Interesting to hear about other MG courses and goals. In So NV we are taught to prepare, plant, and maintain veggie gardens, home yards, flowers, trees, etc. We generally are taught diseases of plants that we can identify, maladies that beset plants, wrong growing practices, etc. But we are not expected to be fully trained Horticulturists or Botanists. We have projects all over the Las Vegas Valley at schools, hospitals, hospices, neighborhood parks, an orchard, an air force base. We spend time on the phones answering questions, or researching questions so we answer properly. We volunteer at many MG question tables at Farmer Markets, the State Fair, gardens throughout the valley, libraries, and gardening clubs. We learn as we go and do not attempt to be experts right out of classes. We pay $150.00, spend 80 hrs, received 3 books, a botany book, a Sunset book, and a desert gardening book, all extremely useful for gardening in this area. My thoughts on the original poster is that the MG program could not see how they could use someone well educated in wine grapes for their program. Any growing experience is valuable to any gardening experience. Sorry you got turned away. Work independently or with gardening clubs to move further in this endeavor. Good luck.

You've already defined where you want to work. That's a good start. I reread your thread several times to be sure I am understanding it accurately. You actually did advance to such a position, but you are not working in it now, and you want to return to it but can't find a position comparable to what you did before. You're not sure if the reason is because you don't have an advanced degree in horticulture, or if it's because there just aren't any jobs out there. You really didn't say what your present degree is in. It may be so totally removed from horticulture that, aside from being a well educated person, you have no formal education in horticulture? I've changed careers three times in my life, each one unrelated to the previous, and of course had university level coursework in preparation for each of them. I was just thankful as much of it translated from field to field, as did. Believe it or not, universities used to be much, much stricter than they are now about translating previous college credits to satisfy requirements for degree programs. I have a lot of empathy in regard to taking coursework (or job training) you think is redundant. Part of it boils down to there is no recognition of your previous accomplishments and that can be a pill to swallow. But, you can be your own worst enemy by convincing yourself you have nothing to learn. BTW....I think you're getting off very easy by just having to take four courses before being accepted into their master's program in horticulture. But, don't you think before you make that sort of committment in time and money, you might want to do some research to see if there are even jobs out there in this rather specific area, and then contact those who are looking for candidates to find out what their educational and work background expectations are? Sort of get it from the horse's mouth.

Hi, Good idea! (Poison ivy is a native plant, though.) Try the National Wildlife Federation's Backyard Habitat Program. I raised $800 out of my classroom in just 5 months by selling snacks I bought at Costco. I got seeds from good people online, planted them in a portable greenhouse, in addition to buying native plants and planting them. (We created a native butterfly garden in addition to adding native flowers throughout the school grounds. A student's father donated his wood and work and made 4 bluebird houses. I just had to but the posts and make baffles. I recommend they do fund raising as well as seek donations. Bake sales, tag sales, etc. Good luck. (Here is the garden we created: http://community.webshots.com/album/348247343IHURcbhref> Here is a link that might be useful: Backyard Habitats

Been on both sides myself. Raise nicely middle class, married to a working fellow-we had kids and a nice, comfy life-until he got involved with drugs and I had to literally flee in the middle of the night with my children and two suitcases. From there I was a single mother on welfare. And let me tell you, unless you have been there-you have NO WAY to know what it is like. You DO NOT have everything 'free'. I was allotted a certain amount each month for foodstamps (fortunately my children were small so I was able to make it stretch the month but we ate a lot of pasta), no housing assistance, so I had to live in a crappy little apartment in a shady part of town (it was all I could afford-and I didn't have to come up with first & last months rent plus a huge deposit). We had no TV, my car was running on USED motor oil so we walked almost everywhere we had to go-couldn't afford to spend what little money I had on gas or bus fare. I did laundry in the sink before the next check came so I could afford to get it all to the laundromat. I had to beg neighbors for diapers when my son ran out because he had diarreah and I couldn't afford to buy new ones. My kids had medical care, but I did not. I suffered with an abcess tooth until I found a dentist willing to work with me on payments. I hated grocery shopping because of the scornful glares I'd get from strangers. People staring into my cart to see what I'd bought. I couldn't get a bank account because I didn't have enough money to cover the monthly minimum, so I had to go to the store to get money orders to pay my bills. The remainder of the cash I had to keep on hand-it's disenhartening to realize you have $83 to get thru the month on-since food stamps doesn't buy non-food items. I wanted to work-I'd worked since I was 15, but I could not afford clothing to wear to an interview, much less day care. (also try finding day care for an infant). I got a very, very lucky break-my caseworker knew I was smart and had a work history, so I was offered a temporary job and I'd get day care assistance. Of course, the income counted against the food stamps, but at least I was able to pay every bill every month. From there I worked my way up the ladder (thanks to my work experience backround) and am where I am today-back into solidly middle class. I did know a few people who gamed the system-but that was the exception. And let me tell you-that gaming doesn't lead to a comfy life-they STILL live on less than 15K a year. As to having kids-yes-that is a BIG problem-made worse by the fact that access to birth control has been made virtually impossible in all but the most populous areas. (a different soap box). I was lucky that I had had a very strong backround-I was able to make that time on welfare temporary-but I was almost beaten by the system, and let me tell you, it's easy to fall into that trap, especially if you know of no other life. No one extends a hand to the destitute. There may be one or two people who make a brief offer-but they're burnt out so fast-and there are so many to try to help, it's overwhelming. I tell you, I even had a dentist chastize me loudly because we were 10 minutes late to the appointment. In front of the entire lobby he berated me-saying that I was lucky that he was even seeing my kids-he was taking a loss by seeing welfare patients. And the time I was on jury duty-and in the jury room the discussion about the defendant...the jurors were already convicting him because he got food stamps so he must be a criminal (he was eventually convicted, but only because the evidence was overwhelming) and when I told this group that I also got food stamps, they were shocked-I didn't fit the profile. (why, because I was clean and educated?) Sorry for the rant, my 2 cents. I just want to say that unless you've been there, you cannot imagine what it is like to be impoverished and downtrodden.