FINALLY!

Hi everyone--wasn't it nice of Mother Nature to finally cooperate and let us have a meeting? It was so great to see everyone. We are a fun group and I love being around all of you. Rosie regaled us with tales of her upcoming dramatic triumph in Laportes epic production--''Robin Hood and the Neck Talking Merrymen". Bobbie told us a cautionary tale about keeping Depends in the car and going for a big Mac. Maybe they should just include a pair in each biggie meal. Shirleys house is undergoing some kitchen demolition (first kitchen or second kitchen? Is the second kitchen for fixing second breakfast?) with the capable help of Dwayne and Cindy. Buscia is footloose and fancy free for the moment, Sue braved icy roads and transported all her kids safely as she always does, Maggie was home with a bug--GET WELL SOON MAGGIE! and Patrick is getting ready to box and ship after his latest Ebay triumph. We welcomed a new member--Kathy Harrell--thanks so much to Bobbi for inviting her to join. Kathy is well versed in the mysteries of African violets and is a houseplant enthusiast--and she will be a wonderful addition to our group.
Okay--down to business--or at least what we could remember between us since we last met.
Shirley won the "heads up" award by contacting WNDU and WSBT and starting the process of having our club posted on the channel crawls when they show cancellations. Currently they show up on the WNDU website, but hopefully when the process is complete they will run on the crawls of both stations. Thanks to her for taking this initiative. Great idea!
Shirley also passed our balance sheet around so anyone wanting to examine it was welcome to. She and I also discussed filing membership information about Rosie, Hayden and Kathy with the state--we need to email back and forth and get this taken care of. Apologies to Rosie and Hayden for being so lackadaisical about this.
I passed around a letter I received from the Delaware Federation of Garden Clubs thanking me for my donation to the Healing Garden at Dover AFB. If anyone else wants to make a contribution, you can go to the website:
MemorialGarden-Dover.org
and get information about how to contribute. If you send monies just be sure you enclose something stating this is where you want the money to go. At the time I sent my contribution in they were not set up to receive money online, but this may have changed now.
We also talked about the District meeting that Mary Ann, Bobbi and I attended in Oct. That was so long ago I don't remember much of what happened (note to club--next time elect a president with a functioning memory) but a couple things stuck in my head:
Postage has become outrageous so the state and district are going to rely primarily on internet to disseminate information. This includes the quarterly publication "Indiana Gardens" that will be emailed to members as a PDF. Anyone that can't receive this just needs to let me know and I will get you a printed copy. Cindy needs a printed copy of the most recent one.
I was given two copies of the state bylaws. I have one copy and Shirley has one now.
Joan Stone, the District President asked that each club in the district designate a member to serve on a planning committee for the upcoming State meeting in 2012 that our district will be hosting. Rosie was nice enough to step up and take responsibility for this job. She has sent her information along to Joan, but has heard nothing back yet. Thanks so much to Rosie for shouldering this job. Maybe we should bake HER some bread!
ALSO FLASH FLASH FLASH--We never discussed it because we got so involved in other stuff--but Rosie has a very wonderful idea to pass along if anyone wants to purchase some totally kewl hostas at reasonable prices. Watch the blog, facebook and your emails for updates on this.
Okay back to business--the other thing I remembered from the meeting is that clubs are encouraged to apply for awards--there are lots of them. You can go to the state website (link below in Handy links for Dirty Hands) and read about them. Rosie mentioned that there is an award for a program book--and we probably should have one anyway. I will see what I can pull together for that. Does anyone else want to get in on this project? I don't think it will be much to do--but I can think of several ways to stand the idea of program books on its head.
Might be fun.
OKAY--that was all the old junk--on to the new. The main discussion we had was about prorating dues for members that join the club throughout the year--specifically what to do about Kathy since she is joining so close to the end of our fiscal year. Thanks to Rosie for articulating our decision, and Shirley for noting it all down--the decision was basically this: People who join at any time will have to pay the 8 dollars to be filed with the state. That amount is inflexible and has to be collected. The remaining 12 dollars of the dues works out to 1 dollar a month, and if new members CHOOSE to prorate their own dues to pay only for the months that will pass before the new fiscal year, they may do so. If they wish to simply pay the whole 20 bucks regardless of when they join, thats fine too. This proposal was articulated by Rosie, seconded by Cindy and unanimously passed by a voice vote. It was also decided at this time that Kathy will wait and pay her first dues in April, which is the beginning of our fiscal year. At that time Shirley will file all three new memberships with the state.
Then we went on to a fun lunch day at Thyme of Grace. Sue brought up the fact that Michelle (the owner) has very pretty box beds planted in her parking lot, so a good time to go would be when the beds are growing. We decided around the 3rd week of May would be a good time--and Sue said as long as she has advance notice she can make a lunch event. Buscia was nice enough to let me "volunteer" her to take charge of this endeavor, and we will await her "intelligence report" on this. We will need to have the date nailed down by mid April so Sue has enough time to accomodate her schedule.
We also discussed an "I am sick of Winter" event to do. This year our event will be to glom onto Shirley's annual Chicago Flower show trip. She will send out invitations closer to the time--basically the idea is get yourself there and meet up and have a fun time. Go to the bar with the orchids, snore really loud and wake up on the hotel room floor? :-)
As for announcements--we had the following--Porter County Master Gardeners show is this Saturday. Follow this link for info:
http://www.pcgarden.info/gardening_show.html
This is a wonderful event--very well worth going to. If you have seeds or bulbs to trade, be sure and check out the information about swapping. Rosie will be there in the Hosta Society booth, Ben and I will be there in the MHA booth. Great speakers and lots of fun. 10 dollars gets you in and gets you a ticket or two for the swap as well.

