State Accomplishment Report

Guidelines for the 2009 AAR

Previous Year's Accomplishment Reports
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The following are excerpts from the Wisconsin Master Gardeners Association (WIMGA) 2008 Annual Accomplishment Report's executive summary. (The full 60-page 2008 report is available as a pdf file.) Master Gardeners in Wisconsin:

Volunteered nearly 185,000 hours to UW-Extension and their communities:

      9,904 hours in Youth Education
    32,541 hours in Community Education
142,592 hours in Support Services

This is 5,692 hours more in volunteer service than in 2007.

Participated in over 66,973 continuing education hours to keep them actively learning and updated.  These hours represent the contributions of members of the 48 local associations affiliated with the WIMGA (in 2008) as well as MG activities from counties that have not yet formed official local associations.

Today there are over 2,743 trained MGVs who are certified or recertified for 2009.

Approximately 1,034 MGVs trained in 2008 are working to complete their initial certification.

Outstanding accomplishments in cumulative volunteer efforts through 2008 include:

Major Activities of WIMGA for 2008

The WIMGA is a statewide organization that supports the 48 local MG association members and individual MGVs. WIMGA’s Board of Directors is made up of 15 dedicated MGVs, with two representatives from each of the 6 UW-Extension districts plus three Members-At-Large. They meet monthly over the WisLine network and at least twice a year face-to-face.

Some of the major accomplishments of WIMGA for 2008 include:

Master Gardeners Make a Difference: Community Impacts - 2008

Master Gardener Volunteers (MGVs) in the state’s 72 counties provide a tremendous resource in solving local issues and providing valued education. Their work has an impact on a wide diversity of people and communities across the state.

• Assisting UW-Extension with Consumer Horticulture. In Manitowoc Co., MGVs have a small office at the UW-Extension office for the Plant Clinic where members are scheduled to answer the public’s horticulture questions, by phone or walk-ins, three days a week.

• Protecting the Environment. The Columbia Co. MGA hosted a community storm water education event in the city of Portage during Earth Week that included education on the local water-ways, and how to have a great lawn, while minimizing pesticides and fertilizers that may reach the drains. Later they recruited youth and adult volunteers for a storm drain stenciling project.

• Providing Valued Education. The South Central WI MGA of Green Co. organized their first gardening symposium, Garden Inspirations for All Seasons, featuring speakers on a variety of topics.

• Beautifying Our Communities. Grant Co. MGVs helped transform high-maintenance annual beds in Cuba City Veteran’s Park to rose gardens using locally acquired materials. The red ‘Knock Out’ roses were complemented by white alyssum and blue salvia for a patriotic theme.

• Teaching Children About Gardening. In Jefferson Co., MGVs worked with the Dwight Foster Public Library in Fort Atkinson to develop a garden and three educational programs to coordinate with the library’s summer reading program for elementary age children, Catch the Reading Bug.

• Restoring Historic Gardens. The Bluff Country MGA is restoring the gardens at Hixon House, built in the late 1880s in downtown La Crosse (now owned by the La Crosse Historical Society), with period-appropriate formal gardens planted this spring. They are now planning a small herb and vegetable garden, a fountain, statues, two trellises, and an arbor reproduced from a 1940s photo.

• Working with Mentally and Physically Challenged Adults. Highline Corporation clients that are physically and mentally challenged are assisted by the Range MGVs in Iron Co. to plant flowers in front of their building and in many pots.

• Assisting Habitat for Humanity. The Calumet Co. MGA provided the landscape design for three homes in Calumet Co., and along with other volunteers and the home owners, helped with bed preparation, adding compost, edging and planting of shrubs and perennials around the homes.

• Working with Youth. Shar-A-Gardeners (Waushara Co.) partnered with Human Services to work in six gardens with juveniles who were required to do community service.

• Providing Funding for Local Horticultural Projects. The Madison Area MGA has contributed over $20,000 in grants for community projects to date. In 2008 a grant was used to create St. Stephan’s Community Garden, a 24-plot community garden in the heart of Monona; nine of these plots were used by local youth groups to support the local food pantry.

Rooftop Healing Garden, Marshfield Clinic,
Rice Lake.

