🎊🎉 Happy New Year! Welcome to the 2024 BCMGA Board who will begin their tenure on January 1.
*FYI—the Extension Office will be closed between Christmas and New Year’s. It will reopen on Jan. 2, 2024
I thought I would end the year with a preview of what to expect in the first 2 months of the next year. January activities include Gearing up for Gardening presentations at the Corvallis library on Tuesdays at noon. We also start our normal association membership meetings on the 3rd Monday of the month EXCEPT for January. That meeting will be on the 29th. Postcards announcing Insights into Gardening will arrive in mailboxes around the first of the year. Don’t wait to register if you want to attend this event. Last year, registration was so vigorous that we reached our maximum number of attendees and had to close it in mid-January!
Marge Alig and I will be working on updating the hours information for all members so that we can distribute hours service bars to those who have earned a new one. We plan to have this completed in January or early February.
In late February, we hope to mail out the 2024 Directories along with membership cards that will have the discount stickers on the back letting you know what discounts garden centers will offer Master Gardeners. I know people are anxious to get the new directory, but we need to wait until then so that the trainees can be included.
There are lots of moving parts going on behind the scene in January and February, so please be patient with us and know that we are working very hard to get things out to members as soon as we can.
Finally, Certificates of Recertification will be available at the MG desk in the Extension Office in the first week of January and will remain there during January. I have emailed each recipient asking if they would like their certificate or if I can recycle it for them. I have heard from many of you, but not everyone. Any remaining certificates will be recycled in February. So, please stop in and pick yours up or let me know to recycle.
Wishing you a beautiful and productive garden in 2024. Thank you all for a great 2023.
The 33rd Annual Insights into Gardening—Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024
LaSells Stewart Center
🥦 Insights into Gardening is a day-long series of seminars for gardeners of all abilities and levels of experience. Participants choose from 16 classes offered in four concurrent sessions. In addition to classes, there will be exhibitors, a bookstore, and a raffle for some great prizes. Parking is free.
Sponsored by the Benton County Master Gardener Association. Proceeds from this event help fund educational outreach.
Go to www.bentonmg.org/iig for more information and on-line registration. Classes fill quickly so don’t delay! Registration opens January 2, 2024. The class schedule is available on our website now.
All registration will be online. This year, we are sending out postcards to notify past attendees and BCMGA members about the 2024 Insights, not the historic tri-fold brochure.
This is our most significant educational conference of the year. It is a great opportunity to enjoy learning (continuing education hours) and accrue volunteer hours for 2024. You can attend classes or just volunteer, but doing both is a pretty good deal. You can register for IIG and then go to the SignUpGenius website and pick your volunteer job.
Put Feb. 10 on your calendar. WATCH for Insights information that is sent by postcard, our Newsletter and more information from Susan Hoffman, volunteer coordinator. If you have questions about volunteering, contact Susan Hoffman at shoff@peak.org or text/call 541-602-4504.
Message from MG Coordinator Otillia Schreuder
🥦 Hello All,
Thank you for all of your hard work during the year! Have a wonderful holiday and I will see you in the new year!
A new resource is available to help manage pests around your home and garden with reduced risk to people, pets, and the environment. Solve Pest Problems, was designed to provide a more user-friendly resource to OSU stakeholders than the Pacific Northwest Pest Management Handbooks, and is now housed within the Oregon Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Center, which works to promote IPM strategies of pest control. Solve Pest Problems (SPP) provides peer-reviewed biological and ecological information about common and emerging pests in one convenient-to-use website.
Solve Pest Problems can be found at: https://beav.es/qeV
The 2024 Master Gardener Course is now live! The course this year provides extensive opportunities for in-person interactive learning. More details are provided on the website.
