Planning

Yesterday was our first County 76 (MG Advisory Board) meeting.  We had over 30 in attendance and it was a highly productive meeting.  First on the agenda was a demonstration by a MG and a Master Naturalist to show us an on-line reporting system I want to try to incorporate into MG.  Everyone was highly impressed so we will proceed.  We got four new members for our program, and during the breakout sessions there was a lot of great work accomplished.  Some of it will be a surprise once we announce it, but all committees have great plans.  The leadership team is hard at work planning our annual leadership confernce. It is slated for Eureka Springs October 2 & 3.  Our fund raising committee has some new Pro Hoe styles and more garden gloves.  We are going to give MG calendars to all state legislature members with a letter explaining our program, and we are working at updating our MG and horticulture pages on the website.  There are also 2 new advanced MG classes which will soon be ready for registration.  We have 75 already signed up for the rain gardens one. 

In addition to planning all these County 76, I have been hard at work trying to finalize the 2012 state MG conference so we can go live with registration next Wednesday.  I think we are almost ready. 

The weather is so gloomy, that I don’t mind being in the office so much.  Tomorrow I will head to Hot Springs to do MG training there, and then Saturday I will be in Magnolia at their annual Garden Thyme event.  It will be at Immanuel Baptist Church, 1823 East North Street  from  9 a.m. to noon. Besides me, speakers include Chris Olson and John Richardson. The cost is $10 which can be paid at the door.  The weekend gardening events have started.  There is one every weekend from now through June, so make plans to attend some of them.