1. Meg Cryder, Scheral Greider and Hazel Lawruk are to be added to the attendees' list.
2. The date for the plant sale is August 25, 2007, the fourth Saturday in August, not the third Saturday.
   With those corrections noted, the minutes were approved.
   

Union County Farmer's Market Festival - It is decided to defer this one until a later time since it is not until mid summer.

Union County Veteran's Plaza - This project is for the landscape design and assistance in installation.  The work will begin immediately once the weather breaks since the goal is dedication on Memorial Day.  Master Gardeners are being asked to design the perimeter.  A blueprint of the site has been provided and the county will fund the planting as long as it is  reasonable. The suggested plant material are shrubs with minimum color.  The county will perform the maintenance.   It is anticipated that around 3 people will be needed for the design and around 15 for the planting.  We may also be able to incorporate an education opportunity in the planting experience.   It was decided that this project should be addressed first due to the approaching deadline.  Volunteers at the meeting indicating interest include Amber Haynes, Patsy Bushdorf, Ian Pasco and Mary McCord.

A motion was passed to accept the Veteran's Plaza project and Karen Long would serve as project chair.

Survey:  Claire Loeffelman offered a summary of the Survey results and the Focus Group activities.  Last fall 12-15 MGs met to discuss future progress of the Union County Master Gardener Program and what to do to make it happen.  Officers met with the new State Chairman, Pam Bennett and shared how the State could help.  The main points revolved around education both for Master Gardeners and the public and how to get more involvement from members.  The state was asked to help with education materials including more in-depth training materials and assistance in developing leadership skills.  The focus group also acknowledged that public involvement should include programs that would get out to other areas of the county other than Marysville.  To improve member involvement, education might include programs in leadership training, presentation skills and developing more ownership of projects.

The following were the main point from the Focus groups:

1. Give more hands-on experience to interns. (require 10 of the 50  hours at McCloud or Legacy Gardens)

2. Ask Pam Bennett, the State, for new listings of possible speakers.

3. Send members to workshops with the intent that they will return to train the membership on what they learned.

4. Develop different outlets for learning, i.e.: Book Clubs or Tours.

5. Ask the State to develop more advanced training opportunities and materials.

Ideas discussed for Public education were:

1. Co-sponsor an education opportunity at a local nursery.

2. Develop demonstration gardens for public viewing.

3. Develop a "roadshow" going throughout the county to help answer questions.

4. Sponsor a speaker program, possibly sharing a speaker with other counties to help with costs.

5. Prepare a lifecycle garden project, following the steps of the garden cycle.

6. The CYOC project.

There was definitely a recommendation to reinstate the Project Selection Committee to help determine projects' viability. 

Ideas discussed for increasing more member involvement included:

1. Increase the number of volunteer hours required to 20 or leave at 10 but not count the meeting hours.

2. Provide enough projects to cover the increased hours.

3. Volunteers should be identified at the time of the project's approval

The action items from the focus groups were:

1. Initiate the discussion to increase volunteer ideas from 10 to 20 hours.
2. Include more hands-on experiences for interns as part of their Master Gardener training program.
3. Develop and execute a survey for current members .
   

The survey has now been completed with approximately 50% response.  Claire offered her interpretation of the results.  90% of us like to garden, work with a small group and work independently.  Most of us don't like to speak to groups or lead discussion groups.  Regarding projects, we have a strong interest in working on the day of the tour 76% but only 26% want to solicit donations.  A large percentage of us will grow plants and work the day of the Plant sale, be involved in planning a workshop, or maintaining a garden. Regarding new projects, most of us were interested in Habitat Humanity, CYOC, the Veterans Plaza or Community Garden. We have an interest in most gardening education topics except houseplants or turf. Only a small group was interested in participating in the puppet show or the Adopt-a-Pot Program.  Claire cautioned that even though a project did not garner a lot of interest, if there is a small group interested, it could continue but should remain small due to the limited interest.

1. At the next meeting, seeds will be available for those interested in participating in the Kaleidoscope Challenge at the August meeting rather than the Tomato Fest.
2. Several public workshops are scheduled for spring and  summer.  If you are interested in helping to plan these or know of possible speakers please let Chris know.
3. Master Gardener outings include a possible tour of the OSU test gardens, the Governor's Gardens and Dawes Arboretum.

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