The Lowdown WSU Spokane County Extension Master Gardeners August 2020 The Lowdown Inside this issue: Foundation News 2 Program Board 4 Scam Alert 5 Zoom Meetings 5 Community Gardens 6 Self-study Quiz 8 Upcoming Events 10 Extension Information Tim Kohlhauff 477-2172 Horticulture Program Coordinator [email protected]Anna Kestell 477-2195 Food Preservation/Safety [email protected]Jackie Sykes 477-2193 Clinic Coordinator [email protected]Master Gardener County Site http://extension.wsu.edu/spokane/ master-gardener-program Master Gardener Foundation of Spokane County http://www.mgfsc.org/ WSU Master Gardener Site http://mastergardener.wsu.edu/ HortSense Fact Sheets http://hortsense.cahnrs.wsu.edu/ Home/HortsenseHome.aspx On Line Timelog Reporting: hp://ext.wsu.edu/Volunteers/ logon.aspx COMMUNITY GARDENS ARE A SUCCESS! By Kathleen Callum Jacob’s Well Community Garden (Thank you, Garden Manager Linda!) Just look at the gorgeous photo showing Jacob’s Well Community Garden that I snagged from Garden Manager Linda off of Facebook! Job well done, all! We are totally making a difference at underserved gardens for which we have successfully recruited MG Garden Liaisons. For example, last week, a profes- sional horculturalist who works in Coeur d’Alene but lives in the new apart- ments by Chief Garry Community Garden, let me know he rented a plot be- cause he saw my vercal gardening pumpkin demo bed last year! Chief Garry Community Garden has a new gardener because our innovave program in- spired Nate. This year, my demo beds at Chief Garry Community Garden have interpreve signs up for mul-cover cropping, succession gardening, and will have one for season extension come fall. Nate reporng reading all the signs and proceed- ed to ask me quite a lot of quesons, which probably means those MG demo messages have also been geng out to other gardeners. He had never thought of becoming a Master Gardener himself, but was interested aſter I menoned the garden writers, Susan Mulvihill and Pat Munts, are MGs. Mul-cover crop at Chief Garry Community Garden (more on page 6)
Transcript
The Lowdown
WSU Spokane County Extension Master Gardeners August 2020 The Lowdown
Just look at the gorgeous photo showing Jacob’s Well Community Garden that I snagged from Garden Manager Linda off of Facebook! Job well done, all!
We are totally making a difference at underserved gardens for which we have successfully recruited MG Garden Liaisons. For example, last week, a profes-sional horticulturalist who works in Coeur d’Alene but lives in the new apart-ments by Chief Garry Community Garden, let me know he rented a plot be-cause he saw my vertical gardening pumpkin demo bed last year! Chief Garry Community Garden has a new gardener because our innovative program in-spired Nate.
This year, my demo beds at Chief Garry Community Garden have interpretive signs up for multi-cover cropping, succession gardening, and will have one for season extension come fall. Nate reporting reading all the signs and proceed-ed to ask me quite a lot of questions, which probably means those MG demo messages have also been getting out to other gardeners. He had never thought of becoming a Master Gardener himself, but was interested after I mentioned the garden writers, Susan Mulvihill and Pat Munts, are MGs.
Multi-cover crop at Chief Garry
Community Garden
(more on page 6)
The Lowdown Page 2
Foundation News Cathi Lamoreux, President
There are many measures of an organization’s strength. One of them is how it re-sponds to a crisis. All organizations – government, businesses, schools, nonprofits – have been put to the test this year by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Master Gardener Program and the Foundation have responded to the crisis by weighing the potential risks to our members, the general public, the employees, and the organizations. It has-n’t been easy and the target keeps moving. But, based on the best information available at the time, decisions have been made which should put us in a good position to weather this crisis.
The Foundation Board of Directors knows that we all can be quick learners, nimble, and adaptable. We are looking to the months ahead and planning, along with our dedicated committee volunteers, adaptations to our treasured events. Due to the changing cir-cumstances every familiar event – Cabin Fever, Garden Fair, and the Fall Banquet – will look different this year and next. There is probably not a perfect response to this crisis as we have never had to deal with this situation before. But, we are looking at this as a positive in that we are rethinking our plans and coming up with new, interesting ideas.
