minutes_april2000

Minutes of the Master Gardeners of Union County

Union County Master Gardeners met at the Union County Agricultural Service Center on January 26, 2005. Claire Loeffelman, Vice President, opened the meeting, in absence of President, Karen Long.

Claire welcomed everyone and presented a short program on upcoming workshops for Master Gardeners and also passed around a list and a sample of some books that received the American Horticultural award. A list of "Dates to Remember" will be listed along with the monthly minutes. This will include Horticultural events, Master Gardener’s meetings and FYI’s for MG’s.

Minutes

Minutes of the October, 2004, meeting were approved as e-mailed, as there were no additions or corrections.

Treasurer:
Claire gave the treasurer’s report in absence of Treasurer, Becky Rowe. The report was approved and put on file for audit.

Timekeepers Report:
No Report.

Old Business:
McCloud Park:
Jerome Shapiro will serve as chairman of this project.

Garden Tour:
Miriam Carson announced that name has been chosen for the Garden Tour. The name is “Through the Garden Date”. Ticket prices have been increased to $8. Pre-sale of tickets will be promoted at a price of $6. All garden chairs are chosen and the “Meet and Greet” will be held April 11. The garden chairs and garden owners will meet one another on this date. Voting for the best garden has been eliminated and instead there will be a raffle of a few nice gifts.

Garden Party:
Cathy Weaver reported that a new chairman needs to be chosen for the Garden Party. Cathy is willing to help the new chairman. Most of the organizational preparations are in place for this project. The date is set for August 20 at the fairgrounds. This date may have to be moved to one week later to eliminate a conflict with the annual day lily sale in Columbus.

Adopt –a –Pot:
Cindy Shuster has agreed to chair the committee once again.

Liberty Park:
No report.

Huston House:
A new chair needs to be chosen for this project.

Historical Society:
Barbara Ramm reported that notes will be exchanged with the Hanby House in Westerville that is also restoring their historical gardens.

Legacy Garden:
John Walkup reported that plenty of perennials are available for planting at the Ag. Center. The area for the legacy gardens as been dug and prepared for the perennials. This garden will need to be ready for the Garden Tour. John hopes the new 2005 Class can help with the Legacy Garden.

Puppet Show:
Jill Ricker displayed various puppets she has for the puppet shows to be used as a MG educational vehicle in the grade schools in Marysville. She has some volunteers in place but could use a few more. Jill has 4 schools thus far that are expressing interest in the puppet shows. The shows will begin in March.

Claire suggested we could hold a workshop to educate members on working with children.

Leaping Frog:
Karen Long passed the Leaping Frog to Jill Ricker for all the work with the puppets and for helping fill the basket with horticultural items for the State Convention in 2004.

John Hixson expressed concern that the Allen Center Township is growing too small for our large Master Gardener group. George will check into see what is available at Union County Service Center that would work for our Recognition Dinner in the fall.

Co-Coordinator’s Report:
Kay Griffith from the Union County Fairgrounds has asked the Master Gardeners to donate a basket of horticultural items the State 4-H Convention to be held at the fairgrounds. Chris Burnard made a motion to donate a basket with $50 worth of horticultural items for the 4-H State Convention. Johanna Keiser seconded the motion.

George passed out a list of Volunteer Projects. He would like to have two volunteers per project. These various projects will be discussed at next month’s Master Gardener meeting to see how many people have signed up for projects and what projects may have to be dropped, if no interest is shown.

George listed a number of workshops available to MG’s. He passed out flyers on the times and the workshops. Listed below are just a few of the workshops:

Bramble and Blueberry Pruning Demo February 5, 2005
East Sparta, Ohio
Sandy Kuhn 1-800 297-2072 (Ohio)

2005 Fruit Tree Pruning Clinic Saturday March 5, 2005
Rouster’s Apple House
1980 State Route 131
Milford, Ohio 45150
513-625-5504

11th Annual Perennial Flower Show March 10, 2005 8:30-4:00
4-H Hall, Clermont County Ag. Center
Clermont County Extension Office
Clermont County Fairgrounds
1000 Locust Street
Owensville, OH 45160
Contact Vickie Butler at 513-732-7070

The position of State Extension Co-Coordinator was eliminated through lack of funding. Because of the need for the position, an endowment is looking to be set-up for this position. The state is presently acquiring data from area Master Gardeners.

New Master Gardener Classes are set to begin February 1, 2005. All classes will be held at the Ag. Center unless otherwise noted in the class schedule booklet. We have 13 new members in the new 2005 Class. MG’s are urged to sign up as assistants on the various class nights.

Claire noted there are some items in our Constitution that we need to revisit and make sure that we are abiding by. We will review those at our next meeting.

New Business:
Claire advised the group that the new Union County Master Gardener budget has been created for this coming year. Miriam Carson made a motion that we accept the proposed budget and it was seconded and the motion passed.

Hank Edwards is asking the Master Gardeners to take on a gardening project at Carriage Court. Claire advised Hank to come back to the group with a definite scope on the project and we would discuss it next month. He said there are about 20 interested people at Carriage Court that would help maintain the project.

Hank is also putting together a scrap book for MG’s. He is asking for pictures with your name on the back of the photo and also a date and identification of the people in the picture.

A few of our Master Gardener’s are recuperating from physical problems. They are Becky Rowe, Jez Linscott and Mary Ann Haynes.

Roberta Gordon asked for volunteers to help her in designing the butterfly garden at the Ag. Center. She has done all the research and needs assistance in the design.

Members who would like to mail in their Master Gardener volunteer or educational hours can send them to the following address:

The Ohio State University
Union County Extension Office
18000 State Route 4, Suite E
Marysville Ohio 43040

Or mail them directly to Mary Ann or Amber Haynes. Those online can file electronically.

Kris Pohlman informed the group of a new organization forming to Assist Women in Agriculture. Meetings will take place at the Stratford Center in Delaware. The group is called Innovative Farmers of Ohio. They would like two volunteers from Union County. More information can be found at http://www.IFOH.org.

As no further business was to come before the group the meeting adjourned until next month.

Respectfully,
Barbara Ramm, Acting Secretary
In Absence of Barb Ramm

Members in Attendance: