Coconino MG Association Minutes 5/20/10

Master Gardener Meeting Minutes 5/20/10
6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

6:30pm-6:40pm Welcome – Agenda
Jim Mast
Brief review of agenda and upcoming educational opportunities. Introduction of speaker

6:40pm-7:30pm Continuing Education
All Plants are Medicine
Susan B. Collins
Susan’s talk was about the many medicinal uses/benefits of plants, flowers and trees. It included medicinal uses of a variety of local plants/weeds such as dandelion and mullein. She suggested several books for resources from Rodale Publishing. Watch for her articles in the Saturday Master Gardener Column about specific herbs.

7:30pm – 7:45pm Refreshments
Thank you to Ed Skiba

7:45pm -8:30pm Business Meeting
7:45pm-8:00pm Overview of recent Executive Committee meeting - Jim Mast
Change in meeting times beginning October/November to accommodate the Audubon Society and the Westerners. This is a trial for the end of the year to see if more people can attend. The meetings will be on the 2nd Thursday instead of the 3rd of each month.
Standing Committees added to By-laws (handout circulated and will be posted on website under documents and forms). One major change was that Social was added to the
Volunteer committee instead of Continuing Education.
Finance – Ed reported $60 in voluntary dues collection and $15 for food. Opening an account has been difficult due to balance limits, and fees required. One bank wanted many documents to provide a free account (including a 501C). Jim will check with Yavapai County to see how they manage their account. Ed collected more membership fees. Amount to be reported later. He may now be able to open an account.
Calendar update Loni: Plan to order next week. Extension will pay the initial outlay for the calendars ($3.75 each plus shipping). Voting was completed on the last 4 photos. The cover will be the Bus Stop Garden from the extension. Other photos include flowers, a vegetable garden, winter scene, home summer flower garden, animals, butterflies, and a dragonfly. Thank you to all who entered their photos. We hope to have the calendars ready by August to sell at the Highlands Garden Conference. Probable cost $10.

8:00pm-8:30pm Committee Reports:
Continuing Education – No report. Check blog and the bottom of the agenda for programs.

Community Programs-Molly Larsen & Julie Holmes
Sunday Community Market
Plan is to do the 2 first Sunday markets and possibly 2 monthly Wed. markets.
May 30 – Galen & Andrea Guerrette and Irene Matthews
June 6 – Molly Larsen and Ann Eagan
Will work at next meeting on the Wednesday markets.
Speakers Bureau, Home Show
Need speakers/topics/Hattie working on getting someone from Toastmasters to
talk about speaking and will do tech training for those interested (PowerPoint).
WE NEED SPEAKERS. THINK ABOUT SIGNING UP. THIS IS ANOTHER WAY TO SHOW WE ARE GIVING BACK TO THE COMMUNITY (COUNTY SUPERVISORS).

Coordination MG Projects –Linda Guarino
Change in application form with a question of how the project will be financed. New form was circulated and is now on the blog under Documents and Forms.
Linda, Galen & Loni working on updating list of current projects that will be available forMG trainees and anyone else interested. When done they will be posted on the Blog.
Approved project- Canyon Chapel – contact Ed Skiba who briefly reviewed the project at his church on 4th St. He is willing to mentor a couple of master gardeners to one. (trustacctservices@npgcable.com)

Volunteer Support/Social – No report

Next meeting: June 17, 2010
Speaker: Volunteering Through Gardening Around the World: experiences highlighted in Lesotho, Malawi, Australia, and Costa Rica Julie Lancaster

Speakers for future meetings:
July 15 Microclimates & Gardening Lee Born
August 19 Bugs Freddie Steele
September Recognition Picnic
October 14 Hopi Agriculture Susan Lamb Bean
November 11 School Gardens Sue Norris, Lyndsey Langsdale
December Holiday Party

First Sunday Community Market 5/30/10

Welcome back local food lovers!

We're thrilled to begin Flagstaff Community Market's 10th season! We will be in the same location as last year: City Hall parking lot Sunday mornings from 8:00AM to noon. The City is finishing some work near the lot, so please be patient as we work around their job site.

Many of our vendors will be returning to offer fresh regional produce and prepared foods- Chino Valley Farm, Rainbow Valley, Moonrise Farm, Flying M Ranch, Eagle Eye Honey, Shady Acres, Summer Place Pecans, Cafe de Dona Ella and more. We also have quite a few new vendors this year: Good Water Farm, Seacat Gardens, & Ridge View Farms selling free range chicken & others!

Farmers are selling food they grow that is currently in season in Arizona. By eating what's in season, we're helping support local growers and greatly reducing our impact on the environment.