First of all, we are planning a virtual Fall Speaker event with a new name (yet to be determined) that we hope will continue as a series over the next year. Jennifer Jewell, author, blogger, and podcast host, has been confirmed as the speaker and we are working on some other fun activities that will make it a special night. For now, mark your calendars for October 15, 7 p.m. and look for more details shortly.
Next up will be Cabin Fever. Again, we will be providing a virtual program. We have lined up all the speakers already and are pleased to announce that our keynote speaker scheduled for the cancelled 2020 Cabin Fever, Karen Chap-man, will be joining us. The new Cabin Fever will last for a month starting in late February. You will have the opportunity for one, flat registration fee to attend all 12 classes, the opening keynote, and maybe a surprise bonus ses-
sion! All of the classes will qualify for MG continuing education, so you can get all your CE hours be-fore gardening season officially opens!
Then, our favorite community event and plant sale, Garden Fair, is requiring im-provisation in order to happen. We aren’t sure if there will be gatherings allowed or if other restrictions will have been lifted in time for us to be able to plant seeds, grow plants, and coordinate an event. We are trying to be as flexible as possible in our planning so that we can hold this event that is a spring ritual for our community and for Master Gardeners.
(continued on page 3)
The Lowdown Page 3
We are so glad you are with us!
Merlin Wibbenmeyer 8/2
Larry Romero 8/3
Ellen Jones 8/3
Anne Frederiksen 8/4
Janice Verdugo 8/4
Lynn Wibbenmeyer 8/5
Marci Haynes 8/7
Susan Allert 8/8
Nancy Biggerstaff 8/12
Eva Lusk 8/15
Shari Staat 8/15
Rose Griess 8/18
Tom Bayless 8/25
Pat Lynass 8/26
Joan Nolan 8/28
Leah Croteau 8/28
Gayle Swagerty 8/28
Linda Racicot 8/31
(continued from page 2)
All of these events are designed to be fundraisers. But, they are really more than that. They are experiences and they are an opportunity to socialize and make friends. They bring us to-gether to work for a cause that is dear to our hearts, the Master Gardener Program. The foresight and hard work by the BOD over the years have left us with a solid financial base. We will be able to meet our obligation to the Program this year. So, even though fundraising
must go on in order to continue to be a financially sound organization, the important work that brings us together is what is driving us to get back on track with our large events.
If this all sounds like too much fun to miss, remember that the Foundation is currently re-cruiting new members for three-year terms starting on January 1, 2021. The Nomination Committee is working hard to bring a slate of enthusiastic, dedicated MGs to the Board. But, don’t wait to be asked! If you think you would like to join us as we venture into new territory, please contact Matt Velasco, [email protected] and chat with him about what it takes to serve in a leadership role on the Foundation Board of Directors.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, while campaigning in 1932, stated: “…the country demands bold, persistent experi-mentation. It is common sense to take a method and try it: If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But, above all, try something.”
I bring you greetings from the Program Board. I had the opportunity to stop by the Plant Clinic a bit ago to pick up some paperwork--it seemed ghostly inside.
Oh, so different from a typical July/August. At least my vegetable garden is grateful for the additional attention I am giving it.
The Program Board’s Recruitment and Retention Committee undertook a project to telephone Spokane County Master Gardeners who might not be currently involved in Program activities. Eleven volunteer callers tele-phoned 124 MGs and were able to personally speak to approximately 88 of them--sorry if we missed you! Many MGs were concerned about getting
in enough volunteer hours this year and callers were able to reassure them that requirements for volunteer hours (but not for continuing education) would be flexible for this year. MGs were urged to read Happy Monday for information updates and opportunities to build volun-teer and continuing education hours. The committee is exploring other ideas for making con-nections with MGs during this unusual time.
We appreciate all our volunteers who have been able to respond remotely to email questions from our clients. As the time to physically work in the Plant Clinic extends further into the fu-ture, the Board’s Plant Clinic Committee has been investigating ways to strengthen our cur-rent and potential procedures for remote answering.
