MCMGA Board Minutes for February 27, 2024
/Attendees:
Cynthia Chase, Carole Hardy, Jen Hazen, Susan Marcus, Lorna Schilling, John Jordan, Heidi Nichols, Linda Goldser, Rich Becker, Angela Myatt, Jack Lazareck, Lois Moss, Marcia McIntyre
January 23rd meeting minutes:
Motion to approve - Lorna
Seconded - Carole
Approved
Discussions:
Membership Update. Heidi referred to her email from earlier in the day. We currently have 131 renewals - slightly behind last year at this time, but not too bad. Heidi will send out one more reminder and they’ll put it in the March eNews.
Treasurer Report. Jen sent the original auto insurance documentation email to the board, but hasn’t heard back from everyone yet and no one has sent her a list of other members who should also be contacted. Financial overview: we’re currently at about 3/4 of what we budgeted for membership renewals. The biggest expenditures so far have been for DG canopy and speaker series.
IE Sale. Rich confirmed that the plant catalogue is out and includes photos. He is working with WA County to share purchase of plant boxes, and is lining up other vendors for honey buckets, etc. Carole said the postcard and poster have been updated and are ready to be printed, and that Mike will provide an update of where we are with press releases. The Oregon Bee Atlas will have a table at the event, and Jacob Valentine from Feed the Masses will be there to do a cooking demo. They’ll put something in the March eNews about the sale and volunteer opportunities.
Communication Committee. Cynthia said we are moving slowly ahead on merchandise sales.
OMGA. Rich said the next OMGA meeting is scheduled for March 1st. He has several bits of info about Joy of Gardening which he’ll consolidate into one email for the board. Rich is continuing to look for other opportunities to collaborate with WA County.
Demo Garden. Linda said February 5th was the first 2024 workday at the DG. They had a couple of very productive workdays with good (10+) volunteer turnout each day as per Heidi. The canopy was taken down because of strong winds and won’t be put back up until they believe the stormy season has passed. Things have been trimmed and weeded. Some beds are ready to plant and they’re working on bed prep in the others. Starting March 4th, they’ll do site prep for the location of a new shed. New shed will be delivered 3/22. Carole will be working on Saturdays at the DG so they might be able to accommodate volunteers who aren’t typically able to work during the week. Carole hired Joe Wirtheim to create a sign for the DG education program. Upcoming events include Propagation Workshop for all MGs (3/16), Soils Workshop for interns (4/13), and Drip Irrigation Workshop sometime in June. DG will host an Earth Day event (in conjunction with Learning Garden Labs) on 4/20. Lois mentioned that two sets of MGs from Florida are coming to visit the DG in August.
Extension News. Marcia said that Extension opened applications for training on 2/23. Tremendous response since then. In 2022 they had 300 applicants and an interest list of over 3,000 - expect it will be similar this year. They are anticipating about 45 trainees for each county. They are tremendously busy getting details sorted out. It will be a hybrid class format with evening webinars once a week for 8 weeks. The chapters are helping with workshops. Corinne, Eddy and Cheryl will be teaching a class about gardening for wildlife. Dennis, Peg, and Jack will be teaching 4 classes at the Rigler Community Garden - 2 on problems in your veggie garden and 2 about fall vegetable gardening. Srijana Shrestha will be teaching a grafting melons class. Planning lots of in-person/hands-on classes rather than the traditional 3-6 hour classroom based classes, including drop-in plant diagnostic sessions. Classes will start in the first week of April. The volunteer requirement for trainees is now 40 hours. Rich suggested Beven as a support for workshops since she’s managed training classes with her team of volunteers in the past.
Volunteer Fair - April 21st. Will be held at the Sabin-Shellenberg Center in Milwaukee from 1-3pm. Set up starts at noon. Each association will be given two tables but can bring more tables if they want. Cynthia confirmed that we’ll likely want additional tables for the DG (including educational outreach at the DG) and IE Sale. Extension will have a general table for farmers’ markets, help line, educational outreach and speakers, and they’ll likely have someone representing Oregon Food Bank and Growing Gardens. She mentioned the benefit of having tall signs which are easier to see as it will likely be crowded.
Mentoring/Social Events. Lorna suggests we focus on mentoring as part of training/resources. Marcia thinks that naturally occurring mentor-mentee relationships are more successful than arranged ones and thinks social events are helpful in that regard. Earth Day event at DG will occur one day prior to Volunteer Fair. Discussion about having more social events like the Leach Garden and Zenger Farms events, or a social hour following a workshop. Carole suggested that we have a get-together at the DG on May 18, possibly 12-2pm - tables and snacks and conversation under the pergola.
Monthly Speakers. Cynthia, Patty & Tony drove out to WA County Office to discuss the two counties joining forces with monthly webinars/speakers. WA County decided they want to continue to do their own thing, so we won’t be combining on speakers. Cynthia believes there are a lot of other areas/possibilities for us to coordinate/join forces with WA County in the future. We need more people on the speakers series committee. It shouldn’t be the president’s job by default. There’s a lot of work setting up and holding webinars, especially since it’s no longer just for chapter members but has become more of a community event.
Fundraising. John is working to find area coordinators for the bottle drop program so we can expand the number of members involved.
Miscellaneous. Marcia said there will be a welcome event on June 15th at the Beaverton library in the afternoon to welcome Srijana Shrestha. Cynthias will invite Leslie Madsen, the new manager of the statewide MGs, to come to one of our board meetings to introduce herself. Rich discussed other interaction he has with WA County - i.e. he’ll be helping them tamper down weeds with his flame weeder. We should only use flame weeders during wet season, never during late spring, summer or fall. Plants with deep tap roots may need to be hit more than once. Broad leaf plants with short roots die back quickly. Bark mulch is a huge fire hazard which should never be put against your house. Arborist wood chips absorb water and are much better for that use.
Next Board Meeting:
March 26th @ 6pm
Meeting led by: Cynthia Chase
Adjourned at: 7:17pm
Notes taken by: Susan Marcus
Minutes approved on: 03/26/24