Minutes for The Northern Shenandoah Valley Master Gardener Association
Board of Directors Meeting Held January 16, 2018
Call to Order
The Northern Shenandoah Valley Master Gardener Association held a board of directors meeting January 16, 2018, at 125 Prosperity Drive, Winchester, Virginia 22602. Cy Haley, president, called the meeting to order at 6:00 PM and presided over the meeting. Sandra Ward served as secretary.
Attendees
Voting Board of Directors / Advisory Board MembersCy Haley, President
Suzanne Boag, Vice President
Sandra Ward, Secretary / Ginny Smith, Clarke County Coordinator
Helen Lake, Frederick County Coordinator
Jessica Priest-Cahill, Warren County Coordinator
Bob Gail, Treasurer / Sharon Bradshaw Rodriguez, Shenandoah County Coordinator
Mark Sutphin, VCE agent
Lynn Hoffmann, publicity/scholarship chair
Stacey Smith, Newsletter editor
A quorum was present.
Opening Remarks
Opening remarks included an agenda review.
Vice President’s Report
Suzanne Boag presented the vice president’s report in person:
January’s Association Meeting will be held Sunday, January 21, 2:00 p.m. at the Fort Valley Nursery and Garden Center located in Woodstock. Terry Fogle, owner of Fort Valley Nursery, will be the guest speaker. His topic will be “Unusual Garden Questions over the Years.”
February’s Association Meeting will be held Sunday, February 11, 2:00 p.m. at the Mid-Atlantic Farm Credit Building located in Winchester. Master Gardener Stacey Smith will be the guest speaker, and her topic/demo will be plant division, just in time for MGs to begin thinking about dividing plants in spring for GardenFest.
March’s Association Meeting will be held Sunday, March 18, 4:00 p.m. Location and speaker TBA. Tentative plans are for Blue Ridge Partnership for Regional Invasive Species Management (PRISM)to provide a speaker. The goal of PRISM is to reduce the impact of invasive plants.
Secretary’s Report
Sandy Ward reportedthatthe minutes for the December2017 Board of Directors meeting were emailedfor review.
Motion: Suzanne Boag moved to approve the minutes of the December Board of Directors meeting. Bob Gail seconded the motion. The motion carried with all in favor and none against.
No correspondence was received.
Treasurer’s Report
Bob Gail presented the following reports.
:
Old Business
Photo Archive Project
Stacey Smith reported that the photo archive has been set up under “.” Albums are based on the event or project and sorted by date.(The first album created was for the seed exchange.) After albums are created, additional photos will be solicited. Members will be asked for their 10 best photos of an event, emailed to .
Photos will be named as completely as possible, based on event, description, participation, and photographer to aid searchability. Ability to upload the photographs will be limited to ensure that the names and descriptions are as accurate and consistent as possible.
New Business
Gardens to Give – Join the Movement
Helen Lake suggested the Association consider becoming involved in planting an extra row ofvegetables, either in individual vegetable gardens or in the community garden projects the Association supports, to be donated to Food Banks or other charitable organizations that provide food to the needy. Helen will research how other Associations manage this type of activity and report back to the Board.
Individual Consultations
The Board discussed “individual consultations” - circumstances where Master Gardeners are asked informally for advice on gardening questions such as plant identification. Individual and home consultations will be combined in VMS under one title and the Home Consultation category listed for each county will be eliminated. MGs will therefore be able to get credit for the individual consultations.
Emeritus Status:
Lynn Hoffmann proposedDonna Downing for Emeritus status in appreciation of her service as a Master Gardener.
MOTION: Bob Gail moved that Donna Downing be recommended for Emeritus Status. Suzanne Boag seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously.
Unit Projects
2018 Symposium
The committee is working hard at getting vendors, prizes and finalizing the arrangements. The books will be ordered this week. Nine vendors have committed so far. The Committee has acquired about 10 door prizes and several auction items. Information has been sent to the speakers so if they have web sites, they can link to the NSVMGA web site. As of January 16, 24 people have registered; MGs will have an opportunity to sign up at the monthly meeting. The committee will continue to send out announcements.
2018 Garden Fest
Stacey Smith reported on Garden Fest plans. Sheiscreating a plant-dig committee with its own leaders. Kris Behrends and Barb Haller have volunteered to help lead; additional leaders for the northern counties are needed. A process will be in place for them – their priority is to keep track of the plants and ensure they are properly labeled.The trainee dig/hands-on is scheduled for mid-April at Susan Garrett’s house. Last year more than 100 plants were dug, so details to be firmed up to ensure everything needed is there. Members of the plant digging committee will be asked to help lead small groups of 3 - 5.
Stacey will be giving a short talk and demonstration division at the February Association meeting.
The committee also needs round gallon pots, 6” – 10”, starting in January.
2018 GardenFest: Vendors Report
Suzanne Boag reported that we have seven vendors so far. Retail vendors include: Glass Reflections, Hill House Nursery, and Spring Thyme Nursery. Non-profits include: Eggs & Ears 4-H food vendor, Front Royal Tree Stewards, Iris Hills Farm, and VA Lovers Gourd Society. The deadline for vendor applications is May 16, and the deadline for the early bird returning vendor discount is March 1 (for 2017 returning vendors).