• Creating Therapeutic Spaces. The Barron Co. MGVs helped plan, design, create and maintain one of the first rooftop Healing Gardens in Wisconsin at the new Marshfield Clinic in Rice Lake. The design of the nearly 1,500 ft2 garden offers easy access to the rooftop garden, height-appropriate furniture, shade provided by two large pergolas, and a central water feature.

• Battling Invasive Species. MGVs in Winnebago Co. have done education programs and organized eradication activities for invasives such as buckthorn, garlic mustard and reed canary grass

• Educating the Public. Door Co. MGVs installed a wall of educational brochures in the Garden Door at the Door Co. Agricultural Research Station as guides to the educational garden and as resources on invasives, culinary uses of plants and good gardening practices such as composting.

In The Spotlight: Master Gardener Volunteers Tackle Hunger

Hunger and food insecurity are real problems for Wisconsin families. Statewide, over 540,000 people live in households that do not have access at all times to enough food for an active healthy life. This is a particular problem among the 8.7% of Wisconsin citizens that live in poverty and even for those whose incomes are considered above the poverty line. Things may be getting worse as unemployment rates increase and more people seek food assistance.

University of Wisconsin-Extension Master Gardener Volunteers work in local communities to raise awareness about food insecurity, to help families gain knowledge and skills to grow some of their own food, and make direct donations to food pantries and other organizations. During these difficult economic times, donated vegetables or the ability to grow their own food helps maintain the health of lower income families, seniors, and others experiencing difficult situations.

Food Donations

In most counties there is an existing system of food pantries and excess food distribution systems that MGVs have linked to. The Portage Co. MGA publishes a list of sites that accept garden produce in their local newsletter to make it easier for MGVs to donate excess produce from their own gardens. Glacial Gardeners gave participants a discount on the registration cost of certain events in exchange for a donation of non-perishable food items, giving over 50 pounds of food to their local food pantry.

Vegetables donated to food pantry from
Taylor Co. MGA's community garden in
Medford.

Local MG associations have donated amazing amounts of fresh produce. Southeast WI MGVs in Milwaukee and Waukesha Counties support the Eble and Wil-O-Way Gardens that grow produce for donation to local food pantries, with over 1,691 pounds from Eble Garden this year.

All the food harvested at the Racine-Kenosha MGA’s new Garden of Giving is donated to the Racine County Food Bank. This site features numerous raised beds, trellises, a raspberry patch, and floating row covers. Over 4,500 pounds of produce was donated in its debut year, and is expected to produce 9,000 pounds in 2009. Over 4,000 pounds of produce from the Spooner Display Garden were donated by the North Country MGA to local food banks and senior centers. Produce was also donated from the Spooner Elementary Helping Hands Garden, Community Care Center Hospital Garden and WinterGreen Community Garden. The Rhinelander Area Community Garden is used primarily by the MGs of the North to grow produce, with more than 5,000 pounds donated to the food panty.

Some of this donated food has been produced through Plant a Row for the Hungry (PAR) or similar programs. Columbia Co. MGVs organized PAR to encourage county gardeners to grow and donate extra produce to local food pantries. They involved 4-H members, giving each a kit containing a PAR row marker and receipt, a list of food pantries that could accept donations, and instructions for mailing in reports at the end of the season. Nine food pantries received 1,433 pounds of produce from PAR gardeners. The Wolf River MGA (Shawano and Menominee Counties) supports Share the Bounty, a program that provides the local food pantry with fresh vegetables.

Community Gardens
A volunteer works in the community garden in
Ironwood, MI, a project of the Range Master MG
Association of Iron Co., WI and Gogebic Co., MI.

All across the state community gardens encourage individuals to become more self-sufficient by producing some of their own food, and numerous MGAs are involved with creating, developing and maintaining community gardens. Ozaukee MGVs organized the Washington Co. Community Gardens in West Bend, where people can rent plots in order to have their own gardens. The first year there were 20 plots, this year 35 plots, and next year will be expanded to 40 or more. One of the plots is used by juveniles in a rehabilitation program and the food they produce is donated to a local food pantry.

MGV Carolyn Barrette, St. Croix
Community Garden Project co-manager,
records the weight of cherry tomatoes on
scale held by MGV Ellen Hurtgen, who
delivered produce in the eastern end
of the county.

