CCE Master Gardeners Kick Off 2019 Season

JAMESTOWN, NEW YORK (January 25, 2019) Next week the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Chautauqua County Master Gardener Program will start their activities for 2019 by participat-ing in the Audubon Snowflake Festival, at the Audubon Community Nature Center, 1600 River-side Road, Jamestown, NY. A booth with master gardeners demonstrating winter sowing, Good Bug Bad Bug, soda bottle planters. Interactive glove seed starting, Oreo cookie dirt gardening, plastic spoon bugs on felt leaves painting for the kids. The Snowflake Festival will take place February 2nd, 2019 from 10 AM to 4 PM.

The Cornell Cooperative Extension Master Gardener program has 40 active volunteers in Chau-tauqua County. We build relationships with the community, integrating local experience and pro-vide research based knowledge in planning for and initiating steps to manage gardens, lawns, landscapes with an emphasis on food security and environmental stewardship.

Master gardeners also reach out to engage adults, youth and families to provide educational pro-grams expanding ecological gardening skills. As a result these connections and experiences en-hance health, food security, environmental stewardship, and embrace sustainable community practices. These are all available to the public. Some of these programs include; Audubon Snowflake Festival, Grow Jamestown 2019, Conservation Field Days, Gardeners Help Line, Yearly Master Gardener Plant Sale, MG Demo Gardens, Lawson Center Planters, County Fair-grounds Dunkirk gardens and 4H evaluations.

New volunteers are wanted. If you have an interest in gardening, educating the public on how to deliver sustainable horticultural practices and contribute 35 or more hours of your time per year in the program you may apply for our next training planned for later this year. Please contact Emily Reynolds, CCE Director with your interest and contact info at 716-664-9502 ext. 201.

The Master Gardener Program is one of many programs offered by Cornell Cooperative Exten-sion of Chautauqua County (CCE-Chautauqua). CCE-Chautauqua is a subordinate governmen-tal agency with an educational mission that operates under a form of organization and admin-istration approved by Cornell University as agent for the State of New York. It is tax-exempt un-der section 501(c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code. The association is part of the national co-operative extension system, an educational partnership between County, State, and Federal governments. As New York’s land grant university Cornell administers the system in this state. Each Cornell Cooperative Extension association is an independent employer that is governed by an elected Board of Directors with general oversight from Cornell. All associations work to meet the needs of the counties in which they are located as well as state and national goals. For more information, call 716-664-9502 or visit our website at www.cce.cornell.edu/chautauqua. Cornell University Cooperative Extension provides equal program and employment opportunities.

Last updated January 25, 2019