Here s the Dirt. River Valley Garden Club. Community Outreach Brightening Up Planters at The Local Bean

Transcription

1 River Valley Garden Club May/June 2017 Volume 14, Issues 7 & 8 A Place to Grow Here s the Dirt Community Outreach Brightening Up Planters at The Local Bean Over the years, the Local Bean has contributed to many of our fundraising efforts. So this spring, our Club decided that it was time to show them how much we appreciate their support. Debbie Kolmodin chaired an enthusiastic committee that spruced up several planters with tile trim, and, planted all planters with a pretty assortment of colorful plants. If you haven t been by the Local Bean lately, stop in for a cup of Joe and check out how pretty the planters now look! INSIDE THIS ISSUE Summer Picnic...2 Ace Hardware Event...3 Grant Awards...4 Fruit & Vegetable Carving...6 Got Bulbs?...7 Please Volunteer!...7 Pauline s Garden Tour...8 Rooting For You...10 Arbor Day...11 SPECIAL POINTS OF INTEREST Vacant Chair Positions...7

2 Summer Picnic 6/27 If you haven t already done so Please be sure and RSVP to Carol Prinzo at: rcprinzo1962@gmail.com and indicate: Will you be attending? Any guest name(s)? Are you bringing a Main Dish Salad, or, Hearty Appetizer? 2

3 Another Community Outreach event Ace Hardware 5/20 On May 20th, our Club partnered with Ace Hardware, providing a fun-filled event out in front of their store. We demonstrated how to sharpen tools, and handed out children s gardening kits to encourage future gardeners! (Did you see the great article about this event in the June 6th River Valley Times on page 11!?) The children s gardening kits were the brainchild of the California Garden Club, Inc. (CGCI) President. To learn more about the " President's Project," here s a link: President s Project. Afterwards, the volunteers enjoyed doing some shopping inside Ace Hardware, amazed at the variety of fun gift items that they offer. They left with an armload of gifts. for themselves of course! New Club member Blossom talks with Nancy Compton about the fun children s gardening kits, with Debbie Kolmodin and Julie Davis talking gardening in the background. 3

4 Three School Gardens Awarded RVGC Grants 5/23 The concept of school gardening is spreading quickly throughout the Sacramento region to connect students to the source of their food, to provide hands-on learning, and to contribute to campus beautification. The River Valley Garden Club is proud to further this cause by awarding grants to three local school gardens for innovative projects that engage students and enhance their understanding of community and sustainability. Sylvan Middle School, winner of our $500 grant, is designing their curriculum around project-based learning and real-world issues. Students did soil analysis around a CSI crime scene unit. Math classes designed geometrical tiles that attached to the outside of garden boxes, and the art classes will use the garden as a subject for their water color paintings, once it is in full bloom. Students also did a study of colony collapse disorder, and created brochures to educate others on the phenomena that large populations of bee pollinators are disappearing. Funds from their grant will be used to install an irrigation system, as well as to purchase seeds, flowering plants, and fruit trees. Albert Einstein Middle School received a $300 grant for much-needed mulch for their native pollinator garden. This garden was developed to help conserve water by planting drought-resistant plants, ultimately saving the school money and teaching students and the community the importance of water conservation. The school garden project has partnered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that assisted with garden design, and planted trees in partnership with the Sacramento Tree Foundation. Mesa Verde High School, recipient of a $300 grant, grows vegetables and herbs in their garden which become ingredients for their I LOVE SOUP program. In support of their grant application, the school principal stated, School gardens like ours are essential components to teaching sustainable living practices to both students and staff. The school garden is a place for intergenerational sharing and educating the campus about fresh and locally grown food. The Grants Committee, comprised of Berniece Jones, Vicki Casares, and Nancy Compton, enjoyed reading the grant applications and gaining an understanding of the many efforts throughout the community to expand and engage in gardening for the benefit of our youth. 4

5 Our Grant Winners!! 5

6 Miss a meeting, and you miss a lot: Fruit and Vegetable Carving Expert featured at May meeting Our May 23 rd meeting featured Kim Grate, who absolutely loves anything to do with flowers, including carving fruits and vegetables into flower shapes. Her program, Fruit and Vegetable Carving, inspired many to jazz up summer salads and pot lucks to enhance visual appeal. Born in Hanoi, Vietnam, Kim moved to the United States in She has been an active member of the Sacramento Floral Design Guild for more than a decade. In addition to gardening, she loves traveling, oil painting, flower arranging, and of course, carving fruits and vegetables. Kim is also a member of the Sacramento Rose Society and the Sacramento Bromeliad and Carnivorous Plant Society. 6

7 Got Bulbs? A resident of Rancho Murieta asked (via our website) if our Club might be interested in doing a bulb trade this fall. He would like to diversify what he has: Yellow Canna Yellow Iris (Short), White Iris (tall), Gladiolas (pink/white and yellow/ white). We won t be meeting until September, so this will need to be organized outside of meetings. if anyone is interested in chairing this type of event, please get in touch with Nancy Clark at: nancyclark475@sbcglobal.net, or at We Need Your Help!!! We currently have no one filling the following Chair positions in 2017/18: Fund Raiser Raffle Photo Contest Scholarship Newsletter Unless or until we fill these positions, we will go without: a monthly newsletter, a photo contest, a raffle, or scholarships. If you would consider helping fill one of these positions, please contact Nancy Clark at: nancyclark475@sbcglobal.net, or,

8 Field Trip: Pauline s Garden 5/5 On May 5th, Pauline and Irv Faria welcomed RVGC members to their expansive property in Carmichael. Their backyard is a Certified Wildlife Habitat and has been featured 30 times in Fine Gardening Magazine. The couple purchased the lot fifty years ago to build a home and create a woodland garden. 8

9 Field Trip: Pauline s Garden 5/5 (continued) The garden landscape encompasses an upper garden and a labyrinth of six different elevations of connecting switchback paths to a creek below. Shaded even more than usual by the lush growth from this year s record rainfall, shade-loving plants like camellias, azaleas, ferns, dogwoods and Japanese Maples flourish in Pauline s Garden. Since the garden looks very different in each season, Irv shared photo books organized by season. To honor Cinco de Mayo, the grouped enjoyed lunch at Carmelita s Mexican Restaurant in Fair Oaks. 9

10 Rooting For You Mary Zellem, Co-President WEED ABATEMENT THE KENYAN WAY I just returned from several weeks in Kenya where I was on a missionary trip. While traveling across the country, I always noticed goats and cows grazing along the roadside; both in small villages and in big cities like Nairobi. Nairobi is the capital of Kenya and has a population of approximately 4.5 million people. Tethered goats could be seen eating weeds among the story buildings in the downtown area. When I inquired about the goats grazing along roads and highways, I was told that this is how weeds were maintained. Our guide was curious about why I asked this question. He asked if we used goats to clear the weeds along our American roads. I told him that that we did not use either goats or cows to clear weeds but we sprayed a poison, called Roundup from a truck that drives along the roads, he look horrified! His next question was, how could we be sure that no harm was done to animals, people and to the soil. Although I told him that the poison that was used was safe, I could see that I was never going to convince him that this wasn t a reckless western approach. His response was, why don t we just use goats for this? The goats get fed, they eat the unwanted grass and it was totally safe. After riding in silence for a while, I thought about what he said. He made total sense. 10

11 Arbor Day Tree Planting In support of Arbor Day, the River Valley Garden Club planted a young Blue Oak by Lake Calero on March 18th. RMA Maintenance dug the hole for the tree, and club members and friends planted it. If you re willing to volunteer to water the tree, please contact Berniece at: bjones@ranchomurieta.org, or