JONESBORO — As the youngest members of Arkansas’ Master Gardener program, siblings Jakin and Elia Riddle said they are happy to use their training to spread beauty in Craighead County.
“God says love your neighbor, so what better way to give back to your community and neighbors than to work on something that everyone can enjoy from all over the county?” Jakin said.
Jakin, 15, Elia, 14, and their mother, Jackie Riddle, began taking classes with the Craighead County Master Gardener program in October 2022 and are part of the organization’s 2023 class. Master Gardeners undergo 40 hours of training to become horticultural volunteers. Through demonstration and educational programs, they extend research-based information throughout the state. This outreach includes on-site lawn clinics, community beautification projects, plant sales, public speaking, research and more.
In 2024, Arkansas Master Gardeners had 3,456 volunteers covering 65 counties, reporting more than 87,000 education hours and more than 190,000 service hours.
Elia said her favorite project was working with nursing home residents to create floral arrangements.
“We had all the elderly people come in, and we got to help them pick out their flowers and arrange them, and it was really fun,” Elia said.
Branon Thiesse, Craighead County extension staff chair for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, has been the adviser for the county’s Master Gardener program since 2009. He said Jakin and Elia’s membership has given the group a “shot in the arm to have some younger people get into it.”
“A lot of our members are seasoned, and we’ve got to recruit younger members to take over with certain tasks, like working out in the heat,” Thiesse said. “It gives the seasoned Master Gardeners a chance to share their knowledge of gardening, and it’s amazing how young people have all this energy.
“It’s contagious to the older people, so it’s a win-win for everybody,” he said. “They’re a blessing to have.”
Jakin echoed this sentiment and said he encouraged other young people to get involved.
“If you’re about our age and you’re joining, everyone is probably going to be older than you,” Jakin said. “It’s a great way to learn from your elders about something that they want to pass on about gardening, something they maybe haven’t gotten to pass on to anyone else before.”
“It’s a great way to learn, get outside and enjoy nature,” Elia said. “If you’re interested in gardening, it’s the best way to meet other people and get more experience.”
GARDENING BENEFITS ALL AGES
Jackie Riddle said she and her husband instilled an appreciation for gardening in their children from a young age.
“The kids have been gardening with us literally since they were babies,” she said. “It started off with just flowerpots on our balcony at our apartment, moving to a house where we started a vegetable garden, then we re-landscaped our property when we moved to our house now.”
After Riddle and her family redesigned a grandparent’s garden bed, Riddle said one of her in-laws encouraged her to become a Master Gardener. After going through the program’s training together, Riddle said she and her children have further developed skills that they can give back to their community.
“It’s always rewarding to see your kids just develop a sense of community and how to build relationships among them,” Riddle said. “We had an elderly neighbor next door, and Jakin and Elia would go in and weed their garden for her when she was no longer able to.
“Those servant-hearted ways of loving our neighbors have always been a really important thing to our family,” she said. “We love anything that is true and good and beautiful, and the garden just has so many life lessons in it.”
Randy Forst, extension consumer horticulture educator and Master Gardener coordinator for the Division of Agriculture, said the Master Gardener program “teaches youth many life skills that will remain with them for the rest of their lives and enhance their cognitive and social wellbeing.”
Thiesse said the Craighead County Master Gardeners maintain projects throughout the county, including beds at the extension office and gardens in front of the Craighead County Courthouse and Jonesboro City Hall. They are also responsible for a native plant garden and butterfly garden at the Forrest L. Wood Crowley’s Ridge Nature Center.
“The work they do is seen by hundreds of people,” Thiesse said. “They mulch, they weed, they divide plants and move them around, keep them going. They’re just an invaluable resource.”
Thiesse said he encourages parents to nurture their children’s curiosity about the outside world, including through the extensive learning provided by the Master Gardener program.
“If they have any interest at all in growing anything, they can pick up in-depth knowledge about what plants need to grow and how to take care of them,” Thiesse said. “They can learn how to diagnose the difference between diseases and insect damage, and the importance of testing soil, which is where everything starts.
“A lot of these younger kids, they don’t know where their food comes from,” he said. “They don’t have any clue. That’s our main thrust, to teach them that agriculture and horticulture go hand in hand. You’ve got to know how to grow the stuff to get to the end result. That’s what we’re trying to do.”
CLICK HERE to learn more about the Arkansas Master Gardener program.
DENING FAMILY —
Division of Agriculture photo
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