Minutes of the December Regularly Scheduled
Meeting of
The Virginia Master Gardener Association, Inc.
December 10, 2005
Goochland
Attendance
(Bedford) Bob and
Patty Gamache; (Chesterfield) Dawn Lerch; (Eastern Shore) Sara Goffigon;
(Fairfax) George Graine; (Fauquier) Jim Scibek; (Gloucester) Bonnie Bernard;
(Goochland/Powhatan) Richard Ayers, Sue Cox, Terry Festa, Joe Floring, Nancy
Golden, Alexandria Haselman, Chuck Miller, Phillip Morris, Judy Mucha, Helen
Pearson, Charlene Rogers, Nancy Talbert, Henry Waldrop; (Halifax) Bill McCaleb;
(Hanover) Chrisy Brennan, Cheri Haggerty; (Hill City) Al Thompson; (James City
County/Williamsburg) Angel Cingale, Ann DeForest; (Norfolk) Tom Bolt, Don
Snipes; (Northern Neck) Jinny Estell, Pat Rogers; (Prince William) Frank and
Pat Reilly, Bill Scott; (Roanoke) Mildred McDuffie, Shelby Snider;
(Rockbridge/Bath) Ted Jenks; (Virginia Beach) Paul Campbell, Mary Ann Kincaid,
Liz Mauer, Fran Shelton, Betty Villers; (Virginia Tech/VCE) David Close;
(York) Jackie Lohr
Call to Order
President Bill
McCaleb called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m.
Introductions
Alexandria
Haselman, unit rep from Goochland/Powhatan introduced Henry Waldrop, one of two
Emeritus MGs from the unit. Henry welcomed everyone to Goochland and told us some
of the history of the area. Goochland County
was formed in 1727 and Powhatan County was formed in 1777. The area then was known primarily for farming and hunting. Today it is known as a bedroom community of Richmond. The first Master Gardener class was in 1988 and Henry was a member of that class. The MGs conduct plant clinics the second Saturday of the month at Southern States and first and last Saturdays at Dirty Hands Garden Center. They held their first Spring Garden Fest in April which was a big success and are making plans for Spring Fest 2006. They maintain a Butterfly Garden at Hidden Rock Park in Goochland and are planning one in Powhatan, adjacent to the Helen Pearson Sensory Garden in Fighting Creek Park where they also installed a trail with native plants. Master Gardeners man the Extension
Office phones
where people call in with gardening questions. They do everything they can to
help the community, even answering calls at home.
Chuck Miller told everyone there will be brochures out next April that will include Powhatan as part of the Civil War Trails and Lee's Retreat. The area is primarily known for tourist attractions such as bed and breakfasts and old homes. Chuck then showed us a slide show of their Master Gardener Spring Garden Fest. Chuck presented a check to the MG Coordinator Endowment Fund from the Goochland/Powhatan unit.
Introductions followed around the room. Bill recognized the new representative from the Eastern Shore, Sara Goffigon.
Treasurer's
Report
Treasurer Pat Reilly
reported:
|
Overall Balance of Accounts |
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Checking Account Balance |
|
|
|
$8,289.41 |
|
|
|
Money Market (including PDR EEF of $4238.27) |
|
|
$7,638.99 |
||
|
|
CD Balance |
|
|
|
|
$6,494.29 |
|
|
Total Overall Balance of Accounts |
|
|
$22,422.69 |
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Balance as of 10/8/2005 |
|
|
|
$8,483.92 |
|
|
|
|
Income |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FY 06 dues |
|
$660.00 |
|
|
|
|
|
FY07-FY15 dues |
|
$108.00 |
|
|
|
|
|
Fund Raising |
|
$270.00 |
|
|
|
|
|
CoordEndow |
|
$130.00 |
|
|
|
|
|
Total income |
|
|
$1,168.00 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Expenses |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Membership |
|
-$887.60 |
|
|
|
|
|
Newsletter |
|
-$192.40 |
|
|
|
|
|
Marketing |
|
-$200.00 |
|
|
|
|
|
CoordEndow |
|
-$82.51 |
|
|
|
|
|
Total expenses |
|
|
-$1,362.51 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Balance as of 11/30/2005 |
|
|
|
$8,289.41 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Year to Date Income & Expenses to Budget FY 06 |
|
||||
|
Income YTD |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Committee |
Budget |
Income |
Remaining |
|
|
|
