In 2010
The 2010 training class had
29 enrollees with 18 certified for 2011.
In 2010 we volunteered 460
hours in youth education
1303 in community education
7244 in support service
and participated in 9008 hours in continuing education.
We had 51 sanctioned projects
including some permanently sanctioned projects.
These include schools, public gardens and nature conserves that members
can work on at any time
without the prior approval of the project manager.
Major Accomplishments and Projects:
Our
Education Committee again organized our Garden
Expectations conference held annually in March. This year’s featured speakers were Mary Agria - Author of “Time in a
Garden” and Neil Diboll - Prairie Ecologist, and with two local presenters, Kevin Jarek and Tammy Borden, the
committee provided a full day of educational seminars.
Grants were given to three horticultural students
at
The second annual Garden Discoveries walk was held
in June and featured four private gardens and two school/community
gardens. This event was well-attended
despite major construction all over the city, and helped to illustrate to the
public that even a small garden can be made into a treasure. Our Master Gardeners provide on site tours and were available
to answer questions. Last year
we had 179 attendees and
raised $895.00. This year attendance was 219 and we were able to donate
$1095.00 to the
We were
delighted this year to be featured on a local television channel and one of our
Master Gardeners, Sonnet Uhlenbrauck, whose garden was on the tour, gave an
excellent interview. We have already
lined up the gardens for 2011 and again are offering a range of aspects and
sizes.
Our annual plant sale, our major fund raiser, was
again a major success. The weather
co-operated and brisk sales began at 8.00 in the morning. As always, our own Master Gardeners are our
best customers. The featured
cutting-edge plants for 2010 were the first items to be sold out.
Any left-over plants were again contributed to
local community and school gardens.
We continue to work with Habitat for Humanity and
the
Several of our members are very involved with
school projects, working with students from the initial stages of how to
prepare the soil all the way to harvesting and preserving.
The enjoyment and enthusiasm of the children makes
up for all the sore back and knees.
We continued to take part in Earth Day and
conservation events throughout the year.
We offered seminars on making your own rain barrels and presented
information on natural plantings, water features and rain gardens. We anticipate continuing the focus of water
quality and usage in 2011.
In view of the amount of clerical work that accumulates,
this year we brought an assistant on board.
She has been able to lift the burden from not only the Board but also
the Education Committee regarding preparation for classes and seminars. She is also one of the facilitators for the
upcoming training classes.
Highlighted
Project: Farmers’ Market Seminars:
This project, started in 2009, continues to meet
with success. On the first Saturday of
the month in conjunction with the local Farmers’ Market in downtown
The classes are taught by our own Master Gardeners
and offer a wide range of timely topics, including seed starting basics, lawn
care, gardening with children, perennial, organic gardening and composting,
herbs, vegetables, container gardening, putting your garden to bed and
protecting your landscape from winter “critters”.
We have made arrangements with the local city
library to permanently use their meeting rooms next year which will make us
easier to find. The library will also
advertise for us. Presently we use
fliers, the website and various outlets to spread the word. Some of the most popular talks will be
offered again in 2011 but we plan on adding shade gardening, flower bed
designs, water-wise gardening and bulbs.
My thanks to OCMGVA members for making yet another
year such a success.
Respectfully submitted
Mary
Learman, President