St Charles County Master Gardeners

June 25, 2020 Master Gardener Meeting Minutes

Speaker for the June 2020 meeting was Elliot Schneider, Certified Compost Operations Manager of St Peter’s Earth Centre.

Mr. Schneider discussed the history of the Earth Centre and gave members an informative and thorough site tour. Of note, leaf mulch is available to MG members without cost but you must contact Mr. Schneider (eschneider@stpetersmo.net) directly.

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Business meeting was called to order at 7:57 PM per President, Kevin Minard. There were 25 members and 3 new trainee members present.

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Paul Hendricks Service Award: Recipient Del Moeller not present and award not presented. Co-Recipient Donna Lindsay was presented her award at January 27, 2020 meeting.

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Secretary’s Report: Rebekah Davis: The minutes from the February membership meeting were sent out via email and approved via email by over 20 members with no objections or corrections submitted.

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Treasurer’s Report: Joe Walker submitted a report:

Net monthly change in May was $xxxx.xx.

End of May Cash in Bank was $xxxxx.xx (including the $xxxx allocated for the erosion pledge).

Available for allocation for MG expenses: $xxxxx.xx.

Will need to cover capital allocation for greenhouse, 2021 plant sale expenses, 2021 Dig-In expenses, and normal operating expenses until 2021 plant sale.

Last year’s end of May Cash in Bank: $xxxxx.xx

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County Engagement Specialist: No report from Alex Reichert.

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County Horticultural Specialist: No report from Justin Keay.

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Committee Reports:

Membership: Waneta Parmenter and Bonnie Winkeler:

Welcome 2 new MG members per transfer! Cassie Gilliam from Kentucky and Sydney Turner from Franklin County, MO. Sydney is moving here in August 2020.

Welcome new members class of 2020! In attendance: Rachel Benson, Clinton (Clint) Christensen and Nancy Torke.

Reminder: Due to Covid-19, the annual MG hours for 2020 have been reduced from 20 volunteer hours to 12 hours for current MG members. Five of the total annual hours must be in or for the Demonstration Garden 260 Brown Rd, St Peters, MO. The education requirement remains at 6 hours annually. This number is reduced when a master gardener’s volunteer hours exceed a threshold as documented on our website. Please see guidelines at http://www.stcharlescountymastergardeners.com/#!continuing-education-guidelines/c12z.

The hours for 2020 new trainees have not changed. It will be discussed at the Steering Committee meeting tomorrow.

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Speakers Bureau: Valerie Mertz: Possible change in meeting venue for July but details have not been worked out. More information will be sent prior to meeting.

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Education Committee: Justin Keay: Valerie Mertz gave goals for Education Committee: Identify opportunities to utilize the demonstration gardens for teaching and education, identify opportunities for education (St. Charles County Library System requesting classes on Zoom twice a month; someone is identifying speakers), identify educational resources within our own MG group.  Looking for speakers utilizing PowerPoints. There will be information about making PowerPoints in the next newsletter. Even a mini PowerPoint or video can be utilized in a larger presentation.

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Dig-In 2021: planning is underway. Theme is Garden to Plate and a potential speaker has been identified. A new nutritionist at the Extension Center, Allene Germaud , will also be involved. Still deciding on breakout sessions. Leads are needed for advertising, hospitality (lunch and snacks), registration, set-up and take down, vendors. Contact Valerie, Justin or anyone on the Education Committee if you can help.

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MG of Jefferson County developed a Covid-19 Garden at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Arnold, MO that received press coverage. Need members to write up news releases about the Pantry Garden and the Demonstration Gardens for publication.

 The education committee has 15 members, it is an ad hoc group, and anyone is welcome to join. It is meeting via Zoom on Tuesdays at 5 PM, contact Justin Keay (justin.keay@missouri.edu) if you want a Zoom invite.

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Demonstration Gardens: Cindy Platzer: No budget for Demonstration Gardens 2020. Demonstration gardens are needing volunteers but must wear mask if unable to maintain social distance of 6 feet. There is soap available at the sink by the hoophouse. Talk to Cindy to schedule; we are limited to no more than 10 MG in garden at one time until further notice, so scheduling is required. Education is the goal this year, but weeding will still be needed.

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A Zoom seminar is coming up in July 23 -31, “Soils for Life”, unknown if any cost. More information will be sent to Mary Medina for the newsletter.

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We are not able to utilize the extension building restroom facilities or Benadryl in refrigerator yet and if a severe reaction to bee stings occurs, 911 should be called.

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Advanced training information is present in the Monday newsletters.

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People are needed to wash and sanitize the plastic pots and trays. They can be picked up and taken home (or Marsha Brown will even deliver). The sanitizing solution is a 10% solution of bleach and water (12 ounces bleach in a gallon of water). This can be counted as demonstration garden hours.

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Hortline: Patti Kolek: the Hortline is still operating on a call-in basis. Hortline hours count as demonstration hours.

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Greenhouse: Amanda (Amy) Templer: Amy has resigned as Greenhouse Lead as she has returned to school to pursue a master’s degree in Natural Resources. Congratulations Amy! We certainly appreciated her help and knowledge in Greenhouse operations.

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Laura Steimel will be co-lead of the Greenhouse with new member Nancy Torke. Additional help is needed, please contact Laura.

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Plant Sale: Marsha Brown and Laura Steimel: Plant sales for 2020 are done, we do not have enough plants for a Fall sale. There are a few large and medium perennials available, contact Marsha. Thanks to everyone. If you have plants from the MG, please take photos in bloom with cultivar identified so we can use in next year’s plant sale as we cannot use copyrighted photos. Send to Marsha (mrnebrown@aol.com).

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New Business: Missouri Master Gardeners (MOMGA) State Conference is planned for Friday, September 18 through Sunday, September 20, 2020, pending a member survey of interest. Please let Kevin Minard (kminard@mail.win.org) know before July 9th if you are interested in going this year. A final decision on holding the conference will be made July 10 after member survey. Every MG member should be getting MOMGA emails. A link to the article explaining the MOMGA situation in relationship to the conference will be in the Monday newsletter.

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Leaf mulch is available in amendment bins at the Extension Center. Schedule per Cindy. The leaf mulch is hot, so spread it out to cool, before putting around plants. Can be used “as-is” in your home compost pile.

Good of the Order: Carol Grote (MG and staff member at the Extension Center) is retiring at the end of July.

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Business meeting was adjourned at 8:35 PM by affirmative consensus after a motion per member Carmen Skelly and seconded by member Donna Lindsey.

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Respectively submitted, Jan Carron

 

 

 

APPROVED AS WRITTEN               27-AUGUST -2020