Biweekly Update – October 12, 2022

New Announcements

1.    Leadership development trainingJoin us for 2022 virtual Leadership Development Training. Sessions will be held Wednesdays in October 1:00 – 2:30pm. You can choose which sessions to attend (or come to all!). All sessions (except October 26) will be recorded for viewing later. Learn more here.

a.     Register now!

b.    October 19: Evaluation Deep Dive. Tom Archibald will lead this session on the ins and outs of program evaluation best practices, how tos, and more.

c.     October 26: Leadership Dialogue. Join your fellow EMG leaders and prospective leaders, EMG Coordinators, and Extension Agents in discussion around relevant topics to your EMG units. Time will be spent discussing challenges, successes, and opportunities around: recruiting new members, retaining members, and building strong community partnerships. Come prepared to share your thoughts on these topics.

2.    Lift the Winter Blues with Color in Garden, November 3, 2022 – Peggy Singlemann will present a variety of plants to add splashes of vivid color and beautiful texture to the winter landscape. These plants will help lift your spirits and energize your life just when you need it most. More information on the flyer here.

3.    The 8th Annual SeedMoney Challenge starts next month with grant funding available for a wide range of food garden projects including community gardens, community farms, school gardens, food bank gardens, tribal gardens, shelter gardens and many more. Grants range from $100 up to $1000 and there are no geographic restrictions. We expect over 500 projects to participate this year. To learn more and apply, see: https://donate.seedmoney.org/

4.    Gardening with HOPE – From the Soil Up, October 29, 2022 10:00 am-noon, Powhatan County Public Library – GPMGA invites you to join us for “Gardening with HOPE – From the Soil Up” on Saturday, October 29, 10:00-noon at the Powhatan County Public Library. Presentations/demonstrations will include no-till and Hügelkultur gardening beds, making your own fertilizer and other techniques for enhancing the soil and contributing to regenerative gardening. See attached flyer.

Old October Announcements

5.    Native Woody Plants of the Virginia Piedmont, October 14, 2022, South Boston Halifax County Museum 1540 Wilborn Ave. South Boston, VA 24592 We hear more and more about problems with invasive species and what to do to eliminate them. Jason Fisher will cover many of our native woody plants found in the Piedmont of Virginia including the identification and use of these species. He will touch on the need for the protection and cultivation of our native plants. Jason is a certified Arborist and Central District Extension Agent who serves multiple counties in Central and Southern Virginia. He has over 25 years experience and loves his work almost as much as he loves to hunt and fish. This is a free public educational program that you will need to pre-register for by either calling the Halifax Virginia Cooperative Extension Office or you can send an email to ask@ssmga.org or wmccaleb@vt.edu

6.    ESVMG Fall Symposium ” Planting with Purpose” – October 22, 2022 — The Chincoteague Center 6155 Community Drive Chincoteague Virginia

a.    The Eastern Shore Master Gardeners invite you to join us for our Fall Symposium ” Planting with Purpose” . Spend the day with us learning how to bring beauty to your garden and improve your backyard habitat for all natures creatures, great and small. We have four guest speakers, each will present a different topic, they are; Barbara Ellis ” Diversity in the Garden”, Douglas Tallamy ” Natures best hope”, Ginny Rosenkranz ” Designing a Garden with Native and other Beautiful Plants”, and Mikela Boley ” Native Seed Saving and Sowing”. All attendees will be eligible to participate in our gift basket raffel, gift baskets will include local products and artwork. Tickets are $75.00 which includes a full day of thought provoking lectures focusing on purposeful gardening and includes morning coffee/Tea & pastry, a boxed lunch, afternoon snack, educational booths, and book sales. You can register online at www.esvmg.com

Old Announcements

7.    Spotted lanternfly quarantine area expanded – VDACS has expanded the SLF quarantine area. It now includes the following cities and counties: Buena Vista, Charlottesville, Harrisonburg, Lexington, Lynchburg, Manassas, Staunton, Waynesboro, Albemarle, Augusta, Carroll, Page, Prince William, Rockingham, Rockbridge, Shenandoah, and Wythe. This is in addition to the quarantine already in place for Frederick, Warren, and Clarke Counties and the City of Winchester.

a.     Read the pub “What Virginians Need to Know about the 2022 SLF Quarantine Expansion”