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PAGE 1 PC — THE MADISON COUNTY (GA) JOURNAL. THURSDAY. MARCH 19. 2009
The ABC’s of Agriculture
Celebrating ag education in Madison County— National Ag Week, March 15-21
Adult education
Master Gardeners work to ‘grow a better community’
Have you ever wondered
why the bottoms of your
tomatoes rot? Or maybe when
to prune your crape myrtles
or plant shrubs? What is that
weird little insect sucking the
life out of your flowers and
how do you get rid of it? Did
you know you can turn old
mini-blinds into great plant
markers?
For answers to these and
many other home gardening
questions, ask a Madison
County Master Gardener.
The Master Gardener
Program is a volunteer
training program offered
through county offices of
the University of Georgia
Cooperative Extension
Service. It is designed to help
Extension agents transfer
research-based information
about gardening and related
subjects to the public by
training home gardeners.
In exchange for 40 hours
of intensive horticultural
training on such subjects as
insects, disease identifica
tion, home vegetable gar
dening, house plants, new
Master Gardeners donate 50
hours of their time back to
the Cooperative Extension
Service in their first year after
training. They then become
Certified Master Gardeners
and volunteer their exper
tise and services, under the
direction of their Cooperative
Extension Agent, to help edu
cate others through horticul
tural projects that benefit the
community.
In February 1999, the first
Master Gardener class in
Madison County completed
their training and began vol
unteering their time to help
home gardeners in the coun
ty. These newly-graduated
Master Gardeners were the
foundation of the Madison
County Master Gardeners’
Association (MCMGA)
which was incorporated by
the State of Georgia as a non
profit organization in 2004.
Currently, MCMGA boasts
more than 25 active mem
bers and contributed 2,033
hours of service valued at
$38,160 to the community
in 2008 alone. Members
represent Madison, Banks,
Franklin, Hall, Oglethorpe,
and Habersham counties
with ongoing projects in both
Madison and Banks counties.
Visit the MCMGA web
site at http://hosting.caes.uga.
edu/madisonmastergardners/
Madison County Master
Gardener Projects
•Landscaping at the old Cooperative Extension
Office in Danielsville.
•Participation in the “Adopt-A-Mile” program spon
sored by Keep Madison County Beautiful.
•An outdoor classroom at Hull-Sanford Elementary
School.
•An outdoor therapeutic garden at the Cobb Health
Care Center in Comer
•The Veterans’ Garden on the Old Courthouse
Square in Danielsville
•The Madison County Memorial Garden in
Danielsville.
•An outdoor classroom and teaching area at the new
Madison County Middle School at Paoli Junction.
•A butterfly/hummingbird garden at the Banks
County Senior Center.
• Madison County Master Gardener Partnerships: As
partners with the Madison County Rotary Club Water
Conservation Program, the MCMGA and the Broad
River Watershed Association help present programs
on water conservation to Madison County sixth grad
ers and fifth grade students at Colbert, Danielsville,
Hull-Sanford and lla Elementary Schools. MCMGA
also partners with 4-H, the Boy Scout Troop 377 and
Action Inc.
mcmga/ or Google “Madison
County Georgia Master
Gardeners.” Anyone inter
ested in becoming a Master
Gardener should contact the
Madison County Cooperative
Extension Service at
706-795-2281.
4-H helps youth develop their talents
By Darrell Huckaby
The 4-H Club has been
around a while — close
to a hundred years, in fact
— and its roots are deep
ly entrenched in Newton
County.
We won’t go into the
history of the organiza
tion right now, but it is a
long and storied one. You
might have been a mem
ber of 4-H yourself at one
time or another. Most of
us were, but even if you
don’t know that the “H’s”
in 4-H arc health, head,
heart and hands, you arc
probably aware of at least
some of the club’s func
tions.
Maybe you showed rab
bits as a child, like my
daughter Jamie did when
she was in 4-H, or horses,
like my other daughter,
Jenna — or cows, like my
son Jackson. Or maybe
you went to Rock Eagle,
the state 4-H center for
summer camp or a school
trip or some function
totally unrelated to the
organization itself.
I seem to remember a
Christian Life Conference
weekend that I attended
there in the 1960s, but I
won’t comment on any
thing that happened there
because I am not sure if
the statute of limitations
ever runs out on certain
activities.
So we have established
the fact that we all know
a little something about
4-H. Well, in three or four
minutes — depending on
how fast you read — I
hope that you know a lot
more.
The 4-H Club is still
around — and it ain’t just
about rabbits and cows
anymore — and truth be
known, never was. The
organization has always
been about young people
and helping them explore
their talents and abilities
and encouraging them to
become active and suc
cessful adults. That’s a
right worthy goal, and
they have done a heck of
a job, too.
About 28 years ago,
give or take a song here or
a dance there — Georgia
4-H, in keeping with the
organization’s tradition
of helping young people
develop their talents and
abilities, created a musi
cal troupe called Clovers
& Co. The group con
sisted of girls and boys
— singers, dancers, musi
cians — all of whom were
very talented and shared a
love of and enthusiasm
for entertaining.
I spoke recently with a
member of the original
group, Katrina Bowers,
who now works for the
school of Family and
Consumer Sciences at the
University of Georgia,
hallowed be thy name.
She shared with me that
she and the other original
Clovers wore simple cos
tumes that their mothers
sewed for them and were
excited to get a chance to
perform for anyone who
would invite them.
Well, Clovers & Co. has
come a long way, baby.
Now they are a nationally
acclaimed group that trav
els all across the nation
and entertains thousands
of people every year.