Art, Heather, and Lila Babbott

New Community Garden in Sunnyside!!

Are you interested in growing your own fresh vegetables this summer in the Sunnyside Neighborhood? Have you always wanted to garden but just don’t have the yard space? Are you new to gardening and want a little help and support from the community? Well come on down to the new community garden on Izabel Street!

Located on public property on Izabel Street, just north of the BMX/skate park, this garden includes individual/family gardening plots, kids gardening beds, raised beds, permaculture design, composting, a storage shed, tools, and rainwater harvesting. This garden is great for individuals or families looking for a place to grow their own food this summer, or a school or any other group looking to take on a great summer project.

A small seasonal fee ($30) will be collected from the gardeners that will provide water, insurance, tools and building materials. Gardeners can also take part in monthly garden parties, workshops and garden maintenance activities.

Space is limited and plots will be assigned on a first come first serve basis. Our first organizational meeting will be Sunday, May 30th, at 4pm, so if you are interested or need any further information, please contact the garden coordinator as soon as possible.

Thank you,
Lyndsey

Garden Coordinator
Lyndsey Langsdale
775-815-1113
928-774-5813
ltlangsdale@yahoo.com

2010 AZ Native Plant Society Contest

Master Gardener Column 4/17/2010

Despite late-lingering snowbanks and being batted about by spring winds like birdies on a badminton court, Flagstaff gardeners are suddenly out in force. Eternal optimists, they are already swarming local nurseries wearing sunhats and ferrying pots of native perennials, vegetable starts, and new gardening gloves to the registers. Rakes have been fetched from garages, along with pruning shears and trowels. Breeze-blown but eager, gardeners all over Flagstaff and beyond are bravely clearing away winter-killed stalks and broken branches and setting out peas and cabbage.

Whether you are among these early enthusiasts--or you need to wait a few weeks because of your particular location--the Arizona Native Plant Society (AZNPS) invites you to enter our annual Flagstaff Garden Competition. The deadline for entering the contest is August 4. Judges will schedule a one-hour visit to each garden during the weekend of August 14 and 15. There will be an awards "Extravaganza" on August 25 and a public tour of all the gardens on Sunday, August 29.

Simply entering the Flagstaff Garden Competition can liberate the imagination and fire up a lot of energy. When the reality of showing your garden to strangers sinks in, determination surfaces and creativity flows. Long-neglected "issues" such as pile of old plastic pots or the overdue need to prune a dogwood are suddenly resolved. What at first seems like a lark undertaken because a neighbor says you really should becomes a closer observation of the weather, a more attentive nurturing of plants, and a greater clarity about what you know and don't yet know. If you remain unconvinced about entering, Dorothy Lamm's lovely exhibit on the Garden Competition--on display at the main Flagstaff Public Library through April--may convince you to take an active part in this delightful annual event.

This year, the Flagstaff Garden Competition's two categories are Native Plant Gardens and Edible Landscapes (vegetables, herbs, and other edibles). Of course, the former should have a good majority of plants native to northern Arizona. Native plant gardens should also be pollinator-friendly, with lots of flowers appropriately placed in sun or shade and absolutely no use of pesticides. Judges will also consider color and form, hardscaping and paths, and special features such as ponds and sculptures. Edible landscapes should produce food for many weeks and employ water conservation strategies such as runoff catchments and mulch. In fact, judges will look for water-wise techniques in all gardens as well as designs that are appropriate to their sites' exposure to sun, shade, and wind.

The Flagstaff Garden Awards Extravaganza will take place in Rees Hall at the Federated Church on Wednesday, August 25. After a potluck and a slideshow of all the gardens, winners will receive gift certificates from local nurseries, and there will be a raffle of one of the latest books on native plants as well as memberships in plant-related organizations.

The grand finale is a tour of all the gardens on Sunday, August 29. Donations for the tour will be gratefully accepted. The tour is a feast for the eye but also the heart. Gardeners can see how others succeed in circumstances similar to their own, from the banana belt below Mount Elden to the frost-prone fields of Baderville. With such a variety of mini-climates in Flagstaff and its environs, we often get the best ideas about successful gardening from those who've succeeded in locations similar to our own.

But that Sunday is also a day of stories--of a helpful neighbor, of a source of cuttings or flagstone, of chronic frost or a sudden onslaught of grasshoppers and the inspired strategies to cope with them. Some gardeners also speak joyfully of the healing and happiness they have found in their gardens.

