Happy New Year!

Do your new year resolutions include spending more time with family and friends, exercising more and losing weight, learning something new and enjoying life more? You're in great company: these are the top resolutions made in America and -- often broken or forgotten about by the end of January.

How about letting 2010 be the year you'll keep some or all of them. How? Go out and transform your garden and share your love for gardening with those around you.

Master Gardening Programs

"Trained volunteers that participate in the community to educate and train the public in the latest gardening information and techniques."
That's the definition taken from the Teennessee MG website and it gives just a tiny glimpse of what being a Master Gardener is all about. Concern for the environment together with a desire to take an active part in creating a better tomorrow brings people together.

Not necesarily the right thing for everyone as it asks for an 80-hour time commitment per year. Garden parties, while lots of fun, do not count toward the annual volunteer hours requirement!

Community Gardens

Whether it's helping a local school start a living classroom or beautifying the parking lot at your church, surely there's a project wating to be tackled in your community.

Gosh, if your garden is anything like ours, it's a big project in itself. But in this newsletter, I'm talking about taking gardening a step beyond -- sharing the fun, failures and associated laughter with as many people as possible in your community. Seeing a community project and knowing one has been part thereof gives the best feeling inside. Really!

Service Gardens

I recently came across a disturbing piece of research: the less affluent the neighborhood, the less the availability of fresh fruit and produce in the market. Check out (google) 'Urban Roots Gardening' in the city of Detroit. What a success story and an inspiration for all of us.

So let's make 2010 the year of sharing gardens! Let's spend more time with friends and family, lose weight and exercise more and learn something new by volunteering a little of our time for community projects. Let's help make this world a better place for all of us!