Mille Lacs Master Gardener September 19, 2018 - outing at Oliver Kelley Farm, 3 – 5 p.m. Brief meeting to follow, 15788 Kelley Farm Road, Elk River 763 441-6896 Call to order - 5:00 PM, members present-Sandy, Diane, Bonnie, Jenny, Linda, Shirley, Lynell and new intern, Linda Johnson Volunteer to take minutes - Lynell Addition to agenda - None We started out with a guided tour of the Oliver Kelly Farm, beginning on the historic homestead in the kitchen garden, the market garden and touring the house and root cellar. We discussed how the Kelly family farmed, gardened and preserved their harvest for winter. After a quick visit of the animals, we moved up to the more modern garden areas, including a WWI war garden and some other sample gardens from more modern times. All the gardens have vegetables and flowers that were grown in the corresponding time period. We discussed seed saving methods and were able to sample ground cherries, a variety of tomatoes and melons. Our guide was knowledgeable and the tour was very informative from a historical and horticultural perspective. We had an abbreviated meeting in the visitor center following our tour. Old Business *Approved minutes – July 18, 2018 - Only change was that Sandy pointed out that it referenced Diane Winkelman, where it should read Nancy Winkelman. Sandy contacted Nancy and she hopes to join us again beginning in January. *Treasurer’s report—Diane – Balance on 6/1/2018: $956.38. Expenses since then include $133.18 to Arboretum for t-shirts and aprons, county fair ($31.96 books for drawing and $22.29 for copy paper & laminating supplies for display). Deposits include $49.60 from MG for partial share of t-shirts and aprons ($10/per person). Current balance is $818.55. *Diagnostic clinic – July 28 – Diane, Laura and Bonnie attended. Diane said it was very informative. They had samples of plants and worked on diagnosis in groups. Bonnie felt the organization was inefficient to some extent and wished more time was spent on building principles because it is such a big subject to wrap your head around. She provided that feedback on the class evaluation. *T-Shirts and aprons – Everyone has received and paid for their portion of their t-shirts and aprons. Thanks for doing this Diane! *County Fair – August 8-12, Princeton – Our theme was Weeds and it was very well attended with more traffic than in past years. People recognized our potted weeds and stopped by to ask questions. Door prizes were given out. *Library Display – Bonnie took our display on becoming a master gardener and set it up at the library. She will take it down at the end of the month. We discussed potentially doing that every year after the fair to advertise the program and try to recruit new members. Thanks to Bonnie for setting this up! *State Fair – Diane worked at the fair again this year. She was disappointed because 90% of the questions were about Japanese beetles, which we do not yet have in our area. *Community Garden update – Shirley went to the last wrap up meeting at the site. Next meeting is this Sunday at 4 pm at the Depot. Come at 3 pm for a tour of the raised beds. We decided to reserve a plot for next year and will decide our focus in the spring. Blight was a big problem for them this year and there were lots of questions about that, so straw bale gardening is a potential focus. *Central Region Andover Gathering – September 22 – Diane, Shirley, Laura and Sandy are going. The topic is Vegetables for Everyone. *PICKM meeting, October 23, Zion Lutheran Church, Mora, 5:30 p.m. – potluck (updates from county) Our County is supposed to bring desserts. 6:30 p.m. – speaker - Sam Bauer – Pollinator Habitat –Bee Friendly Lawns We will organize to meet in Princeton/Milaca to carpool. New Business *New intern – Linda Johnson – We are excited to welcome a new intern to our group. She is a recently retired nurse and is looking to pursue other interests. She lives east of Princeton and gardens in sandy soil. *Election of officers – No changes to officers. Sandy will continue as Chair and Diane as Treasurer. *Remember to report hours – Continue to read listserve for events •New website address to log hours and access program information: