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We rule! Well, not me, in particular

This year Master Gardener Volunteers logged 10,605 hours of volunteer service.

That's 265 40-hour work weeks or five years of full-time work.

Cool, huh?

I'm ashamed to say I only contributed about 30 of those hours.

That information is based on reporting from 143 certified Master Gardener Volunteers and 23 interns. That averages out to 64 hours per person. Only 24 hours are required.

"Volunteer" is a key part of title, said Mike Maddox, UW Extension horticulture educator at Rotary Botanical Gardens.

The state organization and the local organization, the Rock Prairie Master Gardener Association, stress volunteer service to the community in the form of youth and adult education and community service.

People are meant to take their 60 hours of education into the community, not hoard it for their own gardens or-heaven help us-use it to lord their gardening knowledge over other people.

Let me tell you something: After 60 hours of education, I discovered that I knew ridiculously little. Or rather, I learned how much there is to know.

The best part of the program and the volunteer requirement is the people you meet.

I'm sort of a social dork-it takes a lot of energy for me to spend time with new people-but I once spent a very happy four hours selling mushroom compost with Alice from the Herb Society, a woman who I had never met before.

We started with polite conversation about our own gardens, and then Alice told me a funny story about pampas grass (no kidding, a funny story about grass) and then all of a sudden we were talking about husbands who actually seem to enjoy watching the television, Alice's grandchildren and their cell phones and a variety of other topics.

She told me about lemon balm. I told her about Carousel Consignments (not garden-related, but important nevertheless).

It ruled.