Gardens are for Giving

Hi folks--Great meeting last night! Many thanks to Kathy for giving us all a chance to meet Sara Stewart and learn about the phenomenal transformation that Unity Gardens is bringing about all around the area. More on this later--first the boring stuff (i.e. business meeting). We dispensed with the Secretary's report and Shirly only had one thing to report--that after some minor confusion she took care of business and got our district dues paid. We didn't realize we owed district dues--or we forgot--who knows. If it was anyone's fault it was probably mine--but thanks to Shirley's diligence its taken care of now. Thanks, Ms. Rynearson! In old business--Mary Ann reported back, and our lunch outing to Thyme of Grace will be on Friday May 6 at high noon. We will meet before this and get our menu choices finalized so Mary Ann can call them and give a heads up so they will be ready for us. This will not be a meeting--just a fun day. Plan to attend and enjoy a wonderful lunch. In state club news--Rosie and I will be going to the convention in Merrilville this Thursday. This is the day of the awards banquet. We will do a little recon to help with the "jobs" assignment that as a club we need to iron out. More on this in new business. From MHA--the spring kickoff luncheon was great--you can join MHA for free--just go online to http://www.michianahort.org/, I asked if people still want to try and make a trip to Lurie Gardens--I will get in touch with Ben and see if he wants to make the journey. (I know--is the sky blue???--come on!) With that, we dispensed with old business and went on to new. First off was picking a new date for the June meeting at Rosie's--we don't want to conflict with the other garden club she has coming, so we will meet on WEDNESDAY the 8th of June. Hopefully we can get organized and she can teach us all to make hypertufa planters. On to state convention news, Patrick was nice enough to make a beautiful beaded pin on behalf of all of us to present to Joyce Bulington, the state president. Joyce was a big help to us as we went about forming our club, and I wanted to give her a small momento of our group from all of us. Thanks so much, Patrick, for this beautiful and unique gift. And in more convention news, we all examined and discussed the list of available "jobs" for the club to choose from to help with the 2012 convention. There was some consternation and a lot of varying opinions as to what task would be appropriate for our small, inexperienced club. Rosie had a lot of good insight to contribute that helped us feel more informed. Shirley suggested that we ask for help in deciding and Sue suggested that we see if we can "pair up" with another club to share a task. Everyone felt that these were good ideas, and I will do my best to implement them at the meeting next Thursday with the planning committee. Be warned folks, I am entirely out of my element here--but I will try to get the right thing done. Thankfully Rosie will be there too--and I know her help will be invaluable. With that, we dispensed with new business, and there were a few announcements: "Indiana Gardening" magazine is a terrific new publication available. http://www.indianagardeningmag.com/ or phone them at 1-888-265-3600. Prairie Pride Folk Art Show is April 16-17 from 10-5 Laporte time. Address is 3883 E. 700 N. in Rolling Prairie. Sue had some print material from Rockford regarding public gardens and a shuttle tour. Dave bought some fish emulsion that is putting the evil asian carp to good use. Who remembers "BASSOMATIC" from Saturday night live?? River Street Flowerland is having twig furniture classes. You can visit their website http://www.riverstreetflowerland.com/ Unity Gardens opening day is Sat. April 9 from 12-2 at the LaSalle Square Unity Garden 3701 Prast Blvd. Website is http://www.theunitygardens.blogspot.com/ Which brings us (finally) to our speaker, Sara Stewart, the driving force behind and creator of Unity Gardens. This amazing idea which arose from Sara's experiences as a public health nurse has quickly gained momentum to become a real community wide phenomenon. The simple concept of healthy food grown by a community for a community has taken hold and rapidly become a real force for good in St. Joe County. Along with nutritious produce that is lovingly grown and freely given to anyone, came education about healthy food preparation and meal planning, learning the art and science of gardens for many age groups, as well as opening doors for people both socially and economically. Unity Gardens is a young endeavor, but already they have a legacy they can call their own that is manifest in the partnership of people from diverse backgrounds who come together to create a common good. Sara is to be applauded and helped in this undertaking, and many groups both public and private have stepped up to grow this program. Anyone can create a Unity Garden--there are some criteria that need to be met; for information you can call 574-315-4361. Thanks again to Sara and her beautiful technical support personnel (daughter, Leigh) for an inspiring and informative presentation. We wish them every success, and hopefully we can be a contributing factor to that success either as individuals or as a group. With that, Patrick adjourned us and those of us that hadn't already glommed on to the terrific treats that Shirley provided (as always--thank you, GF) did so. Thanks again to Kathy for her friendship with Sara and providing us all with this chance to meet her.