🌱 Central Gorge Master Gardener Association 2022 Year in Review

5 Key Takeaways from 2022

As 2022 began, Covid restrictions gradually eased, allowing us to return to more in-person gatherings while still offering hybrid options. It was a year of rebuilding connection, restoring traditions, and rediscovering the joy of working side by side in our gardens and community spaces.

🌿 Growing Our Membership & Volunteer Impact

We began the year with 40 recertifying members, 21 associate members, and 27 trainees — welcoming 14 newly certified Master Gardeners. Together, we logged a record-breaking 4,481 volunteer hours and made 1,619 community contacts, showing just how ready our volunteers were to reconnect and serve.

🌼 Education Back in Full Bloom

Classes returned in person at Hood River Valley Christian Church, with Zoom options still available. We resumed in-person plant clinics — offering 85 clinics staffed by 40 MGs and answering 256 gardening questions. OSU’s Level Up webinar series continued to enrich our learning, and Saturday clinics at local businesses helped us stay visible and accessible.

🌱 A Record Plant Sale & Successful Garden Tour

Our hybrid plant sale (online + in person) was our most financially successful ever, netting over $9,500 in profit, with 49 MGs participating. Later, a four-garden tour in White Salmon welcomed approximately 220 visitors and raised $2,700 for future event signage — celebrating the surge of interest in home food production.

🥕 Feeding Families & Strengthening Projects

The FISH/Spirit of Grace Garden produced 1,937 pounds of fresh produce for the food bank, serving hundreds of families monthly. Despite the departure of our AmeriCorps volunteer, MGs stepped up to sustain and restructure the project. All demonstration gardens — Learning Garden, Library Garden, and Parkdale Memorial Garden — remained active, with Parkdale earning the Garden of Distinction Award and hosting a joyful community ice cream social.

🤝 Growing & Belonging

Inspired by the statewide Justice, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts (later renamed “Growing and Belonging”), our chapter worked to build stronger community connections and remove barriers to gardening access. Highlights included launching “La Jardinería” on Radio Tierra, creating a Spanish plant clinic submission form, developing a Community Asset Map, and laying groundwork for a Tool Lending Library.

📣 Outreach, Communication & Celebration

We expanded social media engagement, published regular articles in the Columbia Gorge News, and continued our monthly newsletter highlighting education, volunteer achievements, and resources. In November, we joyfully returned to a more traditional Recognition Event — complete with our beloved potluck dinner — honoring award recipients and celebrating one another.

We also paused to remember cherished Master Gardeners Renee Taylor and Bud Lacey, whose contributions continue to inspire us.

🌟 Leadership & Looking Forward

Throughout the year, Coordinator Megan Wickersham remained a steady and creative leader, connecting our chapter with statewide initiatives and new ideas. While statewide transitions and advocacy efforts were underway, our local chapter remained strong, adaptable, and deeply rooted in service.

Full 2022 Year in Review

Published January 2023, Revised February 4, 2023

The year started with some lightening of the Covid restrictions that had limited activities since February 2020. While there were still Covid variants developing, vaccines seemed to be helping curb the number of cases and deaths. As a result, Oregon State University made their guidelines for gatherings more lenient.

Membership: We started the year with 40 recertifying members, 21 associate members, and 27 trainees of which 14 became fully certified. Volunteer hours totaled 4,481 (a record) with 1619 contacts.

Classes: We were able to hold classes in person at Hood River Valley Christian Church, and most attended in person. However, we also zoomed the classes for those persons who preferred to not attend in person. Some questions/discussions were difficult for online attendees to hear well, so we invested in better audio equipment to be used in 2023. We had a full schedule of speakers.

Webinars: OSU continued to offer the Level Up series of speakers once per month, and these were attended by many of our members.

Plant Clinics: After a Covid hiatus with virtual plant clinics, these were resumed mostly in person at the OSU Extension plant clinic office. A total of 85 (including Saturdays and special events) were offered and staffed by 40 MGs. Extra clinic work was also completed by volunteers outside of clinic hours when the workload exceeded the time scheduled for the clinics. A total of 256 questions were answered. Saturday plant clinics were continued at Ace Hardware and Tum-A-Lum in Hood River and Dickey’s Farm in White Salmon.

