Master Gardener - Goal Achieved

Upon retiring from my full-time teaching career, I made a list of longtime goals I wanted to accomplish in retirement. One was to take back up painting, my childhood hobby. The other was to 

become a Master Gardener. 

Becoming a Master Gardener is not something one can knock off on a Saturday afternoon. In Texas, it takes a full year commitment : a semester of college level coursework (with homework, outside reading, weekly tests, and a research project) plus 70+ hours of volunteer work on any numerous pre-approved MG projects. 

Due to some health issues, I’m not really capable of heavy lifting, digging, hauling, tilling, and other forms of hard labor. Knee surgeries have made it impossible for me to squat or get down on hands and knees. So I chose to complete my volunteer hours working with kids, teaching what I was learning, making art, staffing information booths, registering folk at contests, etc. I also took extra classes to learn even more, on landscaping, working with native plants, water conservation, etc.

It was a lot of hard work - I’m glad I did it first thing outta the gate, so to speak, in retirement, while I still had lots of motivation and pep. But what a year it was! I made new friends, learned so much, and had fun. I highly recommend this program to anyone interested in gardening. At the end of our year, we had a very posh banquet at a local country club and I got to visit with my newfound friends all over again. Goal achieved! I’m now officially a Denton County Master Gardener. Woo-hoo!