Our February 2011 Meeting

We had our first meeting of the season last night. There were 15 new gardeners - many of them new to the 4-H program. We had a guest demonstrator, Christine Kennedy of All Things Herbal in Pequot Lakes. Her family business began from a 4-H project so we asked Christine if she would come and show us how to make soap. We used melted glycerin for the base and added essential oils, our own dried herbs and food coloring. Thank you Christine!

We talked about fundraising opportunities for the club. Some suggestions were to participate in local spring plant sales at the Garden Expo and the Brainerd Garden Club sale at the Northland Arboretum in May. Another suggestion was to create our own garden vegetable cookbook to sell at the county fair! Gardeners were sent home with a square foot grid to use in planning their gardens for our next meeting in March. We will make newspaper seed pots and seed tape to get the growing season started.

Let the monthly meetings begin again!

Join us at the Land Services building at 5 p.m. on February 8th. We will be talking about some exciting fundraising opportunities for our group, electing officers, reviewing our goals for the year and we'll make some glycerine/herbal soap as our activity. Our activity will begin at 6 p.m. for those families who cannot arrive by 5 p.m.


A new site for interesting garden information: http://www.tinkersgardens.com/?doc=Vegetables
You will notice there is a tab for "Daylilies." Take a look and be prepared to talk about daylilies.


Maggie

Our new season begins in February

For those who love gardening, anytime is a great time to think about new plants and harvests. January is an excellent time to pour through seed catalogs. Planning a new garden is a feast in itself for the imagination! Remember, the flowers you grow in the summer may well be what stocks the bird food shelf in the winter!

Great Green Gardeners will kick off their 2011 growing year in February. We will elect our officers, talk about garden journals and have an herbal soap making activity. We have lots of mint and rosemary and lemon balm saved from last fall for just this purpose. If you have other herbs you want to try in your soap, bring them along. There will be a more complete materials list in a few weeks.

Let your school friends know that we have room in our garden for them to join us at the Crow Wing County Fairgrounds - our new garden space will be at the back of the horticultural building. THANK YOU FAIR BOARD!

Call the Crow Wing County Extension office to sign up new members: 218-824-1065.

Meetings We meet the 2nd Tuesday of each month. Bring a snack or an idea to share with the group.

February: Soap making activity. Land Services, 5 p.m.
March: Garden planning & seed pot making. Land Services, 5 p.m.
April: Set the garden site. Fairgrounds. Date to be determined. Maybe a Saturday morning and picnic.

Let's Get Gardening!

Maggie

There is no fee to join 4-H. Grades K-13 are welcome.

Pumpkins are Too Cool!

Read about pumpkins in this month's U of M Extension Yard and Garden News

Take our gardening survey!

Please take our survey and suggest questions you feel should be included.
Take the survey now!

We have a Champion!

Congratulations to Stafford Thompson for his Grand Champion win at the Minnesota State Fair. Visit his raised bed garden exhibit at the MN State Fair 4-H building!

Spud Sale Fundraiser

We will be digging our potatoes on Friday night. Seed potatoes were donated by the Wild Bird Store and Little Farm Market in Brainerd. Thanks to Shelly and John for their support of our club and thanks to Nibbe's for growing the spuds!

Potatoes will be for sale at Nibbe's roadside stand, 9925 Saint Mathias Rd., Brainerd and the Wild Bird Store and Little Farm Market, 516 C St. NE, Brainerd (next to the Goodwill Store).