2013 marks one of the mile-

stones in the history of Maripo-

sa Master Gardeners.

It’s the 10th anniversary of our

Mariposa Creek Native Plant

Garden, and dozens of mem-

bers have been putting in hour

after hour to spruce up the gar-

den, produce a new guidebook

and plan the celebration.

This year also moves us closer to

our co-hosting duties for the

statewide conference next year.

The committee has been work-

ing since mid-2012 when we

first found our bid to host had

been accepted.

Master Gardeners from Madera

and Fresno Counties are the

other hosts. Conference head-

quarters will be at the Tenaya

Lodge near Fish Camp, but

plans are being laid for tours and

presentations in all three coun-

ties. There are lots of opportu-

nities for volunteer hours.

The new class of Master Gar-

deners has begun at McKay Hall

in Catheys Valley. The 17 in-

terns had their first class on Jan.

9 and will finish the class on

May 1. (MGs see Page 4 for

class list for CE hours).

Coordinator Kris Randal is bal-

ancing her work in the Merced

County Ag Office with her du-

ties at the Fairgrounds office in

Mariposa.

MG Helen Willoughby-Peck has

spruced up our website and

continues to add elements and

services available there.

FROM THE COORDINATOR: A volunteer appreciat ion

O V E R T H E G A R D E N F E N C E ,

M A R I P O S A C O U N T Y M A S T E R G A R D E N E R S FIRST QUARTER 2013

VOL. 2, ISSUE 1

OTGF

Duly noted ...

Rusty Avery always wel-

comes volunteers to serve on

our hotline. Winter hours

are Thursdays only, 2 to 5

p.m. Come spring, Tuesday

hours are 9 a.m. To noon.

Our native plant garden

will be needing some TLC

soon. Bill Downey is the

man to see to take on one

of the spaces at the garden,

or sign up for work days.

We need contributions for

the newsletter. Contact

Elizabeth Gabriel.

It’s going to be a big year Our leaders:

President: Marty Allen

Vice President: Ingrid

Angelini

Secretary: Carol Dreith

Bookkeeper: Gerry

Cross

Coordinator: Kris Ran-

dal

Phone Desk: Rusty

Avery

Continuing Educa-

tion: Helen Peck

Mariposa Creek Gar-

den: Bill Downey

Public Workshops:

Betty Massey (

By Kris Randal

Happy New Year, everyone! I am so grateful for all of your hard work and dedication to our Mariposa County Master Gardener program! Unlike most MG programs in California, we are a small group of only 44 volunteers and yet we always seem to ac-complish so much good work in our community. We are about to add potentially 15 more MGs to our fold with the MG training classes beginning Jan.9.

Besides the 17 weeks of classes, we have a lot to look forward to in 2013. This is the year that Betty Massey suggested we honor and celebrate the 10-year anniversary of our California native plant demonstration garden along the Mariposa Creek Parkway. To prepare for this upcoming event, Bill Downey, who took over this year for Betty Massey as chair of the garden, has been very busy.

See page 4

OTGF recommends ...

Star t tomatoes and herbs soon for plant sa le

Seed catalogs are pouring into our snail and email

boxes at this time of year with promises of lush,

healthy plants and incredibly delicious fruit. Why

wait to order?

February is the best time to start seeds for toma-

toes and herbs for our Spring Plant Sale May 4.

Helen Willoughby Peck has agreed to chair again

this year.

Expect news on volunteering

in February, she said.

Based on comments and questions last year, Peck

said she’s eager to get Sungolds, pear-shaped and

cherry tomatoes for this year.

If you start seeds in February, the plants will be

big and lush enough to sell right away at the sale.

We simply did not have enough basil to offer last

year, so when you think herbs, think basil.

When we visited her

operation in

September, loofa

farmer Linda Dahl,

told Master

Gardeners on a CE

field trip that the

gourd plants can

grow as much as 2

to 3 feet in a day .

PAGE 2

OTGF

Our County Fair

couple, Hal Apeno

and Holly Hock.