Membership |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Regular |
$5,640.00 |
$3,386.00 |
$2,254.00 |
|
|
|
Lifetime |
$1,560.00 |
$1,326.00 |
$234.00 |
|
|
|
subtotal |
$7,200.00 |
$4,712.00 |
$2,488.00 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
EEF |
$0.00 |
$79.00 |
|
|
|
|
Education |
$3,000.00 |
$1,143.59 |
* |
|
|
|
Fundraising |
$3,000.00 |
$5,707.00 |
* |
|
|
|
total |
$13, 200.00 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Expenses YTD |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Committee |
Budget |
Expense |
Remaining |
|
|
|
Comm/Support |
$450.00 |
$0.00 |
$450.00 |
|
|
|
EEF |
$400.00 |
$0.00 |
$400.00 |
|
|
|
Elections |
$360.00 |
$0.00 |
$360.00 |
|
|
|
Endowment |
$200.00 |
-$89.41 |
$110.59 |
|
|
|
Marketing |
$150.00 |
-$180.00 |
-$30.00 |
|
|
|
Membership |
$1,600.00 |
-$1,300.13 |
$299.87 |
|
|
|
Newsletter |
$3,500.00 |
-$2,134.16 |
$1,365.84 |
|
|
|
State Fair |
$220.00 |
$0.00 |
$220.00 |
|
|
|
Fundraising |
$150.00 |
-$150.00 |
$0.00 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Officers Expense |
|
|
|
|
|
|
President |
$75.00 |
-$20.00 |
$55.00 |
|
|
|
Vice President |
$25.00 |
$0.00 |
$25.00 |
|
|
|
Secretary |
$35.00 |
-$10.54 |
$24.46 |
|
|
|
Treasurer |
$35.00 |
-$2.42 |
$32.58 |
|
|
|
subtotal |
$7,200.00 |
-$3,886.66 |
$3,313.34 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Education |
$3,000.00 |
-$1,153.10 |
* |
|
|
|
Fundraising |
$3,000.00 |
-$5,587.00 |
* |
|
|
|
total |
$13, 200.00 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Budget |
Income |
Expenses |
Remaining |
|
|
Education |
$3,000.00 |
$1,143.59 |
-$1,153.10 |
-$9.51 |
|
|
Fundraising |
$3,000.00 |
|
|
|
|
|
Auction |
|
$3,487.00 |
-$3,487.00 |
$0.00 |
|
|
Flags |
|
$2,220.00 |
-$2,100.00 |
$120.00 |
|
|
|
|
$5,707.00 |
-$5,587.00 |
$120.00 |
Anything we can do to help the new membership chairman bring in new members would be appreciated as the membership income is way below budget. Marketing expenses is over budget because we voted to support effort at Maymount.
Report was accepted pending annual audit.
Minutes
Motion made and
carried to accept October minutes.
Extension Liaison - reported by Dave Close, MG Coordinator
Temporary nametags - ordered and should be in Blacksburg by Christmas
America's Anniversary Garden - produced resource CD for agents, municipalities, and will be available for
commercial/retail businesses; Bonnie Appleton working with Brent Heath of Brent and Becky’s Bulbs to develop a
spring and fall bulb collection and publication; working with the VNPS to develop a list of VA native plants with red,
white, & blue themes; York State Park and the local chapter of VNPS have begun a list already; t-shirts, polos,
baseball hats, and full length aprons are now available to purchase at wholesale prices and sell retail as a local unit
fundraiser;suggested projects and fundraisers are listed on the resource CD for agents to share with local VCE/MG
units and associations. If you want to sell any retail items you need to go through Bonnie Appleton to sign the license
agreement. Her email is bapple@vt.edu . The resource CD has a list of suggested projects that the local unit can do
to promote the AAG concept. Incorporate it into your existing projects, use it as a speakers bureau topic or a garden
club presentation to help promote the concept.
Tailgate party in early November – handed out a few ‘mints’ and a handful of brochures about the MG program. Not a
lot of traffic that night, only handed out a half dozen brochures but felt it was worth the time.
Meeting with MG Coordinator in WV and the president of their state association went well; good meeting with future
potential collaborations on regional issues (water).
Tree Steward Program - Paul Revell, State Urban Forestry Coordinator and Dave will meet in early January to
develop language for an MOU with VA DOF regarding the Tree Steward program; future partnerships on trainings
(similar to Waynesboro workshop and annual training in Roanoke); Neighborwoods project; discussed Roanoke
training with Jon Vest, Hort Agent for Roanoke.
