Ozaukee Master Gardeners
Minutes of the General Meeting (Corrections in Red)
Ozaukee County Administration Center Auditorium in Port Washington
April 24, 2014
From 7 to 7:50 pm, members had a “show and tell” session, sharing their favorite garden tools. ------
Note: No general meeting was held in May because of the Plant Sale.
The general meeting was called to order at 8:28 p.m. by President Carol Ross.
This month’s featured committees at the start of the meeting were The Yard and Garden Line, both online (Maxine Ellis) and office (Kathleen Awe), and the Publicity Committee (Jean Schanen).
Minutes
The minutes (Mary Ingles) from the March 27, 2014, general meeting were unanimously approved.
Treasurer’s Report
The treasurer’s report (Pat Moreland) was unanimously approved.
Operations Committees Report—Susie Granzow
Education (Lou Hefle) ▪ No membership meeting will be held in May. The next meeting is June 26, designing and arranging flowers from your garden. The speaker will bring flowers, too. ▪Last year we held a hands-on project on hypertufa at Fransee’s. The next hands-on project will be Sept. 13 for 25 people. If an additional 25 are interested, another workshop can be held Sept. 20. It will probably be at 9 am at Fransee’s. Details are still being worked out. Sign-ups and more details will be available at the June meeting. The first Saturday will train committee members.
Hospitality (Nancy Byers and Carolyn MacLaurin) Thanks to those who brought refreshments. Sign up for future meetings on a sheet in the back. Note that preparing treats counts as volunteer hours.
Newsletter (Roseann St. Aubin) ▪ The Spring issue of the Best Dirt was sent out April 10.
Website (De Murr) www.ozaukeemastergardeners.org ▪ Nearly all the core committees have information on their own pages now. ▪The “Our Projects” tab was renamed “Our Committees.” This is the tab for members to find our core committees when you are looking for a way to earn your volunteer hours. Each committee has its own page where they briefly describe their committee and what types of work they do. We are also trying to get some pictures of their work added to their pages. ▪The Yard and Garden Line is set up under the “Our Committees” tab for OMGs to consider them as a volunteer project. They are also in the “Ask a Master Gardener” tab which is the place for the public to contact them. ▪Committee chairs should continue to send their meeting and work days to De so she can add them to the calendar. Members are encouraged to keep an eye on the calendar for new entries for volunteer hours and also education hours.
Yard & Garden Line (BJ Kuehl, Maxine Ellis for online YGL; Kathy Awe for office YGL) ▪Online YGL is available all year. ▪The YGL Office started again in March. Calls started slowly and are gradually picking up. Some calls have been very interesting. The office is open every Thursday from 1-4 pm. More help is welcome. If there are enough volunteers, the office could be open on Monday also. ▪Training may be coming up in Madison.
No reports from: Membership (Heidi Janous and Jean Schanen), or Publicity (Jean Schanen)
Project Committee Reports—M. Lynn Schmid
Advocates (Kathleen Doenier, Michele Thur) Our OMG/Advocates group has had two work days in April— a spring clean up, and a day of planting two elderberry bushes and a cherry tree. Work days are on Tuesday mornings, usually 9am – noon. A lot is happening on this project (a lasagna-style vegetable garden, a rose-lined pathway, plus a side-hill renovation project). Contact co-chairs Michele Thur or Kathleen Doenier to join the fun.
All About Herbs (Kathleen Awe, Annie McNitt) The “All about Herbs” series is finishing with French Herbs by Nino Ridgeway on May 1 at 7 pm at The Pavilion at Ozaukee County Fairgrounds in Cedarburg.
Kü̊hefuss House (Susie Granzow), First work day is spring cleanup on April 26, 8:30 am. A rose pruning workshop for beginners will be held within the next two weeks (exact date and time to be advised).
There will be a handout to take home, a brief lecture, and demonstration at the Kuhefuss House rose garden in the back yard . Dress for the weather, bring a pruner, leather gloves if you have them, long sleeves suggested. If interested, please contact Susie Granzow.
Lasata (Judy O’Connell) No report.
Ozaukee County Fair (Cindy Behlen, Jim Layton) ▪Only 94 days until County Fair starts; see sign-up sheet at the back. The committee will meet Tuesday, April 29, at 6 pm in the Auditorium to firm up our complete County Fair program. Right now we need project photos and descriptions to convert into booth graphics for County Fair attendees.
Pioneer Village (Cathy Cabelka) Our first work date is May 3 at 8 am. We will do our Spring Clean Up which includes trimming, raking, pruning and assessing what survived the winter and what did not!
Heirloom Plant Sale (Melissa Rasmussen) The Plant Sale is May 24, 2014. ▪No report.
Tendick (Susie Granzow) First work day was April 19. ONE person (and FIVE friendly dogs) showed up! The following tasks were completed: Set up water barrels, Cleaned up plant stalks which had been left for winter interest and seed for birds, Pruned herbs…sage, thyme, and lavender, Did some weeding, Planted peas, beets, lettuce, and spinach in vegetable garden.
