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Items of Note

Monthly Busy Bee Awards

Each month we recognize those Maaster Gardeners who have provided their first 50 hours of volunteer service in sanctioned projects fot the current year.

January Busy Bees

Kim Coslett and Pam Butler

Photo by Caleb Israel

February Busy Bees
Julie Murray, Patsy Louk, Jan Lefler 
Not pictured: Liz Hale
 

Photo by Caleb Israel

March Busy Bees
Back from left: Roger Faulkner, Jim Sposato, Carole Ball, Kelly Chaney, David Edwards, Kathy Launder, Caleb Israel.
Front from left: Susan Young, Carrie Gamble, Marguerite Abowitz, Doris Cassidy, Karen Hanna-Towne, Peter Gavin 
Not pictured: Ruthanne Hill, Roxanne Gallup, Pam Salome, Mariette Spidel
 

Photo by Alfi Anderson

2025 Annual Awards

2026 Washington County Master Gardeners Training Class 

Seated, from left: Robert White, Melissa Harwood-Rom, Laura West, Yi Lang, Sarah Farmer, Sharon Keen, Tracy Jouett, Kristine Hall.

Standing, from left: Anna Watson, Kay Pike, Carol Phillips, Brandi Pucek, Deborah Coley, Colleen McCarthy, Catherine Harrison, Michael Whitehead, Sharon Etchison, Amber Stewart, Noel Morris, Marlene Craig, Katie Altland.

Not pictured: Mary Harvey, Matthew Mabry, Alethea Prince, Sydney Rice, Madison Soderquist.

Photo by Kitty Sanders

Class of 2025 Washington County Master Gardeners

Back row from left: Kim Coslett, Roger Faulkner, Calinda Green, (Colin Massey), Caleb Israel, Rhonda Lovell, Steve Shearman, Mary Sparks, Bill Speer

Middle row from left: Tim McGinnn, Jeff McGuire, Jessica Guillory, Becca Muenich, Terri Speer, Teresa Sullivan, Mari Walters-Ford

Front row from left: Lynne Bell, Donna McDaniel, Swathi Munagala, Julie Torseth

Not pictured: Debra Broyles, Kelly Chaney, James Harvey, Kalista Keck
 
Photo by Kathryn Birkhead

Project Highlight – Washington County Fair

Washington County Master Gardeners serve the Washington County Fair by supervising all activities in the fair’s Agronomy Department. Exhibit categories (adult and youth) include vegetables, fruits, cut flowers, flower arrangements, potted plants, field crops, and outdoor art. There is also a youth category for entomology. The fair runs for five days in late August. WCMGs are involved before (building prep), during (receive entries, assist judges, visit with the public) and after (building cleanup) the fair. During the fair the WCMGs also run a “Gardeners Store,” with all proceeds going to fund fair premiums for youth.

The Washington County Fair is WCMG’s largest sanctioned project, both in public outreach and in Master Gardener volunteer participation. As project co-chair Doris Cassidy says, “It takes a village to staff the Horticulture Building!”

Shiloh Museum Free Seed Library

Under the leadership of Marty Powers, a seed giveaway program was developed to encourage the planting of more seeds which benefit butterflies and other pollinators. The project was begun in 2022 when a total of 7,700 seed packets were picked up from the seed box. During the 2023 season, that number increased to 8,072. An additional 2,000 milkweed packets were donated to schools and were handed out during the milkweed giveaway and the monarch festival.