CMGA General Info

Christmas Amaryllis with Orchid to the right. Below Ruth Benson's holiday bears.
Photo by Loni Shapiro.

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

Monday, February 18, 2013

Coconino Master Gardener Association Minutes 2/14/13


Master Gardener Meeting Minutes 2/14/2013
Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church
1601 N. San Francisco

Continuing Education, Freddi Steele, The Bees Around Us

Freddi Steele, a retired National Park Service naturalist, gave a lively and informative talk about bees.  She described the differences between bees and related species, led the audience through a bee identification exercise and outlined issues facing bees. Some recommended resources on bees include: http://bugguide.net ( a great source of photographs, information and identification help), the Xerces Society, http://www.xerces.org/, the Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America (the easiest guide to use), and the National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Insects and Spiders. Also on the blog is a link to her Arizona Daily Sun article, “The Bees Around Us”.

Regan Emmons – Arboretum Docent Training

Regan Emmons, the education coordinator for the Arboretum at Flagstaff explained the docent training program and the Garden Starts Community Supported Agriculture program.  She encouraged master gardeners to become docents and join the Garden Starts CSA. For more information and to apply for docent training, go to http://thearb.org/about_volunteer_docent.php. To join the Garden Starts CSA, contact flaggardenstarts@gmail.com for the contract and seedling list.

Thanks for the Refreshments: Andrea and Galen Guerrette, Loni Shapiro, Debi Stalvey

Business Meeting – Debi Stalvey                 

We still need volunteers for Community Programs and MG Projects.  Ali Coates, the blog editor, is willing to also do one of these.

The Master Gardener Association executive committee has decided the Association will do at least two fundraising activities this year.  One fundraiser will continue the calendar. A coordinator for the calendar is needed.  A second fundraising activity planned is a plant and used garden tool sale.  It will take place in May or June at the Allstate office on Cedar Avenue.  An additional fundraising activity will be discussed next month.

The Association executive committee has decided to staff a booth at the Earth Day celebration at City Hall on April 20.  Volunteers are needed to staff the booth. One idea for the booth is to demonstrate the difference between normal Flagstaff soil and good garden soil.

Debi mentioned the benefits of membership, including 10 % discounts at Flagstaff Native Plant & Seed, Viola’s Flower Garden and Warner’s Nursery & Garden Center.  Details on the discounts are on the back of the membership card.  Show your card at the nurseries for your discount.  You may also pay for your membership using Pay Pal.  The link to it is on the right side near the top of the first blog entry.

Debi introduced Tammy Valdovino as the new historian for the Association.

Financial report – Linda Guarino/Crys Wells

No formal report was available at the meeting.  A formal report will be available at the next meeting.
                                                     
MG Program Happenings (class/home show) – Hattie Braun

Master Gardener volunteers will work with Dorothy Lamm to teach members of the congregation of the new Catholic Church how to identify and control knapweed on their property on McMillan Mesa. The Knapweed Pull and education days planned for the end of April and early May.

Home and Garden Show planning is in progress.  Sherline Alexander shared a draft schedule and a volunteer sign-up sheet.  The next planning meeting will be Friday, March 1 at 9 a.m. at the extension office.                 

There are 20 people in the spring master gardener class.  The classes are at the extension office.  If you need to make up a class, please contact Hattie Braun because there is limited space for additional people in the room.                 
                 
Committee Reports:

Continuing Education – Jim Mast                 

Speakers are confirmed through May.  March 14 – Connie Cown from the Museum of Northern Arizona, Herbarium Project, April 11 - Susan Nyoka from the NAU SSLUG Garden, Insects, May 9 - Julie McDonald, Farming your Front Yard.                 
                                                     
Volunteer Support – Crys Wells

Please get any remaining 2012 hours to Crys by February 28. The link to the hours reporting form is on the blog.
                                                     
Gardening Questions?

Carol Kendall s volunteering at Flagstaff High School.  They have a greenhouse that they want to get it back into production for use with their culinary arts program.  She asked for help since she does not have experience with greenhouses.
Debi asked how to hollow out a stump.  Someone else had an arborist use a chainsaw to hollow out a stump.  Another said that some chemicals could be used to do so.

No comments:

Post a Comment