MEETINGS
Orange County Fairgrounds
Silo Building 7:30 pm
Thurs., Sept 18th
In honor of The Year of the Avocado as well as being the theme of this
yearıs Festival of Fruit, tonights meeting will be filled with the voices
of three of SoCals preeminent avocado experts.
Thereıs some not likely
information out there: things we thought we heard or that someone read,
things I thought I knew but canıt quite seem to accurately explain, now.
Just how does the A flowering/B flowering process influence my crop?
Guatemalan vs. Mexican, which varieties and traits are what?
Julie, Denny and Dewey will combine tonight to clean up any avocado
mysteries and set straight convoluted concepts concerning our favorite
fruit. It is likely a few F of F folks from out-of-town will be in attendance
too, opening their Festival experience with a visit to an OC chapter
meeting, so get there early and have your insights and questions ready to
share. And if you havenıt yet registered to be a part of this yearıs
Festival of Fruit, thereıs still time. Download an application from the
website
festivaloffruit.org
and choose your workshops and tours. Selections for Saturdayıs box lunch
and dinner options can be made, too. Then mail it and your check to Sally
Holly, this yearıs F-o-F chair, whose address is clearly noted on the
application. This is bound to be a memorable experience, one youıll want to
be a part of.
Thurs., Oct. 16th
Tonightıs topic is ²Bee Keeping-the Whys and Hows² presented by Mark Allen,
a Cal Poly and CRFG, Inc. scholarship recipient. Additionally, weıll be
joined by our annual Pat Sawyer Scholarship winners and Dr. Greg Partida,
also from Cal Poly.
Goodies
Did you notice all the treats that were stacked on the
August Goodie Table??
Those A-thru-I folks really know how to set a table! This month the J
through O Gang gets its chance to supply the Treat Table. The routine is
simple: bring your treats to the table where Mike and/or Ellen will
tastefully arrange them. Remember to check for leftovers and retrieve your
dishes and service items at meetingıs end. And always feel free to bring
snacks even in your off-months. With the potential for a few extra guests,
weıll need plenty, especially if we want to uphold the OC Chapterıs rep. as
the food/treat leader. Has too much ever been a problem?
Brag Table
Our Tasting Table, managed by Isabel and located in the north end of the
room, is the stage for members to share their backyard delights at meetings.
August was one of the best months in a long time, with figs aplenty, passion
fruit, and grapes just part of the bounty. Fruit growers just love
showing-off their ripe, sweet produce. It works best if you select your
best, cut them into serving size hunks and bring a plate or bowl. Folks like
to know what cultivar theyıre sampling and who the
grower is, so include
this info. with your fare. Plan ahead this month. Pick
so theyıll ripen by meeting night or shop and share
with your fruit lovinı friends. Then get your fruit
chunks to Isabel and sheıll take it from there. Letıs see an overloaded Brag Table on September 18st.
And dont forget to save and plant some of the seeds
available with those
treats. At next yearıs Green Scene, papaya and
passion fruit seedlings will
make wonderful contributions.
Webmaster
For as long as OC/CRFG has had a web page, Riley
Holly has been the Master.
He has engineered all the paths, linking visitors to the tremendous amounts
of information available. Each month he makes sure worldwide inquiries are
handled. Thanks to Riley, people can view our monthly newsletter before the
US Mail can get it delivered.
Riley would like to hand this job off. Heıs assured
his colleagues on the
board that the transition would be smooth, providing we could find the right
person to take it. Could this be your opportunity to step into service?
Itıs not likely to happen overnight but if you think
you might be able to
help him out and eventually pocket the job for yourself, please consider it.
Heıs done such a fine job creating and maintaining
our site but really needs
and deserves to ease out of the responsibilities it entails.
Give him a call or an Email if youıd like to find out
about or offer your
time to this position. And THANK YOU Mr. Webmaster, Riley Holly, for all
your years of service, in this and so many other areas. Your knowledge and
commitment is matched by few.
Cherries and Blueberries
The following trees will be available for delivery at the January Great
Scion Wood Exchange and must be preordered and prepaid. Roger took orders
for nearly $500 worth with a few more available but you gottaı
be quick at
the Sept. 18th meeting. If you wonıt be attending,
you can mail Roger your
order and a check made out to OC/CRFG.