The application can be found at https://beav.es/qe9
Happy New Year,
Otillia Schreuder
Message from Lynn Trimpe, Vice President
🥦 The BCMGA Membership Meeting will be held on Monday, January 29. This meeting is open to all BCMGA members. The program counts toward Continuing Education recertification hours. The meeting will be hybrid (in-person and via Zoom). The doors at the Sunset building open at 6:30 p.m. and the program starts at 7:00 p.m. Everyone should use the East side entrance as all other doors to the building are locked at night. We encourage you to come in person and enjoy some social time before and after the meeting. Coffee and tea are provided and we would welcome any treat you would like to bring. We also have a raffle for those who attend in person. You get 1 ticket for attending, 2 tickets if you wear your badge, and 3 thickets if you wear you badge and bring a treat.
Please note that the 29th is not our regular meeting day. Association meetings are on the 3rd Monday of the month (January thru May). We take a break during the summer with garden related summer tours. The next membership meeting is October, our annual membership meeting.
The program for January will be by Michael Ahr, Natural Resource Conservation Program Manager, Benton Soil and Water Conservation District. Michael will talk about common yard invaders that have a threat of causing ecological impact as they move into natural areas. He will emphasize the importance of tracking oblong spurge (Euphorbia oblongata) specifically, but will cover several other species as well. He will highlight some seasonal actions that gardeners can think about to reduce the spread of noxious weeds as spring rapidly approaches. Attendees are welcome to bring various questions, or even samples of noxious weeds that they’ve found. He tells us that he may not have all the answers, but often other participants can help with some advice if I don’t have an answer.
**If you have ideas about speakers/topics for our membership meetings, please contact Lynn Trimpe or Michelle Brown with your suggestions. trimpelynn@gmail.com michellegbrown88@gmail.com
BCMGA News
🥦 Gearing Up for Gardening: The program for this very popular lecture series has been set. You can view the schedule at the end of this Update. Lectures begin on Jan. 9.
🥦 Desk Winter Hours: Plant Clinic in the Office will be Tuesdays and Thursdays. Morning and afternoon shifts are available.
Volunteer Opportunities
🥦 Insights into Gardening: The committee will be meeting on Dec. 4, in the Conference Room at the Extension Office. The meeting starts at 1:00.
🥦 Master Gardener Desk (Office Plant Clinic): Winter hours are now in effect. The desk will operate on a Tuesday & Thursday schedule.
Alan Taylor, Mentor Coordinator, would like to let people know that certified MGs could come in at other times to work on voicemail or email submissions or to get a refresher training on working at the desk. In the latter case, contact Alan Taylor (alantaylor@alyrica.net ) to arrange for a trainer. Without an advertised “open desk” it should give some opportunities for quiet time to get these things done.
Find more opportunities on the Benton Volunteer Opportunities Page.
Continuing Education Opportunities
Each program year current Master Gardener volunteers are asked to recertify by completing 10 hours of approved continuing education and 20 hours of volunteering. This ensures that your horticultural knowledge stays current. All the opportunities in this section count towards that goal. Try to get one hour of CE on a diversity, equity, or inclusion related topic.
🥦 Webinars. Opportunities from across the state are listed on the OSU Master Gardener Program’s event page. Record each as one hour of continuing education.
🥦 New OSU Publication. Gardens are for Everyone. Read and write a summary paragraph of how you will apply this as a Master Gardener volunteer for one hour of continuing education.
🥦 Anytime. Recordings of Zoom Master Gardener training from Curry County with guest lecturers from OSU and beyond, are available for any volunteer to take as continuing education. Trainees are also welcome to watch and supplement their classes. More links are being added weekly, see the current list log on to the attached website.
Extension News
Need help finding information from Extension? Here are some important links to access information.
Have a gardening question? Get help at:.
Interested in gardening classes and events?
Want to join Master Gardeners? Contact Benton County Extension Office, 541-713-5000
Want to partner with Master Gardeners? Please contact Otillia Schreuder to get connected: otillia.schreuder@oregonstate.edu
Current volunteers:
Need information about training, volunteering, or logging hours? First check the Volunteer Sourcebook and website.
Need a sign-up, promotions, or printing for an upcoming event?
First, use the Event Checklist to collect all needed information
Need to update your contact information? Need a badge?
Contact Otillia Schreuder otillia.schreuder@oregonstate.edu