Mother Nature presented the Master Gardeners with a perfect, sunshiny day on which to celebrate the recent Golden Trowel awards.

This year, there were four very deserving Master Gardeners honored: Sara Farinelli, David Rambin, Susan Bauer, and Margery Whites. The award is given to those with countless volunteer hours in countless activities.

Each received a steppingstone that will be placed in the pathway at the Woodcock Demonstration Garden. With the addition of these four stones, the pathway will contain 88 stones.

Farinelli, who joined the Master Gardener family in 2016, spends time volunteering at the 5th Street Garden in Port Angeles. She spearheaded the Annual Master Gardener Calendar, now a fundraiser; she is one of the techno gurus in the organization. Her favorite activity is working on the Garden Tour.

Rambin, a Master Gardener since 2012, has volunteered many hours working on plant sales and garden tours, and has presented seminars on how to grow tomatoes in the northwest. He has served both as vice president and president of the Master Garden Foundation.

Bauer, class of 2015, has also served as president of the foundation. In addition, she contributes tasty recipes for the monthly newsletter. Each recipe includes at least one ingredient that is harvested during the current month. Bauer also chairs the committee responsible for the General Store area at the spring plant sale, along with serving on the Golden Trowel committee.

Whites, took the Master Gardener training in 2016, and jumped right into anything to do with educating the public with sound gardening practices. She has presented a course on “Gardening for Newcomers to the North Olympic Peninsula” at the Digging Deeper gatherings. She is a contributor to the Green Thumb Education Committee and is a member of the MG Training Committee. Whites has also co-chaired the annual Garden Tour and served as secretary of the foundation board.

Thousands of hours have been donated to the local community by these four very worthy Master Gardeners.