Meg Buerkel Hunn, Advisory Council Chair: SEMG Blessings

Nov 27, 2024 | Experiences

Heart Leaf in snow
Giving Thanks…November is a time to take stock of blessings bestowed.  What are you grateful for?  How do you express your gratitude?  What do you overlook – or take for granted?  It’s a good season to reflect.

I want to express my deep and heartfelt gratitude to the Sandoval Extension Master Gardeners.  You all may (or may not!) know that I signed up to become a Master Gardener to try to figure out how to grow tomatoes… we had a gorgeous and quite productive vegetable garden in North Carolina, and I was quick to learn gardening in New Mexico is quite different.  I hoped for knowledge – which I received.  But I also got so much more.

I found friends.  I found a community who wants to learn.  I found people who want to practice sustainable gardening.  I found others who want to acquire a new definition of natural (NM) beauty.  And I found a place in a group of people who value giving back to our community.

Yes, my tomatoes are better (mostly because I am often gifted with starter plants by other Master Gardeners…) – but I am most grateful that my “roots” here have grown deeper and have been nourished in and by this community.  I cherish being a part of something bigger than anything I can do alone.

Here’s what we’ve done, as Sandoval Extension Master Gardeners, so far in 2024:

  1.  We’ve made over 1,700 direct contacts with the public, on our email helpline, at growers markets, at festivals and fairs!
  2. We’ve escorted nearly 1,000 people through garden tours highlighting sustainable gardening practices in Corrales and Placitas.
  3. We’ve raised over 30,000 pounds of food for people in our communities who experience food insecurity.
  4. We’ve tended to at least 16 different gardens and projects that have a direct benefit to the residents of Sandoval County.
  5. We’ve offered public classes in beekeeping, seed starting, chiles, landscaping with native plants, gardening in raised beds, the unique challenges of a NM Gardener, drip irrigation, preserving the garden bounty, winter sowing, and sustainability thus far this year.
  6. We’ve volunteered nearly 6,000 hours for and in our county!

Not that everything is worth money, but when you multiply 6,000 hours by the 2024 volunteer hour rate (as set by the federal government), this amounts to over $200,000.

To be certain, this is a group effort, undertaken by our nearly 200 Sandoval Extension Master Gardeners along with our 30+ 2024 Interns who graduate this month.

Thank you, to each and every one of you – you make a difference in our community, in others’ lives, and in my world.

Thank you.

-Meg