The next Program Board meeting is Tuesday, August 11, at 3 p.m., via ZOOM. The meetings are open to all Master Gardeners. Just let us know if you would like to attend and we will send you the link.
If you’ve come up with an idea to make our operations better for Master Garden-ers and the community, don’t forget you can reach us at: [email protected] We will direct your suggestions or comments to the Board, ap-propriate staff, or committees. This can easily be done anonymously on request.
Recently there have been scammers on social media targeting Master Gardener pages and websites across the country. Some of those targeted were in the state of Washington, however at the time of this writing, our county has not yet been targeted. They have posted gibberish comments and even imper-sonated a county by copying their content about classes and posting as if the scammers were running the class. The scammers have set up a new Facebook page, ‘lovegardeninglive,’ and a separate payment system, so that the unsuspecting registrant pays them rather than the MG program. In addition to being ripped off monetarily, their listing of classes is fake and no programs will be offered. Spokane County has two Facebook pages, ‘Spokane Master Gardener Founda-tion’ and ‘Master Gardeners of Spokane -WSU.’ We always monitor our pages closely, but will be even more vigilant at this time. We often share information from other counties about educational events. All counties make it very clear how any classes or other offerings need to be paid for. You can check the legiti-macy of a page by going to the “About” tab and checking to make sure that the website is an official Master Gardener website. If you have any concerns, please contact us before providing your credit card as payment at: [email protected] or [email protected] or leave a mes-sage on the Facebook page.
MG Monday Afternoon Zoom Meeting - live:
Monday afternoons at 2pm.
Q&A; Garden Tour; Presentations. Join Jackie and fellow MGs face-to-face (virtually of course) for a relaxed gathering where we can share and learn using a new plat-form – Zoom. Counts as 1 hr. C.E. or 1 hr. Program Support
We will keep our meetings at or under one hour. If there are lots of questions, I will be available after the meeting, but I don't want to hold MGs to their computer, espe-cially when it’s gardening season.
The quickest way to join a meeting is by logging into your Zoom account (with your per-sonal Zoom username & password), then click on Join Meeting. Refer back to this email to find the Meeting ID and the Password for the meeting. This will be the same Meet-ing ID and Password each week.
Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS, or Android: https://wsu.zoom.us/j/99991872162?pwd=MHVvZWtFM1UwT3dyUWZwUUtiZmtpdz09
Thank you to everyone who is serving on the MG Community Garden Partnership Committee and/or as MG Garden Liaison at underserved gardens. Thankfully, we need only one more MG Garden Liaison for the Fresh Start Community Garden in Spokane Valley.
We, as MG Garden Liaisons to underserved gardens, are some of the vital, beating hearts of the MG Community Garden Partnership Committee. Chief Garry Community Garden member, Nate, has growing interests that reminded me of that. We’ve successfully recruited MG Liaison at six of the seven underserved gardens that we are helping. Placing a MG Garden Liaison at the garden brings home the messages from our four classes, puts a helping face on the Master Gar-dener program, and ensures that someone can bring back questions or challenges for answers.
Jan Baker is the virtual MG Liaison for the Transitions’ Home Yard Cottages in northwest Spokane near the Audubon Park neighborhood.
Barb Lingo is on the demo bed at Underhill Community Garden. Frances Kinkade was on that demo bed before her retirement, with the goal of showing that untrampled raised beds do better than poor, packed down shallow ones.
Linda Arnold has been seen a LOT helping at the Holy Cross Nepali-Speaking Bhu-tanese Community Garden in 2020, as has Karen Adkins at the Hifumi En Garden. They have organized work parties when pollinator gardens needed to go in, when compost needed distribution, or plant starts needed to be handed out.
Joy Mewhinney is not tooting her own horn enough, but Jacob’s Well Community Garden is flourishing, the weeds are tamed, and the paths are inviting. Joy has done the labor under INCG and the technical/organizational/plant donation and other tasks have been under Master Gardeners. She even co-opted her husband to prune the grapes draping the arbor entrance to the garden.
We are still in need of one more MG Garden Liaison for the Fresh Start Community Garden in Spokane Valley. Does this sound like a project for you? Please contact Jackie for de-tails on how you can fill this need in our community.
