Weed Identification at Willow Bend

Do you have an unknown weed in your landscape that you would like to have identified?  Your have three chances to have it ID'd at Willow Bend this summer:  June 8, July 13, and August 17. 

MNA Colton House weed pull and plant walk

Have you even wondered what native plants are growing in the backyard at MNA's Colton House?  Here's your chance to find out. Join Flagstaff Weed Warriors for a weed pull AND a native plant walk on June 13.

Call Connie Cowan if you have questions or would like to sign up.

ccowan@mna.mus.az.us or 928-774-5211, ext. 216.

Riordan Workdays - May 31 & June 1

Both Friday 5/31 and Saturday 6/1 are scheduled as work days at the Riordan Mansion. 9:30 to 1:00. 

This weekend we will be working around the vegetable garden and orchid area. We will build up one or two of the vege beds, move in more mulch for the garden walkway, clean out some bushes that have gone wild in the area, cement in the posts for the berry trellises on Friday and install the trellis on Saturday.

All help is appreciated. Please park in the back of the main parking lot. If gate is not open to drive through when you get there at 9:30 please open, drive through, then close the gate.

Last weekend we removed the last of the large bushes growing near the foundation from the side of the visitors center and we may be putting in some bushes this weekend.

Thank you
Dave (699-3331) and Charlotte (890-9216)

New Vegetable Cookbook

One of the unfamiliar vegetables in the CSA seedling offering I received this year was Mustard. It has been the first crop along with spinach to ripen in our beds at Olivia White Hospice Garden. As I picked it I wondered what am I going to do with this.
About a month ago I ordered Deborah Madison's new cookbook. For those of you unfamiliar with her she has done several books on vegetarian cooking and one that features cooking foods from the Farmers Markets. She has written over 11 cookbooks and is known for her simple, seasonal, vegetable based cooking. She got her start at Chez Panisse in the bay area, and opened her own restaurant Greens.
This book has a new twist. She covers 12 vegetable families of foods, expands on their benefits, and adds many recipes, including mustard (cabbage familly). It is a must buy for recipes for some of the foods from the Flagstaff Sunday Market. The first recipe I am going to try in addition to one for mustard is Carrot Almond Cake with Ricotta Cream and Limoncello.

Vegetable Literacy  - Cooking and Gardening with Twelve Families from the edible Plant Kindom, with over 300 Deliciously Simple Recipes
by Deborah Madison
Ten Speed Press
Berkeley, CA
About $35 from Amazon

Enjoy!
Loni

Friends of Flagstaff's Future Trail Clean-up Day

When: Saturday May 25th 10:30-12
Where: Foxglenn trail near the Humane Society (follow signs from the Butler 4th St. intersection)
What: A meaningful family friendly volunteer opportunity to clean, weed, and learn about our beloved watershed and trail systems 
Who: Everyone welcome. The work load is divided from very easy to moderately hard. From picking up plastic bottles, to carrying large trash items, to pulling out Scotch Thistle. You can do what you are able. Terrain is flat with little shade. 
What to bring: sunhat, water bottle, and sunscreen. We will provide tools, bags, and snacks. 

For more info, contact:

Moran Henn
Friends of Flagstaff's Future programs and Development Director 
Office (928) 556 8663
Cell (928) 699 6109
E mail moran.henn@friendsofflagstaff.org

Riordan Mansion work day - 5/25/13

Saturday 5/25 is another work day at the Riordan Mansion. We have one more side of the visitors center to remove two large bushes that grow against the foundation and then we will be working near the new orchid area and removing overgrowth of wild plants near the vegetable garden. 

9:30 - 1:00 or so. If you can't be there the whole time any time given is much appreciated.  If the gate to the property is closed please open it, drive through, then shut it again. Park in the back spaces of the parking lot.

Riordan Mansion Barrel Planting

Riordan Mansion, Flagstaff 4-6:30 p.m.
Thursday, May 23

 This annual event is one of our favorite outreaches to the community. Just before Memorial Day weekend each year, we replant the barrels along the walkway to the Riordan Mansion entrance. Since everyone seems to have booked up their Saturdays this year, we're trying a different day and time. Soooooo, join us at 4 p.m. Thursday, May 23, (or anytime you can make it ~ we'll be there until we finish, around 6:30 p.m.) at the Mansion.

If you have them, please bring a hand trowel and gloves. The club supplies the flowers, barrels and soil. Hope to see you there. 

For more information about this event, call Club President Star Hunter at 928-637-4401, e-mail her at hunterstar@mac.com or write to: FFGC, P.O. Box 23397, Flagstaff, AZ 86002-3397.

Sustainable Backyard Beekeeping Course

Here is a fantastic opportunity to learn to work with bees. Every wanted to produce your own honey? Or just love pollinators? Catch the buzz this summertime in Flagstaff!

Learn how to work with a gentle colony of honeybees in a backyard top-bar hive. Get involved in the movement to restore the health of the amazing honeybee. Practicing organic, holistic principles, we will explore the relationships between:

* the queen, workers, and drones

* flowering plants, pollen, nectar, beeswax, and honey

* eggs, larvae, pupae, and adults

* humans and the rest of nature

To register or for more information, visit www.honeybeeteacher.com or call Patrick Pynes at (928) 600-1193. 

Riordan Work Day Friday 5/17

This Friday, May 18th is another work day at the Riordan. 9:30 - about 1pm. Remember that the gate appears closed but is unlocked. Pull car through and then close the gate again if arriving between 9:30 and 10:00.
Thanks 
Charlotte & Dave

Weed Pull - Museum of Northern Arizona - May 16, 9 - noon

There will be a weed pull held from 9 am until noon on Thursday, May 16 at the Museum of Northern Arizona.  Here is a map of the campus. Depending on which map you look at, we will be meeting at building 1 or A on the west side of Hwy. 180. Volunteers should bring gloves and water. Tools will be provided, but volunteers are welcome to bring their own. Weeds that we will be focusing on are cheatgrass, dandelions, and knapweed.