It’s not often that you can read

about a scientific article on the

evolutionary development of 646

species of beasties found in Poké-

mon.

Wait, Pokémon, the Japanese

world that’s been around for 16

years or so in games, movies and

TV? The article, “A Phylogeny

and Evolutionary History of the

Pokémon,” was written by three

UC Davis entomologists.

It was just one stop on the Bug

Squad blog offered through the

ANR system . Sign up or just

look at the pieces by going to

your ANR log-in page, select

ANR blogs and go to Bug Squad.

There also other blogs .The piec-

es contain not only deep info on

— what else? — bugs, but also

great photos of the bug world.

Bees, butterflies, praying mantis,

and tarantulas can brighten your

day.

There also are reports of unusual

sitings, announcements for peo-

ple who care about and want to

preserve bugs, about a youth

essay contest dealing with saving

the honey bee.

Iif it weren’t for the bugs and all

they do for us, there probably

wouldn’t be an “us.”

Setting up for 2012’s Spring Plant Sale at the Mariposa County Fairgrounds. Helen

Willoughby-Peck has agreed to be chair again this year.

Betty Massey at a

field trip to learn

about loofas.

PAGE 3

Helen Willoughby-Peck, left, not only had all her win-

dowsills filled with seedlings as she got ready for the

Spring Plant Sale, but she chaired the sale committee,

agreed to plan our CE field trips and took on our web-

site. She’s Volunteer of the year.

Carol Dreith, right, was a dynamo as chairman of the

county fair committee and showed up there every day.

But that’s just the beginning. She volunteers for practi-

cally everything and always does it with a smile. She’s

our 2012 Rising Star.

Volunteer of the Year and Rising Star honors

Let’s see, how many hours does this add up to?

MG is a group of volunteers. Here is a list of

milestones in volunteerism:

150 Hours: Bill Downey (‘11) chairs the

Mariposa Creek Parkway committee , re-

searched sign changes, chaired the Tomato

Fest committee.

Patti Sue Ogletree (’05), is a regular at the

spring plant sale and at the creekside garden.

She worked on the spring garden tour as

workshop presenter.

Dinah Oppenheim (’11) was co-chair of the

plant sale, worked the fair, garden tour and

takes good care of the creekside garden.

Jean Sparks (’05) worked on the plant sale,

the fair, the creekside garden, farmers mar-

ket and hotline.

250 hours: Sally Punte (11) worked the

fair, the creekside and Coulterville gardens,

is a member of the creekside garden booklet

revision committee, works the north county

hotline, Mariposa and north county plant

sales and the spring garden tour. She also

had an MG booth for John Muir Festival.

Doria Fanning (’11) worked the plant sale

and is doing all the art for the creekside

booklet.

Elizabeth Gabriel (’11) was fair co-chair,

chairs the booklet committee, works at the

creekside garden, is OTGF editor, works

the hotline, does publicity, articles, and

worked the garden tour.

Helen Peck (’10) chaired the plant sale,

plans CE field trips, works on the website,

writes articles, worked Tomato Fest, wrote

several pieces for the garden booklet, works

the hotline, and is on the core committee

for the 2014 statewide Mg conference. She

is the Volunteer of the Year for 2012.

Carol Dreith (’11) is secretary of the group,

fair co-chair, worked the farmers market,

garden tour, plant sale, and Tomato Fest, on

the garden, and is on the statewide confer-

ence committee. She is the 2012 Rising

Star, created in part because in her first

year, she has almost 500 hours.

500 hours: Julie Dowsing (’07) did work-

shops , worked on the garden tour, the

creekside garden, Tomato Fest, fair and

hotline.

750 hours: Gerry Cross (’09) is treasurer

and produces the calendar. She is chair of

the statewide conference committee, chair

of the library plant committee, worked on

the garden tour and fair and advised the

2012 chairs.

