January 2015 Meeting Minutes

Meeting Minutes 1/8/15

Welcome –Hunter Kemmet introduced 2015 Officers;  Jim Mast-President, Ed Skiba-VP, Sue Madden-Treasurer, Sherline Alexander-Secretary.  Please note that all of the annual reports from CMGA officers and committee chairs are on the blog.

Education Grant Recipients:

Pinon Community Garden - Rosemary Logan and April Smith - talked and showed photos about their new irrigation system for their community garden.

Pioneer Museum - Freddi Steele - talked and showed photos of the before and after hardscape stairs installed on their property for safety.

Mountain Elementary School - Angie Fritz - mom and master gardener began a garden program for 3rd and 4th graders, with money spent on materials for gardening and books. Angie's photos included a lunch with what the classes had grown.

Riordan Mansion - Dave Brimhall - this AZ Historical Society property has received several grants over the years to improve many of the gardens and hardscape. Dave brought a poster and photos to share.

Business Meeting; Jim Mast.

Raffle item donations.   If you have something you can donate toward our monthly meeting raffle just bring the item to a monthly meeting.

Build volunteer hours doing committee work. The CMGA is looking for more volunteers for our committees this year. Continuing education (Loni Shapiro, Chair), Volunteer Support (Crys Wells, Chair), Community Support (Andrea Guerrette, Chair), Master Gardener Projects (Jackee Alston, Gillian Thomas new co-chairs),  Special Projects (Home Show, Conference, Fund Raising(need new chair), Earth Day etc.).

MG Coordinator Happenings - Hattie Braun

Conference: next meeting 1-14-15, 1pm, extension office.  Please attend if you are interested in helping with the conference.  Actively looking for conference site.

·        Spring Class; Thursday’s, 1-4:30pm. 2/5 - 5/14/2015, N. AZ Health Care 1000 N Humphreys.  Getting a lot of calls.

·         Home Show April 10, 11, 12, the weekend after Easter. Volunteers needed.

·         Dorothy Lamb workday at the extension office 10am-2pm, Monday January 26^st on invasive weeds.

Financial report – Sue Madden

Found software on sale and purchased for $37.50.

Total income for the year was $3934.03. Total expenses for the year were $2388.13. The difference between income and expenses for 2014 was $1545.90. The checkbook balance is currently $4173.23 and the PayPal balance is $150.56 for a total of $4323.79. This is an increase of $1461.21 as compared to the end of 2013.

Committee Reports:

Volunteer Support – Crys Wells

Recorded 4012.5 volunteer and 655.5 continuing education hours as reported by 93 individuals.  (This data is based on what was reported through 12/31/14 and will undoubtedly change.) Membership 78. 

JoAnn Alarcon is now part of the Volunteer Support Committee

Fund Raising – Loni Shapiro (looking for someone to chair this committee)

·         Aprons $15 each – $180.48 in proceeds for CMGA aprons after subtracting costs of $217.52 for purchase of the aprons and $52 to cover the cost of embroidery.

·         Calendars $12 each or 3 for $30- CMGA calendars resulted in a net increase of $428.50 ($335 for 2014 calendars and $996 for 2015 calendars) after subtracting printing costs of $902.50 for the 2015 calendars.

·         Other money making plan:    Summer garden tour,  Fall clean-up raffle (need a volunteer to chair this project)

Continuing Education – Loni Shapiro; plans for future talks this year;

·         February – Kim Howell-Costion Greenhouse soils and soil Secrets

·         March – Something on seeding/veggie gardening - Julie Lancaster has been asked but I haven-t heard from her. I also plan to check with Helen Sisk from the NAU Greenhouse

·         April – Ed Skiba – One hole at a time

·         May -Jim Mast -  Small Community Garden - Vegetable Gardening

·         June - Hattie Braun – Garden Flowers for Flagstaff

·         Some other possibilities for the rest of the year:

o    Getting Crops to Market - Peggy Pollack from Food link and/or Art Babbott from the Flagstaff Community Market

o    I am thinking July and maybe include someone from the county fair (we may be able to incorporate Phil Patterson and the SSLUG garden into this talk)

o    Grasses - Susan Lamb Bean or Kristin Olmon - I am thinking August

o    Science of GMO's - Linda Guarino or Brian Bates - I am thinking October

o    Gardening on the Reservation - Leupp Family Farm/Tuba (need to check further with Hattie on these before proceeding) - maybe Nov.

MG Projects – Loni Shapiro; Jackee Alston and Gillian Thomas have agreed to co-chairs this committee.

Blog - Loni Shapiro; There is a new seed and plant catalog on the blog.

Community Markets – Andrea Guerrette; spring participation was really good, summer was okay, and fall was very poor. 

New Business

Exec Board Meetings – Jim Mast; board meetings are on the 1^st Friday of each month (unless it is the 1^st) at 1:00pm at the Extension Office.  Master Gardeners are welcome to attend if they would like to see what we are doing.

Hattie Braun; There is an open position at the Extension Office – official posting on the UofA website.

Gardening Questions?

Do we have a seed library?  No, maybe we could pursue this as a project or have a seed swap.

Next meeting:                     February 12^th featuring Kim Howell-Costion
Building Healthly Sols, with Emphasis on Lasagna Gardening (Outdoors & Greenhouse)