CMGA General Info

The San Francisco Peaks as seen from Timberline 5 miles northeast of Flagstaff.
Photo by Cindy Murray.

Welcome to the Coconino County Master Gardeners Association blog. The mission of the Master Gardener Program is to create a corps of well-informed volunteers, and to deliver quality horticultural education programs adapted to our regional high elevation environment. The purpose of the association is to provide support for those volunteers and Master Gardener graduates, continuing education, and opportunities to participate in community programs that increase the visibility and participation in the Master Gardener Program.
The Coconino Master Gardener Association (2009) began in 2009. This blog contains information on:
-How to become a member
-Volunteer and Education hours reporting
-Calendar of Events
-General gardening information articles
-Master Gardener Association Documents and forms
-References and Resources
-Interesting Websites and Blogs
-Old Gardening Etcetera columns
-Recipes
-Book Reviews
-How to contact Board or Committee Members
Meetings are held monthly on the 2nd Thursday from 600pm - 8;30pm. We meet at the Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church at 1601 N. San Francisco. This includes continuing education and a business meeting.

Reporting Master Gardener Hours

All master gardener trainees and certified master gardeners need to report their hours.
Beginning in 2010 certified master gardeners need to have 6 Education hours and 12 Volunteer hours in order to maintain certification.The on line reporting system allows you to report Education or Volunteer hours. You can sign in to record hours in the right hand column under Recording Volunteer and Education Hours. Just click on the U. of A.
If you have any questions or concerns about the new reporting system, please contact Brenda Smith (A - M) or Sue Madden (N - Z). Their contacts are listed at the bottom of the blog under
Contacts.



Ideas for hours------
--Attend monthly meetings
--Work on an association committee
--Work at an informational booth for the Master Gardeners
--Be a speaker about gardening topics at a variety of venues

--Host a garden tour
--Work at a fundraising event (Plant Sale - Garden Tour).
--Work at a MG site (Olivia White Hospice, the Arboretum, Riordan Mansion, or school gardens (many others)). Check out the Assoc. Doc. & Forms under Volunteer Sites.
--Work in the Extension office
--Write an article for the newspaper column -Gardening Etcetera
-Volunteer with the Seed Library
Be creative! There are many ways to fulfill your hours. Just remember for volunteering it needs to be a non-profit endeavor or an approved for profit site.

Change in Contact Information

Have you moved or changed your e-mail address, but would still like to be contacted about high elevation gardening information from the Extension? The Coconino County Extension Master Gardener Program has a site that will let you change your information on-line.

Click here to change your contact information!

Event Calendar

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Flagstaff EcoRanch and Hermosa Vida

Bed Building Bonanza and Potluc

Help grow our Local Food Nework

When:  April 12th 9am-4-m
Where:  6685 W. Leonard Lane, Flagstaff, AZ 86004
             Baderville
What:  Food, Workshops, Education, and work building new vegetable beds

Bring food scraps for a composting workshop (fruit/veggie scraps, coffee grounds, tea, eggshells, grains....no meat/dairy products. Bring a potluck dish for lunch.

This collaboration is designed to grow food at the EcoRanch and be sold or donated to the Flagstaff Community through Hermosa Vida. Your hard work will help people obtain healthier food while promoting sustainable agriculture.

While working, meet others with similar interests, learn to garden, to compost, share your knowledge with others or just be part of something in Flagstaff.

9-12 Work in fields building beds to deter gophers
11-12  Composting workshop
12-1  Potluck lunch
1-4 Work in fields
3-4 Window garden workshop
       Flagstaff Foodlink - free seeds

Any yard tools you can bring would help:  shovels, rakes, pick axes, hoes


Friday, March 14, 2014

Flagstaff Home and Garden Show

The Coconino Master Gardeners are again participating in The Flagstaff Home and Garden Show. It will begin on Friday the 28th of March and continue through Sunday the 30th. We will have a large booth with lots of educational gardening information as well as 14 talks over 3 days. All talks are free with admission to the home show. Attached is a link to the schedule.
Come visit and join in the weekend fun!
If you want to help let Jackie Clarke know - macandjac@aspect1.net.

Thanks,
Loni Shapiro


Thursday, March 13, 2014

March 2014 meeting minutes


Coconino Master Gardener Association (CMGA)

Meeting Minutes 3/13/14

Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church

1601 N. San Francisco

 

Growing Healthy and Local Food at Flagstaff ECO Ranch - Jeff Meilander

Jeff is from Ohio.  He has degrees in Science teaching.  He taught in Cottonwood for three years, then came here to NAU to study more, worked at NLP teaching science; quit his job and worked on farms in South America for a few months.  His goals goal is to work within community as sustainable agriculture
demonstration site - experimenting with conservation, showing students that what they are learning is relevant to life www.wwoof.org worldwide opportunities on organic farms - you show up and they give you a bed or tent site and food.

Thanks to Betty Marcus and Loni Shapiro  for the refreshments.

Our raffle prize winner of repurposed china/crystal bird feeder made and donated by Laura Parker

Business Meeting – Hunter Kemmet

Home Show: thanks to Jackie, well underway.  we have a big booth - 8 units
Also speakers & volunteers

Financial report – Crys Wells 

$3400 in checking, PayPal expenses, $46 postage, $157 income.