(see notesı for address)
*POMEGRANATE:
Ambrosia 2ı-3ı $12
Eversweet 2ı-3ı $12
Red Silk 2ı-3ı $12
*PLUOT
Flavor Grenade 5/8² $18
Flavor King 34² $18
*CHERRY
Minnie Royal 34² $15
Royal Lee 34² $15
*APRIUM
Flavor Delight 34² $18
The cherry and pluot trees
must be ordered in pairs due to pollination
requirements. These are big trees and priced near wholesale. There may be
a small delivery charge, depending on the size of our order.
We have ordered plenty of blueberry plants (I know, this read pantsı last
month. If you need those, check with L.L. Bean) from L.E.
Cooke that will
also be available at the GSWEx. No individual
ordering is necessary.
Green Scene
Donıt think that, just
because the next Green Scene is nine months away,
thereıs nothing for you to do these days. Noooooir, Get those seeds
sprouted, and those avocado pips into pots. Transplant those volunteer
peaches and apricots that are springing up in your yard-theyıll
be perfect
for grafting with next yearıs scion wood treasures. Iıve already got a
dozen or so blackberry cane tips nuzzled into 1-gallon pots, creating next
yearıs donations, with a slew of others just awaiting
my attention. My
passion fruit and papaya seeds are sprouting on paper plates inside ziplock
bags, just like Roger showed us at a meeting last spring. What are you
starting? Did you make it to the August 10th potting soil night at Roger
and Shirleyıs? Theyıve
still got soil available for those who are readying
plants for Green Scene 09 Donıt wait til the last minute to get your
donations ready! Make Denny a happy man!
Festival of Fruit
This is the final newsletter before the Sept.
19th-20th festival at Cal
State Fullerton. The team has put together quite a show. There will be
tours beginning Wednesday the 17th, venders, raffles, speakers galore, food
and souvenirs, culminating with an Italian buffet dinner Saturday night.
While you will be able to register upon arrival Saturday morning, it will
cost an additional $5, it will be TOO LATE to sign-up for lunch or dinner,
and the workshops youıre interested in may be full.
So do us all a favor
and send Sally your registration form today. Go to festivaloffruit.org
to download an application and scope out all the interesting happenings.
*Registration Facilitators
People are still needed on Saturday morning from 7:30 am to about 9:00 am to
distribute registration packets to enthusiastic festival goers. Sounds like
fun.
To sign up, contact Festival of Fruit Chairman Sally Holly at:
(714) 544-3095 or
SHOLLY@ca.rr.com
You wonıt be sorry. A
volunteer organization works because its members give
of themselves.
*Register Yourself
You are going, arenıt you? Thereıll be hours of fun, including tours,
speakers, vendors, raffles, friend-ships, freebies, tastings, souvenirs and
FOOD. Just go to the website at festivaloffruit.org
and click on any of the links to see all the wonderful activities your FoF
team has put together for 2008. If youıre one of the
first 35 to sign up
for the Melissaıs Tasting Kitchens Tour, youıll probably get to sample
fruits youıve only heard about. This tour is limited
to 35 and I think a
half dozen seats may remain.
Go to the website to register for this and any other of the trips ($16 for
the bus-no private vehicles as per Melissaıs rules).
Library
De facto librarian Frank Wagoner tells us heıs got
collections of most all
of ³The Fruit Gardener²
magazines, going back to the mid-eighties. With the
addition of the Frank James volumes, our book collection is huge! Frank can
also make you a DVD copy of most any General Meeting weıve
had. There one
you missed or would like to revisit?
Go to our website to see whatıs there and give Frank
a call. He will have
any item ready for you at the next GM or you can arrange to do a drive-by at
your convenience. How about a copy of last monthıs
talk by Tom Del Hotal-he
covered so much about fruit tree pruning (so much, in fact, Paul ran out of
space while recording so some of the ending thoughts are forever lost in the
black hole of fruit knowledge).
Itıs a shame that this vast base of knowledge gets so
little use but
Frankıs sure doing his part to make it available.
Secretary
Sadly, newly elected secretary, Greg Rager, has been forced to leave, due to
teaching commitments. A replacement may be appointed pending the January
General Election. Your Good Energy will be missed, Greg.
