With the garden season ahead comes many more volunteer opportunities for Master Gardener volunteers. While there are limitations with in-person volunteer activities due to COVID-19, there still remains a lot we can do here in Ramsey County. The project coordinators for many of the Ramsey County Master Gardener projects, like the Plant Sale Committee, the Speakers Bureau, and the Barn Gardens, have been working hard to plan for the year ahead. Look forward to sign-ups coming soon!
In addition to these projects, volunteers are welcome to submit a proposal for a new project. New projects can be personal or for the community. They can be solo efforts for just you or group efforts involving many Master Gardener volunteers. They can start right away (pending approval) or they can start later in the growing season. We encourage you to be creative and explore ways for you to be engaged and involved as a Master Gardener volunteer. We have developed a project proposal form that can be found on the RCMG website. Please refer to the website for more information.
RCMG New Project Requirements
This must be a project that you want to work on
The project must meet the Mission, Vision and Guiding Principles of the Master Gardener Program
The project must provide education information to the public on at least one of the Master Gardener Program Priorities
The project must follow the University of Minnesota Extension AFNR safety protocols and a volunteer exemption approval process (if the project activity is in-person)
As a continued reminder The University of Minnesota Extension would like volunteer activities to be conducted remotely (online) if possible during the pandemic. Always keep in mind, if an activity can be conducted remotely (online) it should be done so in this manner at this time. If the activity is conducted in-person it will require the submission of a volunteer exemption request with the University. Please contact the Program Coordinator, Darren Lochner (dlochner@umn.edu) to discuss the exemption request process. Beyond getting involved with projects I strongly encourage you to take advantage of all the continuing education available to us as Master Gardener volunteers. Refer to the RCMG newsletter and State Master Gardener newsletter for a few of the upcoming education opportunities. Darren Lochner University of Minnesota Extension Master Gardener Volunteer Program Coordinator - Ramsey County February 5, 2021