This year, the Flagstaff garden competition is sponsored by the Arboretum at Flagstaff, the Arizona Native Plant Society, the Ecological Restoration Institute at Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff Native Plant and Seed, and Warner's Nursery.

Again, the deadline for entries is Wednesday, August 4. To enter, e-mail Jessa Fisher at nightbloomingcactus@yahoo.com (preferred) or give her a call at (928)814-2644.

Flyer attached:

Susan Lamb is a local writer and naturalist (www.susanlamb.net). Dana Prom Smith, a Master Gardener is the coordinating editor for the Master Gardener Column. He can be contacted at stpauls@npgcable.com. For more information about the Master Gardener Program, call Hattie Braun at 774-1868 ext.17 or visit our Web Site: highelevationgardening.arizona.edu.)

Coconino MG Association Meeting

Master Gardener Meeting Agenda 5/20/10
Northland Hospice Office – 452 N. Switzer Canyon Drive
(Parking in front of the building or in the lot just north of it.)
6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

6:30pm-6:40pm Welcome – Agenda
Jim Mast
Brief review of agenda. Introduction of speakers

6:40pm-7:30pm Continuing Education
All Plants are Medicine
Susan B. Collins

7:30pm – 7:45pm Refreshments
Ed Skiba

7:45pm -8:30pm Business Meeting
7:45pm-8:00pm Overview of recent Executive Committee meeting - Jim Mast
Change in meeting times beginning October/November
Standing Committees added to Bi-laws (handout circulated and will be posted on website under by-laws)
Finance - Bank account, dues collection, donations jar
Calendar fundraising update (Loni will circulate photo selections)
8:00pm-8:30pm Committee Reports:
Continuing Education-Dana Prom Smith
Speakers scheduled through January 2011. Check blog for updates.
Community Programs-Steve Shields
Flagstaff’s Community Market
1st & 2nd Sundays/all Wednesdays beginning in July
Speakers Bureau, Home Show
Need speakers/topics/Hattie working on getting someone from Toastmasters to talk about speaking and will do tech training for those interested (PowerPoint)
Coordination MG Projects –Linda Guarino
Change in application form
Working on updating list of current projects
Approved project- Canyon Chapel – contact Ed Skiba
Volunteer Support/Social - Crys Wells

Next meeting: June 17, 2010
Speaker: Volunteer Through Gardening Around the World: experiences highlighted in Lesotho, Malawi,l Australia, and Costa Rica Julie Lancaster

Speakers for future meetings:
July 15 Microclimates & Gardening Lee Born
August 19 Bugs Freddie Steele
September Recognition Picnic
October 21 Hopi Agriculture Susan Lamb Bean
November ?
December Holiday Party

Continuing Education opportunities and Events:
May 21-23 NAU Sustainable Communities Program
Lessons From Puebloan Culture

May 22 Garden Club Annual Plant Exchange
Home of Jacki Hainsworth

May 22 Building a Rock Garden & Water Feature Workshops
Arboretum at Flagstaff
May 23 Earth Spirit Essential Oils Class
Floral/Water Elements
May 25 Vegetable Gardening in Flagstaff Jim Mast
East Flagstaff Library
May 26 & 29 Warner’s Landscape & Nursery
Container Gardening
May 30 Flagstaff Sunday Community Market Begins
June 5 Terroir Seeds Open House – Chino Valley
June 6 Earth Spirit Essential Oils Claqss
Grounding and the Earth Elements
June 11-13 NAU Sustainable Communities Program
Four Sister Gardening in the Southwest Highlands
June 13 Earth Spirit Essential Oils Class
Ether and the Sacred Scents
June 17 Coconino MG Association Meeting
June 18-20 NAU Sustainable Communities Program
Global Food Systems
June 26 Hummingbird Festival
Arboretum at Flagstaff
July 7 Flagstaff Wednesday Community Market Begins
July 9 Summer Plant Sale
Arboretum at Flagstaff
July 17 10% of Proceeds at Warners Donated to the Olivia White Gardens
July 30-Aug.1 NAU Sustainable Communities Program
Permaculture Design Course
August 27-28 11th Annual Arizona Highlands Garden Conference – Payson, AZ
Oct 13-16 American Horticultural Therapy Association
Annual Conference – Chicago, IL
Oct 16 13th Annual School Garden Conference – Chicago, IL

AERA 2010 Summer Plant Walks

The Arizona Ethnobotanical Research Association (AERA) is pleased to announce the highly
anticipated, thoroughly enjoyable....

AERA 2010 SUMMER PLANT WALKS

Please join Phyllis Hogan and Jessa Fisher on one or all of these magical, educational walks. The focus is on medicinal and ethnobotanical uses of local, native plants.

