Merry Christmas!

Jackie Sledge

Big Country Master Gardener Association

Merry Christmas to you, our fellow gardeners in the Big Country!

I hope you have had a wonderful time getting ready for today, and I hope even more that you are enjoying this most blessed time with family and friends.  It is always such a hectic time getting presents purchased and wrapped, the decorations all put up, meals planned, food purchased, the house in some semblance of order, and the yard ready for the holidays plus getting the end-of-the-year finances wrapped up.  Whew!  It’s no wonder we are exhausted by today.

Before we close out 2023, I want us to look back over the past 12 months with the Big County Master Gardeners and the many places we have been this year.  Here we go:

Education

The goal of Master Gardeners is to educate the public as well as members of our association, and we accomplished that in many ways during 2023.  We hope you were able to join us at:

• Saturday Seminars held at the Taylor County Extension Office.  We offered these programs on the last Saturday of the month from March through August, and we covered a variety of timely topics.
• Library Programs held the first Tuesday of the month at the South Branch of the Library in the Mall of Abilene and repeated the second Friday of the month at the Main Library in downtown Abilene.  These presentations provided timely information each month.
• Women’s Fair held during the Farm, Ranch and Wildlife Expo.
• Booth at the Farm, Ranch and Wildlife Expo.
• Presentations for local and area groups.
• Children’s event during the Swenson House Haunted Abilene event.
• Programs for children during the Kids, Kows and More event.
• Activities at the Wings on the Wind event at Abilene State Park.
• Presentations at schools.
• Information provided at local and area Health Fairs.
• Conducted an Intern Training Class to educate trainees to become part of the Master Gardener program.

Projects

The Big Country Master Gardeners worked in the following projects:

• Pollinator beds at Swenson House.
• Pollinator bed at Hope Garden at First Central Presbyterian Church.
• Demonstration Gardens at the Taylor County Extension Office.
• Beds at the Modern Living Mall on the Expo grounds.
• Expo planters on the Expo grounds.
• Demonstration Gardens on Maple Street.
• Beds at the Abilene Zoo.
• Various projects in the BCMGA greenhouse.
• WASP Museum gardens in Sweetwater.
• Sweetwater Community Garden in Sweetwater.
• Several projects at schools and churches.

BCMGA can provide these education opportunities as well as involvement in projects with funds raised during the Spring and Fall Plant Sales.  We have plants that survive, and thrive, in the Big Country area during the sales, and we are also available to answer questions and help customers with plants delivered from the online sale and also during the in-person sale.

We accomplished these things because of:

• Support from the Extension Office – Steve, Dawnyel, Tammie, Amy, Kim, LaRonna, and Maggie plus Pam and Lora who recently joined the staff.
• Executive Committee – President Pleas, Vice President Rachel, Secretary Fran, Treasurer Kathy, and Past President Jackie.
• Committees that handled projects, advanced training, special events, training, presentations, etc, etc, etc.  This list goes on and on.
• And Master Gardeners and Interns who volunteered over 9,000 hours through November.  Nothing could have been accomplished without the many hours worked by these dedicated individuals.

Every year Texas Master Gardeners recognize outstanding Master Gardener Associations throughout the state, and the Big Country Master Gardener Association received the following awards in May for the volunteer service we provided in 2022:

• 2^nd Place in the Workshop Presentation Category for the Saturday Seminar presentations.
• 2^nd Place in the Written Education Category for the BCMGA weekly articles published in the Abilene Reporter News.  (These articles are now added to the BCMGA website every week instead of being in the newspaper).
• 3^rd Place in the Outstanding Individual Category for the volunteer service provided by John Geib during 2022.
• 3^rd Place in the Outstanding Association Category for the volunteer work provided by the Master Gardeners and Interns in BCMGA.

We have already started planning programs and events for 2024 so please watch our website for information on our programs and activities each month.

If you have any questions, call the Taylor County Extension Office at 325-672-6048 or email us at mgardeners@yahoo.com.  We hope you visit bcmgtx.org for information on all Big Country Master Gardener events, like us on BCMGA Facebook, and check out training presentations on BCMGA YouTube.  We are here to help you.