March 13, 2018

Hillside Farm Party Barn, Berwyn

Welcome:
Jackie opened the meeting at 7:00pm with a big thanks to Ruth and Bob McKeany for the use of their “Party Barn” to hold our meeting. It was a perfect setting and everyone hopes to return for future meetings!!
 
Also, a big thanks to Meeting Chairs Karen Doyle and Biddie Edwards and to Hostesses Beth Hayes, Nancy Holmes, Jeanne May, Ellyn Spragins, Cheryl Cheston, Lesley Undercofler and Marilyn Sprague. Well done and what a spread of food!
 
Thanks, also to Melissa Bullitt for organizing the Photography Show. 
 
Guests: Monica and John Church (Maria Thompson)
 
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
 
Review of the February Minutes:  Motion to Accept, seconded, and approved
 
Treasurer’s Report – Nancy Evans.  The Weeder Finance Committee met on March 6th for the purpose of discussing Weeder protocol for reimbursement for conference travel.  This has been a problem in planning the budget.
 
Our Conservation donations decision will be made at the April Executive Committee Meeting.  We typically do not send checks till mid or end of May.  Given that expenses for the fiscal year are not finalized, it made sense to table the decision until April.
 
Options for Data Entry were discussed in our efforts to more easily access the Weeder profile information.  No decision was made.
 
The duties of the Treasurer have been revised to include maintaining the membership list and transferring accounting from Quicken to QuickBooks.
 
(The Budget Report is attached)
 
GCA Founder’s Fund – As a club, we voted for “Roots Rising”:  A Food Truck and Financial Stability a non –profit food truck that will be a mobile classroom, a work site, a business incubator and a flagship enterprise for at-risk teens.
 
The final winner will be announced at the GCA Annual Meeting in April.
 
PHS PHILADELPHIA FLOWER SHOW:  Thanks, and Congratulations to those Weeders
who entered this year’s show.
 
Alice Doering had 1 1st, 3 3rd and 2 HM
Melissa Bullitt 1 HM
Beth Bartle 2 3rd
Lorraine Wallace 1 entry
 
AWARDS:   Don’t forget to send a list of your outside entries and awards to Melissa Bullitt!
 
Club Flower Show – N/A
 
Community Affairs - 
Strafford Station N/A
           
Gazebo Gardens -  N/A
 
CONSERVATION – Biddie Edwards
Ellie Penneman and Biddie Edwards attended the GCA NAL  & Conservation Annual Legilative Conference in Wash DC.  The message was similar to last year with a big focus on global warming and the efforts that GCA has put forth to assist in dealing with it as well as the current trend away from environmental concerns in Washington, DC
Botany Bill – HR 1054 –(Botanical Sciences and Native Plant Materials Research, Restoration, and Promotion Act).  Biddie reports that congress is making progress on getting this bill passed. 
This bill directs the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the National Park Service, and other appropriate entities to support a program of intramural and extramural botanical science research to support the land management responsibilities of the Department of the Interior. Interior may hire additional personnel to augment its expertise in the botanical sciences. (from congress.gov website go to  https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/1054 for more information).
Work also continues in support of amendments to the Farm Bill to sponsor Organic and Sustainable Farms.
 
Doug Tallamy of the University of Delaware spoke about the need to plant native plants to support the beneficial insects needed.  Go to Native Plant Finder website and use your zip code to get a good list of the best plant to support native insects.
 
Garden History and Design – Nothing to report
 
GCA Bulletin – Nothing to report
 
Horticulture – Nancy Holmes reminded everyone of The Spring Field Trip to Bowman’s Hill on April 24 being organized by her and Elaine Lisle.  Please RSVP to Nancy (nholmes57@verizon.net) and send her a check for $21 ($7 for tour, $14 for box lunch).  Nancy will circulate menu options closer to the date.   At this point we are carpooling and so far we have had two people who have volunteered to drive.  We will figure out car pools when we know how many are going.  Three nurseries have been identified for visiting on the way home. 
 
Photography:  Melissa Bullitt, Photography Chair
 
Melissa thanked all who entered our photography show, including several new entrants! She felt we had a successful show which was on display for the Tuesday evening meeting. The judges who judged the show were very impressed with all our wonderful photos and particularly thought we had some interesting interpretations in the Mirror, Mirror class. For those of you who were unable to attend Tuesdays meeting, here are the results!
 
Class 1- Mirror, Mirror.
 
1st - Melissa Bullitt
2nd- Jackie Burke
3rd- Nancy Evans
HM- Melissa Bullitt
 
Class 2- Where the sidewalk ends
 
1st- Melissa Bullitt
2nd- Taddy Dawson
3rd- Melissa Bullitt
HM- Ellyn Spragins, Melissa Bullitt
 
Class 3-Thumbellina
 
1st- Nancy Holmes
2nd- Melissa Bullitt
3rd- Nancy Evans
HM- Taddy Dawson, Melissa Bullitt, Lorraine Wallace
 
Best in Show – Nancy Holmes
 
Program Committee – A meeting will be held Wednesday, March 14 at 9:30am at Karen Doyle’s home to start planning the programs for 2018/2019.
 
Visiting Gardens - Polly Garnett asked everyone to let her know if you are going out of state and wish to visit an outside garden.  She is happy to help coordinate a visit.
 
OLD BUSINESS: N/A
 
NEW BUSINESS – nothing at this time
 
Respectfully Submitted,
Nancy H Holmes
Recording Secretary
 
 SPEAKER:  Janet Kelsey of Solar Cities: “Home-Scale Biodigester”
 
Biddie Edwards introduced the evenings speaker, Janet Kelsey, co-Founder of Solar Cities.
 
Through YouTube and a video presentation of a TED Talk that she gave at Villanova, Janet talked about her work at Solar Cities and how anybody can build a kitchen waste biogas digester using simple everyday materials. This simple technology is being used around the world and is built upon a global network of do-it-yourself (DIY) digester builders, academics, and entrepreneurs.  For more information go to http://www.solarcities.eu/about