Oct 14 min read

The Myth of At-Home Projects

Updated: Oct 2

Despite the myth, less than 1% of all Master Gardener volunteers put all of their time towards an At-Home Project

10/01/2024

As the Master Gardener Volunteer Program continues to grow and evolve, many of the long-running activities have struggled to recruit enough people to keep those projects up and running. This can be stressful for the volunteers leading the projects and frustrating to those volunteers who have been in the Master Gardener Volunteer Program for a long time. I've heard many people say, "If the Master Gardener program is growing—and RCMG has been growing a lot since 2020—where are all of the volunteers?"

One of the suspicions is that the new volunteers must be putting all of their time into At-Home Projects.

The History of At-Home Projects

At-Home Projects were an invention during the COVID pandemic as a way for volunteers to continue to provide a community service while observing the safety protocols of the time. These involved developing and maintaining pollinator habitat (per the Pollinator Health priority), growing produce to donate (per the Local Foods priority) and propagating plants to donate (per the Nearby Nature priority). These activities were popular during 2020 and helped to maintain the Master Gardener community during a tough year.

After the pandemic restrictions lifted and volunteers were able to return to in-person activities, the At-Home Projects remained as one more way volunteers could serve, however their popularity has waned since 2022. In general, less than 1% of all Master Gardener volunteers put all of the time towards an At-Home Project. Many of those who do are limited in the ways they can participate as a volunteer, making the At-Home Project a crucial option for improving accessibility to more volunteers.

Then where are the volunteers?

Changes to the Volunteer Pool

It's more likely that the demographics of the Master Gardener Volunteer Program in Ramsey County are changing, which includes changes to both availability and interest. The RCMG Skills & Interest Survey collects information from volunteers about their availability and interested. Since the survey began in 2022, a little over 250 RCMG volunteers have shared information. You can fill in the Skills & Interest Form online here though an updated version is expected to be released in 2025.

Volunteer Availability

Based on responses from the Skills and Interest Survey, we see that very few volunteers are available to serve during the daytime from Monday through Friday.

Weekday Days: 35 volunteers
Weekday Evenings: 189 volunteers
Weekend Days: 198 volunteers
Weekend Evenings: 80 volunteers

Volunteer Interest

Based on responses from the Skills and Interest Survey, we see that there is still a lot of interest in almost all of the volunteer activities.

Teaching adults: 126 volunteers
Experiences for youth: 122 volunteers
Staffing a booth: 139 volunteers
Answering questions: 104 volunteers
Conducting research: 125 volunteers
Community service projects: 166 volunteers
Demonstration gardens: 128 volunteers

Based on that information, our best guess is that the reason it's been hard to recruit volunteers for some activities, like Farmers Markets and School Projects has more to do with volunteer availability than with a change of interest.

Changes to the Project Opportunities

Information about the number of formal volunteer activities in Ramsey County can be hard to trace over time as new projects are developed as older projects end, or sunset. Since 2019, there has been many changes to the number and types of volunteer activities available.

2020

32 identified projects
12 behind-the-scenes roles

2023

54 identified projects
20 behind-the-scenes roles
5 committees

The growth in the number of ways volunteers can participate expands our reach to many new areas of the community, but it also can reduce the number of volunteers available per activity.

You can read about the changes in RCMG over time by reading the annual reviews.

In Summary

Volunteers are NOT joining the Master Gardener Volunteer Program just so they can feel good about gardening at home. The numbers about At-Home Projects don't support that theory. Instead, we are seeing more people who are at more stages in life (including those in college, those with young children, and those with ailing parents) with more competing activities (Fun Fact: most RCMG volunteers also participate in 2 or more other volunteer groups in addition to being a Master Gardener) in their lives than RCMG has seen in the past. We are also serving the community in more ways than we ever have before.

Neither of these is a bad thing but does require that we all be flexible and creative as we build our path forward. Some activities may be sunsetted or gracefully ended; other activities will change form; and still more will be created to meet the availability and interest of everyone in our group. I promise you that your peer volunteers are contributing in equally valuable ways, even if you don't see them at the same types of activities.

We all appreciate your support in ending the myth of At-Home Projects and helping to find more ways for RCMG to grow.

At-Home Projects by the Numbers

2024

3,520 Master Gardener volunteers in MN
193 (5.5%) Master Gardener volunteers registered for an at-home project
TBD (%) Master Gardener volunteers ONLY participated in at-home projects --- information won't be available until January 2025

2023