Plant Sale: In 2021 we offered only an online sale, and we wanted to try a hybrid model this year. We researched online platforms for ordering and decided to use Shopify. It required a big learning curve, but we easily sold 50% of our inventory online. The other 50% was saved for our first day of in person sales since 2019. We held nine seed starting/up potting work parties in the greenhouse and hoop house. Our community did not forget us, and we had the most financially successful sale ever netting over $9500 profit. Forty-nine MGs participated in some way.

Garden Tour: A garden tour of four homes in White Salmon was held in mid-June (Saturday, June 18th from 9 am to 1 pm). These gardens were grouped close enough that one could easily walk or bike the tour. The gardens focused on growing fruits and vegetables at home as interests in home production surged during the 2020 pandemic. An estimated 220 people toured the gardens, and 30 Master Gardeners staffed them. Profit was $2700 with the intent of purchasing new and more easily moveable event signage for future use.

Projects: All of our projects continued in full force this year with volunteers feeling more Covid safe in outdoor environments.

FISH/Spirit of Grace Garden: The garden produced 1937 pounds of produce for the food bank in 2022, which served 400-500 families per month and a total of 14,683 individuals. The AmeriCorp volunteer, who organized volunteers, gardened, and maintained records, left at the end of summer and was not replaced for 2023. We stepped up to lead the project for the remainder of this season and have modified the garden plan for 2023 to divide up the work more. We will use only half the plot, ask volunteers to take primary responsibility for a crop, target high value crops, and continue to manage the garden including soil testing, fertilizers, irrigation, and volunteer coordination. We also have a goal of having four sizeable groups of students in the garden for educational visits in addition to current smaller groups from local schools.
Holiday Greenery Event: This was held in December at the greenhouse with 14 MGs creating 39 wreaths and swags to donate to the Hood River Food Bank and WGAP (Washington Gorge Action Programs).
Learning Garden: The Learning Garden sought separate leaders for its various garden features to try to make parcels smaller to lead. Even with this change it continued to require regular work parties for general maintenance. Work parties would tend to focus on a feature that needed volunteers at any one time to accomplish a goal. The larger bioswale was temporarily decommissioned after the replacement of the septic tank/drain field, and significant planning and development work was accomplished in the pollinator garden.
Library Garden: The library team of 4 to 8 MGs met monthly to maintain the water-wise garden. In the late fall, one large shrub/tree was removed, and four new shrubs were planted. Additionally, the irrigation system needs attention, and there are several other plant revisions to make. Goals for 2023 are to create a QR system with an accurate map and plant list and to host a presentation on water-wise gardening at the library in June.
Parkdale Memorial Garden: This garden continues to be maintained as a joint effort between the Parkdale Garden Club, community members, and CGMGA. The garden received a Blue Star Memorial Bi-Way Marker in 2021 and won the Garden of Distinction Award from the Oregon State Federation of Garden Clubs in 2022. An ice cream social for the community was held in August 2022 which brought in approximately 100 locals and visitors (many of them Master Gardeners) to enjoy the garden and some great root beer floats. Also, the Celilo Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution placed a Never Forget Garden marker in the garden that commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington, VA. Residents of the Parkdale community and visitors alike continue to be impressed with the beauty of this garden which is a direct result of the time and energy put into it by Master Gardener volunteers.

Garden Visits: Feeling safer outdoors we held two official garden visits …. one at a MG’s home and one at the Senior Center where MGs volunteer. Two others were held at MG’s homes with informal participation. These were fun and educational.

Hood River County Fair: While we were set up to staff a booth at the County Fair, extreme heat motivated us to cancel the booth. This was the first year we were asked to pay to provide a booth.

Growing and Belonging: Stimulated by the Statewide Master Gardener Program’s Justice, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee (later to be renamed ‘Growing and Belonging’), CGMGA had some interested volunteers brainstorm and plan what our chapter can do to be more inclusive. The objectives were to create community connections, identify and remove barriers to gardening accessibility, and promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in local gardening and programming. A Spanish translation of the Plant Clinic submission form was posted on the website, a gardening show ‘La Jardineria’ was started on Radio Tierra, and outreach was made to community partners to identify how we can collaborate. A Community Asset Map was created to track our different partners, and some new partners were identified, e.g. the Tribal Sovereignty group. Work was also done with the Hood River Library to develop a Tool Lending Library with the goal of implementation in 2023.

