MG SPROUTS: Project-in-a-Box Approach to Youth Gardening without a Garden

Extension education and outreach makes for a busy, often hectic, day. Demand for horticultural answers and instruction often outpaces staff time available to address it. Training individuals as Master Gardener Extension Volunteers (MGEVs) offers a way to expand Extension's outreach to the community. By developing the MGEV role, defining outcomes, and providing tools for project delivery, Agents can increase the return on their investment in volunteers. MG SPROUTS is a youth horticulture project-in-a-box approach to outreach for horticulture education for children in grades K-3.  The project-in-a-box approach includes role descriptions for leaders and volunteers, planning timetables for Agents and volunteers, supplemental training to prepare volunteers for the project, evaluation pieces to create statewide impact, and take-home newsletters that reach out to the parent. MG SPROUTS uses popular children's literature and gardening activities to "get hands dirty" and provide all the joy and wonder of gardening without MGEV commitment to a physical garden and its maintenance. The complete package approach and simple projects enable MGEVs to successfully introduce gardening and horticulture to youth audiences in many community settings, such as at libraries, in after-school programs, and with homeschool groups. MG SPROUTS demonstrates how role descriptions positively set expectations and enhance the volunteer and agent experience as well as project results.