First draft of MOU between local MG associations and local agents has been completed; anyone wanting a copy can
email Dave about it.
Standardized name for Green Line/Hort Line/Help Line: Extension Master Gardener Help Desk was the top vote
getter by agents. Have given VCE admin an opportunity to voice opinion; unless told otherwise we will go with the
branded name of this service as “Extension Master Gardener Help Desk”
MG Handbook – been collecting suggestions on revisions, volunteers to help with the process; first of the year will try
to assemble a review team and begin dividing up responsibilities; wildlife chapter temporarily on hold but will begin
working on it again after first of the year
SRKS – Have assembled a team to meet in early January to develop scoping document to revise and rebuild the
system; team includes VCE admin, programmers, Dave, VCE MG vols, and one Extension agent. Will start talking
about the suggestions Dave has been collecting over eighteen months on how things can be made to make the state
record keeping system more user friendly. Will have an update for the February meeting.
Miscellaneous information -
Submitted proposal with Chesapeake Club, UMD, Chesapeake Bay Org to the National Fish & Wildlife Service for $1
million grant; if we get the grant nearly $75K will come to VCE & VT to update the Water Steward module and to
support MG units in the target areas (NoVA, Richmond area, including Charlottesville, and Tidewater) that are willing
to implement nutrient management programs/projects.
National Parks Service - anticipate continued working relationship with NPS as a result of their satisfaction with the
Land Care Steward training materials.
College Advisory Team (MGCAT) met in mid-September and made good progress on ideas for next year; will report
at February meeting.
Book Donations to MG units in LA & MS - in response to Katrina; 6 Extension offices were completely destroyed in
Katrina; subsequently the MG libraries were ruined; can also donate money to assist in rebuilding
teaching/demonstration gardens damaged by Katrina & Rita. Dave sent contact information out to coordinators
listserv and will share information with local units if interested.
President's Report
President Bill McCaleb reported the Plant Introduction Program will have a patented registered logo called "Beautiful
Gardens" that will indicate plants that were propagated and developed in Virginia, for sale in Virginia, out of state and
overseas. MGs have been assisting with this program. Training was conducted October 10 at the AREC in Abington
with 21 MGs, October 19 in Bedford with 16 MGs, October 20 in Manassas with 19 MGs, October 31 in Halifax for
second training for total of 21 MGs.
Visit to WVA with Dave - looking at mutual cooperation in getting MG handbook updated. They were very interested
in the Pest Management Guide which they don't have. Their coordinators manual needs updating and they want to
know more about our state record keeping system which they don't have. We are still improving the system.
Bill is on the steering committee for the PIP representing all the MGs. This is a great opportunity for MGs to help the
Green Industry grow and we get educated as well. Halifax is planning a Teaching Garden as well as Bedford MGs at
Lynchburg College. Also, trying to work with J Sargeant Reynolds College and Goochland/Powhatan MGs.
Alternate Cropping to Tobacco - Bill attended a program November 1 - 3 at Institute for Advanced Learning in
Danville and came out with a lot of options including hydroponic opportunities.
Extension Leadership Council Meeting November 28 - met with Dr. Mark McCann from VaTech. Joint meeting
between VMGA Executive Board and VaTech was canceled because of weather. Will reschedule after first of year.
Bill will be visiting in the next month units in Goochland/Powhatan and Central Rappahannock to make presentations.
Vice President
Cheri Haggerty reported VMGA and Hanover MGs are joint sponsors of a booth at the Maymount Flower Show February 9-12. She passed out signup sheet for manning the booth. AAG will be the focus using plants from the AAG plant list.
Jenny Estell (Northern Neck) asked if PIP plants will be ready to use for AAG theme. Bill said considering the time it takes to develop and market a plant that won't happen. There are some large trees in the field right now but the supply will not meet the demand. Jamestown Maple variety that they planted in Halifax should be a good choice. Leaves change color almost full month earlier that Autumn Glory, drops leaves earlier, not fast growing, with no seeds. Check the website for America's Anniversary Garden information.
