West Virginia Urban Ag Conference - April 30

Registration is now open for the
2016 WV Urban Ag Conference

The 3rd Annual WV Urban Ag Conference is scheduled for April 30 on the campus of WV State University. Our illustrious spokes-bird Chicken Stu is once again a spring chicken, and he's back leaner and meaner than ever. He's planned a jam-packed (mmmm....jam) ONE DAY conference. Register today before it is too late!  

2016 WSAZ Home & Garden Show Wrap-up

As usual, the WSAZ Home & Garden Show was a success.  Many interested gardeners and prospective gardeners came by the booth that we shared with Putnam County and the three Kentucky counties with Master Gardener groups.  It is especially fulfilling when families come to the booth looking to involve their children in gardening.  In total. We had at least 31 CCMGA members staffing the booth, answering questions, making “beanie babies” or seed tape with the young gardeners.  The list that I have includes the following members, please let me know if I have left anyone off the list:

Ed Barnett, Linda Beaty, Steve Beckelhimer, Lisa Bell, Connie Berk, Maralie Boyd, Butch Carrico, Meredith Cornell, Lacy Davidson, Debbie DeBruin, Park Ferguson, Pat Gebhart, Cheryl Hodge, David Howells, Marilyn Howells, Beth Lichty, Donna Love, Linda Mallory, R. L. Mallory, Molly McClennon, Nancy Prino, Ted Salem, Carla Seamonds, Don Silver, Judy Silver, Victor Simpson, Kevin Smith, Sam Stubblefield, Brenda Weidensall, Jane Wilson and Wendy Wilson. 

In addition to handling most of the logistics for the event, Connie Berk was working the booth nearly the entire time that we were there hardly even stopping to get a bite for meals.  Jane Wilson arranged an excellent slate of speakers whose sessions were well attended.  Victor Simpson took tons of photos showing our people working the booth and assisting area gardeners.  The event closed out with the beautiful garden quilt that was donated to us by Mary Morton of PieceMakers Quilters being raffled off.  We were shared Nancy Prino’s joy at being the winner of the drawing for the rain barrel that Boyd County raffled off.

Now that the event is over and everything is put away, we have many of our stalwart members who are already looking ahead to next year and increasing the impact of CCMGA and continuing our connecting with the community and other area Master Gardener groups.

The snapshots below are courtesy of our official photographer, Victor Simpson.

Huntington in Bloom Planting Days

For each of the planting dates (April 26, 28, May 3, 5), we will meet at 5:30 p.m. at the Pullman Square Parking Garage on the 10^th Street side.

These dates are subject to change due to bad weather.

We will be planting the big pots, Harris Riverfront and the Civic Center and the CVB.

We will start with the big pots and the Civic Arena first, due to visitors for Marshall’s graduation. Once those are complete, we will move on to the other areas.

2016 WSAZ Home & Garden Show Speakers

Friday March 11th
5 PM	Dr. Chuck Talbott	Growing Farmers & Carrots In Putnam Co
6 PM	Dr. Monica Valentovic	Helpful Hints on Growing Roses

Saturday March 12th
12 PM	Grant Bishop	Home & Garden Pesticide Safety
1 PM	Archie & Linda Snedegar	Growing Roses Successfully
2 PM	Northeastern Beekeepers Assoc	Spring Bee Care
3 PM	John Porter	Avoiding Common Garden Myths
4 PM	Lyndall Harned	Composting
5 PM	Boyd Co Master Gardeners	Rain Barrel Construction
6 PM	Boyd Co Master Gardeners	How To Paint Your Rain Barrel

Working with Children

The WVU Extension Office now has a policy that Master Gardeners who will be working with children must complete a certification quiz and background check.  In communications with the WVU Volunteer Leadership Development Specialist that there is no cost to CCMGA or to members for these.  This certification and background check only applies to members who plan to work with children.

• Handbook on working with minors
• Online certification quiz - open book
• Background check request - must be done by a supervisor

At this time, the details are still being sorted out.  The certification quiz appears to work fine and the certificate can be saved and printed.  It appears that someone at WVU needs to enter information for the background check.  The Extension Office has requested that everyone enter their legal name in the database rather than a nickname to assure a more reliable background check.
Time that you spend reading the handbook and taking the quiz counts as volunteer hours.
As we learn more about this process, information will be shared at a CCMGA meeting.

2016 Master Gardener Classes Continue

The 2016 class for new Master Gardeners is going along very smoothly.  Debbie Martin, Jane Wilson and Connie Berk have made the class run smoothly with a group of engaging speakers.  Debbie, Jane and Connie are pleased to report that 17 new Master Gardeners are in the class and are moving through the content well.  In addition, many of our current CCMGA members have been coming to assist, earning volunteer service credits or to engage in the lesson, earning education hours.  It is wonderful to see our experienced Master Gardeners forming bonds with the new group.  I know that everyone is excited to see this many new Master Gardeners for our group.  Any current CCMGA members are invited to come meet the new members and join in any of the upcoming classes.  The class schedule is available on the Education tab of our website.
At the January 26 session on Basic Botany our group's photographer, Victor Simpson, took some shots of the class learning about the structures of plants.  Many thanks to Victor!

2016 Master Gardener Class

The first meeting of the 2016 Master Gardener class met last night at Enslow Park Presbyterian Church.  Debbie, Jane & Connie have done great work in assembling an interesting and informative slate of classes to move the MGITs toward completing the requirements for certification.  The 14 members of the class are eager to get started in the process and have a varied set of gardening interests.

If you are available on one or more of the class nights, please consider coming to the church and joining the group.  The class on Tuesday, January 12 promises to be an excellent class with Myra Simmons sharing her wealth of knowledge on perennials.  Myra is always a very engaging presenter.

You can use the Master Gardener classes to earn either education or volunteer service credits.  Having current CCMGA members available can be an important show of support for them in as they are in the process of certification.  Please make certain to invite them to come to our first meeting of 2016 at 11 am on February 20 (weather permitting) at Enslow Park Presbyterian Church where Lori Bowling will share more information on deer and drought resistant gardening.