Master Gardener Scam?
I’m Brokefarmer and in this episode I will be giving you my open and honest opinions on the master gardener program/ course and the truth as I see it on what the master Gardeners program is and what it is not. Remember this is my opinion that I had from my local experience, all things are not the same considering what you are looking for and what your expectations are. Take my opinions based off the factors I was looking at when I entered the the course. Also Remember you get what you put into it. thanks for watching and don’t forget to let me know what you think. Brokefarmer is the name and gardening is my thang!!!
email Brokefarmer76@gmail.com
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34 Comments
Nothing wrong with learning new techniques or ideas in the field you're already interested in
You are 100% right ! Its all about the money and taking advantage of people BROKE FARMER its just like people paying for all these useless degrees ! I have found plenty of programs in growing food etc for free ! People will unfortunately pay for a stupid title !
Thanks for sharing your honest opinion. I had planned to look into it in my area. I’ll be prepared now, for what may happen if I do decide to take the class.
I don't the science behind growing a garden and don't really want to know as long as I can get something to grow I'm happy 😊
Wow! Your Whole take was so forgiving. Thank you for your take on the class. I may enroll in AZ this summer.
Thank you! Like you said, they presented things to you that you’d never thought of, so I’m sure just the new knowledge would be worth it. And the possibility of meeting a new gardening friend or two 👍🏽
I think it should payed for because time is money
Community serves is apart of the training (apprenticeship.)
Very informative and perspective on the Master Gardeners class. We were thinking about taking it this year but with the new job schedule I couldn't enroll into it. Hopefully, next year.
Thank you for sharing your experience with us. Very much worth learning Happy Holidays blessings to you and your family always shared video 😇🙏🏿❤✝️
Thanks for sharing!!!
I really enjoyed your take on this course. I share a lot of the same views on what you said about it. I also noticed that it's mostly seniors and retirees partaking in becoming a master gardener and socializing.
Best teacher in the garden is trial and error. even in the same town soil and microclimates can differ. Courses are still good to learn and meet others though. Much blessings 🙂
Hey, Cousin! I went through the same course you did a few years ago. I was blessed to have several in my age group, however, I still interacted with a few of the older Master Gardeners.
I was grateful for the knowledge and experience, but unfortunately, I was not in a position to achieve the hours and cultivate the relationships initiated.
It all worked out because my gardening philosophy differs from what was taught in the course. I learned by watching Uncle and Auntie Lead, Auntie Cheryl, and Homestead Heart, which lead me into the broader community, including YOU.😁
As you mentioned, it's not for everyone. It was an amazing experience for that particular season in my life.
I went to a local garden group and I was the youngest person in there. I was in my early 40’s then. It was all about flowers and it seemed to be people who wanted to have tours of their flower gardens in the summer. But they made me feel so uncomfortable. From the speaker on down. I left and never returned.
Broke
I am glad you enjoyed the class. And was able to get some experience and information out of it. Thanks for sharing
Hey Broke! I have considered the master gardeners program myself.
Thanks for breaking it all down!
My Analysis of the Program was similar to yours. Lifetime commitment to community service💜💜💜 AuntieEllen
Hey Broke! I need a class in how to grow fruit that ends with the word berries😄, strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries 😄
I also agree with you on paying for the master class, and then doing community services in order to receive the master's certificate.
Thanks for sharing!
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!🦃🍗
I was reccommended to take it from a master gardener who did it for 40 yrs .Paying to take the course and then doing all these hours of volunteering free labor . Most of it was working in others land and flowers. You have to keep volunteering every year and doing the amount of hours to keep that status. Most in the south where i'm at is all about flowers and non-edibles. Program was not for me, a lot of rich people retired and wanted the title
Thanks for sharing 👍 😊
I've looked into becoming a Master Gardener. First they said I had to take a paid course like you said. I thought okay fine whatever that's a very short course. Compared to my gardening experience about 1980. And then if you don't do your community service you lose the title. What? Community service?! I didn't do anything wrong community service. Still they don't call it the gardener education program, they call it the Master Gardener program there's got to be something to it to have such a title right!? So I went to YouTube and found some Master Gardeners doing basically review of what they learned in the course, it wasn't the exact course of course but it was an overview and a step by step of the things you will learn. I have seen enough nope not going to happen. Seems to me your paying to become a slave. You have to pay for the course that you then go out and teach for free as your community service. Yeah no!
At first I thought I want to be the one that gets paid to teach the course. Then I thought no actually I don't want anything to do with the program at all.
Pay me to teach you something that you're then required to teach for free, no that doesn't sit with my morals.
Great review bro, full spectrum perspective given from a great guy!
Hi Brokefarmer I volunteered at the Saginaw Children’s Zoo for seven years planting flowers and maintaining them by watering and weeding. I learned from the Master Garden’s that were over the program there. A great experience. Here in Michigan some of the classes at our SVS Extension classes are free, but the Master Gardner class is not free. Yes it’s about making a buck then helping our community. Thanks for sharing your opinions Brokefarmer. Happy Thanksgiving Day to you and your family! Blessings ❤
Peace bro! You know, I’m glad you did this one. I actually went back and forth with myself about taking the course for a while, but one of the things that always rubbed me wrong about it was some of the people that come out of the courses. I don’t like how a lot of them will refer to themselves as Master gardeners, just so that they can act like their way was THE way because they were “Master gardeners”. And some people don’t know that those courses are localized. I still may do it though. I’m weighing it.
The work that you do in your own garden should be community service! Does that count, after all you are part of the community! Just saying ☺️
Happy Thanksgiving Broke. I'm glad you spent your hard earned money on the class and became a master. Now we can just watch your videos and sit in on your lives and soak up all that Master gardener info for the FREE FREE lol. 🤣 I learned that from you. "I'm just saying"… jk…. Great video Bro and congratulations on the accomplishment. It always good to have more tools than you need in the box. It will serve you well.
Took the class in 2002. I enjoyed the class and learned a lot. I was the fastest in the class to reach 40 volunteer hours, 90 and 250 all in my first year. I did while just having our son plus owning my own business. Thought i did a lot of good for the Master Gardner program. My construction company built many things for the program. Two years later I fell off a roof and had a bad fall from a roof of a house. that year I had three surgeries to my left leg. I wasn’t able to do any volunteer work for the program and was dropped from the program. The next year i went into the office and talked with the new director. She wouldn’t let me back in the program became she said i didn't get my required hours in. I told her i got more hours in my first year than many people received over many years. told the director i would never volunteer another hour to the program.
I am in the email list for my local master gardener program and i go to different events that they hold. The average age is about 70 and I’m sure it is very social for them. I learn a lot whenever I go. I’m glad u went to the course. 🪴
Very interesting
Thanks for your review
Speaking from my experience, I've been a MG since 2004. Here it's more about volunteering your time and contributing 40 hrs to your assigned project. I have found them to be racist and clichest. We actually have more blk MG then we've ever had since I've been one. I wanted to try being a project chair on my project ( greenhouse). I was told I couldn't because I was on probation. (WTF), This is volunteering my time. I haven't gotten around to it yet but I will be reporting this to the chancellor of the University. When I wanted to take on the position, our racist leader called me so fast, my head is still spinning. The program isn't what it used to be. Politics and ass kissing has taken over. They want to keep all the chair and co-chairs white. I stay only to get my lifetime statice. So I would say NO, not worth it.
It is all about the Benjamins nowadays.
Thank you for your honest review. I was thinking about going to my local class.