The vote is in!!! The winner is Sonoma County to be our host of the next Statewide Master Gardener Conference.  The conference will be held at the Hyatt in Santa Rosa, May 18, 19,and 20, 2011.  Mark your calenders now to save the days.  If you have ideas or interest in helping to make the event wonderful, please do not hesitate to contact the statewide office.  Some of the committees we are looking to fill include:  Search for Excellence, The MG Store, The Welcome Event, Poster Session, Registration, and so much more!  Sonoma County MGs will take the lead on local arrangements, and tours, among other things.  We are so excited to be heading to the beautiful home town of Luther Burbank for our 5th MG conference in California.  A Big thank you to Sonoma County MGs for the opportunity. We also want to thank both Marin County MGs and the San Joaquin County MGs for throwing their hat into the ring as well. 

First, A BIG HOLLY JOLLY to you all.  

Second, The Statewide Master Gardener Program and Farm Advisor/County Director Scott Oneto will be conducting our third ON-LINE training on the FAQ System for Master Gardeners on Wednesday, December 9th at 10:00 a.m.  To attend the on-line training just cut and paste this URL into your web browser:

URL:	https://breeze.ucdavis.edu/faq/

Where it says "Guest" please enter your name and county. 

We will send out a reminder email w/ link and login information about the online training on the morning of the training at 8:30 a.m.  The training will last for about an hour.  You should be able to get Continuing Education Credit for attending. The FAQ system is a new online system to assist Master Gardener volunteers find answers to hotline/help desk questions. The FAQ system (Frequently Asked Questions) enable volunteers to provide feedback to other FAQ’s and the ability to post their own questions with descriptions and photographs. UCCE Master Gardeners can access the FAQ system through the VMS, or through their UC portal.

For additional information and instruction on using the FAQ system, please click (or cut and paste the link into your browser) on the link below. This first link is the FAQ Introductory video. There are a total of six short videos that will guide you through the FAQ system, at the end of each video; there will be a prompt to continue on to the next video.  We encourage you to view the videos prior to attending the training.

http://stream.ucanr.org/mastergardener/mg_faq_intro/index.html

For those of you who haven't been or won't be able to attend a training, you may view the recorded training by going to:  https://breeze.ucdavis.edu/p86315355/

For more information or questions about the FAQ system, please contact myself, Pam Geisel, Statewide Master Gardener Coordinator (pmelam@ucdavis.edu) or James Sigala, Program Representative, UC Statewide Master Gardener Program, at jsigala@ucdavis.edu , (530) 865-1261. This project was made possible by a grant from the Elvenia J. Slosson Endowment and UCANR Communication Services. Project

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The Statewide Master Gardener Program and ANR Communication Services are pleased to announce the launch of our new online system to assist Master Gardener volunteers find answers to hotline/help desk questions. The FAQ system (Frequently Asked Questions) enable volunteers to provide feedback to other FAQ’s and the ability to post their own questions with descriptions and photographs. UCCE Master Gardeners can access the FAQ system through the VMS, or through their UC portal. For further information and instruction on using the FAQ system, please click on the link below.  This first link is the FAQ Introductory video.  There are a total of six short videos that will guide you through the FAQ system, at the end of each video, there will be a prompt to continue on to the next video.

http://stream.ucanr.org/mastergardener/mg_faq_intro/index.html

For more information or questions about the FAQ system, please contact James Sigala, Program Representative, UC Statewide Master Gardener Program, at jsigala@ucdavis.edu , (530) 865-1261.  This project was made possible by a grant from the Elvenia J. Slosson Endowment and UCANR Communication Services.  Project PIs include Pamela M. Geisel,  Scott Oneto, Dave Krause and Karl Krist.     Project Staff:  James Sigala

Special Thanks to our project Beta Testers:   David Alosi, Gail Barchfeld, Suzi Bender, Christie Bloomberg, Jackie Brooks, Lisa Chrisman, Gail Cole, Emma Connery, Amanda Crump, Mike Dragoon, Leigh Dragoon, Delynda Eldridge, Beatrice Etchison, Carole Frost, March Hachman, Gerry Hernandez, Renate Heyner, Steven Hightower, Kathy Jones, Ted Langlet, Vince Lazaneo, Devan Leni, Sue Leisca, Rena Marticorena, Peggy Mathers, Bella May, Donna Miller, Peggy Millson-Wu, Marinne Mueller, Amelia, Lisa Neufeld, Bill Nugent, Pauline Pedigo, Martha Platt, Stephanie Pocock, Michael Poe, Stephen Rae, Yvonne Rasmussen, Sandy Riegler, Colleen Salomon, Melanie Sarksian, Yvonne Savio, Ladd Sievenpiper, Bonnie Spamer, Mary Steele, Margaret Stelmok, Sharon Stolen, Tonya Taylor, Linda Thompson, John Vafis, Kristina Van Wert, Beverly Vasconcellos,  Nyla Wiebe and JT Williams