North Central WI MGVs featured The Neighbors Place community garden on their GardenWalk. This organization in Wausau provides goods and food from donations, and from their gardens. Ashland-Bayfield MGVs worked with the Green Thumb Community Gardens and planted vegetable gardens for senior citizens. Rock Prairie MGVs conduct research and education programs at the Rock Co. Farm Community Garden, where over 140 plots are rented to local gardeners.

Many community gardens rent plots to individuals, but the new St. Croix Community Garden north of New Richmond rents only 20 plots and asks volunteers to grow the rest of the one acre site to give away to others. It was planted by St. Croix Valley MGVs and students from New Richmond High School, and maintained by MGVs and other volunteers. Over 4,800 pounds of 23 vegetables, from beans to rutabagas, were donated to 27 locations in every city in St. Croix and Pierce counties.

In Waupaca Co. two community gardens that MGVs help maintain fulfill different functions. One provides gardening space for individuals and families to grow their own crops. The other, maintained by several service organizations including the Waupaca Co. MGA, provides vegetables to the local food pantry, for community meals and to senior citizens centers. The 3-acre garden, located on school district property, is also used as an outdoor classroom to teach math, science and other subjects.

                       G R O W                           

Gardening Research Opportunity With is a project of the Southeast Wisconsin MGA (Milwaukee and Waukesha counties) which helps urban residents forge a connection with their community through gardening. Tools are simple: containers and plants. MGVs and UWEX Educators share their gardening knowledge and encourage urban residents to grow vegetables in containers, enabling those in apartments, smaller homes, or those with a shady yard to successfully grow plants. Some participants are so enthusiastic that they have expanded their three-container gardens. The GROW project not only teaches gardening but promotes self-sufficiency and strengthened sense of community.

Helping Others Grow Food

Lake Superior MGVs helped to prepare, plant, maintain and harvest fruits and vegetables for the Solid Rock Mission in Superior, a shelter that feeds homeless men. Not only did they provide donations from their own gardens, but they taught the residents how to plant and take care of the gardens.

In Wood Co., MGVs assist at the local senior citizen center where raised beds are planted with vegetables. Volunteers also bring extra produce from home gardens to supplement the availability of fresh food for the senior citizens.

The Waupaca Co. MGA provides seeds, starter plants, compost and information on how to grow the vegetables to anyone that comes to the 6 county food pantries.

The Eau Claire Area MGA worked with disadvantaged children at the North Riverfronts garden and the Bolton Refuge house to introduce kids and families to the joys and benefits of gardening. Together with the children, they planted, maintained and harvested the gardens.

Gardening Education

Growing and donating produce only fulfills an immediate need, and does not offer a long-term solution to the problem of hunger, food security and adequate nutrition. The MG Program emphasizes community education as an important component of its volunteer mission, and many groups have education programs in this area. Several MGAs participated in the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services’ Got Dirt? Program to help combat obesity in children and instill healthy eating habits in children. The Chippewa Valley MGA and North Country MGA (Washburn, Sawyer and Burnett Counties) hosted workshops to train educators to teach children how to grow their own fruits and vegetables as part of this program.

The Northeast WI MGA built small raised bed gardens as part of their Square Foot Garden Project at the Green Bay Botanical Garden to demonstrate how to grow vegetables in a small area. Portage Co. MGVs work with the Head Start Family Development Center Community Garden, showing preschool children how to plant, weed and harvest. The cook incorporates the produce into the food served at the Center. The North Central WI MGA gave a grant to the Wausau HUG (Help Us Grow) program (a nutrition and fitness program aimed at low income or disabled homes), which has allowed several local schools to purchase seeds and soil to start salad gardens. The Clark Co. MGA partnered with other groups to organize a program to promote growing and preserving your own food.

These are just a few examples of the many ways MGVs throughout Wisconsin are working to help reduce the issues of hunger and food insecurity in our communities. In addition to these activities, MGs around the state participate in many other horticultural projects in the general areas of youth education, community education and support services. Youth education is any project working with young people. Community education involves answering questions and providing information, whether at local gardening events, special workshops, or on UW-Extension supported garden lines. Support Services includes many beautification projects as well as a diversity of other projects. Detailed documentation of participation in these activities from 45 local MG associations as well as the total volunteer hours from 61 counties are included in the full 60-page WIMGA 2008 Accomplishment Report. PDF file

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Previous year's annual accomplishment reports (as pdf files):

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