End of February Updates

The February meeting of the Cabell County Master Gardener Association was quite productive.  There were 25 of us in attendance braving the cold and the coming winter storm that would have us hunkered down in our homes for the next week.
Our long winded speaker (Steve) did a session that is near and dear to his heart and stomach on the use of botanicals in making many of the distilled spirits that many of us are familiar with.  After the 90 minute presentation, we approved the 2015 budget and the prior meeting's minutes.  We approved the purchase of a quilt for raffle at the WSAZ Home and Garden Show especially since Victor Simpson suggested that he could assist us in purchasing one from a local quilting group.
Volunteers were solicited for working at the Home and Garden Show as well as to assist Rich in the event that the Extension Office moves to a better location.  Tom Bell shared his plan for a continuation of the partnership between CCMGA and Huntington in Bloom to include having Master Gardeners assist with home gardeners using Urban Renewal properties in Huntington.  The group voted to update the CCMGA bylaws.  The Guyandotte Library has asked for assistance in establishing a small planting.  A refreshment committee will be forming to bring snacks to many of the monthly meetings.
Since the February 14 meeting, the slate of speakers for 2015 has been finalized and is available on the "About" link of our CCMGA website.  A copy of the meeting schedule with dates, times, locations and speaker topics is available to print and share with friends or sticking up on your refrigerator.
Please check the calendar on the right side of this page for upcoming events.  If you click on an event you will get more information including a link to a map of how to get to the event.
Our next event is the WSAZ Home and Garden Show on March 13-15.  Please contact Connie Berk (berkc@marshall.edu) if you would like to sign up to volunteer.  She especially needs volunteers on Saturday and to assist with speakers throughout the weekend.
The April meeting will feature two educational speakers.  Betty Given will discuss the Springhill Community Gardens and Eve Marcum-Atkinson will give us information on the Tri-State Sustainability Fair.

A Spirited Way of Using Plants

The handout from our presentation at the February 14 education session is available for download by clicking the image below.

Proposed Changes to the Bylaws of CCMGA

The CCMGA Executive Committee would like the membership to consider two modifications to the group's bylaws.  These changes are intended to allow more flexibility in scheduling meetings.
Discussion of the proposed changes at the February 14 meeting will be followed by a vote by members to accept or reject the changes.

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Article VII – Meetings

Section 1:  Regular Meetings.  The Association shall hold a minimum of 6 regular meetings each year.  Each meeting will have an educational speaker and one meeting shall also include a picnic. The membership shall elect officers and transact such other business as may properly come before the meeting.  Notice of each regular meeting shall be given to all active members at least 10 days before the meeting.

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Section 3:  Special Committees.

Nominating Committee: The immediate Past President of the Executive Committee shall be the chair of the Nominating Committee.  During the election year the Executive Committee shall select three individuals from the active membership to serve on the Nominating Committee.  The present officers shall not serve on the Nominating Committee.  The Nominating Committee shall present the Executive Committee with the name of one active member of the Association as a candidate for each office.  Upon approval by the Executive Committee, the slate of candidates shall be included in the minutes of a regular meeting prior to the December meeting and in the notice of the regular December meeting.

February 2015 CCMGA Newsletter

Cabell County Master Gardener Newsletter

Please keep this newsletter as it will contain information that will be useful throughout the entire year.

The meetings are scheduled for:

• Saturday 14 Feb at 11 AM at the Enslow Park Presbyterian Church (Snow date will be Sat 21 Feb at 11 AM.)
• Tuesday 14 April at 6:30 PM at the Enslow Park Presbyterian Church
• Tuesday 12 May at 6: 30 PM at the Enslow Park Presbyterian Church
• Tuesday 9 June at 6:30 PM at the Enslow Park Presbyterian Church
• Saturday 29 Aug at 3 PM at shelter #1 at the Barboursville City Park – speaker Brian Cordle on “Geocaching” – this is our annual picnic – bring friends or family PLUS a potluck dish to feed 6 -8 people
• Tuesday 13 Oct at 6:30 PM at the Enslow Park Presbyterian Church – speaker will be Mary Beckelhimer on “Botanical Witchcraft”
• Tuesday 10 Nov at 6:30 PM at the Enslow Park Presbyterian Church – speaker Ohio Valley Camera Club on “Photographing our Gardens”
• Saturday 5 Dec at the Boyd County, KY Extension Office in Catlettsburg, KY – Lori Bowling will teach us to make Christmas wreaths and we will be making our own wreaths – there will be a fee for this, the amount to be announced – this is our holiday luncheon – bring a potluck dish to feed 6-8 people

There will be door prizes at each meeting.