Sunday June 6 Huckabee Trail
Wednesday June 23 Elden Pipeline
Sunday July 18 Kelly Canyon
Sunday August 8 Little Springs Fern Mountain
Thursday, August 12 Griffith Springs
Wednesday September 8 Buffalo Park

* Easy- Moderate hiking *All ages and levels encouraged to come! *Plan on 2 (weekday)- 4 (weekend) hours * Bring clothes for the weather, water, snacks and/ or a lunch * A $10 (weekday) or $20 (weekend) donation to our non-profit organization greatly appreciated- sliding scale * Carpool meeting place and time announced with registration. To register or for more info, call Winter Sun at 774-2884 or email azethnobotany@hotmail.com

"Beauty before me, beauty behind me, beauty beside me, beauty below me, beauty above me -- I walk in beauty." -Traditional Navajo Prayer

Jessa Fisher

Yavapai County Master Gardener Association Garden Tours

What: Yavapai Master Gardener Association Annual Garden Tours
Tour of 5 gardens in Camp Verde, Village of Oak Creek, Sedona and Rimrock.
You will be required to sign a photo/video release form in order to participate. Participants must be 18 years or older. No restroom facilities will be available at the garden sites.

Where: The tour begins at Windmill Garden Nursery at 9550 E. Cornville Road in Cornville. Register here and receive your map for the self guided tour.

When: Saturday, June 5, from 9:00am - 4:00 pm
Registration for the tour is between 8am-1030am

Cost: $5.00 per person

So Much More Than Trees! The Southwestern Ponderosa Pine Forest

Flagstaff nature writer Susan Lamb will explore the understory and wildlife of the vast and lovely ponderosa forest that every Flagstaffian treasures as our personal “neighborwoods.” There are many resource management challenges involving the forest around us but in this program, Lamb will summon the “hidden wholeness” in the heart of the woodland that beckons us every day.

Based on insights from observations of well over 100 wildflower species and other nature notes—and featuring images taken by her husband, photographer Tom Bean—the talk centers on a part of Coconino National Forest just off Lake Mary Road within the Walnut Canyon Study Area. Come enter the mystery and grace of the very real and yet quite enchanting natural world that is all around us.

What: So Much More Than Trees!
An illustrated talk on the ecosystem of the southwestern ponderosa pine forest.
When: 7 pm, Wednesday, May 12, 2010.
Where: Cline Library Auditorium, Northern Arizona University
Admission: Free.

susan@susanlamb.net
www.susanlamb.net

2010 Summer Institutes from Sustainable Communities Program

NAU is offering some unique summer courses from the Sustainable Communities Program. The series of short course offers you unique learning opportunities in Northern Arizona. The workshops cover an exciting range of interdisciplinary topice, but all share the theme of building a socially healthy and ecologically sustainable world.

To get more information about each class or to register contact Tamara Ramirez at 928-523-0499 or email Tamara.Ramirez@nau.edu.

Sustainability in the Southwest: Lessons from Puebloan Culture
Dr. Miquel Vasquez
SUS 599 Clalss #2365
2 units graduate credit (P/F) or $250 Non-Credit Workshop
Friday, 5/21 6pm-8pm
Saturday 5/22 9am-12pm
Sunday 5/23 9am-7pm

Friday, 5/28 7am-5pm
Saturday 5/29 9am-5pm
Sunday 5/30 9am-9pm

Week 1 will include Friday & Saturday classroom sessions, with a fieldtrip to Hopi on Sunday. Week 2 will include a 3 day field trip to New Mexico, leaving Friday and returning Sunday.

Four Sisters Gardening in the Southwest Highlands
Dr. Patrick Pynes
SUS 599 Class #2358
1 unit graduate credit (P/F) or $125 Non-credit Workshop
Friday, June 11 6pm-9pm
Saturday, June 12 9am-5pm
Sunday, June 13 9am-1pm

Corn. Beans. Squash and Bees. Fieldtrips included.

Global Food Systems
Dr. Miguel Vasquez
SUS 599 Class #2359
1 unit graduate credit (P/F) or $125 Non-credit Workshop
Friday, June 18 6pm-9pm
Saturday, June 19 9am-5pm
Sunday, June 20, 9am-1pm

Overview cours on Global Food Systems with a focus on sustainability.


Permaculture Design Certification
Josh Robinson (with additional support from Sandra Lubarsky)
Four weekend course:
July 30-August 1
August 6-8
August 13-15
August 20-22
$600 early registration for Non - Credit