Southwest MI Extension Master Gardeners

05/27/2026

A little more info about our new Horticulture Educator!

Learn about the newest MSU Extension consumer horticulture educator in southwest Michigan.

05/15/2026

This project is open to anyone - for an hour, a day or more. As much as 30,000+ pounds of our food is donated to local food banks here in Kalamazoo each year, but we can't do it without volunteers.

The Giving Garden is open for business! The cold weather crops have been planted. Now that temperatures look to be warming, additional help is needed to plant the remainder of the garden which includes tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, summer squash, winter squash, melons and pumpkins. Other activities include mulching and setting up irrigation.

Volunteer sessions are Monday & Wednesday mornings 9AM - noon and Saturday morning 8AM to 11AM. If you have any questions, please contact Brenda Kolkman at [email protected]. The garden is located on the corner of Sprinkle and Kilgore (aka East N Ave), tucked behind Humphrey Products and the Kendall Electric building. Access the Humphrey parking lot from either Sprinkle Road or East N Ave just west of the railroad tracks. Go to the far end of the parking lot (south) where you will see the garden shed. Please be aware of the posted speed limit.

For those who have not volunteered at the Giving Garden previously, you are encouraged to bring your favorite hand tools, gloves, hat, kneeling pad, water, etc. We have most long handled tools, rakes, pitch forks, garden forks, wheelbarrows, etc.

MSU Extension Master Gardener's can earn volunteer credit for working on this project.

We hope to see you at the garden!

05/12/2026

It’s time to get to work at the Veterans Therapy Garden in Paw Paw! If you are interested in helping out contact Julie Pioch at 269-370-7878 or [email protected]. Volunteers familiar with the project are welcome to come out and work on their own as their schedule allows! A list of projects will be inside the shed. New volunteers, please contact Julie or stop by on May 27 between 4:00 and 7:00 or May 28 10 AM to 1:00PM. Bring your own work gloves.

04/10/2026

Hey Gardeners! Interested in a part time summer position at the Veterans Therapy Garden in Paw Paw? Know any students or retired friends who love to work with plants? We have a summer position we need to fill! Post starts in May and ends in September. $20 per hour. Garden maintenance, light construction and working with
volunteers.

Check it out and share!

https://careers.msu.edu/jobs/search
Posting: 1120699

01/22/2026

10/09/2025

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/171qBYM165/

Bringing Back Bobwhite

07/16/2025

Lots of activity at the MSU Extension Veterans Garden in Paw Paw - get involved!!! Come see what's happening and get a few volunteer hours logged. There is lots of work to do!!! Stop by this Thursday July 17 anytime between 4:30 and 7:00. Not a good time for you? Contact Julie Pioch at 269-657-8213 to schedule a time for a tour to get started.

07/01/2025

Sad news.

For Rod Sager, the garden at his home can be seen as a Garden of Eden, and now a tribute to his late wife, Diane Brady, who passed after a fatal car crash Tuesday morning.

04/29/2025

If anyone needs boxes to put down to make a new path or fill a raised bed, etc., there are thousands of them at Prospector's Cook House in Galesburg and they're all free. Let them know you are coming to get some. 269-484-2031