Winding up 2007

Holly Thornton sent out this month's Homeowner Plant Pathology Clinic Report
http://plantpath.caes.uga.edu/extension/documents/DECEMBER2007.pdf.

Lauren Ledbetter has also posted the most recent edition of her grants newsletter
http://www.georgia4hfoundation.org/grants/Issue%205.pdf.

The office will be closed December 24th and 25th as well as December 31st and January 1st. Dara will be here on the days we are open, but I am hitting the road for L.A. (that's Lower Alabama) for a visit with the Sheffield crew.

The New Year will bring many opportunities to volunteer. One of the first is a possible Lunch and Learn program here at the office on the third Thursdays in January, February, March and April. For anyone interested in this technology, I'd be happy to train Master Gardeners who'd like to help host this program:
http://www.ugaextension.com/paulding/documents/lunch_and_learn.pdf
No teaching required, just the ability to setup and operate the computer and projector in our conference room. Contact me if you're interested in helping!

Hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Rain and broccoli?

I promise that this will be the last time in 2007 that I remind you: Please be sure to get your hours, summary and memorandum of agreement in to the office ASAP! You should have received a hard copy of these items, but if you have misplaced it or prefer digital, they are posted online at the Paulding County Extension Website:

http://www.ugaextension.com/paulding/anr/mastergardener.html

As you can see in the picture, your vegetable garden is still producing! Just a few heads of broccoli, but I'm sure Helping Hands would appreciate them. If anyone wants to come by and harvest them that would be great. If no one comes by within the next few days, I'll try to round up some 4-H'er help in this harvest.

If you have newsletter items, send them to Laurie Bartron at pauldingvinenews@yahoo.com. The deadline is past, but if you missed it, she might still be able to use some items!

Several of you signed up at the October meeting to be part of a planning committee for a Natural Resources Festival next year for elementary schools. Here is the list of people who signed up:

Nanci Shipley

Rachel Dutton

LuAnne Reed

Betty Drafall

Bob Banks

Judy Howd

If you are part of this committee, please contact me and let me know what days/times would be good for an initial meeting (I'm thinking sometime in mid to late January). If you aren't on this list, but are interested in helping plan the logistics of this festival (securing speakers, arranging lunch catering, setting/cleaning up, contacting schools, etc), email me and I'll let you know when I plan the initial meeting!

It's busy as ever around the office and January brings a whole new round of MG trainings around our district, so I'll be teaching all over the place. Several of our MG members will also be teaching components of the Carroll County training! The first day of the Carroll Class is January 29th (Tuesday) and I'll be driving our new interns that day and teaching "Basic Botany". If anyone would like to tag along, I'll have 7 extra seats in the van and would welcome you to meet us at the office at 8am!

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year!