November 2024 garden clippings

Elaine, Dian, and Pauline at the October Pioneer District Meeting and Luncheon.

Christine Pitts is our editor!!

Please send your articles to her from her profile page HERE by the 25th of each month.

New members who joined 9-16-2024:

• Lorene Accurso
• Kathie Schumacher
• Bonnie Webb

New members who joined 10-21-2024:

• Judy Toliver
• Shelly Hickox     
• Katelyn Sharpe

Our annual Christmas luncheon will be Monday, December 16, from 11:00-11:45, at the church, with the regular meeting starting at 10:00. Biscuits and Pickles will cater the meal, including flatware and plates. The Club will provide beverages and dessert.

Members can volunteer to decorate a table for the holidays. We use nine tables. The cost is $22.00 per person, make your check payable to the McMinnville Garden Club and give to Charlene at the next meeting.

Live, love, laugh, and plant!

Felted Abstract Garden Bookmarks

Hello Creatives!  In this next workshop, Colleen and Kirsten will take you through the fun and easy process of magically transforming wool, silk, bamboo fibers into felted floral bookmarks.

• When: Monday, November 4
• Where: Sheila Clark’s Studio at Flora and Fauna Farm<br>7591 NE Mineral Springs Road, Carlton 97111
• Time: 10:00-1:00
• Cost: $15

A sign will be at the entrance.

Bring: 1 bath towel and 1 hand towel (Soap and water will be used-no staining)
Optional: carpooling encouraged, a treat to share and a mug for tea.
Reminder: We understand last-minute issues can come up, please contact one of us by phone or text ASAP. This will help us if there’s a waitlist and/or we can better gauge supplies needed. Thank you and Happy Crafting!

Contact Kirsten or Colleen for more information.

Future Arts and Crafts dates– Mark your calendars  Dec 9, Feb 3, Mar 3, Apr 7

For many years, McMinnville has held a parade the day after Thanksgiving to welcome Santa to town. Various groups parade down Third Street and at the end of the parade, the giant sequoia in City Park is lit.

Throughout those years, the McMinnville Garden Club has marched in the parade. We decorate rakes(use the smaller lighter ones) with greenery, tinsel, lights and whatever you want. We decorate hats in the same manner. We don warm red sweaters or sweatshirts and white gloves. We have white sashes that read “Rakettes “.

We gather beforehand at the Golden Valley Brew Pub. Many like to fortify themselves with a hot rum toddy. The parade takes about an hour and the spectators who line the route enjoy watching us marching by.

So far five people have signed up to participate. This year the McMinnville Downtown Association is charging $40 per entry.

Please consider coming out on the day after Thanksgiving (the 29th this year) and joining us. I know a lot of people are traveling or have out of town guests. It is only a couple hours. Your grandchildren will adore watching you go by.

If we do not get several more volunteers, we probably will not participate this year. It would be a shame to abandon our long-time tradition and it is a lot of fun.

Please let Dolly, Sandra S. or Elaine know if you are joining us.

Recently, our club president, Elaine Pollak sent out an email about the downtown Scarecrow on a Lamp Post Contest, saying “WE NEED YOUR VOTES!! Don’t forget to tell your friends and family!”  Elaine also included easy step-by-step instructions for accessing the online voting site.

Thank you, everyone for your votes.

CHECK IT OUT! WE TOOK 3^rd PLACE out of many entries, with an additional $50.00 Mac Cash bonus.

Congratulations to Sharalie  and her energetic team: Mark,  Elaine, and Lynelle. The entry, titled “Garden Shed” was situated downtown in front of the Bitter Monk on 3^rd St.

Sharalie ( commented that employees from the Bitter Monk told her they truly enjoyed this entry, adding that there seemed to be an unending line of delighted people taking their photo next to the “Shed Heads”.

As we all continue to work towards recycling our used plastic containers instead of throwing them in the garbage, the Conservation and Sustainability Committee will continue to do the best we can to facilitate this effort.

We do not make any rules regarding plastic recycling. Rather we follow the rules of the two entities involved in recyclable plastic collection in our area. Those being Recology and the Plastic Project collection events, that happen every 4 months at the 1st Baptist Church.

Most of us are Recology Customers for curbside garbage and recyclable materials pick up. Recology provides its customers with a document covering acceptable curbside recyclables including plastics.

Please make yourselves very familiar with this document for your home recycling efforts. Pay particular attention to caps and lids rules.

Recology does revise this document on occasion, and the Committee will do it’s best to make you aware of these changes.

We will continue to take members’ empty and clean plastic containers not currently handled by Recology curbside, at each of our regular monthly meetings. As we transition from throwing these containers into our garbage cans, to sending them to a facility that will use each type of plastic material as raw materials, we need to change our mindset to look at our used containers as someone’s raw material rather than our trash.

What Can You Do to Make This Transition from Trash to Raw Material?

• First the containers need to be clean. Whether they can go in your curbside recycling container or whether you bring them to a meeting, they are not trash any more but raw materials. Depending on what was in the containers they may need to be washed to remove residue.
• Before you bring your clean plastic containers to Garden Club meetings, please make sure that none of them are on the current list of plastic containers that Recology will take for curbside pickup. Recyclable plastics you bring to meetings are accumulated until the next Plastic Project Event. The Plastic Project will only accept plastic for recycling that has been segregated mainly according to the type of plastic it is made of.
• To help with this task, most disposable plastic items are stamped in some way with a number inside a triangle that correlates to the type of plastic that item is made of. Some of these numbers in triangles are very small and it is useful to have a magnifying lens handy to make reading them easier.

In addition to segregating by number, the following plastic items should be segregated before bringing them in. Brown prescription bottles; screw on plastic caps; plastic knives, forks and spoons; plastic straws. There are a few plastic containers in use that have no numbers in triangles, and these will need to go in your garbage.

Please don’t hesitate to contact the Committee with any questions you may have regarding your plastic recycling efforts. Thank you

THANK YOU for bringing in your clean plastic recycling. It is good for our community, our state,  and the world.

Have you been wondering if you should rake up those leaves under your trees or just leave them: It’s the age-old “To Leave or Not to Leaf: That is the Question” dilemma, right? Here’s the short version, two-word answer: It varies. The OSU Extension Service offers more insight into this quandary at this link: Should I leave my fig leaves on the ground?

For those pressing horticulture questions, Master Gardener volunteers are available at the OSU extension site to help. Use this link: Let’s talk plants! and pose your question

Weather permitting the Serenity Garden is hoping to complete 2 more components of our plan in early November. On the 1st, two benches are being installed under the new gazebo. Then on November 2nd starting at 9:30 we are hoping to find several Garden club members help us finish up the berms and transplant a few plants to new locations where they may thrive better. And, we have a few more bulbs to brighten up the area next Spring to get in the ground. Thanks to all who continue to help us with this HUGE project.
We are in need of someone to guide us through our next fundraising efforts. Our last PR chair did a great job….but she moved. Please consider helping us raise the final $19,000 to complete the club’s dream Serenity Garden.
A BIG congratulations for serving on the serenity Garden Leadership team for years goes to Jan C., Stephanie J., Elsie C., Patty S., Barb H., and our newest member, Linda H. Our club has taken a site at the WVMC that started as a lawn and diligently worked hard to create an incredible peaceful setting for everyone who seeks it out to use!