CMGA General Info

Fall painted lady butterfly 2024.
Photo by Cindy Murray.

Welcome to the Coconino County Master Gardeners Association blog. The mission of the Master Gardener Program is to create a corps of well-informed volunteers, and to deliver quality horticultural education programs adapted to our regional high elevation environment. The purpose of the association is to provide support for those volunteers and Master Gardener graduates, continuing education, and opportunities to participate in community programs that increase the visibility and participation in the Master Gardener Program.
The Coconino Master Gardener Association (2009) began in 2009. This blog contains information on:
-How to become a member
-Volunteer and Education hours reporting
-Calendar of Events
-General gardening information articles
-Master Gardener Association Documents and forms
-References and Resources
-Interesting Websites and Blogs
-Old Gardening Etcetera columns
-Recipes
-Book Reviews
-How to contact Board or Committee Members
Meetings are held monthly on the 2nd Thursday from 600pm - 8;30pm. We meet at the Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church at 1601 N. San Francisco. This includes continuing education and a business meeting.

Reporting Master Gardener Hours

All master gardener trainees and certified master gardeners need to report their hours.
Beginning in 2010 certified master gardeners need to have 6 Education hours and 12 Volunteer hours in order to maintain certification.The on line reporting system allows you to report Education or Volunteer hours. You can sign in to record hours in the right hand column under Recording Volunteer and Education Hours. Just click on the U. of A.
If you have any questions or concerns about the new reporting system, please contact Brenda Smith (A - M) or Sue Madden (N - Z). Their contacts are listed at the bottom of the blog under
Contacts.



Ideas for hours------
--Attend monthly meetings
--Work on an association committee
--Work at an informational booth for the Master Gardeners
--Be a speaker about gardening topics at a variety of venues

--Host a garden tour
--Work at a fundraising event (Plant Sale - Garden Tour).
--Work at a MG site (Olivia White Hospice, the Arboretum, Riordan Mansion, or school gardens (many others)). Check out the Assoc. Doc. & Forms under Volunteer Sites.
--Work in the Extension office
--Write an article for the newspaper column -Gardening Etcetera
-Volunteer with the Seed Library
Be creative! There are many ways to fulfill your hours. Just remember for volunteering it needs to be a non-profit endeavor or an approved for profit site.

Change in Contact Information

Have you moved or changed your e-mail address, but would still like to be contacted about high elevation gardening information from the Extension? The Coconino County Extension Master Gardener Program has a site that will let you change your information on-line.

Click here to change your contact information!

Event Calendar

Monday, March 18, 2019

Notes from my Recycle class on 3/14

We had 3 speakers tonight. First was the director of Willow Bend on teaching recycling to children. They teach a class at the recycle center once a month on the first Friday at 1pm for all ages. They also partner with the city, and the Azulita Project to teach recycling primarily to school children from K-6th grade. They also include climate change and renewable energy. The director spent her time mostly in telling us how to teach children.  The primary sugesstions were simple, clear, short, with lots of participation and demonstration,.

The next two speakers were about sustainable building - Nina Schmidt from Coconino County's Sustainable Building Program and Tom Elsass who is a local builder who emphasizes sustainable building practices.

The mission of the Coconino County Sustainable Building Program is to encourage, educate, support and develop sustainable building practices and processes for residents of Coconino County and all the communities within it.
Coconino County Sustainable Building Program offers the following services to all residents of Coconino County, and the cities and communities within it, for free:


Consultations

Certification Program

Resources for Sustainable Building

Code Support

Educational Opportunities


Current Initiatives and Projects

Construction Waste Initiative

Pollinator Habitat Initiative

Real Estate Initiative

Radon Outreach

2018 ICC Code Adoption

Why reduce construction/demolition waste?
25-40%  of landfill content is construction waste

80-90% of this could be diverted



Reducing construction waste:

Minimizes waste of embodied energy

Reduces methane emissions

Saves money

Reduces environmental damage
Reduces landfill size

Tom Elsass talked about how our homes become sick and can contribute to our health. He talked about many things we should think about in buying or building a home. A few tidbits were remove any existing carpeting, and avoid carpeting if you can.  Look for natural materials (best flooring wood or cement). Avoid cleaners that are antimicrobial or antibiotic - use probiotic cleaners if you can find them. There was so much else in this lecture that you really needed to be there.


They both talked about how much building material goes into the land fill - 25-40% of the landfill is this. The city and county are both working on ways this can be changed. Places like ReStore that sell used materials are one answer, and the builder talked about thinking about remodels or refits rather than tearing down and building new. The county has a plan. Check it out on there site.

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