U. S. S. Liberty Memorial Public Library (Grafton) (Carole Stowers and Joan Suelflow) Our Grafton Library volunteers are planning a spring plant exchange at the library May 15-17 (Thursday-Saturday). Plants of any size and variety can be brought to the first floor meeting room during the following times: May 15, 11-1 and 4-7; May 16, 11-4. You'll be given a coupon for every plant brought in, and you'll redeem your coupons for the number of plants brought in on Saturday from 10-11 am. Acceptable items are individual plants of any kind… seedlings, cuttings, sections of grouped plants that were thinned out, indoor or outdoor plants, flowers, vegetables, herbs, etc. Contact Joan Suelflow or Carole Stowers or the Grafton Library for more information or questions. OMGs are welcome to help with this exchange. In years past, hundreds of plants have been brought in and exchanged.
Washington County Community Gardens (Mary Reilly-Kliss) All of our plots are spoken for, and our first work day for the garden is April 26. At 8 am sharp we begin unloading the trailer full of marsh hay and then work on getting the site ready for the gardening season. Come on over to meet our gardeners, get a sense of what community gardening is all about, and earn volunteer hours!
Webster Middle School (Stan Suring) Members of the Webster Green Team are celebrating Earth Day by handing out tree seedlings to their fellow students, as well as promoting healthy eating habits by roasting some root vegetables and then offering their classmates samples during their lunch hour at school.
Agent’s Report—Dan O’Neil
No report.
Old business
The summer field trip to the Chicago Botanic Garden will be June 21, 2014. The registration form was sent out to the OMG email list. Members are welcome to bring a guest. We plan to leave at 8 am and return at 5:30 pm. The price of $25 for bus and admission is the same price as the parking fee for one car at the garden. Lunch is on your own.
New business
▪ OMG members are reminded to take the required online training about reporting child abuse, even if the member doesn’t work with children. This training is mandatory for ALL master gardeners, and must be completed before October 1, 2014, in order to continue to be a master gardener. This online training counts as 1.0 hour of Continuing Education. After completing the program, there is a Submit button at the bottom and a place to get a printout of a certificate showing that you completed the training. Print it and give it to Dan O’Neil. Here is a link to the training: http://fyi.uwex.edu/wimastergardener/2013/12/03/mandatory-reporter-online-training/ ▪Yahoo users may be having problems getting communication sent to the listserv. ▪We require 10 (not 8) of the 24 volunteer service hours to be for OMG projects and committees. ▪ Pots for the Kaleidoscope garden are welcome. Anyone willing to donate vases should let Kathy Saiia know. They will be sold at the Kaleidoscope Garden at the Plant Sale. ▪Jane Spalding said the plant sale at the Lac Lawrann Conservancy in West Bend will be May 10 from 9 am to 1 pm. She said it’s a wonderful source of native plants, like trillium, Virginia Bluebells, woodland plants, etc. Maxine Ellis has the information. ▪ Lou said that new training will start in September. ▪Sam talked about the Wisconsin 1st Detectors Network course.
Meeting was adjourned at 8:55 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Mary Ingles, Secretary
Mark your calendars
2014 OMG general meeting programs: 7 p.m. at the Ozaukee County Administration Center Auditorium in Port Washington (unless otherwise stated)
· No May Meeting
· June 26, 2014 “Designing and Arranging Flowers from Your Garden” with Nancy Witte-Dycus.
· July Garden Crawl Date to be Announced
· August 28, 2014 “From A Cabin In The Woods to Rusty Bend Farm” with Paul and Linda Thomas.
· September 25, 2014 Perennials for the Autumn Garden, Zannah Crowe
· October 23, 2014 Preparing Your Garden for Winter, Kathleen Awe
· No November meeting
· December 4, 2014 Topic to be announced.
Other upcoming programs:
· May 1, 2014. “All About Herbs.” Ooh-la-la! How to Grow ze French Herbs and make ze French Herb Blends. The Pavilion at Ozaukee County Fairgrounds in Cedarburg.
· May 24, 2014. Heirloom Plant and Herb Sale at Concordia University Fieldhouse.
· June 21, 2014. New! Summer Field Trip. This year our bus trip will be to the Chicago Botanic Garden.
· September 2014. Training 1 Master Gardener classes begin in the Fall, depending on a sufficient number of registered participants. Current OMGs are welcome at no charge and with no reservation. Classes meet Tues. nights: Sept. 2, 9, 16, 23, 30; Oct. 7, 14, 21, 28; Nov. 5 (only time class meets on Wed), 11, and 18.
2014 OMG Officers:
President Elect Mary Reilly-Kliss
President Carol Ross
Past President Jerry Thurman
VP Operations Committees Susie Granzow
VP Project Committees Lynn Schmid
Community Garden Coordinator Mary Reilly-Kliss
Treasurer Pat Moreland
Secretary Mary Ingles
Member at Large through 2014 Jane Spalding
Member at Large through 2015 Jim Eberhardt
Member at Large through 2016 Candy Witt
Dan O’Neil, Ozaukee County Agriculture Agent