Recent Meeting Highlights
We had a great night at our January meeting. We used the Greenhouse at Tewksbury Hospital for a fun evening that helped our thoughts turn to Spring. Amelia taught us how to create a winter container garden to grow many different types of seeds using one gallon containers, soil, and a bit of tape. Everyone made 2 containers and left dreaming of warmer weather. Three potential new members joined us. We all hope they join us again.
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Upcoming Meeting
We're back at the Senior Center for our February meeting. Doors open at 6:30, the meeting will start promptly at 7 with our speaker Ryleigh Rivers of Rivers Garden who will speak to us about various types of garden care.
- Bring $ for a Plant-a-Tree donation
- Bring a donation for the Community Food Pantry - Rice Pilaf and Hamburger Helper (NO bags or boxes of plain rice, please)
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Literary Blooms at the Library
Jenni Balch-Kenney is skating into the Winter Olympics in Italy with this inventive floral arrangement.
| | Highlights from Committee Reports | |
ACE - a meeting is planned to discuss planting at the Greenhouse, along with Plant Sale plants.
Addendum - that meeting took place and the decision was made to go ahead with using the Greenhouse to grow plants for both the Plant Sale and ACE. Primary plants to be grown for the Plant Sale will be vegetables and herbs. Plants to be grown for ACE will include plants for the containers, probably grown from plugs (small plant cuttings).
IMPORTANT! We will need everyone to help with running the greenhouse. It will take a bit of scheduling and will be tricky logistically, because we will be responsible. There will be little to no help from the Hospital. The greenhouse will need support 7 days a week. We'll discuss more at the meeting.
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Garden Therapy
The Bayberry Garden Therapy team helped residents create this whimsical cup of cocoa! There were many Wows from the members.
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Dine Out Events A group of Club members enjoyed a hibachi dinner at Kyoto on January 21st while others enjoyed a meal in the dining room and still others indulged in take out. Many thanks to Kyoto for contributing to the Club, and to the Club members who were able to contribute to the support.
Join us for our next Dine Out experiences. The first is on Tuesday, February 17th at Main St Pizza. The next day, February 18th we have a Dine Out next door at Main Street Sports Grill. More details available at the meeting.
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Happy Travelers
A trip is planned to Pennsylvania Dutch Country with a visit to Longwood Gardens for May 6th-8th. Please see Charlene's email from January 13th for more details. Unfortunately, the attachment in that email won't open.
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Public Winter Seed Sowing Event
A Winter Native Seed Sowing event was scheduled for Saturday with a good crowd to this free program, which resulted in a second session added on for Sunday. Giancarla Kalpas joined us on Saturday and added some seeds from Sunny Meadow to the selection, many of which are on Dr Gegear's list as important for imperiled bumblebees. Honorary member Marsha Ledbury, along with a table full of friends, joined us from the Cape.
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Winter Seed Exchange
Our joint seed exchange, held with the TPL, will be happen Monday February 2 at 6:30 at the Library. Come swap various types of seeds - perennials, annuals, vegetables, herbs, and native plant seeds - sit, chat, and exchange seeds and ideas. No seeds? No problem! Come get some!
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Fairy House Workshop
Contact Laetitia to see if any space is available for this workshop that she's conducting on February 14th from 10 am - 2 pm.
Build a garden fairy house made of natural components, one that will breakdown over time in the outdoor elements. There is a $20 fee for supplies.
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Winter Sowing Native Plant Seeds
After all of our recent events focused on winter seed sowing, let's think for a minute about why we're advocating a winter seed sowing method. Yes, there are many seeds that can be grown this way, but the primary focus is on native plant seeds, particularly those with a local ecotype, meaning they are found in nature locally. And, it means these seeds are straight species, meaning that they haven't been cultivated to have specific traits. Why are these the best seeds to grow? Because they're the ones that the local insects and birds have relied on for nutrition for a very long time. But look around and count how many native plants are growing at nearby homes. Not many. Not enough. This is why we want to establish more robust native plant populations. We want to support the native bees and butterflies, wasps and beetles. We need to support all these and many more native creatures. Let's plant native plant seeds to help sustain the world. Who knew you, and a little seed, could do so much!
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Federation News
The Connecticut Flower & Garden Show is taking place on February 19th - 22nd in Hartford CT
“Bloom, A Floral Palette”, an Art in Bloom event, can be enjoyed at the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester, NH on March 12th -15th.
A Northern District (our District) meeting will be help in March, date TBD. One of the topics for discussion will be fundraising efforts used by various Clubs. It will be interesting to see what other folks are doing.
| | | Tewksbury Community Pantry Donations | |
Last moth we collected various types of coffee and tea to donate for our neighbors in need.
This month we'll be collecting rice pilaf and hamburger helper type items.
2 request: No bags or boxes of plain rice, please.
No expired items.
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Upcoming Board Meeting
Our next Board Meeting is on Wednesday, February 4 at 6:30. We'll be at Pam's house. Please join us if you want to join the Board, have an item to bring up, or just want a night out. Let Susan know if you have Board Meeting agenda items or let Pam know if you want to come and see how much fun a Board meeting can be.
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Newsletter Submissions
Post committee updates on our Facebook member's page so we can pull content from there and images are easy to grab.
Submit all info/pictures for inclusion in future newsletters to tewksburygardenclub@gmail.com by the 27th each month.
Thanks for all you do, and for contributing to this publication!
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