 MG Program Happenings (class/home show) – Hattie Braun

Speaker schedule (on table)
to help:  flyers to distribute
volunteer list:  openings on Sat and Sun
Set up Wed - meet noon at Extension office, or 1 pm @ dome
Tear down Monday morning

Earth Day - will be under solar panels - she needs volunteer for presentation on sustainability (needs to turn in name tomorrow) Hattie will send out e-mail for volunteers.                    

MG Projects – Loni Shapiro

Loni  hopes to have it done Monday, will post on blog.  Changes:  Hospice, Museum, Emeritus (needs coordinator, work with activities person), Arboretum, SSLUG garden - losing Susan in May - keep eyes out; Willow Bend (new coordinator).  New projects: Lowell Observatory gardens, Kellips school (some major things), Flag EcoRanch, 3/29  @ Kellips:  Ceasar Chavez day (morning) LOOK at the Blog once and a while Crys:  school garden at Kellips donates food to Food Center, which feeds many of their children.
Pending:  General Canyon Trust; NAU Greenhouse on Blog, go to R column - "documents and forms for the MGA"               

Volunteer Support – Crys Wells

200 volunteer hours to date. Membership cards are now available.

 Remember to record your volunteer and education hours. http://coconinomgassociation.blogspot.com
Historian – Tammy Valdovino  

would like pictures of the booth at Home Show, including speakers
Speakers - Ed Skiba: 

 Apr 10  Mick Henry - tree service - will talk about fruit
trees, pruning
Mar 29 @ Willow Bend outside demonstration of pruning
May meeting:  8th:  Tom Kolb, NAU School of Forestry - future of
ponderosa pine forests in N AZ

interest in an online photo directory (we have over 90 members)
need to get permission before publishing personal info
1st VP - Charlotte Dodgson:  Freddie taking over at Pioneer Museum, Willow Bend and Riorden want to do vegetables (much of the food goes to Hope Cottage).

Gardening Questions?

Deb:  leaching from cement blocks - is that a problem in garden?
could line with plastic...
? - how much water is enough?  dig down & check
to know for sure, check several hours later, and correlate rain gauge
with how deep the water soaks.
veg 2"
need to deep water monthly in winter
trees appreciate any water when its this dry; shallow water encourages
shallow roots.

Meeting adjourned.

 

 

Saturday, March 8, 2014

CMGA Monthly Meeting Agenda 3/13/14

Master Gardener Meeting Agenda 3/13/2014
Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church
1601 N. San Francisco

6:30pm-6:35pm           Welcome – Agenda – Hunter Kemmet
                                                Brief review of agenda for the evening

6:35pm-6:40pm           Raffle – $1 each or 6 for $5
                                                Must be present to win
                                                Drawing will be held after refreshments and before the business meeting.  Bird feeder provided by Laura Parker
               
6:40pm – 6:45pm        Introduction of speaker – Ed Skiba

6:45pm-7:30pm           Continuing Education
                                                Growing Healthy and Local Food at Flagstaff ECO Ranch
                                                Jeff Meilander

Monday, March 3, 2014

MNA Needs Volunteers for Mounting Plant Specimens

The Museum of Northern Arizona is looking for volunteers to help with multiple plant processing projects including mounting plant specimens, plant sorting, plant specimen filing in the Easton Collection Center, and data entry. Regular plant mounting sessions are scheduled weekly on Mondays from 1:00-3:00 in the Powell Building (building 39) on the Museum’s research campus. Please contact Kirstin Olmon at 928-774-5211 ext 216 or kolmon@mna.mus.az.us if interested. No experience necessary, but some general plant knowledge is desirable. Some data entry projects could be done from the volunteer’s home. New Museum of Northern Arizona volunteers will be required to submit to a background check

Sonoran Desert Master Gardener Conference

Master Gardeners – Due to the great success of last year’s Sonoran Desert Master Gardener Conference, it will be held again.  Please read the following e-mail to see if you can help.  In any case, please mark your calendars for Sept. 11-12, 2014.  Several Coconino Master Gardeners and I went last year and it was an excellent conference for Master Gardeners.  Hattie

Dear Master Gardeners,

Another Sonoran Desert Master Gardener Conference is being designed just for you, the Masters Gardeners of Arizona.  The topics and format are in response to your input from the surveys that you completed last year.  The conference will be held on Thursday, September 11th and Friday,September 12th, 2014 at the Casino del Sol Conference Center in Tucson.  On Thursday we have a number of tours planned at the University of Arizona Arboretum, and at the Pima Extension Demonstration Gardens.  We are planning to have several focused lecture tracks and discussions to fill your day on Friday.  Friday's day of lectures is planned to begin at 7:00 am for registration and finish by 4:00 pm. There will be many breaks throughout the day and a break for lunch, which will be provided on-site at the Casino del Sol. The format is being designed to allow for in-depth presentations on desired topics and networking time to meet and learn from other Master Gardeners throughout Southern Arizona.