The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday (March 17) lauded 50 years of service by the county’s Master Gardeners program.
During a presentation, Board Chairman Jeff McKay praised the “dedication, expertise and spirit of service” of volunteers who have supported the effort over the past half-century.
“They’re a cornerstone in so many ways of our environmental issues,” McKay said. “[Their] importance has never been higher than at this moment.”
“You have been the educators, the advocates of leading us in the right direction,” Mount Vernon District Board member Dan Storck added.
The Fairfax County Master Gardeners Association formally came into existence in 1997, but traces its roots to the establishment in 1976 of the Fairfax County Neighborhood Plant Clinic Program.
Dedicated to providing resources and expertise to home gardeners, the initiative operates under the umbrella of Virginia Cooperative Extension, a joint effort of Virginia Tech and Virginia State University.
The Fairfax Master Gardeners program currently has about 230 members who provide approximately 20,000 hours of volunteer service each year.
“We hope to continue this commitment for the next 50 years,” said Susan McCrackin, who leads the organization.
Outreach efforts target both adults and youth. Among other programs, Master Gardeners work with thousands of fourth-grade students in Fairfax County each year to teach and hopefully instill a love of gardening in them.
McKay noted the therapeutic value of gardening, while McCrackin said even those who don’t believe they have green thumbs should dive in.
“Gardening is the great experiment,” she said. “Don’t give up.”
According to a history on the Fairfax Master Gardeners’ website, the Master Gardener concept dates to the early 1970s in Washington state.
It was created to support residents of the Puget Sound area, where the economy had cratered due to financial woes plaguing Boeing, and more residents turned to harvesting their own food.
Locally, the Master Gardeners program evolved out of efforts by the National Capital Area Federation of Garden Clubs in the 1970s. In March 1976, the first 45 Fairfax volunteers were trained.
Through the Fairfax County Master Gardeners Association, volunteers now receive 33 hours of training and perform 24 hours of volunteer service prior to certification.
