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PLANT * NURTURE *GROW

January  2015  

Jan Spann, Editor arkansasgardenvoice@gmail.com

What You’ll Find Inside  C76  January  28  meeting   2  

President’s  Message   2  

The  Great  Depression  Hits  Home   3

A  newsletter  to  inform  and  inspire  Arkansas  Master  Gardeners  

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Submitted by Craighead County MG Peggy Lane: During a “rest period” at one of our garden workdays, several Craighead MGs were discussing the new classes and how much the cost had increased in recent years. One of the workers said he would love to help one of the new members with the cost if he knew how to do it anonymously and could be sure the person really needed it and would stick with the class and pay back the 40 hours required the first year. Last year, experienced MG and County 76 member Mimi Cox mentioned a young mother she had interviewed for the class who

County to County: Ideas that work

How Craighead County started a financial assistance fund for its MG Training Class

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seemed really interested and sincere about becoming a Master Gardener but due to unforeseen medical expenses for one of her children, she was unable to fit the cost of the training in her budget. As Mimi explained this, I remembered the conversation I'd had several years ago with the gentleman who just wanted to “help someone”. I called to ask if he was still interested in doing this, and of course he was. We assembled a panel to discretely interview this lady and were all very impressed with her enthusiasm and excitement about becoming a Master Gardener. She completed the course and has not let us down. She has been a wonderful addition to our group. At our next monthly meeting, we decided to set up a fund to be used for this purpose only. Donations

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can be made to the account to honor someone or as a memorial, and a card will be sent to that person or family. When the need to use this fund arises, the person applying for it will be interviewed by a panel before the decision is made. The fund will have a cap of approx. $300 (we didn't want to have a good sum of money just sitting in the bank doing nothing!), and will be added to the responsibilities of the treasurer. After much discussion, the decision was made to call this account our "Seeding Fund", as in planting seeds of new gardeners. To learn more about the Seeding Fund, contact Peggy Lane at wilsonandpeggy@yahoo.com.

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Hopefully, you have all had time to slow down a little following your busy December schedules. In 2014 County 76 was able to move forward in its work with Janet, Julie and Holly to strengthen and support the Arkansas Master Gardener program statewide. Advanced Training programs covered diverse subjects and were available in the Northeast, Northwest, and Central parts of the state. A new powerpoint presentation developed by our Communications Project became available for county master gardener programs to use at their meetings. Fundraising moved full speed ahead in the distribution of Prohoes, gloves and other items at satellite sites in different areas of the state making products sold by County 76 available at more venues. The PNG Leadership conference attracted master gardeners from throughout the state providing a great opportunity to share ideas about how to make

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our county programs stronger. The RRR Project revamped the statewide awards applications and continued to share updated information on the website from county programs recruitment, retention and recognition efforts. Beginning the new……Your County 76 Board would like to invite you to consider becoming a part of County 76 in 2015 through active participation at our quarterly meetings, hosting an advanced training program, writing articles for the Garden Voice County 76 Newsletter, selling fundraising items at your local events, attending the October 19-20 PNGLeadership Conference at the Red Apple Inn in Heber Springs and/or sharing your county’s success stories as related to recruitment, retention or recognition. Please plan to join us for the first quarterly meeting of 2015 on Wednesday, January 28th, 10-3, State Extension office. Hope to see you there!

County

76 has m

anygrea

t

opportu

nities fo

r you to  

learn and

voluntee

r.

Jane  Burrow,  County  76  President  

Did YouKnow….The Master Gardener titleis earned through ourindividual hard work andhours put in each year. Assuch, we should take careto use this title and ourMG badges only whenworking on MG projectsand business.

Use of the MasterGardener title is notallowed in anycommercial situation. Wemust also be cautious inallowing the use of thistitle to promote,recommend, or authorizeproducts or organizationswithout approval at thestate level. When indoubt, err on the side ofcaution.

President’s Message:  Leaving behind the old .....

