A new club

in town is perfect for kids who like digging in the dirt and helping others.

The Junior

Master Gardener program, designed by Texas A&M University's Extension

Service, has arrived in Georgia, and Fayette is one of the first counties

to participate.

Chapters are

sprouting up through the University of Georgia's Extension Service.

The program

is modeled after the adult Master Gardener program, a volunteer training

for people who love gardening and community service. In the adult program,

participants complete a horticulture training program and work as volunteers

at a county Extension office.

Junior Master

Gardener is similar to 4-H. It stresses leadership and community service.

Along the way, the students also learn about gardening.

"The curriculum

can easily be adapted for use as a club, by parents who home school their

children or by church groups," said Krissy Slagle, a program assistant

with the Georgia Master Gardeners.

"The lessons

in the manual are horticulture-based," Slagle said, "but they

cover many other areas. For example, one lesson teaches math skills using

fruits and vegetables."

Students get

certificates for each completed chapter and must complete eight chapters

to become certified Junior Master Gardeners. Each chapter includes club

work, homework and a community service project.

One of the

first clubs in Georgia is in Newnan, a pilot program started by Master

Gardener Heidi Roemer.

"I started

the club in February to fulfill my Master Gardener volunteer commitment,"

she said. "I wanted to do something with children, and Carolyn Fjeran

of the Coweta County Extension office recommended the Junior Master Gardener

program."

Roemer coordinates

her club with Summer Grove, a local environmentally friendly community.

"The subdivision contains a nature-friendly golf course and bluebird

houses throughout the neighborhood," Roemer said.

Roemer and

eight members have bimonthly club meetings.

"We've

completed four chapters in the manual and are now preparing our community

service projects," she said. "We plan to make pressed-flower

bookmarks for a local convalescence home and build a compost pile for

the community."

Learn more

about the Junior Master Gardener program at https://jmg.tamu.edu .

Sharon Omahen

is a news editor with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural

and Environmental Sciences.