The WSAZ Home and Garden Show will be Fri 13 March 4-9 PM, Sat 14 March 10 AM – 9 PM and Sun 15 March 12 – 5 PM.

Set-up for the booth will be Thurs 12 March at 10 AM.

Contact Connie Berk to sign up to work at the MG booth. Work phone # 304) 696-7341, berkc@marshall.edu or home phone # 304) 429-7318. I need people to volunteer at the MG booth in a minimum of 2 hour increments. You may work for longer periods of time. The number of hours you work will count towards your annual volunteer time.  If you wish to listen to a speaker, then that time will count as continuing education, not as volunteer time. No double dipping!

The booth will be located in the same spot that we’ve been in for the last several years, across the aisle and slightly to the left of the WSAZ booth.

We enter the Big Sandy Superstore Arena through the loading dock door on 7^th Street, between Third Ave. and Veteran’s Blvd. Your name will be on a list that the security guard will have. Wear your name badges and/or shirts with logos if you have them. Also, wear comfortable clothes and shoes. We will have rubber mats on the floor in the booth, but the flooring underneath that is concrete and it’s hard! Try not to bring purses or any other valuable items as the only safe place we’ll have to keep them is in the booth with us. Space can get tight! We will have a Hospitality Room behind the stage, where we may eat and rest. We can only bring in outside food into the Hospitality Room, nothing may be taken out onto the floor of the Arena.

You may take some time to look around at the other vendors and shop, but that time does not count towards your volunteer time either.

If you want to work when the Show first opens to the public on any given day, you must arrive at the Arena one hour before the Show opens to the public, as we must be in the booth and ready when the doors open, i.e. on Fri the Show opens to the public at 4 PM but we need to be at the booth at 3 PM.

There is some free parking in a small parking lot on 7^th Street, across from the Arena. There is more parking available in the Pullman Square parking garages, entrances at 8^th Street, 9^th Street and 10^th Street. The cost is $1 for the first 4 hours.

Rich Sherman is the Cabell County Extension agent. He may be reached at Rich.Sherman@mail.wvu.edu or at 304) 743-7151. To leave a message, call Pauline at 304) 743-7131.

On 14 January 2015 Rich said that he would grant amnesty to any and all who wish to return to the Cabell County Master Gardener Association in 2015. Those who return must send him a message that they are returning. If they have not been a part of the organization since he became our Agent, then they may need to reapply and possibly retake the 5 core courses of the training. Simply put, he needs to be certain that everyone is up to date on our procedures.
In Dec 2014, new officers were elected for 2015 and 2016:

President = Steve Beckelhimer beckelhimer@gmail.com or 304 690-1423

V-Pres. = Ted Salem lkstms@suddenlink.net or 304 743-0360

Recording Secretary = Connie Berk berkc@marshall.edu until mid-Sept when I retire! Then it will anolisanolis@yahoo.com. 304) 696-7341 (W) or 304 429-7318 (H)

Corresponding Secretary = Jane Wilson jackjanewilson@gmail.com or 304 416-1840

Treasurer = Greg Norris wvframer@intelos.net or 304 522-2870 until June 2015 then Debbie Martin will take over MartinPTA@aol.com or 304 733-5588

Dues should have been paid by 1 Jan 2015. Make out checks for $16 per person, payable to CCMGA, Inc. and mail them to Cabell County Master Gardener Association, Inc., PO Box 7661, Huntington, WV  25578-7661. Or, bring them to the next meeting and save on postage!