The photo above taken by Garden
Manager, Linda, shows Jacob’s Well
Community Garden . Job well done,
everyone!
The Lowdown Page 7
TROUBLESHOOTING ZOOM LOGIN PROBLEMS
Trouble Shooting Login Problems:
It is important to log on early, so you have time to implement these steps!
If you are having trouble joining the webinar on Zoom, please try the following steps:
If you are using Zoom through your web browser, try downloading and using the desktop
client instead (https://zoom.us/support/download). In fact, it may be good for everyone to download and have this ready in advance.
1. If you are using a phone or tablet (either Android or IOS), use the Zoom app instead of through a web browser.
2. Make sure you are not mixing up your personal Zoom account password and the meet-ing password, which are different. You will be prompted for them at different times (if at all, depending on your device) - this has been one of the most common issues.
3. Make sure you are logging into Zoom with the same e-mail/account you used to register for the webinar.
4. Try using a different internet browser. Chrome seems to work best. Do not use Mi-crosoft Edge or Explorer!
5. Enable cookies in your browser.
6. Uninstall and reinstall Zoom on your device. Try this If you are encountering Zoom “Error: 3000”.
Log into Zoom (https://zoom.us/signin) in your browser and in your Zoom app, prior to clicking on the link*
1. Update the Zoom client on your device. *
2. Completely log out of Zoom (both on your device’s Zoom app., and on the Zoom web-site), log back in, and try again*
3. Flush the cookies and cache from your web browser, close the browser and then re-start.
4. Try accessing the webinar on a different computer/device.
These steps have been particularly helpful for those who have already
used Zoom for past meetings/events Information compiled by Brendan Whyte Extension Forester
1. Garden Manager Linda provided a beautiful picture of which successful community garden?
2. MG Garden Liaisons are totally making a difference at which community gardens?
3. How has the MG Foundation and Program responded to the COVID pandemic crisis?
4. Who will the speaker be at our, as yet unnamed, Fall Speaker event?
5. How will Cabin Fever be different in 2021 when compared to previous years?
6. How many sessions will attendants at Cabin Fever be able to attend?
7. Will Cabin Fever classes be charged per class or one flat registration fee?
8. Who is the keynote speaker for Cabin Fever 2021?
9. How many Cabin Fever classes will count for Continuing Education credits?
10. Do we know how we will present Garden Fair 2021 at this time?
11. Besides fundraising, what do Cabin Fever, Garden Fair, and fall speaker events provide MGs?
12. Who should you contact if you would like to become a member for the MGFSC Board?
13. What did the Program Board’s Recruitment and Retention Committee do for MGs who may not be
involved in Program activities during the pandemic?
14. Requirements for volunteer hours are flexible this year. Are requirements for Continuing Educa-
tion credits also flexible?
15. How is the Plant Clinic able to assist area gardeners when it is shut down?
16. What is the title of the scammer’s fake MG Facebook page?
17. Name the two real MG Facebook pages for Spokane County.
18. How can you check the legitimacy of the webpage before interacting with it?
19. Who should you contact before providing credit card information to a MG web site that concerns
you?
20. What are the meeting ID and password for the Monday Afternoon Zoom
meetings?
21. Which two community gardens are in need of MG Garden Liaisons?
The Lowdown Page 9
July 2020 Quiz Answers
1. Any current MGFSC Board of Directors member
2. Three years
3. Ten
4. To support the Master Gardener program, primarily through fundraising
5. Strong program
6. Over 900
7. MG Volunteers!
8. $940
9. It was a 10% donation for every 3.5” plant purchased in May from
them by MGs
10. It is being planned to be a virtual event
11. It provides access to a consolidated spot for current MG information
12. Recruitment and Retention
13. A) To be open as representatives to MGs and interns to our goals and listening to their needs
B) Aid volunteers in their continual learning
C) Make sure that volunteers know they have a voice
D) Build leadership in Master Gardeners
14. From talking with you
15. Happy Monday
16. Help you build volunteer hours
17. Dave Scott, Suzanne Sweetser, Karla Sherry, Kathleen Watson
18. Freebie! Anything you listed is correct. Thank you for helping the MG Program!
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