Thirty of us gathered at Camden Grange on the 8th of May for our monthly meeting, and spring class. Our dynamic (!) speaker, Chris Stevens, the garden director at our local North County Food Pantry, provided us with an entertaining and informative class on how to operate a medium-sized garden on a budget. We all learned something from Chris: the benefits of drip irrigation, seed and variety selection, raised bed construction, and much more.
Quite a few members button-holed me after the meeting with "suggestions" on the noise level during Chris' class: most of the noise and distractions were reportedly from youth members, and so we have some alternatives to children running from room to room, slamming doors, etc: use the larger grange hall for the children with older siblings as monitors/baby sitters, or limit the meetings to members older than 12 years of age, or ask parents and grandparents to exercise better control of their wards. Please think about this situation, and if you have a suggestion of your own, please e-mail me (j.p.mcgintyelk2@gmail.com) or call me at 509-292-0326.
After the meeting cleanup, we retrieved someone's door prize bag: Pat and I have it here, and will be glad to re-home it, if the owner will identify the contents and pick up said bag here at Rancho McGinty.
In June, we will be touring a local garden, and by then the mosquitos will be very hungry! Please plan accordingly - maybe we will send a sacrificial club member with exposed skin into the garden early, as a "trap crop" for the little blood suckers?
If you plan to help at the club's information booth in Elk Park, during Elk Pioneer Days (16 June 2018), please call me so I can add your name to the roster, and/or if you will have plant starts to donate to the booth, as a club fund raiser, also please let me know what you plan to donate (summer/fall veggies, herbs, flowers including house plants, etc.).
Jim
