Financial support helps Extension Master Gardeners make an impact
120 Volunteers cultivating plants, people & communities in 2023.
Volunteer Hours: In 2023, our volunteers contributed nearly 13,000 hours helping our local communities. Time spent addresses important issues facing Washington residents. Volunteers are trained in research-based horticulture and environmental stewardship and teach sustainable gardening practices to individuals and communities to mitigate the effects of climate change, to keep our waterways clean and plentiful, to improve soil health and promote the health of pollinators, to improve food security, to preserve biodiversity, to reduce the risk of loss due to wildfire and to encourage people to get out into nearby nature.
3,575 Pounds of Produce: Volunteers teach people to grow their own food via demonstrations and workshops. The produce grown in our demonstration and community gardens across the state is donated to local food banks to help Washingtonians in need.
Free Answer Clinics: Our volunteers staff clinics in Extension Offices, farmers markets and fairs across the county. We are available to answer your gardening questions, free of charge, so that you can get scientifically backed answers to your problematic questions.
Demonstration & Food Gardens: Volunteers manage our demonstration and heirloom gardens. These gardens are outdoor classrooms where we answer your questions and demonstrate sound gardening practices specifically for our growing zone. Our two food gardens provide fresh produce for hundreds of clients in the Yakama Nation and the Upper Yakima Valley.
Educational Outreach: We held 36 adult demonstrations, class and speaking events; reaching 570 adults.
Children’s Gardening Education: Volunteers engage with the next generation of gardeners to start them off on the right foot. Our foundations provided the funding for volunteers to reach over 1,000 youth in schools, youth fairs, and juvenile detention centers. We want your children to love gardening and to learn how to garden sustainably.
