this said, "200 dollars??? I wouldn't do it." Am I delusional and starry-eyed? The other ERE thread had that sentiment too: "you can get all the knowledge from YouTube and books." I'm sure I can learn pretty much whatever from youtube and books and there's not going to be any arcane knowledge in the class, but I don't think I have the motivation to cover such a wide basis without it being like a structured class, if that makes sense. I'm not paying for arcane knowledge: I'm paying for a structured curriculum and for in-person instruction, and to be around other people.
There's a lot of scams out there but I just don't think this is one of them, unless you somehow had the notion that becoming a master gardener would get you a lot of money, but I've never once seen it marketed that way.
In general it's a sort of, "When is it worth paying money for personal development?" question. I just feel like if I started going to Starbucks before work every single morning and dropping 15 dollars, no one around me would care. But I say I've decided to buy a 450 dollar escooter everyone I tell IRL says "why not just drive, sounds like a waste of money." Every time I want to do something like this people go "200 dollars???" When I think about it literally everyone telling me these things has tens of thousands of dollars of debt, including 80k degrees in Underwater Basketweaving they don't use in their careers and consumer debt for piles of video games they hardly play. It makes my head hurt. I wish I knew more ERE people offline.
viewtopic.php?p=91055&hilit=master+gardener#p91055
Every state has a master gardener program run by a land-owning university. The idea is that people become trained by the university to be knowledgeable about growing and maintaining plants in their own area, and then volunteer their knowledge to the community to promote healthy successful gardens and growing.
To become a master gardener it varies a little by state, where I am, it's a 200 dollar three-month hybrid class. Then you have to do a 40 hour internship. Then to keep an active master gardener status, yearly you have to log 20 volunteer hours and 10 continuing education credits, which mostly come from attending in-person or virtual trainings, other people's seminars, workshops, etc.
I think if I lived in the boonies and didn't have anywhere to easily get involved in gardening, and my aspirations were in restaurant management and chess, it wouldn't make sense.
However gardening has become my biggest hobby and a lifelong aspiration. I used to volunteer under a master gardener in an herb garden and I dream a lot about having a charitable lavender garden. I'm also a stone's throw away from dozens of places I could get involved in, public forage forests, horticultural centers, university gardens, butterfly sanctuaries, etc. I want the connections most of all, to talk to people, to be in those conferences and after-seminar Olive Garden dinners.
I think it makes sense, but everyone I've told about this said, "200 dollars??? I wouldn't do it." Am I delusional and starry-eyed? The other ERE thread had that sentiment too: "you can get all the knowledge from YouTube and books." I'm sure I can learn pretty much whatever from youtube and books and there's not going to be any arcane knowledge in the class, but I don't think I have the motivation to cover such a wide basis without it being like a structured class, if that makes sense. I'm not paying for arcane knowledge: I'm paying for a structured curriculum and for in-person instruction, and to be around other people.
There's a lot of scams out there but I just don't think this is one of them, unless you somehow had the notion that becoming a master gardener would get you a lot of money, but I've never once seen it marketed that way.
In general it's a sort of, "When is it worth paying money for personal development?" question. I just feel like if I started going to Starbucks before work every single morning and dropping 15 dollars, no one around me would care. But I say I've decided to buy a 450 dollar escooter everyone I tell IRL says "why not just drive, sounds like a waste of money." Every time I want to do something like this people go "200 dollars???" When I think about it literally everyone telling me these things has tens of thousands of dollars of debt, including 80k degrees in Underwater Basketweaving they don't use in their careers and consumer debt for piles of video games they hardly play. It makes my head hurt. I wish I knew more ERE people offline.