Society Meeting for March 27th

The first meeting of the year (February was snowed out) saw a packed meeting over with over 40 people attending, five of whom were new members. Welcome back and welcome!

Presentations

Courtesy of awful February weather – and the cancellation of that meeting – the March meeting featured three presenters.

Lorraine Schmid

Lorraine Schmid

(Thyme Again Gardens, Organic Farm and B&B)
Lorraine’s presentation topics included What is Permaculture? Why are Ecosystems important? What does it mean to garden sustainably?
Lorraine and Lori discussed how and why, they apply permaculture principles at their farm, and how permaculture has improved their farming experience.


Erin Thomson

Erin Thomson

Erin is with Upper Canada Fibershed and spoke about the many uses of flax and a special “flax cultivating” project planned for 2019 and they are looking for volunteers. It has been a very long time since flax was grown in Ontario for a fibre market, and they are wondering which species would be best suited to our climate. They are requesting that volunteers plant a square metre of flax seeds provided by Upper Canada Fibreshed, and keep any relevant notes about the season and the growing habits of the plants. Then they will need the volunteers to pull out the plants by the roots so they can be retted and finished. If any member of the PECHS wishes to help that process Upper Canada Fibreshed will happily share these steps. Otherwise, someone from Upper Canada Fibreshed will arrange a date to pick up the pulled plants for the next steps.

Visit the Upper Canada Fibreshed web site for more information.


Don Ross

Don Ross

Don Ross

Don Ross from the County Sustainability Group spoke about his group’s rain barrel fundraiser.

See The County Sustainability web site for more information.

Mini-Show

Design Class: Theme “Welcome Spring”

1st: Pat Stuckey

2nd: Phyllis Davis

3rd: Kathy Bondy



Display Class: Theme “Earliest Signs”

1st: Pat Stuckey

2nd: Phyllis Davis

3rd: Angela Palmer



Click small images to see larger versions.

Photographs © by Bert Jenkins

Greetings from your Past President

And here is a word or two from our Immediate Past President, Lise Bois!

I love these colds winter days. It’s the perfect time to create beautiful gardens in our minds and on paper. These gardens are not plagued by bugs, drought or heat. They flower profusely and give us an abundance of perfect veggies. I pore over my favorite seed catalogs and keep “redrawing” my new beds.

Did you know that W.H Peron, a Quebec seed company, offers horticultural members a 10% discount on seed orders?

They have a good selection of non GMO and some organic seeds. Our code number is 4633.

Check them out.

There is no meeting in January. Our first meeting of 2019 will be on February 27th at 7 at the old fire hall. Our speaker will be Erin Thomson. Erin is with Upper Canada Fibershed and will be talking to us about the many uses of flax and a special “flax cultivating” project planned for 2019.

We will participate at Seedy Saturday on Saturday February 23 from 10 to 3, at Prince Edward Collegiate Institute. The event is great opportunity to check out local seed growers, exchange free seeds and take in some interesting presentations. The event is free.

We will be selling plants & seedlings at the Wellington Market on May 18th (the long weekend). This is one of our fundraisers.

If you plan on starting seeds, please consider starting a few extra ones or if you have garden plants that can be divided, let me know.

I can arrange to pick them up.

Let’s hope it’s a lot warmer than last May!

We will also participate at FiberFest on May 25th from 9 to 4 at the Picton Fair grounds. In order to secure a “free” booth at the event, we are requested to give 4 educational demos/talks throughout the day.

I will be doing one of the talks. Is anyone willing to speak on a favorite subject? The talks do not have to be long (around 30 minutes) and the demos could be flower arranging, wreath making or preserving your favorite fruit/vegetable.

If you’re interested or need information, please contact: Cathie Coultis at: coultisjc@gmail.com or Lise Bois at: lisefbois@gmail.com

Our garden show, The County Blooms, will be held at the Wellington Town Hall on Saturday, June 15th from 10 to 3.

Our Garden Tour will be held on Sunday, June 16th.

Society Meeting – 2018 AGM

The President welcomed members (40+ present) and guests. Following Grace, the evening began with our ‘traditional’ Pot Luck dinner.

Pot Luck!

Proceedings

Activities Report – A Year in Review

Outgoing President Lise Bois recounted the highlights of a successful year.

Membership Report

Sally Clark advised that the membership list had been pruned to remove inactive and long-term non-paying members from the list. Sixty-one members remain on the list. Attendance at meetings would require presentation of a valid membership card or payment of the established nominal fee.

Treasurer’s Report

Ursula Cattelan presented the financial report, noting that the status of the Society is substantially improved from previous years.

We also heard from Penny Stewart, who sent greetings from the OHA.

New Business

Presentations

Penny Stewart presented 2018 winners with their trophies.

Sheila Simmons – Phyllis Turpin Trophy

Sandra Dowds – Peony Cup winner


Pat Stuckey – Bankers of Picton Award

Kathy Bondy – Best Design Award


Judy Young – Best Iris Award

Lise Bois – Best Carrot!


Elections & Appointments

Penny Stewart, the president of District 3, took over for the election and presented the slate of candidates proposed. There being no further nominations from the floor, the new board was declared duly elected.

2018-2019 Board. Left to right – John Clark, Cathie Coultis, Nancy Kish, John Garside, Sally Clark, Ursula Cattelan, Kathy Bondy, Darlene Johnston, Lise Bois [absent: Nancy Kish]




Click small images to see larger versions.

Photographs © by Bert Jenkins

Greetings from your Past President

One more message…

I’d like to thank all the members who participated at the pot luck AGM. There were over 40 of us present to enjoy a wonderful meal. We handed out trophies (check our website to see the different categories and their winners). We also heard from Penny Stewart, president of district 3, who sent greetings from the OHA.

We also elected a new board of directors:

R. John Garside, Nancy Kish, Sally Clark, Darlene Johnston, John Clark, Kathy Kingsley-Bondy, Ursula Cattelan, Cathie Coultis (new board member), and Lise Bois (as past president)

The new board looks forward to continue the work that has been successful, the Garden Show (Saturday, June 15th) and the garden tour (Sunday, June 16th) so stay tuned for more info.

I want to thank Hedy Brambat-Keller for her outstanding work on the garden show. Thank you Carson Arthur for your support and good cheer. Thank you also Sheila Simmons, for your guidance as past president. Your knowledge was very much appreciated. It was a great team!

I’d like to thank Darlene Johnston for submitting a beautiful tree she created, on our behalf, for the Festival of Trees.

Thank you Bert Jenkins for the beautiful photos of all out mini shows and Garden show. Please look at our website to see all of Bert’s photographs.

And speaking of website, thank you Andy Bowers for managing our site.

There is one last request for all the members. We need everyone to look at the Financial Report (sent by email) and vote your approval of the Report by Tuesday December 18, 2018 via a reply email. Please follow instructions on how to proceed.

Thank you very much for your cooperation.

I wish all of you the best of holidays with your loved ones.

I will be looking forward to January and all the seed catalogues that come my way.

See you all in February. Our first meeting of the year will be Wednesday, February 27th.

Pot Luck

Note that this month, we have our AGM & Pot Luck and remember to bring your plates, glasses & cutlery!!

Our AGM will be on Wednesday the 28th at 6 pm. Please note the time.