St Charles County Master Gardeners

St Charles County Master Gardener Steering Committee Meeting Minutes

 

Friday 13 Sept, 2019

 

Attendees: Kevin Minard, David Wilson, Joe Walker, David Prince, Cindy Platzer, Patti Kolek, Mary Medina and Victoria Gally

 

Call to order: Kevin called the meeting to order at 9:03 AM

 

Steering Committee Meeting Minutes for 9 August: Victoria made a motion for approval of minutes as written, Joe seconded the motion. Minutes were approved as written.

 

Treasurer’s report: Joe reported net monthly changes for August. End of August 2019 cash in Bank for 2019 was identified. Remaining Demo Garden allocation was shown and garden leads will be reviewing it at garden leads meeting in September. Unallocated dollars were shown.

 

MU Horticultural Specialist: Justin Keay: Kevin reported from Justin that there would be an opportunity for a free Aerated Static Pile Compost Demo at the Extension Center, courtesy of Lincoln University. No date has been set.

 

Committee Reports:

Membership: Waneta Parmenter, Bonnie Winkeler: A meeting will be held after the Steering Committee meeting to discuss reporting of hours (Descriptions and examples).

 

Demo Gardens: Cindy Platzer, Victoria Gally: They will review garden lead budgets on 21 September. Some leads are over budget and some have no expenditures. Victoria announced she will resign as garden lead. Cindy announced that she and Kevin will be sorting tools and cleaning out the shed. Tools not needed will be sold or given to MGs. Garden leads need to review tools that need to be retained.

 

Greenhouse: Amanda Templer, Marsha Brown: Cindy Platzer reported that one of the add-on sheds is completed. In a Hummert training class, it was learned that heating the greenhouse to 108 degrees for 72 continuous hours will sterilize it. This is under consideration.

 

Plant Sale: Marsha Brown, Laura Steimel: There will be a plant sale for Master Gardeners only in September and October. This is to dispense of plants that are not totally identified. Donna Lindsey wants MGs to help dig up plants. Those who dig can take plants; other plants will be sold.

 

Speakers: Val Mertz: September’s speaker will be John Lewis and he will talk about growing and maintaining roses.

Nominations for the Paul Hendricks award will be solicited in the weekly newsletters.

 

Hortline: Patti Kolek: The Extension Council met with Dr. Stewart in regards to soliciting financial support for the Extension’s budget. The Extension is considering hiring of a County Engagement Specialist to apply for grants and solicit funding. One applicant is under review. •

 

Education: Mary Medina: The library classes for January and February were discussed. One goal of the library classes is to reach new people. There is a possibility of these classes replacing the Dig-In classes. MGs were 85% of the Dig-In participants this year. Much discussion took place on the pros and cons of the Dig-In versus the library classes. Cindy Platzer:

The classes to be held at various libraries are:

1. Compost: Tim Steinman--He will send his power point to Justin for review (form in)

2. Pruning Fruit Trees: Marsha Brown--This is a shorter version of the 3 hour class she does for level 1 training.

3. Herbs: Victoria Gally--One of our regular presenters of herb classes.

4. Gardening for Birds: Rebeka Davis--This class has been presented at our past birding events. (form in)

5. Early Season Vegetable Planting: Kevin Menard--Will show his power point to Justin for review.

6. Plantings around City of O'Fallon (annuals/landscape design): Amanda Templer--She is reworking a presentation she did on this to the Parks and Recreation Department, her employer. Her supervisor is Bob, who has spoken twice at our meetings, reviewed her presentation so I'm not asking Justin to review it. It's mostly pictures and her talking about the plants in the picture, why they selected that plant and how they all work together to make a nice presentation. The name may change as she may not want to point out they are city of O'Fallon plantings.

7. Moles: Charles Baur--He has presented this class for us several times and I believe was reviewed by Scott back in the day.

8. Lawns: Charles Baur-- He has presented this class for us several times and I believe was reviewed by Scott back in the day.

9. 100 Years of Agriculture: Val Mertz A class she presented at the Master Gardener meeting and several other places.

These are the people who have told us yes, they would do it. We have to submit the form "Classes/Events Proposal" on each class to the library. Cindy asked the presenters to have the forms to her by the September Master Gardener Master monthly meeting. She will take the forms to the library the following week. The library will call the presenter to schedule their class somewhere between Jan 13 and Feb 28 depending on the availability of classroom space at the library of the presenters choosing. Cindy will get their cancellation policy due to inclement weather so our people know. It was noted that the St Louis County Master Gardeners have been spun off from the Missouri Botanical Garden.

 

New Business:

Cindy suggested that someone start a winter book club. It would cover garden-related subjects. Cindy wondered if participants could count these hours for continuing education. No decision was made.

Paul Hendricks has drawn plans for the Outdoor Education Classroom. The plans and cost will need to be reviewed and approved by the Garden Leads, the Steering Committee and the Extension Council.

 

Mary Medina: Mary brought up the fact that she is working on the newly-formed Extension Foundation to solicit funds and will have forms for members to make tax-deductible contributions. The Extension will have their annual appeal starting October 15th .

Patti Kolek: Patti reports that the Extension Council would like to start a recognition leadership award. Kevin Minard: Faye Aubuchon recommends that a Master Gardener be appointed to the Extension Council as a Community Partner.

 

Old Business: Joe Walker: The social media committee met with Joe Walker. To date, there is no infrastructure in place to provide guidelines for a new social media website, as well as no volunteer to do it. Presently, we have a Facebook site which isn’t very active.

 

David Wilson announced his resignation from the Steering Committee.

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Respectfully David Prince 13 Sept 2019