PORT ANGELES — Dody and John Holmes, John Norgord, Amanda Rosenberg and Bill Wood have been presented the Master Gardeners Golden Trowel Award.
The awards presented last Wednesday recognized Master Gardeners who have been active in the organization for more than five years, dedicated more than 750 hours of volunteer time and demonstrated outstanding service in promoting education and environmental stewardship, according to Lorrie Hamilton, coordinator of the Washington State University Clallam County Master Gardener program.
The 2016 award recipients have contributed a combined total of about 7,000 hours educating home gardeners through plant clinics, demonstration gardens, lectures, youth outreach and other programs.
Each honoree received an engraved rock paver that has been installed in a pathway at the Woodcock Demonstration Garden in Sequim along with the 70 previous award recipients.
Dody Holmes
After graduating from the University of California at San Diego, Dody Holmes conducted oceanographic research on an off-shore platform for the Scripps Institute of Oceanography.
In 1993, she became a Master Gardener in Arizona. In 2005, after she and her husband John moved to Sequim, she took WSU Master Gardener training.
She volunteers at plant clinics and at the vegetable garden area at the Master Gardener Demonstration Garden at 2711 Woodcock Road in Sequim.
She has organized plant clinic scheduling and sign-ups, assisted with Master Gardener exhibits at the Clallam County Fair, helped edit the Sequim Gazette gardening column, worked garden tours and plant sales, helped with county roadside weed identification, volunteered with the Youth Education Program, wrote grants and the memorandum of understanding for the Carrie Blake group and was a key volunteer at the Robin Hill vegetable demonstration garden.
John Holmes
John Holmes, a graduate of UC Davis, has 30 years of experience in civil engineering and managing systems of various sizes.
After moving to Sequim, he took on volunteer management of a 200-connection water system for the Dungeness Meadows Homeowners Association.
Since taking the Master Gardener training in 2007, he has been the primary contact for supplying all Master Gardener Demonstration gardens with irrigation, including those at Robin Hill, Carrie Blake Park and Woodcock.
He also has given training on installing drip irrigation.
Recently at Woodcock he worked with Clallam County Sustainability Coordinator Meggan Uecker on design and construction of the new compost demonstration area and fencing.
He coordinated the planting of WSU experimental hops and provided their trellises at the Woodcock Demonstration Garden.
He now serves as secretary for the Master Gardener Foundation of Clallam County Board.
Norgord
Norgord, a Washington native and a graduate of the University of Washington, has traveled extensively around the country for his career.
He was a mining engineer and managed projects in Wyoming, New Mexico, Ohio, California, Utah and Colorado before retiring to Sequim.
A Master Gardener since 2008, he now serves as the president of the Master Gardener Foundation of Clallam County board.
Since 2009, he has participated in the Youth Enrichment Program (YEP), a curriculum-based plant science program presented to second-grade students across Clallam County. He has co-chaired the YEP program for the past three years.
He also volunteers with the gardening program at the Sequim unit of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula.
Norgord has given presentations for the Master Gardener Brown Bag educational series, and initiated an annual plant identification walk for new Master Gardener interns.
He has provided technical assistance to demonstration gardens at Robin Hill, Carrie Blake Park and Woodcock.
Rosenberg
Rosenberg, a graduate of the University of Montana, served as executive director of the United Way in Sweetwater County in Wyoming for 28 years before moving to Sequim.
Since taking Master Gardener training in 2008, she has been active in vegetable trials at the organization’s demonstration gardens, provides support to the Education Committee and has given presentations for the Brown Bag educational series and Soroptimist Garden Gala.
Rosenberg has spearheaded publicity efforts for many of the Master Gardener Program and Foundation events, including public educational series and workshops, the Petals and Pathways Home Garden Tour and plant sales.
She has also co-chaired the YEP Program with Norgord for the past three years, and volunteers with the Sequim unit of the Boys & Girls Clubs Garden Club.
In 2014, Rosenberg received the Master Gardener of the Year award for Clallam County along with Audreen Williams.
Wood
A Port Angeles resident, Wood grew up on a large farm on Whidbey Island where boyhood chores included milking cows by hand, getting firewood, fixing fences, hoeing garden weeds and summer haying.
He received his bachelor’s degree in biology and a master’s in terrestrial ecology from Western Washington University.
After retiring from his career in salmon and shellfish management with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, he has spearheaded the effort to re-establish a functioning oak-savanna habitat on 20 acres of land north of Carrie Blake Park on the Sequim Prairie.
The Gary oaks, about 1,500 of them, are well established and work continues to rehabilitate the shrub and grassy areas to the original prairie flora.
He joined the Master Gardener program in 2001.
He has served on the foundation’s board and chaired the Plant Clinic program. He is an advisor in the Youth Enrichment Program.
Clallam County Master Gardeners, a cooperative program between Washington State University and Clallam County, provides up-to-date information on sustainable gardening practices.
For more information about Master Gardeners, call Hamilton at 360-417-2279.