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If you haven’t yet attended a County 76 quarterly meeting, start the new year out by seeing what this state advisory group for Arkansas Master Gardeners does. The January 28 meeting starts at 10 a.m. and concludes by 3 p.m. This schedule is designed to allow MGs outside central Arkansas to make the trip in one day. The meeting is held at the state office in Little Rock. Lunch is provided at no charge, so please contact Linda Soffer at lfsoffer@gmail.com by January22 to be included. You have the

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option to bring your own lunch.In addition to education topics related to the state Master Gardener program, the agenda includes time for project teams to brainstorm and plan upcoming events and activities. The projects include: Training, PNG Leadership, R-R-R , Communications, and Fundraising.

These projects have goals withaction plans beneficial to county programs, and that’s why it’s

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important for County 76 to have representation from a diverse group of county MGs. Project chairs and co-chairs are term-limited so that more MGs have the opportunity to assume a leadership role in the County 76 organization. County 76 meetings are open to all Master Gardeners in good standing in their county program. In fact, this advisory group works best when more counties are represented in County 76.

County 76 first meeting of 2015 set for January 28

If  you  subscribe  to  Janet  Carson’s  blog,  “In  the  Garden,”  you’ve  read  of  her  adventures  with  her  family,  especially  her  dad.    

County  76  and  Arkansas  Master  Gardeners  extend  our  sympathies  to  Janet  and  her  family  in  the  loss  of  her  father,  Elmer  Biermann  at  age  81  after  a  hard-­‐fought  battle  with  cancer.  

Donations  may  be  made  to  Hospice  Home  Care,  2200  South  Bowman,  Little  Rock  AR  72211,  Second  Presbyterian  Church,  600  Pleasant  Valley  Drive,  Little  Rock,  AR  72227,  or  the  American  Cancer  Society,  PO  Box  22718,  Oklahoma  City  OK  73123-­‐1718.  

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On-line reporting: As of first quarter,1,834 MGs have reported 26,928 sanctioned work hours and 16,162 education hours! Maintaining an accurate count of hours allows theExtension Service to quantify the valueof MG service in dollars: what it would cost to replace the irreplaceable MasterGardeners. Are you up-to-date in youronline time reports?

New uaex.edu web site: Have you checked out the new website? Once you work your way around it, you should find that the links we usemost often are easier to find. If you can’t find something, please let Julie or Janet know so they can get the tech folks to fix it!Arkansas MG Program Facebook: It’s up,so check it out! Does your county programhave a Facebook page? It’s a great way to promote your program to the community. Thestate office requests that your county FB pageinclude uaex and the logo on these local pages.To ensure that you have frequent updates, it’srecommended to have more than one person acting as administrator. And when you attend the PNG Conference in October, you can learn even more FB tips (like how to advertise) in one of the scheduled seminars!Saturday Basic Training: This trial training is at the halfway mark and will finish August9. Trainees will be expected to be active in their local county program.

Updates from the State Office

Did You Know….If you would like to have County 76 merchandise sold at your county events, letMarcella Grimmett know the date as soon as it’sscheduled. She’ll work with you to get theproduct to your event, and you’ll haveinformation on how to record sales at yourevents.

Contact Marcella at Route003@hotmail.com.

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The Roaring Twenties ended with the collapse of stock market prices in October 1929. The economic downturn that followed, the Great Depression, lasted for a decade and spread across the industrialized world. For many of the nation’s farmers, the Depression only made a bad situation worse. In the South, prices for crops, particularly cotton, had been low since 1920. Then came the Depression. Prices that were already low because of years of surpluses fell another 50 percent between 1929 and 1932. Many people went hungry when their surplus crops couldn’t be sold for a profit. Deepening debt and lack of credit also pulled the farmer down. About the same time credit was drying up, so were Arkansas’ fields. During the summer of

1930, a severe drought turned once-productive topsoil into dust that was carried away by strong winds and piled up in drifts

Editor’s  Note:  The  USCES  celebrated  its  centennial  anniversary  in  2014,  and  the  Garden  Voice  continues  to  mark  this  significant  occasion  with  excerpts  from  “Farther  Down  the  Road,”  an  e-­‐book  on  the  history  of  the  UAEX  by  Richard  Maples.  