Membership
Club strength has been holding steady at just over 200 active members, with
about 93% supporting both the OC and the State branches. We had several
visitors at the August meeting who were drawn through our OC Fair efforts.
If your label is peppered with the Alert!.Alert!
red lettering, itıs your
turn to repeat paying your membership dues. Check your July August issue of
³Fruit Gardener² for the
expiration date of your CRFG, Inc. membership. If
thatıs soon to expire, your best option is to get to
Martha your completed
application and a check for $40, either via snail mail-our PO box # is on
this newsletter-or at the next GM. If your local dues are all you need to
take care of, theyıre but $10 and can be paid the
same way. Thereıs lots
happening in the next six months so donıt delay.
NOTES:
*Welcome new members
*Suren Kaadia
*Jackie & Robert Remington
*Anahid & Zohra Shamassian
We hope your membership brings you many hours of enjoyment. Be sure to
introduce yourself around at the next few meetings. Hope you enjoy our Never
Ending bowl of guacamole and can find time to participate in this yearıs
Festival of Fruit.
*The current OC Fair Parking situation has yet to be remedied, at least to
OUR satisfaction. The jurisdiction for enforcing handicapped-or more
clearly handicapped parking-policies seems to rest with the Costa Mesa PD.
Police have stepped up and sternly warned us that parking in the Handicapped
spaces without a valid placard may result in a citation. Considering the
safety issues-itıs dark and many of our members walk
with deliberate
awareness- and the plethora of unused spaces, this seems to be somewhat of a
non-issue but until itıs resolved, be wary. I enjoy a
good fight with city
hall that an unjust citation like this would generate, but thatıs
just me.
(and Frank Wagoner, too!)
*Much thanks to member Frank Nagy. If you were at the August meeting, you
saw Frank selling some of the healthiest looking 1-gal. potted
figs weıve
seen. He had several varieties, all with large root systems and big leaves,
ready to transplant. At the end of the evening, he donated the $50 he took
in sales to the club treasury. What a guy! This is exactly what we need
for the ı09 Green Scene-this kind of participation.
Does this give you any
ideas?
*We have sold about 600 of our grafting DVDıs but
there still are a ³few²
left. Sallyıs got them at the sign-in desk. For only $10, they wonıt last
long. Festival of Fruit attendees are sure to
want a few.
*We can always use help setting up and cleaning up the meeting room. Paul
wants to thank all those who have pitched in for the
last few meetings. See Paul if you can offer your services. Heıs the tall,
good-looking guy who runs the video/DVD recorder at each meeting, who also
mashes all the avocados for each meetingıs guacamole.
*Roger Meyer
16531 Mount Shelly Cir.
Fountain Valley 92708-2440
(note: OK, Shirley?)
*Donıt forget to download your electronic application
for the Festival of
Fruit. Go to
festivaloffruit.org
*The new 11²x17² format for your newsletter seemed to
be OK. The only
comments I got were of a positive nature, so Iıll
continue this. Many
thanks to the Kuhl Family, Inez, Albert and Ilke, Camilla and Buttercup, who
have spent many hours readying your newsletters for mailing. The time
volunteers donate to make this organization thrive so often go unnoticed,
only other volunteers recognizing the value of their efforts. If you like
how your club works, be sure to throw a little gratitude in the direction of
your Team. Or better yet, become a volunteer. One just never knows what
possibilities await, what doors are out there, just
waiting to be opened.
(Remember-a webmaster and a recording secretary are both needed.)
*Vice Chair Pam Lau is excited about a UC website she
found offering
Agriculture and Natural Resource publications, some at 20% off. The
California Master Gardener Handbook is one, for just $24. If youıd like to
see this and others, visit
anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu
The Citrus Integrated Pest Management Guidelines are available on line at no
charge.
*Several members on the board were wondering if there is interest in
establishing PayPal access, enabling electronic payment of such items as
renewals and group purchases. What do you think?
*The overwhelming turn out for Tom Del Hotalıs
pruning talk left many with
no hand-out. Weıll have enough at the Sept. meeting
to make sure you get
yours. Martha, remember youıre all over this, right?
And Denny ran out of
room. Why donıt you make some copies of those swell
avocado recipes for the
GM, too.