by Brenda Congdon
It's a blustery day on the edge of winter, and Peg Tillery is
headed to a nature preserve on Bainbridge Island. Today she will
train volunteers and graduate students at IslandWood, a 255-acre
nonprofit outdoor learning center. She'll show them how to start
seeds for herbs and how to prepare the greenhouse for the
winter.
Tillery, a master gardener, never stops moving. In one whirlwind
week the horticulture coordinator for Washington State University
Extension in Kitsap County may teach parents and children to
compost, harvest vegetables for food banks, and coordinate
volunteers to teach adaptive gardening skills to people with
physical limitations. Through all this, she's likely thinking out
her weekly Kitsap Sun newspaper column, "Dig This!"
Nutrition education, environmental action, and community
stewardship-a typical blend in WSU's Master Gardener Program. For
over 30 years, volunteers and employees like Tillery have spun
their love of gardening into a web of services and programs
reaching more than 100 Washington communities.
It all started in 1971, when WSU Extension agents in King and
Pierce counties David Gibby and William Scheer were overwhelmed by
homeowner plant questions. They decided to hand-pick and train
volunteers who would in turn help the general public. By 1973 they
were off and running.
Their rigorous clinics were so successful they drew attention
from other states. Following Washington's template, Illinois opened
its master gardener program in 1975, Oklahoma opened one in 1978,
and Florida in 1979. Today every state and four Canadian provinces
have master gardener programs, and an estimated 60,000 people have
been trained as master gardeners.
Here at home, Washington has at least 3,100 master gardener
volunteers, all of whom have pursued up to 60 hours of course work
in a curriculum developed through WSU's Department of Horticulture
and Landscape Architecture.
Healing Gardens
The Master Gardener Program quickly evolved beyond plants to
address greater community problems. Offshoot services now include
restoring wildlife habitat, building and maintaining demonstration
gardens, and teaching low-income families to grow their own healthy
food.
"Master gardeners bring their skills and passions to the
program, and these are often matched with community interests or
activities," says Tonie Fitzgerald, WSU Spokane County Horticulture
Extension agent.
Avid gardener Kay Loibl was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis
about 15 years ago. To continue her passion, Loibl had to find new
gardening techniques. She joined the Spokane Master Gardeners in
1998, and along with therapist Becky Cresswell, developed the
Gardening for Life program to help gardeners of all ages and
physical abilities learn lifelong gardening practices.
Two years ago the program moved into St. Luke's Rehabilitation
Institute in Spokane where stroke and injury patients can grow
vegetables and other plants. Sheila Yamamoto, St. Luke's recreation
therapist, estimates that close to 75 percent of the patients
participate.
"Horticulture therapy, like any recreational modality, can
increase self-esteem," says Yamamoto. "Patients in our program say
that they feel more normal when they're out in the fresh air and
caring for a garden."
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