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Happiness abounds!

By July 27, 2021December 5th, 2021Beet 2021 08 August

Greetings Master Gardeners.  It is with great joy that we are able to return to the Extension campus and our Demonstration Gardens!

All of our Garden Education Mentors (GEMS) should be returning to campus on Wednesdays from 9 to noon. Our gardens need many helpers to get them back into shape for the public visitations that we encourage. If you want to volunteer in the gardens, please contact me or Marcie Katz, our GEMS coordinator, and let us know if you have a particular garden you want to work in. If you do not have a preference, we will get you lined up with a GEM who needs help. Be aware that some GEMS come in from 8 am to 11 am during the hottest part of the summer, but you can make arrangements for the hours you want. Please come and join us. I know that I personally need helpers to get nursery stock weeded, labeled, priced and transplanted for a native plant sale I hope to have in September.

There’s more exciting news too! Mark your calendars for Saturday, August 21st. We will be having an all-member meeting at 3 pm in the auditorium, followed by our annual “picnic” at 5:30 pm. Our all-member meeting was supposed to happen in June, but alas, COVID-19 again threw a wrench into the works – so August it is. I am sorry to report that also due to COVID-19 we were not even sure an in-person picnic would be possible this year. We did not budget for the normal picnic expenses. So, we are asking all members to bring their own picnic dinners. JCMGA will provide water, lemonade and iced tea, as well as ice cream sundaes for dessert. I hope all of you will attend both the meeting and the picnic. We have missed you.  We want you and we need you. We are all so ecstatic to be back on campus and hope to see you there soon!

Finally, if you are growing squash in your garden this year, please go out early in the morning and look for bees in your squash blossoms. These may be squash bees, Peponapis pruinosa, and OSU researchers want to know where they are in Oregon. Take a picture and send it with your location to the squash bee survey.

It is always fun to participate in Citizen Science and you can earn volunteer hours for doing it! 

Have fun and Garden for Life!