Natural Perspectives: January 2011

The weather outside is awful..... cold, never-ending rain and just plain bleah..... but already things are hopping on the MG-training front.

As I think I mentioned in an earlier post, I've transferred to a new clinic this year.  My first year internship was spent at a clinic that required us to sit behind a desk, wait for folks to come up and ask us questions and we then dutifully answered. Booooooooooring! Actually, it's not boring, it's agony for me! I'm just not someone that likes to sit still - in fact I don't think it's in my DNA to sit still..... as far back as I can remember (and family members will quickly validate this) I've always been a fidgety-widget.... constantly on the go. Sitting behind a table at a clinic is a total misery, so I requested a transfer to a new clinic which doesn't really do much sitting at all because it's tied in with a demonstration garden where folks are constantly up and about doing stuff, walking around showing and telling and generally providing the clinic services in a "real world" environment. Much more my style! :)

So, my new clinic home, the Bellevue Demonstration Garden, had a January kick-off meeting a few weeks ago and I went along.   After meeting, mingling and catching up on holiday happenings, the steering committee gave a status update on things, we got to review the preliminary calendar for the year and sign up for our clinic assignments. TIP FOR THE DAY: Be sure to do your darndest to go to this kick-off meeting..... it's your best chance to get the dates/slots you want for your assignments. After that, there's going to be an email call out to fill in the blanks and you'll have to take what's left. Just like our first year internship, we have to complete another 5 clinics. I've got 2 in April, 1 in June and 2 in September. Opens the summer months up for more hiking opportunities and holiday travels. I'm a happy camper!

With my clinic assignments organized, I've now set about looking into the garden rotation stuff I need to get done.   Last year I did way too much weeding/watering - not value for time spent when I can do that quite easily in my own garden! So, this year, I'm seeking out opportunities to learn particular skills: specifically seeding/transplanting and greenhouse work, hanging out with fruit trees and learning how to manage/care for them, and veggie gardening. The veggie gardening stuff will be covered by my time at the Bellevue Demonstration Garden, but I'm having trouble finding a Master Gardener sanctioned garden/site within tolerable driving distance that can cover the rest. More digging/investigating to do before I declare coming up empty on this idea, but so far, not encouraging.
Stay tuned for more on this one!

So that's clinics and garden stuff moving along. Finally there's CE (continuing Ed.) stuff. We have to complete 10 hours during our 2 year internship. I've got 7 in the bank so far.... 3 more to go. Found a workshop happening next week on fruit tree pruning, so I'll go to that for starters. I think I'll readily find other opportunities to meet the time committment, so not worried at all about getting this one done.

Looking back on what I did last year..... I'm really glad I got a hefty portion of my intern hours done so this year will be a lighter load. I'm already enjoying having my winter weekends back. This time last year I was heads down in classes and homework..... and this year I get to go skiing again!  Hardly did any hiking last summer..... really looking forward to getting back up in the mountains.   I think 2011's going to be a fun year!