1,000 Hours Gold Badge: Betty Massey

(’01) is a past vice president, past

creekside garden chair, works on the gar-

den and the garden booklet committee, is

interim workshop committee chair,

worked the John Muir Festival, Tomato

Fest, the garden tour, the fair, the calen-

dar, and is on the statewide conference

committee.

Agriculture and Natural Resources

University of California Cooperative Extension, Mariposa County,5009 Fair-

grounds Road, Mariposa, CA 95338-9435

(209) 966-2417; hotline (209) 966-7078 in Mariposa, (209) 852-9711 in

Greeley Hill.

The University of California Division of Agriculture & Natural Resources

(ANR) prohibits discrimination or harassment of any person in any of its

programs or activities. (Complete nondiscrimination policies can be found at

http://ucanr.org/sites/anrstaff/files/107778.doc

He has been reporting to the demonstration garden committee and at all board meetings on his work and progress in obtaining new signage and benches for the site; has gath-ered volunteer support to keep the garden weeded and well managed; has monitored, along with Rosemarie Smallcombe, the new California native additions of the UC Arbo-retum All-Star program; and with the help of other MG volunteers, has updated the current plant inventory at this site.

Elizabeth Gabriel has been overseeing the update of the Mariposa Creek Parkway Gar-den booklet. She has sent it out to many of us to add information on the plants and for editing. We are also fortunate to have the gifted, artistic skills of Doria Fanning, who has illustrated the garden’s many plants for the booklet. I think we will all be proud when the booklet is finally published and made available to the public, we hope in time for the 10-year dedication.

Last year, our interim County Director Maxwell Norton requested that we develop a brochure about the purpose, history and location of the garden. Betty Massey stepped up to the plate and credits Gerry

Cross, Marilou Ellis, Debbie Wass and Max-well for helping with this task. As a result, we now have a demonstration garden tour tri-fold, available at the Visitors Center pro-moting our garden and giving it and the Master Gardeners more visibility.

Once again, I want to express our gratitude to Maxwell for his unwavering support of the MG program. He has been a wonderful champion for us, and we wish him the best as he returns to his full-time role as the Merced County Director and Farm Advisor. We will welcome his replacement, Dr. Fadzayi Mashiri, a rangeland management specialist, in February. We look forward to her arrival and to working with her.

Besides our usual annual activities—plant sale, home garden tour, the county fair, farmers market, etc.—we are in the begin-ning planning stages of preparations for the California statewide MG conference occur-ring here in Mariposa County in 2014.

There is a lot on our plate for 2013, but I am confident that our dynamic MG team will come through. You always do! Thank you for all of your contributions and your com-mitment to our program.

Coordinator … from Page 1

Join a committee or heed the call for workers

as we move into the big events of the year

Committees are the life’s blood of any

organization. As you saw on Page 3,

our volunteers put in a lot of time

serving the community. Each issue of

OTGF will have some details about

what committee chairs need from

volunteers.

The first big event of the year is the

Spring Plant Sale on the first Satur-

day in May. Chairman Helen

Willoughby-Peck needs people who

will start plants (see story Page 2)

soon to have good merchandise for

the sale.

Besides selling plants, we have garden

art, so if you’re crafty, volunteer for

that. At the sale, MGs help folks with

their questions and with carrying their

bounty out to the car. It’s a full day

and is always popular.

The next big deal is the Spring Gar-

den Tour in June. Chairman Judy

Hardaway and her committee mem-

bers work year-round on the tour,

scoping out gardens to feature.

For the tour, we’ll need people to act

as docents at each garden and people

to man tables at our Native Plant Gar-

den.

You’ll get much more detail in the

next OTGF and in e-mails as the time

for these events draws closer.

MG volunteer Vladimir Fanning,

left, and MG Coordinator Kris Ran-

dal get ready for their shifts at the at

the 2012 Mariposa County Fair.

“Nature has undoubtedly mastered

the art of winter gardening and

even the most experienced gardener

can learn from the unrestrained

beauty around them.”

~Vincent A. Simeone