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Share an item for eNews by contacting your program staff by the second or last Wednesday of each month. Please use this event checklist to ensure all needed information is included in your request.
- Shout outs
- 12/16 – BCMGA Greens Party – Gruber Hall, Benton County Fairgrounds, Tuesday, December 6th, 11 AM – 2 PM.
- The Extension office will be closed 12/24/2022 – 1/2/2023.
- The Public Seed Library is a new collaborative project of the Benton County Master Gardeners and the Corvallis Sustainability Coalition, with the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library serving as the host partner. The free, volunteer-run Public Seed Library is expected to open at the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library downtown by March ’23. Learn more and donate seeds.
- You are invited to meet 2023 applicants and share your experiences with being a Master Gardener! Please RSVP to Elizabeth for one of these hourlong events:
- Wed 1/4/2023 5:30 PM – 6:30 PM Corvallis
- Fri 1/6/2023 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM Corvallis
- Sat 1/7/2023 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM ZOOM
- Extension News
- People often inquire about how to harvest wild foods, something outside Master Gardener Program expertise. We’re excited that OSU Extension now offers a resource for safely harvesting and eating nettles. Colleagues with backgrounds in traditional ecological knowledge, food safety, and disaster preparedness contributed to this great new publication. And there is even information for growing this itchy but tasty plant in home gardens. Check it out HERE.
- Explore Oregon Bees is a bee-themed nutrition and garden environmental education activity e-book developed at Oregon State University by the Oregon Bee Project and Food Hero. The readability is 5th grade and up, but there are activities, recipes and images engaging to all ages.
- Considering a live Christmas tree that you can plant later? Master Gardener Leo researched several native conifers to help you compare their features in a handy list, picked as an Ask Extension question of the week.
- BCMGA News
- 12/12 – December BCMGA board meeting which includes orientation for the new board members. We will meet at 10:00 at the Calvin Presbyterian Church on Monday, December 12. The address is 1736 NW Dixon in Corvallis. Our regular board meeting will be approximately 10:00 – noon. We’ll break for lunch (bring your own) and then pass along the notebooks and some words of advice to the new board members. There will be a brief meeting of the new board after lunch.
- Via Jana Tindall: “reminder to pay your membership dues as soon as possible. Dues are $15 (plus a small fee if you use a credit card).
- Volunteer opportunities
- New BCMGA Plant Sale opportunities
- Saturday, December 3 – 10am-12pm – Philomath High School, 2054 Applegate Street, WEEKDAY WORKERS- THIS ONE IS FOR YOU! Seeding Perennials Work Session. Since some of our MGs work or go to school during the week, they haven’t been able to join us in awhile. Please RSVP to lesliehauser107@gmail.com if you are able to come help seed perennials inside the greenhouse on this day. This will help us plan ahead and if we get a large turnout, we will try our best to continue to schedule weekend and/or evening work sessions. Low turnout and we may need to stick to the week day meet ups. Thanks for understanding.
- Friday, December 16 – 10am-12pm – Philomath High School, 2054 Applegate Street, We will seeding perennials inside the greenhouse and also repotting nursery plant donations outdoors. We’ll have canopies up to provide as much cover as possible but you may want to wear warm clothes and rain gear just in case.
- Friday, December 30 – 10am-12pm – Philomath High School, 2054 Applegate Street, We will be seeding more perennials inside the greenhouse where it will be warm and toasty!
- New BCMGA Plant Sale opportunities
- Continuing Education
- OSU Extension Master Gardeners Statewide Trivia Tournament! Each session is good for one Continuing Education Credit in the Master Gardener program. Win valuable prizes – garden mail-order gift certificates up to $100!
- Growing Oregon Gardeners – Level Up 2022: watch movies HERE.
- Insights into Gardening– save the date – February 11, 2023! Online registration will begin on January 2, 2023.
- Community news (Please note that anything in this section is not eligible for MGV volunteer service nor endorsed by Extension, but is mentioned as a courtesy to our community.)
- None this week – check back next time.