There is a Small Farm Conference on Feb 26-28, 2015, to be held at the Charleston Civic Center. Bring in samples of heirloom seeds for the seed swap on Fri afternoon, 27 Feb. Contact Rich for further info.

The next Master Gardener Conference is scheduled for March 27-29 2015 at Pipestem Resort, WV. For more info, contact Rich or check our webpage.

020315 Connie Berk

2015 WV Master Gardener Conference

The 2015 West Virginia Master Gardener Conference will be held at Pipestem Resort from March 27-29 at Pipestem Resort Park.

For more information visit the conference page at: http://mastergardeners.ext.wvu.edu/annual-conference/2015-conference

Plans for December 6 CCMG Christmas Party

Hey, everybody!

This month's meeting was small but lively. We had a general discussion of gardening issues--pests (living and nonliving), pest control (cats rock!), bees, their role and their prognosis for survival, cool plant adaptations . . . you name it, we hit it. It was fun.

We discussed the December meeting that is to be held in Catlettsburg on Saturday, December 6 at the Boyd County Extension Office. We need an RSVP from you by December 1st in order to prepare! Those who know where the office is can meet there in Catlettsburg on December 6 at 11:00 a.m.; those who would like to caravan will need to be at Enslow Park Presbyterian Church in order to depart at 10:30 a.m.

Please let us know how many (including yourself and an adult guest) will be coming. Please bring a side dish that will be sufficient to serve 6 to 8 people. If you'd like to make a wreath, Lori Bowling will have the materials there. Wreaths will be $10.00 each--some people have made two in the past, so if you'd like to do that, just bring twenty bucks. :-)

There will be door prizes as usual. Lori said she'd be happy to do an artificial wreath-making demo for us as well, which is awesome. If we can learn to make nice wreaths from something other than evergreen cuttings, we can sell them at the Wild Ramp in different seasons to continue that project and fundraiser. We're also planning to make a few extra wreaths to take to the Ramp that week as previews of our wreath-making demo the following weekend.

Speaking of the Wild Ramp wreath-making project, it's moving right along! Here's a request from that project group for all of you. Is anyone planning to trim up their evergreens now? The wreath-makers would love to have things like fresh holly cuttings with berries on them and limbs with pine cones. If you're planning to do any pruning, wait (if you can) for just a bit longer and either bring those cuttings with you on December 6 or bring them to the Wild Ramp the morning of December 13. Those would be most appreciated!

That event is already being advertised by the Ramp as a demonstration, and a number of their Facebook followers are already planning to attend. Hopefully we can use this as an excellent opportunity to tell people more about the Cabell County Master Gardeners program. MGITs, remember that you need 30 volunteer hours by May 1, 2015, so if you'd like to participate in this project, please contact us ASAP and we'll add you to the roster.

Our last bit of EXCELLENT news is that we now appear to have nominees for all the officer positions for the next term. Woohoo! This is a great load off our minds, and I think the group that's coming in is going to do a *fabulous* job over the next couple of years. Let's all plan to pitch in and help make it the best experience we possibly can for them!

Again, please RSVP to ccmgemail@gmail.com absolutely no later than December 1 for the December 6 meeting/party! Hope to see everyone there. :-)

Take care everybody,

Wendy

November CCMG Meeting

Hey, gang!

One more reminder that we're having our monthly meeting tomorrow evening (Tuesday, November 11) at the Enslow Park Presbyterian Church location. We'll be there at 6:30 p.m.

Would love to see as many of you as possible. In particular, those of you who are planning to participate in the wreath-making project at the Wild Ramp need to be able to put your heads together and finalize the details! If any of you can't make it, we can dial you in on speaker phone if you'd like--but it's going to be super important to get the details nailed down right away.

We are still looking for someone to fill the position of President for the next term. Without a full complement of officers, our organization will not be able to continue in its present form. I swear it doesn't take up your entire life! LOL

Please consider a nomination for an office. Rich will be at tomorrow's meeting to help clarify any details.

Hope to see you tomorrow evening!

Wendy