There is a difference between volunteer work you do to maintain your MG status, and paying work you do, for which being a MG is perhaps useful. I have gardening clients whom I charge money. Obviously, I can not count the work done for them as MG volunteer work, but they do benefit from my MG knowledge. I don't know if being a MG would aid in obtaining clients, but it couldn't hurt.

When speaking to groups or doing other activities for my MG hours, I also mention I'm a MG as it seems appropriate.

Monica

I believe that Rebecca women on Rebecca's Garden is a MG too. But she started life as a weather girl... the difference is quite obvious.

Monica

I don't know about him being a master gardener but he is unequivocally, a master salesman.

IronBelly

I'm sure you are correct with your information. However, this is an area that causes some uneasiness. Although they don't really like to talk about it, there is a reason behind why they want you to answer the phone with something like: "Extension Master Gardener" or "(University Name) Master Gardener".

Legally, Jerry Baker (and perhaps others) beat them to the punch through a door they should have never left open. (Isn't hind sight easy?) I think this is a thin line that we are walking -- thinner than they would really like to talk about.

IronBelly

By the way, I enjoy Paul James and his off the wall humor. Mary

You cannot say "Hire me, because I am a Master Gardener", therefore insinuating that the state has trained you in all aspects of gardening and associated topics.

In Texas, the whole thing was/is about assisting the Extension Agent, to answer the phones when he is out of the office, etc., and we were basically taught how and where to find the answers to John Q. Public's questions. So you really couldn't say that we were trained in any particular thing, unless you have taken some of the specialist training.

We had some ritzy titzy ladies from the class ahead of us that were just horrified that a whole class of rowdy low- life persons had joined up with the Master Gardeners, and we were admonished often and loudly to NEVER! use the MG name and money in the same breath!

It used to do us no end of good to provoke them. hehe

Janie

Maybe as a MG from Iowa, I can address your comments a little more directly. It sounds like you and I have been gardening for about the same number of years. Your observation is correct but not complete.

Unless you are a total idiot (which I don't think you are), in spite of a high level of knowledge and experience, once you start taking the classes, you begin to realize how much more there is to know. This applies to old timers, professionals and academics with degrees in botany. I have said it many times over the years on these forums but it is still quite valid: "The more I learn, the more I realize just how little I really know." The field of horticulture is so broad that you just cannot begin to know it all -- and I don't care who you are.

The classes are merely just a place to begin. In the brief time allotted, there is no way that you can acquire even a small percentage of the information about the huge topic of horticulture. Hopefully, what you will come out of the classes with is a good assortment of reference materials and a number of people in your local area and (in your case) Iowa State University that you can contact directly. Perhaps the greatest benefit if the classes is that it enables you to begin networking at a much higher level.

Although I don't question your excellent gardening skills, do you know the best person in state to ask about a new plant disease you or a neighbor is suddenly having trouble with? I do -- not because of my intellect but because through the MG program I learned where to find the answers and/or who to ask. One of the greatest assets of the training is not so much increased knowledge but rather an increased abilitiy for how to find out the information.

I'll be the first to admit, just as in any endeavor, there are a few ringers in the MG program. However, life is filled with underachievers and I am not ready to say that life is bad. The program offers tremendous potential. It is up to the individual to groom their own potential.

IronBelly

Thank you, Ironbelly, for that excellent explanation. Over the years I have half jokingly told people that we were masters at researching questions rather than master "gardeners." LOL

One of my first encounters with a MG was regarding the safety of using shredded roadside tree trimmings on my vegetable garden. I was worried about chemicals from exhaust fumes as well as any pesticides etc. that may have found their way into this wonderful source of mulch. The MG was very nice but I could almost hear him scratching his head over the phone! He was honest that he didn't have a clue but would find an answer for me. I figured that was the end of that but he called back later that day, still with no answer, but assured me someone would find it for me. It took a couple of days, but somebody did call back with the answer and it really impressed me that they had taken the time to research this for lowly little gardener me.

To Mary, I too had been gardening all my (long!) life and thought I knew something! I knew how to research and who to ask, or so I thought! It's humbling to realize how much I didn't and still don't know. But the big difference since the MG course is now I really do know how to find the answers, and not just to my own personal interests, but to a much wider array of subjects within the field. (And I like Paul James too, screaming fleas and all! LOL)

To anybody who is considering the course, I say go for it. Don't ever think you can't learn something of benefit. But even if you already know it all and don't learn anything from the course (highly unlikely!), you will have met a very nice group of people with your same love of gardening. And that can be the biggest benefit of all.

Info. straight from OSU Extension in Tulsa, OK where Mr. James is from.

Paul

Now, about being selective as to admitting people into the program. I don't believe that is, or ever has been, the case in PA. There is an entrance exam, but it's used strictly to get a grasp of what you may or may not know, not as a determining factor in admission. I'd be curious to know if anyone anywhere has been denied acceptance into a CMG program.

We would often have 150 applications for about 75 spots, so yes we would occasionally have to turn people away.

Look before you leap, try and ascertain if you any good works you do might come back to bite you on the butt. So help me, I heard years ago that, "No good deed goes unpunished." And I am increasingly convinced that it's true 98% of the time.

A generation before Paul James, Jerry Baker got America gardening with his similar and enthusiastic approach. Whether Baker's methods are legit or not, he made people want to garden, garden, garden. And if only for that, we do owe him some small debt.

For my money, there is a real shortage of gardening shows out there period. HGTV could easily drop the "G" for all the gardening shows they carry. And without naming names, they do carry a landscaping show or two that are as dry as dust, I mean boooooooorrrrrrringggg.

Now, about that horticulturist thing. It's my understanding that one can call one's self a horticulturist without possessing a degree in horticulture. There are certain college credits, that once successfully obtained, allow the use of the term horticulturist. I'm certainly not using the title, and none of the MGs I'm active with do either. So far, I've only met one person in the MG program who is actually a horticulturist.

Also, most high end none profits do have board/director indemnification. To be safe, you can also get Directors insurance underwritten and purchase it on your own, and then deduct that from your taxes.

All that said, you have a very valid point. One must be very careful. The world is full of underemployed attorneys. They may not win, but they can cause you tons of grief trying to extract blood and/or money from you.

An old friend of mine that was head of Cooperative extension in Arizona used say being a mater gardener doens't make you a horticulturist just like having subsrciption to Playboy doesn't make you a gyneclogist.