The first summer after my husband
and I bought our first home, I was very eager to plant as many lovely
things as I could get into the ground. I wasn’t very good and making
new beds, but I was excellent at digging a hole and planting something.
I really never thought about creating beds, raised or otherwise, or
putting down mulch. I was really after the flowers, and lots of
them. I was sure there was a better way to do what I was doing, but
I didn’t have any guidance other than my own enthusiasm. I had tons
of books, but books take time to read and I wanted to plant flowers, lots
of them, remember?
As many newly married couples do,
we soon found out the two of us were to become three, and all my
enthusiasm went from planting flowers to planning for a baby. About six
months after Hannah was born, I read about the Master Gardener program.
It is sponsored by the University of Missouri Extension office here in
Springfield. The name itself was enough to make me want to know more. I
mean, who doesn’t want to have the title of “Master”? The literature
described it as, “The Master Gardener Volunteer Program is designed for
gardeners interested in learning and sharing horticulture knowledge with
their friends and neighbors.” I was most interested in the learning
portion of it so I read on and found the requirements were 30 hours of
classroom time and 30 hours of volunteer time for the first year, 20 hours
every year after. Having a newborn made those requirements seem like
insurmountable feats, so I resigned myself to haphazard planting until
more of my time belonged to me again.
That happened this year when my
second daughter went to kindergarten. I placed myself back on the Master
Gardener mailing list and around the first of January I got my letter
saying enrollment for the 2007 class was beginning. I was so excited one
would have thought I had just been accepted into Harvard. There was an
orientation class, the purpose of which was to give each prospective
student the requirements of the program, the cost, the time of day classes
would be held, and I was giggling to myself as I passed the gentleman my
$150 check. Partially because it was a minuscule fraction of what I had
paid for the past semester of math class at Missouri State and partially
because I was finally doing something that I had been waiting to do for
nine years.
The $150 covered the classes as
well as an enormous book full of publications on everything one needs to
know about flowers, vegetables, trees, fruit, lawns, landscaping and what
appears to be a never ending list of other topics on gardening. And what
isn’t already in the book, can be ordered through the extension. I was
also enlightened to the fact that the Master Gardener program isn’t just
something done in Missouri, it appears to be nationwide. In a quick
search of the internet, I found organizations in Oregon, Maine and Texas,
so I’ll just bet you can find one somewhere near you.
For Greene County Missouri, the
class times alternate every year from afternoon to evening. This year the
classes were held in the afternoons, which was perfect for me as I could
attend while the girls were in school and I wouldn’t have to get a sitter
for the nights my husband was traveling. The class was from 12:30 to 3:30
and was held at one of the city libraries - thankfully, one with a
favorite coffee shop attached so I was always with my cup of ambition.
The attendees ranged in ages and professions and reasons for attending.
Some were from places like Lowe's garden center, some were from the city
landscaping department, a couple of gentlemen were previous owners of
greenhouses or tree farms. Others were people like me just wanting to
learn more about a hobby that we enjoyed. Many were retired ladies who,
much to our enjoyment, also were quite able bakers and every day there was
some tasty treat to be tasted.
The classroom was like many others
you’ve seen complete with tables and chairs and a screen for Power Point
presentations.
The students were much different
than the students with whom I had been spending the past few semesters.
The students at MSU talked about the parties they had been to the night
before and how they couldn’t believe they got home without throwing up
more than once. Many times I witnessed their disgust at the announcement
of homework or an upcoming test. I felt out of place dressed in my normal
attire, i.e. something other than my pajamas. The ratio of students who
didn’t want to be there far outweighed those who did.
The students of the Master
Gardener class were just a bunch of boring grownups who came to class
dressed in things like slacks or jeans or even, shudder, skirts. I didn’t
see one person wearing something that looked like pajamas. We were like
other students in the way we all sat in the same chairs every day we came
for each of the eleven classes we attended. I’m sure the two days we met
at a different library we looked like lost children. I spoke with other
students who where disappointed by the lack of testing of the knowledge we
were gaining and I found myself almost missing the nightly torture of
doing homework that would be graded. We all wanted to be there and we
wanted to learn. About dirt. What a bunch of geeks.
The director of the Master
Gardener program was a horticulturist named Gaylord Moore, who, it turned
out, is a native from Houston, Missouri, a mere smidge of a trot away from
my hometown of Willow Springs. He mentioned in class one day about making
a trip to Willow Springs to visit with a farmer about his land. Why I
admit to things like knowing of someone named Pig Paul, I don’t know, but
I did. I suppose it did give Gaylord something by which to remember me.
This was Gaylord’s last class and he will be retiring in the fall. He
attended every class and was like our mentor. He was a true country boy
and he made my think of my grandfather.
