Jackie Sledge
Big Country Master Gardener Association
National Volunteer Week is April 20-26, 2025, and it is a time to recognize the impact of volunteer service in communities. According to the National Volunteer Website, “since 1974National Volunteer Week has been an opportunity to recognize the impact of volunteer service and the power of volunteers to tackle society’s greatest challenges, to build stronger communities and be a force that transforms the world. It takes place every April during Global Volunteer Month. Each year, we shine a light on the people and causes that inspire us to serve, recognizing and thanking volunteers who lend their time, talentand voice to make a difference in their communities.”
The Big Country Master Gardener Association was established in 1996, and since then Master Gardeners and Interns have made an impact in many ways in the Big Country. I want to share what we did in 2024 so you can see the impact of our contributions last year.
Here are the places we were in 2024:
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 2024. 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 February 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 in February.
• Booth at the Farm, Ranch and Wildlife Expo in February.
• 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 and events.
• Conducted an Intern Training Class to educate new traineesto become part of the Master Gardener program. There were 28 Interns who participated in the 2024 training.
Projects
The Big Country Master Gardeners worked on the following projects:
• Pollinator gardens at Swenson House.
• Pollinator garden 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 greenhouses.
• WASP Museum gardens in Sweetwater.
• Sweetwater Community Garden in Sweetwater.
• Several projects at schools and churches.
BCMGA can provide these educational opportunities as well as provide financial support for 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 online sales as well as during the in-person sales.
We accomplished these things because of:
• Support from the Extension Office – Steve, Dawnyel, Pam, Amy, Kim, Lora, and Maggie.
• Executive Committee – President Jackie, President Elect Dawn, Vice President Rachel, Secretary Jo, TreasurerKathy, and Past President Pleas.
• Committees that handled projects, advanced training, special events, programs, presentations, etc., etc., etc. This list goes on and on.
• And Master Gardeners and Interns who volunteered 10,142 hours from January through December last year. None of the education programs, projects, or events could have been accomplished without the many hours worked by these dedicated individuals. The value of a volunteer hour in 2024 was $33.49, so BCMGA’s volunteer time last yearwas valued at $339,655.58!
Every year Texas Master Gardeners recognize outstanding Master Gardener Associations throughout the state, and the Big Country Master Gardener Association received several awards in May for the volunteer service we provided in 2023.
The Awards we received for 2023 are:
• 1st Place – Written-Recorded Education for the Weekly Garden Articles on the BCMGA Website and Facebook.
• 1st Place – Research for Master Gardener participation in the Fly Demonstration Project at the Expo Center.
• 1st Place – Outstanding Individual (Master Gardener) for Jackie Sledge.
• 2nd Place – Youth-Other for the Fruit, Vegetable, and Grain Programs presented at Long Early Learning Center.
• 2nd Place – Outstanding Association in Texas for the Big Country Master Gardener Association.
• 3rd Place – Workshop Presentation for the Tomato-Thon Saturday Seminar.
We recently submitted award nominations for 2024, and the Texas Master Gardener Association will announce the finalists in May 2025.
I want to applaud the work of BCMGA and recognize the Master Gardeners and Interns who volunteered so many hours to ensure that projects were worked, programs were presented, and public inquiries were answered. We have continued to be busy volunteering this year through education programs, projects, and events, and we have reported 2,888.50 hours from January through March this year. We hope you join us for events and programs so watch our website and Facebook page forinformation on our activities each month.
If you have any questions, call the Taylor County Extension Office at 325-672-6048 or email us at bcmgardeners@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.
Until next week, happy gardening!