The group claims many
distinguished alumna, in
addition to Katrina, of
course, who have used
their Clovers days as a
springboard to a career in
the performing arts. Crisp
County’s Jim Phillips
became a Broadway danc
er. Nikki DeLoach became
a Mouseketeer and televi
sion star. Jennifer Nettles
is an award-winning
vocalist with the red hot
band, Sugarland, and
Hillary Lindsey, a four-
year cast member from
Washington, Ga., is a
Grammy-winning song
writer who has writ
ten hits like “Jesus Take
the Wheel” by Carrie
Underwood, “This One’s
for the Girls,” by Martina
McBride, and “Three
Mississippi,” by Terri
Clark — as well as songs
recorded by Tim McGraw,
Faith Hill, Keith Urban,
Trisha Yearwood — you
get the picture. The girl
is a big fish in Nashville,
Tenn., which is about the
biggest pond a songwriter
can swim in.
This year’s Clovers &
Co. group consists of 42
of the most talented young
people — ranging in age
from 11 to 19 — that
you'd ever hope to see —
or heai - — assembled in
one place, and some of
their names are certain to
become known through
out the households of this
nation, too.
I know what you are
thinking. “How can I get
to heai - this group in per
son?” Well, I am a cornin’
to that.
On Saturday evening,
March 21, at 7:30 p.m.,
the group, for the first
time ever, will be holding
a benefit performance that
is open to the public. The
show will be held at the
Talmadge Auditorium, at
Rock Eagle. That’s right.
Everyone is invited, so
y’all come. You will see
this year’s show, “Turn
up the Music,” a high-
energy set that will leave
your brain humming and
your toe tapping all the
way home. That ain’t all.
Grammy winner Hillary
Lindsey will perform, too,
and will be on hand for
pictures and autographs
afterward. And I’ll be
there, too. I am honored
to have been asked to
emcee the event and will
share some of my humor
ous stories about life in
the South — some of
which may even be true.
I’ll be signing books
afterward — I hope.
Tickets range from $15
to $25 and can be pur
chased in advance by
calling 706-542-4444 or
Googling Clovers & Co.
and following the links.
What a bargain! Me,
Hillary Lindsey, Clovers
& Co. and a chance to,
perhaps, revisit the scene
of old crimes — and sup
port a worthy cause; and
any investment in these
young people will pay
rich dividends — I guar
antee it. Katrina Bowers
might even be there. So
treat yourself to a special
night out and order those
tickets today. You can
thank me as you leave
the auditorium that night.
I’ll be the good-looking
guy in the red shirt —
standing next to some of
the finest young people
on Earth.
Darrell Huckaby is a
local author and educa
tor. He can be reached at
dHuck08@bellsouth.net.
The Madison County Journal is your
source for local news. Subscribe by
calling 706-795-2567.
4
The Madison County Veterans Memorial Garden,
located at the historic courthouse in downtown
Danielsville, is dedicated to the Veterans of
Madison County and their families. MCMGA mem
bers took the task of renovating the garden and
hope to be able to install more plant materials this
spring if the drought situation improves.
The Glory
of Gardening
In 1979 Dr. Butch Ferree, Horticulture Department
Head at the University of Georgia, traveled to the state
of Washington to learn about its new and very popu
lar extension outreach program spreading through
out the land grant colleges, the volunteer Master
Gardener Program. Upon his return to Georgia, Dr.
Ferree planted this innovative “seedling” idea within
the young minds of the Georgia Extension Service.
Enlisting the help of Extension Agents Newton Hogg
(Ret) and Gary Peiffer from Dekalb Co. and Randy
Drinkard (Ret) and Robert Brannon from Fulton Co.,
the first Georgia MG Training Program was devel
oped and conducted in the fall of that same year.
A few graduates from that very first class are still
active within the MG program: Becky Blade, Linn
McKnight and Jim Givens.
The concept of training community volunteers to
assist the Extension Service with community outreach
education not only grew but flourished throughout the
U.S. and Canada. In Georgia, the MG Program grew
from just a few hundred MGs in the metro Atlanta
area to 7000 MGs trained across the state. Volunteers
consistently log an average of 175,000 volunteer hours
per year at a dollar value of $3.5 million (2008) to the
state of Georgia, consistently lead the state as produc
ers/donors of vegetables to the “Plant a Row for the
Hungry” project, and consistently contribute invalu
able community service through such educational and
conservation efforts as garden demonstrations, lunch
and leam lectures, plant doctor clinics, youth projects
with 4-H and Junior MGs, and specialty projects with
senior centers and nature preserves.
An average of 15 MG trainings are conducted each
year. Special recognition in 2008 included 12 gold
stars awarded for completion of MG Advanced train
ing and 75 Lifetime Badges awarded in recognition
for ten years of dedicated service.
This year Master Gardener Day was proclaimed
by Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue on March 21.
Ongoing programs for 2009 include assisting with
4-H projects, Junior MG Program, and Advanced
MG Training (three to four classes: two leadership,
tree mapping, to be announced). For the first time
distance training has been initiated for the 2009 spring
MG training program. It uses WebCT to 10 different
sites for teaching over 165 MG interns. At the same
time traditional trainings at eight different sites are
teaching 360 MG interns. In late spring there will
be 50 interns trained at two sites, and in the summer
MG Teacher training will be conducted at four county
locations (DeKalb, Cobb, Cherokee, Houston).
Later this year, the Georgia Master Gardener
Program will be celebrating its 30th Anniversary.
“In close partnership with GMGA, we will be pre
paring for this important occasion, and we will keep
everyone advised regarding future plans and details
for the celebration,” organizers said. “We hope that
many of you will join us to make this event a memo
rable one.”
-
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