I have to agree. After 14 years more time was spent on paperwork to appease the university and show how much good work was being done promoting the agenda, than was spent interacting with the gardening public. My goal was educating the gardening public, which was not in tune with the university agenda. I loved doing workshops with the public, sometimes more than a hundred attending at a time, where I felt my time was well spent. Al

I'm just getting started. We don't have paperwork in our group - Orange County, Ca. Our hours can be entered online. There are so many things to choose from that I can't imagine being bored. We have booths at garden shows and the fair, we work at the park and research station, and there are speakers, docents, and more. You can work with children or senior citizens and everything in between. The best part is making new friends with other people who like to garden.

Nope, never boring, even after 13 years. Our paperwork is minimal and I guess it could be a problem if there was a lot of it to do. I know the office does a lot and some of the MGs volunteer to help out with that. There are a lot of different areas to volunteer here also so that keeps us fresh. My only complaint is that I don't have enough free time to volunteer more.

Sandy

I wish that I could say the same about "not too much paperwork"! Oh my, I spent several hours each month just compiling all of my hours. Then there were so many rules about what you can and cannot do. Now you have to work in the office in order to get certified. If I had to work in the office I would never have gotten certified. If you want to give an educational program, you have to first get permission to give the program so MG attendees get their continuing education hours. Way too much work and politics for me. Took all the fun out of it! Anyway I miss some of my good garden friends, but I can see them outside of the confines of our "extension office"! Glad to see that some of you are still getting to enjoy it!

Guess we're lucky here. Give Ext'n Agent hours at end of year,(guesstimate), meet once a month, help others as we wish and only a couple of projects that we come up with and agree on, annual plant sale for spending money, could call us a Laissez Faire Association. Only follow University 'requirements' as we want.

Ahhh.....to much fun! When I started out it was wonderful, write your hours in and what you did and submit. Then, as calistoga stated jump through hoops. Entirely too much emphasis on the sizzle and not so much the meat so the University can show how wonderful we are and what a marvy time we are having. I became a drop out twenty years ago. Still play in the dirt with my friends (and helped start an interest in Organic Gardening around here). No regrets!

I'm in a group that has no direction, just a blob of a group. The agent knows horticulture but can't communicate, plan or organize. The paperwork isn't bad, we submit our hours online, but there's no real group to be involved in.
Boring.

I read this thread with keen interest. I'm an ex-educator super burned out by academic bureaucracy, but I need fellowship for my number one passion, PLANTS. I live in a mid-west city. I visit the arboretum there fairly frequently, but it all seems to be clique-y and volunteers seem to have to PAY to really be involved. I downloaded the MG guide and was dismayed that it was so much about cash crops. I'm interested in carbon sequestration, wildlife habitat, etc. Just venting here, thanks.

Like pontyrogof I read this with interest because I'm thinking about getting back into the MG curriculum and I have experienced various behaviors and attitudes and procedures over the years. I guess I'll have to see for myself about our program here to make up my mind. I confess, I'm already starting out with a bit of a thud; I took the course many years ago and before I could do the hours I became ill for a long time. I approached one of the agents a few years ago about how to handle this (did I need to take the course again, just start hours, etc) and... he never got back to me. Fired off an email to our MG coordinator (figured the agent probably would have had to go there himself) a few days ago... and haven't heard back. Now, the coordinator is probably very busy so I may be jumping the gun. It would have been nice to get an 'I'll look into that' response at least, though.
Hoping for a good outcome,
Ging

I'm an MG in Napa County - in my 15th or 16th year. I have worked on several different committees and enjoy public contact the best.
Since our hours are on line and I list them on the date they take place, it is no problem. I really like working with new MGs because they are so full of energy Penny

There is a lot more focus on acquiring donation fees for programs to the public.