OMGA: There have been difficulties in recruiting officers for OMGA, but two board positions were filled this year. Mini college ‘Joy of Gardening’ was successfully held in person in Corvallis. The ‘Growing and Belonging’ committee focusing on diversity and inclusion was quite active with some participation from our chapter, and started working with Dr. Lyles, Vice Provost for Extension and Engagement to develop a Needs Assessment for Master Gardener programs. An Advocacy Task Force was formed by Clackamas County MG Sherry Sheng to advocate for Extension funding at the local and state levels to help fill vacant coordinator positions. Gail Langellotto announced her resignation after 16 years as the statewide Master Gardener coordinator (to be effective July 2023).

Newsletter: We continued to publish a newsletter every month that is sent to every MG via email. The articles summarize recent events and project updates, provide educational articles, spotlight various MGs, recognize award recipients, and provide gardening resources. A calendar of events is also provided.

Publicity: This committee expanded its scope to include regular posts on social media including Facebook (794 followers) and Instagram (247 followers). Articles appeared frequently in the Columbia Gorge News with timely gardening information as well as advertising our upcoming events and plant clinic services.

Recognition Event: We held our first more ‘normal’ recognition event at the Senior Center in November with the restoration of our infamous potluck dinner. Our Master Gardener of the Year and Behind the Scenes MG of the Year as well as our other local chapter recognitions took place.

Remembrances:

Renee Taylor: MG since 2016 https://osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/blogs.dir/3198/files/2022/07/June-2022.pdf
Bud Lacey: MG since 2004 https://osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/blogs.dir/3198/files/2022/07/July-2022.pdf

Coordinator: Our program coordinator Megan Wickersham continues to be a guiding light for MGs, stays engaged with the coordinators statewide, keeps us informed about practices in other MG chapters, and brings creative ideas to our program to consider.

Links to articles in the Columbia Gorge News:

January 5: https://www.columbiagorgenews.com/free_news/central-gorge-master-gardeners-receive-awards/article_59eef88e-6d7f-11ec-9f7d-6b0537b41c84.html

January 26: https://www.columbiagorgenews.com/news/oh-these-aching-bones/article_e4c9531a-7eea-11ec-a29b-4b474c15771c.html

March 14: https://www.columbiagorgenews.com/news/free-beginners-gardening-course-offered-by-master-gardeners/article_26de0d24-9fd2-11ec-bdb0-2b4ee8422eae.html

April 4: https://www.columbiagorgenews.com/news/central-gorge-master-gardeners-resume-plant-clinics/article_788546ec-b46d-11ec-b3cb-9bb26c65984b.html

April 26: https://www.columbiagorgenews.com/news/calling-all-butterfly-and-hummingbird-lovers/article_d52fa456-c5ab-11ec-9b59-dbf7238afee6.html

June 1: https://www.columbiagorgenews.com/gorge-life/you-re-gonna-love-roaming-these-gardens/article_a4b18a28-dd12-11ec-9614-e3b3961263c1.html

June 14: https://www.columbiagorgenews.com/happenings/central-gorge-master-gardeners-host-garden-tour-june-18/article_5af1ad88-ec1b-11ec-bd20-33645f712097.html

July 13: https://www.columbiagorgenews.com/news/osu-hood-river-county-extension-central-gorge-master-gardeners-receive-awards/article_11a805ac-023a-11ed-b144-4f43ad65a6b1.html

August 24: https://www.columbiagorgenews.com/gorge-life/you-re-gonna-love-roaming-these-gardens/article_a4b18a28-dd12-11ec-9614-e3b3961263c1.html

November 9: https://www.columbiagorgenews.com/free_news/central-gorge-master-gardener-applications-available-now/article_f3bd30d4-5ef1-11ed-afc1-13b9021a3ec3.html

December 14: https://www.columbiagorgenews.com/free_news/master-gardeners-greenery-event/article_156d9ac2-7a75-11ed-b466-cf05a2bdda4d.html

December 28: https://www.columbiagorgenews.com/news/central-gorge-master-gardeners-receive-completion-certificates-and-awards/article_1c3f49e6-8311-11ed-b736-636a6fa7d872.html

Link to CGMGA Newsletters:

Jan – Jun 2022: https://issuu.com/cgmga/docs/cgmga_newsletters_combind_with_index_jan-jun_2022

Jul – Dec 2022: https://issuu.com/home/published/cgmga_binder1

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