Seed Exchange
The Seed Exchange will be held Saturday, January 29 at Blandy.
2018 MG Class
Bob Gail Reported that 16 people have signed up so far for the Spring 2018 class, and walk-ins will be accepted. Interviews will be held Thursday, January 18. Classes begin February 13.
VMGA Liaison
Susan Garrett submitted her report via email. The next VMGA meeting is to be held February 10 in Roanoke.
VCE Agent Report
Mark Sutphinsubmitted his report in person. He reported that 19 volunteers have not re-enrolled yet. Re-enrollments must be submitted by January 31 or they will be removed as Extension volunteers.
Mark also reported on NSVMA statistics for 2017:
Contacts made: 11,096
Project Hours: 14.566
Education Hours: 3,337
The value of these volunteer hours is $392,600.
Volunteer Coordinator Report
Bob Carlton was not present.
Approval of Projects:
Garden Fair will be held Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday, May 11-13 at Blandy. The Master Gardener Booth project this year will be the joint responsibility of Warren, Shenandoah and Page Counties. A project application needs to be completed and submitted. Jessica Priest Cahill will designate a MG from Warren County to lead the Warren County participation. (NOTE- following the Association meeting on January 21, the Board approved the project application with a budget of $200.00 by unanimous vote)
County Coordinator Reports
Clarke
Ginny Smith reported that the Clark County spring planning meeting will be held in March – the date is to be determined.
Frederick
Helen Lake reported that the house plant clinic will be held on the first Saturday in February (February 3, 2018) from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm at Bowman Library.
The date for the Frederick County Planning meeting is to be determined.
Helen has been working with Rebecca Davis, VCE Extension Agent for Consumer and Family Services, onplanning for joint VCE activities for Frederick Douglas Family Day.
Page
Lesley Mack submitted her report via email. Lesley reported that following Helen Lake’s suggestion about inviting educators to the upcoming Symposium, she contacted Page County’s school board through Leigh Ann Pettit. The information was sent out to the high school, and one person has accepted the invitation.
Page County MGs will be holding their monthly meeting at Lesley’s home on January 28, 2018. Discussion will include regular projects, the June MG meeting in Page County, planting a tree to honor Cheryl’s husband, and the dedication of the marble bench at the Chinquapin Oak Tree on Arbor Day.
Shenandoah
Sharon Bradshaw presented the Shenandoah County report in person. The Shenandoah County Planning meeting will be held March 5.
Warren
Jessica Priest Cahill reported that all Warren County project requests have been submitted.
Standing Committee Reports
Communications & Publicity
Lynn Hoffmann presented the Communications and Publicity Report in person. Information was sent out on the Seed Exchange, MG Intern Class, Symposium and the Scholarship program. The newsletter provided great coverage on many of the programs. Emails and Facebook seem to be the most productive type of communications. Members should be encouraged to collect emails and pass along the information on the web and Facebook to continue to reach the community. Lynn is requesting that in the future, project Leader submit information about their projects to Lynn via email so errors can be corrected before the information is posted on the web.
Gardenfest information will appear in the Virginia Gardener Magazine.
Suzanne is investigating Facebook ads for our projects. Project leaders need to submit jpg. pictures and small blurbs to go with the Facebook ads.
Education
Committee members include Suzanne Boag, Patricia Boyd, Laurie Cocina, Rose Fairman, Lynn Hoffmann, Shan Kilby, and Linda Melton. A Committee meeting will be held January 17 at 10:30 a.m. at the Firefly Café located in Winchester.
Finance
No Report.
Membership
Mary Craig was not present. Cy reported that members in their third year as adjunct members need to be removed as adjuncts: Randy Embry, Kay James, Debra Byrd
All members who have not paid their dues by January 31 will be dropped from membership.
Cy Haley reported that Mary Romanowski, a former member, has returned and will be applying for re-certification.
Newsletter
Stacey Smith reported on the Emarketing Campaign Results for the Winter Newsletter. Both the Internal and External results showed a successful outreach campaign. The committee will send out a survey to the membership in February for additional feedback on likes, dislikes, problems. For the spring edition, a campaign email will go out a week before the direct link email. Plans for external outreach include making it more attractive and easier for users to subscribe.
The deadline for the next issue of the newsletter is March 10.
Scholarship Committee
The applications were sent out to all public, private and homeschool groups in the five counties. A Strasburg Agriculture teacher immediately emailed all the seniors and attached the information. There will be information going to some of the local papers, but reaching the teachers is the best way to spread the word.
Junior MG
The Junior MG Homeschool program will start again in March. A planning meeting was held on January 16.The schedule will be posted on the calendar.
Special Committee Reports
None
Closing Remarks
None.
Adjournment
Motion: Bob Gailmoved to adjourn the meeting. Suzanne Boagseconded the motion. The motion carried with all in favor and none against, and the meeting adjourned at 7:50pm.
Respectfully submitted by:
Sandra Ward, Secretary / Date Approved by the BoardNorthern Shenandoah Valley Master Gardener Association
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