Flagstaff Garden Starts CSA

The Flagstaff Garden Start CSA shares are going fast! Thanks to all those who have signed up and donated to the scholarship fund. We do have a limited number of shares, so please sign up as soon as possible! If would like to share a share with someone, but don't have anyone to share with, let me know and I will try to connect you with someone in your neighborhood also interested in sharing.

You can submit your registration forms via email, and you can also pay online. Please contact me if you are sending your forms through the mail. FORM

If you are interested in a scholarship, you can request them through the registration form.

We will start sowing on March 7, if you are interested in volunteering this year, please let me know. We need help sowing, thinning, writing lables, making seed packets and transporting to/distributing at Native Plant and Seed.

I have attached the registration and the flyer, please spread the word!

Also, Roots Composting, a local compost company (where we get our compost for our soil mix), has started offering residential compost collection service! They recently partnered with Good Earth Power to compost materials from the 4FRI restoration project and are growing their operation.
For just $10 a month, they will pick up your home compost every week and swap it out with a clean bucket. 
Let them do the dirty work for you! Sign up at http://rootscomposting.com/residential.html 
or contact :
Patrick Pfeifer /Roots Composting Co-Founder  - 630-639-1564

Have a great weekend!

Regan Emmons
Terra BIRDS
Director of Grow Program
P.O. Box 605
Flagstaff, AZ 86002
(mobile) 808-344-0904
grow@terrabirds.org

 

36th Annual Native Plant Workshop

Photo By: Max Licher

Keep Sedona Beautiful would like to invite you to the 36th Annual Native Plant Workshop, March 28 from 8:30 am to 3:00 pm (doors open at 7:45 am) at the West Sedona School, 570 Posse Ground Road. The workshop will offer homeowners, residents, and garden/plant enthusiasts with invaluable information on topics that include saving water with native plants, insects and diseases, managing invasive species and designing landscapes using water features and drought resistant plants.

Admission includes two keynote speakers, two workshops out of seven offered, breakfast savories, lunch and a silent auction with many items donated by the community. All for the low advance ticket price of $25 for KSB members or $35 for the General Public. It's an additional $10 at the door.

For more information and to register, go to http://www.keepsedonabeautiful.org/our-programs/native-plant-workshop.html or call the KSB office at 928-282-4938.

We hope you will pass this invitation along to your neighbors, home owner's association, friends and colleagues. 

Thanks for keeping Sedona beautiful! 
All the best,

Nancy Spinelli & Susan Murrill
Co-Chairs, Native Plant Workshop

Keep Sedona Beautiful, Inc., acting through the stewardship of its members and volunteers, is committed to protect and sustain the unique scenic beauty and natural environment of the Greater Sedona Area.

February 2015 Meeting Minutes

Meeting Minutes 2/12/15

Education - Kim Howell-Costion presented “Building Healthy Soils, with Emphasis on Lasagna Gardening”.

Kim spoke a little on "double dug lasagna" gardening technique, the importance of humus and Michael Melendrez' "soil secrets".   Kim is a popular gardening instructor and has developed 15 organic gardening classes for high desert gardening conditions in Northern Arizona. These classes have been offered at Coconino Community College and Northland Pioneer College. Kim also has produced a video on the Double Dug Lasagna gardening techniques that has proven effective for her time and again. She designed and operates a community supported agriculture plant seedling program for participants from her solar greenhouse located near Snowflake, Arizona and is co-owners of Ashokala Gardens.  

HANDOUT1 HANDOUT2 

Business Meeting – Jim Mast

MG Coordinator Happenings - Hattie Braun

·         Conference

o    The next meeting is March 11^th, 1:00pm at the Ext. OFF. 2304 3rd St.

·         Spring Class

• TH, 1-4:30pm. 2/5 - 5/14/2015, N. AZ Health Care 1000 N Humphreys.
• Jim Mast will be giving a class on vegetables in a couple of weeks.

·         Home Show

o    April 10, 11, and 12.  Set-up April 9^th, tear-down April 12 and 13.  Still need a chair for this project.  This year will be free admission.  We will occupy 8 booths to accommodate talks.  Will not be at the Dome; it will be held at NAU Fieldhouse, located at 1050 S. Knoles Dr.