The Great Depression Hits Arkansas Farm Families

UAEX continued on page 4

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against houses and barns. It was the beginning of the “Dust Bowl” era, which would last into the mid-1930s. Hundreds of thousands of farmers from Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, New Mexico and Colorado packed up their families and meager possessions and moved west. The Cooperative Extension Service was one of the few constants during a time of chaos and uncertainty. But the Depression took its toll on the Extension Service, too, both financially and personnel-wise. Just as devastating as the loss of local funding was the loss of personnel, a trend that had begun in the years just prior to the Depression. The turnover of agricultural agents, trained at Extension expense, was especially troublesome.

The exodus of agents to agricultural businesses slowed as the economy slowed, but more Extension men and women left for

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New Deal agencies after Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected President of the United States in 1932. About half of the county agents who remained at their posts lost from one to four years’ salary during the Depression because of the loss of local funding. County quorum courts recognized the contribution of their county agents and appropriated the funds, but often the money just wasn’t there.

Not surprisingly, rural Arkansans relied more on the advice of county agriculture and home demonstration agents during bad times than good. With so much to do and only so many hours in the day, county agents began to rely on leading farm men and women to help plan and carry out Extension programs. Since 1923, county agricultural committees had helped county Extension staffs put together their plans of work. Each committee consisted of seven to 11 members, including three or more leading farmers, three or more leading farm women, a representative of the quorum court and members of civic organizations, federation of women’s clubs, 4-H clubs, the county board of education or a ministerial alliance. In addition to helping plan and execute Extension programs, county committee members helped secure county funding

Drought and the resulting Dust Bowl forced thousands of farm families,

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Extension -­‐ Continued on p. 4

Extension-­‐ From p. 4

UAEX continued on page 4

Next issue:  Extension  and  the  New  Deal  

UAEX from page 3

Garden  Voice  and  the

County  76Communications

Project  are  looking  for

ten  MGs  to serve  as

news  feeds  to  County

76.  If  you  are  interested

in  helping  keep us

apprised  of  local  news

from  your  county

program,  please  email

janspann@gmail.com.

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to keep the programs alive—no small feat during the Depression era. The state press often lauded the work of county agricultural and home demonstration agents and lobbied local governments for their support, as illustrated by quotes in publications from 1930.

From the Sheridan Headlight: Much credit must be given to the work rendered to farmers during this year by our county demonstration agent, who has worked untiringly in every way possible to help the farmers with their problems from the time that the farmers began to think about farming, on through the growing season and up to the present, and we feel sure that he will round out the year with more good work.

Much praise must also be given to our county home demonstration agent for her great work in the homes and gardens of our farmers. Through her efforts, better homes have been made, untold fine gardens have been grown, and extra large quantities of garden vegetables, fruits, etc., have been properly canned and put up for the winter’s use on the farm. Her work, we know, is much appreciated by the farmers and their wives, and rightly it should be.

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Two grave emergencies in the past four years, the flood of 1927, and drought of 1930, have proved the mettle and ability of Arkansas’ extension service. How well it met the earlier test is well known, and to the farm difficulties created by last summer’s torrid breath, the extension workers are again bringing invaluable aid. It was the county extension agents to whom the federal government turned, early last August, for information about the reach of the drought damage. And upon the granting of reduced freight rates to afflicted regions, the county agents were officially designated to certify the shipments. They assisted in the Red Cross distribution of seeds. And they took to afflicted farm areas of the state a program of self-help which resulted in thousands of fall gardens, increased home canning and much winter pasture for livestock. Nor should it be overlooked that a great many Arkansas farmers came through the drought with fair crops, and have herds and flocks to provide them with incomes, largely because of the gospel of good farming which the extension service has taught up and down the state for years past. Serious problems arising from the drought yet remain to be worked out for numbers of farmers, including economical feeding of livestock through the winter, and what can be planted next spring for the quickest and best returns. The county extension agents can be of much help in these concerns. Their aid is urgently needed.

Remember tofeed the birds

and othercritters during

these coldwinter days!

What projects, programs, and ideas are working in your county? Here’s the place to spread the

word and share them with other counties.

Email arkansasgardenvoice@gmail.com with the

details. We can contact you for more information to share

your idea in upcoming issues of the Garden Voice

newsletter!

County to

County

Ideas

that

work