University of Wisconsin - Extension

In a land of abundance, it's sometimes hard to remember that some of our neighbors don't have enough to eat, says Susan Mahr, coordinator of the Master Gardener Program at University of Wisconsin-Extension.

The National Food Research and Nutrition Center reports that 7.2 percent of Wisconsin residents are "food insecure." In other words, about one person out of every 14 does not get enough nutritionally adequate and safe food. Master Gardeners, trained by University of Wisconsin-Extension, use their love of gardening and their commitment to community service to fight hunger by producing thousands of pounds of fresh vegetables for community food pantries and providing opportunities for low-income families to grow some of their own food.

Throughout the state last summer, Master Gardeners grew and donated an astonishing amount of food. Here are just a few examples:

¿ The smallest local association, "Northwoods" in Forest Co., with only 6 members, donated more than 200 pounds of vegetables. ¿ Fond du Lac County Master Gardeners contributed 1,000 pounds. ¿ Barron County Master Gardeners gave away 1,680 pounds. ¿ Racine-Kenosha Master Gardeners produced over 2,000 pounds in their community garden. ¿ In Columbus (Columbia Co.), where the food pantry is unable to accept fresh produce, Master Gardeners sold apples, potatoes and onions at a fall farmer's market day and raised more $250 for the Columbus/Fall River Food Pantry.

Much of the donated food was produced through Share the Bounty or Plant a Row for the Hungry (PAR) programs. One of biggest of these was a Plant a Row project in Portage County, where volunteers planted 105,000 hills of potatoes, along with other vegetables, using seed potatoes and growing advice from the University of Wisconsin experts at Hancock Research Station. Starting in July, the volunteers made weekly deliveries of potatoes and other fresh produce to the Portage Food Panty.

"Master Gardeners is a volunteer organization. In exchange for their training and to remain certified, they are expected to contribute community service hours and complete additional training," Mahr said, explaining that the food pantry project is just one of dozens of projects Master Gardeners take on. Last year, UW-Extension trained more than 600 new Master Gardeners, and the number of active Master Gardeners was about 1,100 statewide. These volunteers reported contributing 74,725 hours to service projects in 2001.

Many Master Gardener community gardens are outdoor learning centers where people learn about growing food, good nutrition and self-sufficiency. For example, Portage and Marathon county Master Gardeners teach low income and refugee families about seed starting and help them find garden sites. Glacial Gardeners, in far northeastern Florence County, contributed money for gardening supplies and horticulture education materials and plants to a summer feeding program for low-income children. And the Lake Superior Master Gardeners have a square-foot garden demonstration to show how gardening techniques can be adapted to a short growing season and still provide food for a family all summer long.

If you are interested in becoming a Master Gardener, please contact your county University of Wisconsin Extension office, http://www1.uwex.edu/ces/cty"> http://www1.uwex.edu/ces/cty.

# # # http://www.uwex.edu/ces/news FILE: horticulture, master gardeners.