Committee Reports
Education -
Fran Shelton and Pinky Derieux, Co-Chairs
Fran Shelton
reported they have not been able to put together a program at the Danville Institute
for Advanced Learning & Research at this time. If it can not be confirmed
by first of year, there will be no spring VMGA education program. The price
they have quoted is more than we can pay. Bill will talk with Danville group
and see if anything can be worked out and it will be discussed at the VCE/VMGA
meeting. We can support the Good Gardening Symposium, the Spring Garden Fest
(Goochland/Powhatan) and other gardening programs to get our education hours.
Newsletter - Florace Arnold, Editor
Florace Arnold was not present but President McCaleb reported Florace was very appreciative of everyone getting the reports to her on time. If you have something to share with everyone, please send it to Florace. Tom Bolt suggested we send newsletter by email to cut down on costs. The Gloucester MGs spend three hours folding and helping Florace get the newsletters out every other month and many of the units already send their newsletter electronically. A committee composed of Mary Ann Kincaid (membership chairman) and Tom Bolt were appointed to work out details at getting newsletter out by email. Any comments good and bad that units have incurred when getting their own newsletters out, please send to Mary Ann and Tom. Please send any changes to your email addresses to Mary Ann.
President McCaleb reminded all if there are changes in officers within local units, please let him and Dave Close know. Dave does not have a complete list of officers from all the units.
Mary Ann Kincaid reported we have 525 active members, of those 138 are lifetime members. Mary Ann quoted cost of $2.69 each for membership pins including design and order of 300. Cost of mailing would be $4.00 including bubble envelope. Membership cards can be printed unlaminated at $.06 each. One alternative would be to sell the pins.
Motion was made, seconded and passed than we abandon the idea of pins and go with the membership cards.
Members: Pat Reilly, Karen Sacasky, Pinky Derieux, Susie McCrea and Frank Reilly and whoever else we need.
The unit support committee answered questions by two units about the role of Advanced Master Gardener in local units and within Extension.
Members: Cheri Haggerty, Kathryn Debnar, Shelby Snyder and Chair Frank Reilly and whoever else we can get.
1. November 12th marked our seventh anniversary as VMGA.net. We’ve grown from a single page giving the minutes of the last meeting to a large web site with more than 220 pages of content and more than 100,000 (111,280) visitors annually.
2. Since the October regularly scheduled meeting there have been 15,241 visitors to VMGA.net. Of that only 3,974 were web bots. Almost all of our visitors come directly to vmga.net. Many of our visitors come via search engines like Google & Yahoo.
3. Since the October regularly scheduled meeting, the web page has been updated on 64 separate occasions.
4. The most popular pages in the last two months have been Hort Update, and the minutes; but more than 58% of our page views come in through the front page.
5. Kathryn Debnar is currently accepting changes to the calendar.
6. Cheri Haggerty maintains the links page. She completed a major overhaul of the page, after the October meeting.
7. Membership Applications are available on-line at the Membership page.
8. We are currently working on the MG College Recruiting CD. We could use some photos of activities, and the Sunday going away picnic. Send to Frank or Dave. The CD should be ready in January.
Finance Committee – Bill Scott,
Chair
Committee will meet
during lunch. Members of committee will be contacting other committee chairs to
work with them concerning next year's budget.
State Coordinator Endowment
Committee – Pat Reilly, Chair
Cash balance is
$59,301.61. Outstanding pledges are $11,900, including one for $10,000 that was
pledged at MG College. Contributions in October and November include MG
association contributions from Norfolk, Southside ($101 in memory of Elizabeth
Overton's aunt who recently died at 101 years old), Suffolk, Virginia Beach, Charlotte County, Bedford area, Hill City, and heart of Virginia MGs Buckingham, Cumberland and Prince Edward Counties. Committee decided to send out three letters to all
MGs because people need to hear something three times before they act on it. Dave's
office and development office will be sending out 4300 pieces of mail. It will
include a letter describing the endowment, reasons why and asking MGs to pledge
$50 for 5 years, with a pledge form and return envelope.
With Jane Pratt's help, Pat and Dave visited Jim Green the Program Director for
Horticulture of USDA in Washington with an endowment request presentation. He
gave them some avenues to pursue and will be very helpful in trying to get the
big money. Pat then showed us the Power Point presentation that comes with a
script that her committee has put together that MG units can use when
requesting donations to the MG Coordinator Endowment Fund. This power point
presentation will be available on Dave's website and the VMGA website. There
will be instructions on how to download to CD and then show at local meetings
and to new training classes. It will be available on website by next week.