The Michiana Horticultural Alliance has 3 dates set for its Backseat flower shows--these will all be in Beutter Park. Please plan on participating (we can participate as individuals or as a garden club) and help this fledgling organization get off to a flying start. There is a lot of potential in Ben's ideas and he has been working so hard to bring them to fruition. He deserves a lot of credit and support for this.
Also the MHA first annual nursery crawl will be on Mothers Day weekend and will continue throughout the following week.
You can find out more about the MHA events on the website--www.Michianahort.org

OKAY--after all this we got down to business and perfected our schedule for next year. We didn't exactly follow Cindy's model of drawing names, but everyone participated and will be contributing next year. This is wonderful because the club will take on the identity of everyone involved with it--and all our strengths and interests will have a chance to be expressed. Here is the calender as it stands now:

Feb. 8th at 6:30--Meet for a program at the Farm Bureau Office on South Michigan. Subject will be Selecting and Planting Trees, presented by Hensler's Nursery. Thanks to Bobbi for spotting this opportunity.

Tues. March 1 at 7 at Shirleys--Maggie was nice enough to round up Pat McCauslin, the head of landscaping at Notre Dame to talk to us. PLEASE NOTE--this date is not entirely firm until I hear back from Maggie--it may be March 8, the second Tues. I will amend this post when the date is finalized.

Tues. April 5 at 7 at Shirleys--Kathy is going to see if her friend Sara Stewart who is in charge of Unity Gardens can come and speak to us.

Tues. May 3 at 7 pm. at Bobbi's. We will gaze in awe at their BEEYOUTIFUL trees.

Tues. June 7th 7 pm. at Rosie's. We will admire Rosie's gorgeous hostas and hear all about these plants she loves so dearly.

Tues. July 12 7 pm. (NOTE--THIS IS THE SECOND TUES IN JULY) My house. We can hang out and look at the flowers. I can tell you all a little bit about junior genetics if you want to know.

Tues. Aug. 2 at Cindy and Dwayne's. We will have a chance to see the amazing and creative place Dwayne and Cindy call home--enjoy the beautiful deck they created, and hear the mystical and wonderful story of the Burr Oak tree. Cindy will also tell us about her many years as a wildlife rehab specialist. Over the years she has shown tremendous dedication to caring for animals who need help, and we can't wait to hear all about it.

Tues. Sept. 13 at 7 pm--place to be determined--either Shirley's or Marianne Kemp's. Marianne is an authority when it comes to food preservation. I think she knows how to preserve just about anything you can think of eating--and if she hasn't done it yet, she is always game to try. She makes her own wine out of just about anything and hopefully she can tell us about it. I will have to find out if she is willing for us to meet at her place--her garden really is a wonder of ingenuity and creative expression and deserves to be seen and appreciated.

Tues. Oct. 4th at Kathy's house--7 pm. Its not too late to gift plants--so lets think about maybe bringing Kathy something to help her with her yard. In the next few meetings we need to ask her about her site so we can decide what would be of use to her. She in turn is going to show us her houseplants, a subject many of us are woefully underinformed about. In particular she will hopefully teach us about dividing African Violets. I adore AV's but I seem to be an unwitting serial killer of them. Maybe Kathy can help me.

Tues. Nov. 1st at Shirleys--7 pm. Crafts. Patrick PLEEZE bring your bead box--and we will think up some other ideas for "make and take". Hopefully we can be more organized about it this year. I can always bring the pick machine.

Tues. Dec. 6th 7 pm. at Shirleys--Garden Recap and Cookie exchange--thanks to Sue for that great idea. We will talk about our garden successes and failures of the previous year. Be thinking about this meeting all the year through--so you can bring photos or examples of your triumphs.

So thats the year in a nutshell! But as a bonus--there were a lot of "side trips" that came up in the discussion--and it would be great to incorporate some of these things into our years' activities. Here are other ideas that popped up:
If anyone wants to spearhead coordinating any of these speak up! Most of them are pretty casual--we can all just get someplace on our own and meet up there.

TRIP TO THE QUIET CORNER IN CHURUBUSCO
JASPER PULASKI TO SEE THE SANDHILL CRANES
LAVENDER HILL FARM
MARY ANN AND BLACKIE'S REDNECK GARDEN PARTY
JF NEW
WELLFIELD BOTANIC GARDEN
LURIE GARDENS WITH BEN
KALAMAZOO--WYETH EXHIBITION (Also River Street Flowerland--my FAVE nursery in the world)
WHO WANTS TO DRIVE A LONG WAY AND GO TO NORTHWIND GARDENS IN WISC.?? ITS WELL WORTH THE TRIP.
B.J. ZOILKOWSKI'S OPEN HOUSE IN JULY
HOSTA SOCIETY BUS TRIP
SUNFLOWER FEST
PIET OUDOLF AT FERNWOOD
BOTANIC BOUTIQUE (May 20-21)

So thats everything! Looks like a busy and fun year!