HOMESHOW

·         Earth Day

o    Saturday, April 18^th at City Hall. – What we normally do for this is answer garden questions and give a garden talk.  Volunteer sign-up sheet available at the table.

Valentine's Day Grape Pruning Workshop

Hi all,
You missed a fun class in Camp Verde. Gardens for Humanity sponsored a Grape Pruning Workshop at Clear Creek vineyard and winery in the Verde valley on Valentine's Day. We met at the vineyard at 10am and learned from the owner how the vineyard began.  Ignacio Mesa has over 8 different varieties of grapes, good soil, great water source, and many animals to help keep the vineyards healthy (dogs,cats, chickens, geese) and protected from the critters. We learned about pruning and care of the grapevines from an owner that knows how to cut down on work and conserve precious resources. We ended the lecture with pruning of some of his grapevines. I had to leave at noon but they continued with a wine tasting.



Row 20 of the Clear Creek Vineyards
already pruned.

Pre-pruning grapevines under
netting.

 

This is the next event for Gardens for Humanity:

Bring your Gardening Questions… We’ll Sprout The Answers!March 14 @ 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm   $8   

Kim Costian's Healthy Soil Secrets

On Thursday at our meeting our speaker, Kim Costian, came all the way from Snowflake to talk about creating "Healthy Soil" using lasagna gardening and Soil Secret products. We had one of our largest audiences for Kim who has always been popular with local gardeners. In addition to maintaining her own large garden (Ashokola) and greenhouse, she and her husband (Joseph) recently travelled to Guatamala to bring organic gardening, and water conservation ideas to the people there. Kim will  be teaching again at Northland Pioneer College. She will be teaching a gardening certificate program for the community college. With the changes in her workload the CSA she has long done for gardeners in her area, is on hold this year.

Kim not only brought "Soil Secret" products to demonstrate but donated some for our monthly raffle. I am attaching a link to information about the products that she provided.  I have scanned the first page of the document. If you want more info go to the Soil Secret web site. LINK . Each year they do a series of talks at their nursery in Los Lunas, New Mexico. Check it out!
Several of our local nurseries now carry these products.

Thanks again to Kim for the fun and informative talk.

Loni Shapiro
Education Chair CMGA

CMGA February Meeting Agenda

 

Master Gardener Meeting Agenda 2/12/15

Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church

1601 N. San Francisco

6:30pm – 6:35pm               Welcome –Jim Mast

 

Announcements                  Meeting Raffle – $1 each or 6 for $5 - Must be present to win

·         Drawing will be held after refreshments and before the business meeting  

                                           

6:35pm – 6:40pm               Introduction of speaker – Loni Shapiro

 

6:40pm- 7:45pm                 Continuing Education - Kim Howell-Costion - Building Healthy Soils, with
                                               Emphasis on Lasagna Gardening

15 minute break

7:45pm-8:00pm                  Refreshments provided by Carol Chicce and Leslie Penick

       and Raffle Prize Drawing 

 

8:00pm - 8:25pm                Business Meeting – Jim Mast

 

MG Coordinator Happenings - Hattie Braun

·         Conference

o    Meeting next Wednesday the 11^th at 1pm at the extension office.

·         Spring Class

o    TH, 1-4:30pm. 2/5 - 5/14/2015, N. AZ Health Care 1000 N Humphreys.

·         Home Show

o    April 10, 11, and 12.  Set-up April 9^th, tear-down April 12 and 13.

·         Earth Day

o    Saturday, April 18^th at City Hall

Native Plant Society Post

Greetings, Native Plant Lovers,

You might be interested in checking out Project BudBurst at www.Budburst.org.  Project BudBurst is a national organization of citizen scientists monitoring plants as the seasons change, and you can participate in the fun.  Now is a good time to get involved because beginning observations, such as the first leaves or first flowers, will start very soon.   

The section "Stories Plants Tell:  The Science of Phenology" explains a lot.  You can follow Project Burst on Facebook and Twitter, too.

Thank you to Debbie Crisp, Coconino National Forest Botanist, for sharing this information with us. 

Posted by

Dorothy Lamm