Dave reported Ohio is also pursuing an endowment for their coordinator but they are not getting any support from their development office. Virginia is very fortunate to get support from Max Bales and the VaTech Development Office.
State Fair -
Christy Brennan, Chair
Christy
reported the State Fair will be later next year, September 28 - October 8. Thanks
to the committee who helped. We had a good location, right as you came in and
we had more units participating this year. If you have any suggestions or
comments please get with Christy. 2006 will be the last year in the city, after
that the Fair will move to Caroline County. Cheri Haggerty praised Christy's
efforts at a successful event.
Nominating Committee - Jim Scibek,
Chair
Jim reported the Nominating
Committee (Paul Campbell, Jackie Lohr, Karen Sacasky, Pat Reilly, Shelby
Snider, Don Saunders and Jim Scibek) had met and composed the following slate
of officers for 2006 -2008. President, Cheri Haggerty (Hanover County ); Vice
President, Betty Villers (Virginia Beach); Secretary, Angela Cingale (James
CityCounty/Williamsburg); and Treasurer, Ted Jenks (Rockbridge County).
President McCaleb asked for further nominations from the floor, there being
none, the slate was accepted. Ballots will be mailed to membership in January and
installation will take place at MG College in June. Discussion followed
whether we could email ballots but the current bylaws state ballots will be
mailed. This can be something to consider for next election and change in
bylaws.
Education Endowment Fund (EEF)
– Paul Campbell, Chair
After last meeting President
McCaleb realized he needed a vote to reappoint Paul Campbell as chairman of
this committee. Motion was made, seconded and carried that Paul Campbell be
chairman of the 2006 Education Endowment Fund Committee. Paul reported that
last year VMGA gave 6 - $100 scholarships from the EEF. This year we only have
$400 in the budget. Additional monies can be donated to the fund. This year's
committee members are MGs who have received the scholarships in the past. Motion
made and carried for the following committee members: Pinky Derieux (Chesapeake), Chuck Norrington (Rockbridge), Jean Bainbridge (Halifax) Jane Wyman(Prince
William) and Paul Campbell (Virginia Beach). They are working to get the
application out in January and will have an article in newsletter concerning
the education endowment funds. There was concern that over the last few years
of the 23 awards given, only 2 awards have been given to units with less than
75 members and there are 21 of these small units. Most of the awards are going
to the larger units. Need to educate the coordinator and agents on how to write
the letters of nominations.
Fund Raising – Cheri Haggerty
Cheri Haggerty
reported she still has 70 flags left at $15 each. Proceeds go to the
Coordinator's Endowment Fund. Flag can be hung from metal stand and used at
project sites. She will be pursuing new ideas
Unit Reports –
Motion made and
carried that we dispense with reading of unit reports.
Cheri Haggerty shared news article in Progressive Farmer Magazine's Top 100 Places to Live which listed the number one place to live as Fauquier County, VA. There were six counties in VA that were listed in the top 100 places to live in the United States. All of these counties have active MG units.
Unfinished Business
Tom Bolt (Norfolk) reported he has only 102 requests with checks for Master Gardener license plates
after 350 people signed the petition originally for license plates. It was an
excellent idea but not enough interest. He will contact all 102 people and
destroy the checks instead of mailing them back. Thanks to Tom for his hard
work.
Chuck Miller asked if there is a canned program for Ready-Set-Grow that he can copy. Jim Scibek will supply Chuck with information.
New Business
Washington
Gardener Magazine - has
contacted Bill McCaleb asking for our membership list to send complementary
copies of their magazine or they can provide mass copies for some event. It
was decided not to send membership list but can include copies of magazine in
packet at MG College.
Dave Close said his newsletter, In Season will be sent electronically if he has your email address. He will send out a printed copy if you don't have email. .
Al Thompson has list of 114 organizations that tells you how to get through to the organization when you contact them instead of getting the run around. Contact Al at adthompsonmg@verizon.com for the list.
Coordinator Endowment Fund Power Point CD - contact Pat Reilly and someone from her committee will come out to your unit and give the Power Point presentation she showed earlier today.
Announcements
Bedford Extension Office, Saturdays 9-12
March 18 - Water Gardening
March 25 - Bee Keeping
April 1 - Raised Beds and Herbs in the Landscape
Next Board Meeting - February 11, Halifax
The meeting was adjourned at
1:47 p.m.
respectfully submitted,
Betty Villers
VMGA Secretary