Member meeting:
Program: Judy & Ron Peters’ 160 acres of
woods, prairie, pond, waterfall and gardens.
Meeting called to order:
Treasurer’s report: For information on this report,
please contact Pam H.
State representative’s report: Kathy Baum and Kevin Jerek
announced that David Bayer will be doing 3 advanced sessions. These will be on
Tuesday evenings at the UWEX. The cost is $25 for all three and there is only
room for 30 people, so get your money in soon. The classes are:
Kathy B. brought
up the subject of the Emerald Ash Bore, which was brought here in Chinese
pallets. Kevin will bring more info to
the September meeting. Kevin also informed the “Emergency Director” to make
sure they hire competent people who can identify the Bore and tree species
after a citywide misidentification incident in
Kathy
received a Western Central Region Forest Pest up date, which she will have mass
e-mailed.
Bridget
Staley did not have her flower arranging presentation at the July meeting as
she ran out of time.
Kathy
announced that the potluck is being changed from October to September this year
so we will be able to enjoy the gardens more, when it is a little warmer.
This is
also a good time to remind members to get their hours and dues in by Oct. 1.
Kevin will
be informing us of the state guidelines for sanctioned projects at the
September meeting.
October
will be an herb presentation at the Gardens of the Fox Cities.
The Gardens
of the Fox Cities no longer has an executive director. It was also mentioned
that the
November
will be a general meeting and election of officers. An executive board
secretary is needed. Apparently, there
will be a lot of positions open on the board for next year.
Fundraising chairwoman: Carol VandeBerg was not present.
However, Kathy B. announced that she was able to order many new species for the
plant sale this year and will order other plants later. Bridget Staley
announced that the Seymour Fair Booth did a great job this year. However, they
could use a rotating carousel for the tri-fold pamphlets. They now have to find
a way to keep the fair info separate from the farmer’s market information.
Program chairwoman: Meg Hunsader was not present.
However, Kathy announced that she made $577 on the bus trip. Will have to write
the estimated time of return next year.
Education report:
Karen Dickerell needed a speaker for Oct. 2. Sally volunteered.
Kevin has
30 people for his July 19 Rain Garden Demo. People have been asking Kevin how
his tenure is going. He will have his third meeting on Sept. 15. He also
informed us that the average response for evaluation is 30%. However, Kevin had
a 40% return for agriculture and 80%+ for his horticulture master gardener
advisor.
New business: Kathy B. and a friend taught 6-80
year-olds how to build terrariums. Kathy submitted the bills to the master
gardeners and wrote a $60 grant under the “Seeds for Community Growth” to cover
the costs.
Kathy B.
has written a grant to Larry Godlewski (Habitat for Humanity). The board had
approved $2,000. Larry has received the
money from Calumet & Winnebago counties and Affinity. However, there are 7 homes
that need to be done. Kathy asked the members to allow $400 per house with a
total up to $2,800 – Approved. This will allow us to purchase plants, help with
installation and teach homeowners how to maintain them. Teams of master
gardeners will be needed to handle these projects. This will be about ˝ day per
house. There can be several teams, depending on the amount of volunteers. A
question was raised about the price per family, but since it is education,
service to the community and good publicity for the master gardener’s community
service, it was decided it was the right thing for us to do. Larry Godlewski
has really done his homework on every aspect of these homes and has reached out
for help from anywhere he could get it. For our part, only low-maintenance
plants will be used.
Kevin
announced that on
Kathy
announced that Susan Richardson (Community Gardens Coordinator) has a new
project – Community Herbs. She has received a grant to put up an 8 x 16
greenhouse at
Kevin
announced that the executive board brought up the idea of purchasing a video
camera for taping basic classes, David Bauer’s advanced classes and posting a
Web cam for the Web site. Kevin will be looking into them.
Bridget
Staley shared that she did use red plastic under 2 of her
Kevin was
asked about the deep plowing at the Peters. He informed us that for agriculture,
you would use shallow topsoil plowing. But for nature plantings, you overturn
many different layers of soil. Plant winter wheat, let the dirt settle over
winter, then plant alfalfa and other deer feeding plants. This variety of
alfalfa only needs to be cut once or twice a year. For cattle, if alfalfa
flowers, cut immediately or fiber goes up and digestibility goes down, but this
would be a different variety. For deer it can all flower out because the first
cutting wouldn’t be until May or June for nesting birds.
Meeting adjourned:
Attendance: 23 members
30 minutes
service / 1 hour education / plus travel time