It is time to start thinking about what volunteer projects you would like to participate in this year! The College of Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES) recently named three discovery themes (Ok, they were announced in 2016 but are just now impacting us) that are the focus on the college, and OSU Extension named six impact areas to match. Master Gardener Volunteers fall under CFAES as part of OSU Extension.

These impact areas can be helpful when deciding what projects to participate in and whether a project qualifies. When you log into VMS to track your hours you will notice that the project categories have changed to reflect this. All projects must fall into one of these six categories.

The six areas are:

Health and Wellness

Job Skills and Careers

Thriving Across the Life Span

Sustainable Food Systems

Engaged Ohioans, Vibrant Communities

Environmental Quality

To learn more about the OSU Extension impact areas follow this link.

A Bugs World
OARDC

A Bug’s World is the OSU Department of Entomology’s outreach event for 2nd and 3rd graders, taking place this year on March 6th and 7th at the Shisler Conference Center on the OARDC campus, 1680 Madison Ave., Wooster.

We need volunteers on one or both days to help the event run smoothly. Volunteers will help greet children and students, assist with sessions, and help direct classes from session to session.

All sessions are led by Entomology students, faculty and staff, and include the Bug Zoo (an up-close experience), Café Insecta (a chance to munch on flavorful critters), and other insect-themed experiences to teach children about the wonders of insects.

Volunteers are needed from 9:00 to 1:30, one day or both days.

What you’ll get: a fun day helping kids learn about insects, lunch, an awesome t-shirt and Denise’s eternal gratitude!

Your responsibilities:

Show up on time if you commit to participating.

Have fun and patience with the students.

Offer feedback on how we can improve the experience at the end of this year’s event.

To participate:  please fill out this form.

Thanks so much — we truly couldn’t do it without our wonderful volunteers!

If you know of other OSU volunteers (Master Gardeners, OCVN’ers or 4-H volunteers) who might like to help, please forward this message to them, or contact me and I’ll follow up.

As always, let me know if you have questions or suggestions: ellsworth.2@osu.edu

Hope to see you in March! ~Denise

The deadline to recertify as a Master Gardener volunteer is here. If you went through training in 2017 you do not need to recertify. Please take 5 minutes to go through the recertification process if you desire to continue as a Secrest Master Gardener. If you do not recertify by January 25 you will be registered as inactive for 2018.

You will see a notification as soon as you log into VMS that will direct you to the recertification page. Simply paying the $20 dues does not recertifiy you. You must also complete the paperwork. This deadline is one that has been set by the state.

Please contact Paul with any questions regarding recertification.