by David George I was honored in June to be elected to the Contra Costa UC Master Gardener Executive Leadership Team, ELT for short. As a Newbie, I was unsure about which roles and responsibilities lie with the ELT and which are the domain of the Executive Committee (EC).

By Meb Phillips The leaves on my red oak tree are already starting to turn, a sign that Fall will soon be here. Its Natures reminder to let go and welcome change. Some things are also changing within the powerhouse group of CoCoMG Community Gardeners.

By Vicki Lee The CoCoMG Growing Gardeners Program has grown significantly in the last three years, registering 566 participants. This impressive number highlights the increasing interest in vegetable gardening across Contra Costa County.

The Help Desk has changed over the years. Emma Connery wasnt there at the beginning, but almost Emmas recollections: The UC Master Gardener program in Contra Costa started in 1983.

By Janet Miller As the season turns from summer to fall, the work at Our Garden never ends. While we are still harvesting over 500 pounds of food each week, we are also, one by one, pulling summer crops from beds and replanting them with cool-weather veggies.

Article and Photos By Liz Rottger Along with nurturing my soul, gardening always helps me straighten out my thoughts. Weeding a particularly bad patch in the garden makes me feel I can restore order in the world.

by David George Recent New Volunteer Training graduate Amanda Merrill has been busy in our program. In addition to sampling other projects, she volunteered last month to be our new School Gardens co-lead for East County schools.

by Hedwig Van Den Broeck under guidance of Andrea Salzman It takes many of our talented hands to produce these wonderful programs. Unfortunately, we have no Speakers Bureau leadership, and only one webinar team volunteer (BIG thank you, Marissa Smithwick!!!) joined us this year.

By Dawn Kooyumjian We have 236 UC Master Gardener volunteers who have completed reappointment for 2024-25. Thank you for supporting the program as we enter a new and exciting UC Master Gardener year.

By Lori Palmquist Our wonderful website, which has been the hub of extraordinarily useful garden wisdom, will change radically by the end of 2024. UCANR is updating its look and functionality and moving its 521 websites to a more modern, secure, and reliable platform called Drupal.