(Scroll down for the notes from the guest speaker.)
Happy Valley Garden Club
Meeting Minutes
April 9, 2024
9-9:40 Social Time – Meet, Greet & Eat.
Thanks to Hostesses – Pat Marshall, Donna Endicott, and Donna Simonson
9:45-10:00 am – Welcome & Conservation Pledge – Jennifer Buss
ATTENDEES: Renee Ackley, Pat Allen, Karen Burmester, Mike Burmester, Jennifer Buss, Elizabeth Cathey, Barb Decious, Donna Endicott, Mary Lou Epperson, Shelley Fenton, Jan Ferguson-Bresee, Katherene Kerner, Yvonne Kochanowski, John Kochanowski, Gabriella Lu, Pat Marshall, Leona McDonald, Roberta Mehta, Bob Mell, Carol Mohr, Sandy Platz, Janet Rasher, Mike Rasher, Donna Simonson, Claudia Taylor, Patti Taylor, Leta Wyler, Wendy Young
GUESTS: Jeri and Chinh Le, enthusiastic gardening friends of Yvonne and John Kochanowski, attended today’s meeting, and may join the club.
10 – 10:45 am – Program: Botanical Fabric Printing – Casey Newman, Cedar Dell Forest Farm
Website: www.cedardellforestfarm.com
Casey has a graduate degree in forest ecology and is a crafter/artist as well. Her farm in Gresham focuses on growing plants used to produce dyes for fabric printing. She also conducts workshops and children’s camps to teach her processes.
She described the dyeing process as “Nature Magic,” or “eco-printing,” with colors and shapes incorporated in her designs exhibiting the physical source and/or season of the plant she used. She brought examples of her work: Silk embroidery threads, silk yarns, and silk and cotton scarves. She described how she may use immersion dyes to soak a fabric or yarn, and how she layers leaves over her target fabric, rolls the fabric onto dowels, and steams the roll, which leaves an imprint on the fabric.
Some interesting tidbits: Silk and wool, protein-based because they are produced by animals, absorb dye more easily than plant fibers like cotton or flax. A “mordant” is sometimes used to create a bond between color and fabric. A common mordant is alum. Plants or other dyes containing tannins often don’t require a mordant. Oak galls, high in tannin, can be crushed and used to form a “resist” during the printing process.
Green is the least common color that a plant pigment produces, yellow is the most common. Pink and red flower petals, such as fireweed or dahlia produce yellow dye. Purple, red and blue dyes are “fugitive,” (not stable), yellows are more permanent. Iron can be added to the dye process to shift yellows toward green, and pinks toward brown (called “saddening”). Indigo is one of the rare producers of blue colors, only turning from green to blue when exposed to air. Onion skins are the beginner’s entry to dyes.
11 – Noon – Business Meeting
Business Meeting
1. Inspiration - Provided by Mike Burmester:
Here is the world I need, a world that exists far beyond the impulse to scroll and scroll. The bluebird bringing pine straw to the nest box in a sunny spot of the yard, like the chickadee bringing moss to the box under the trees, is doing her work with the urgency of the ages. She has no care for me. Even her watchful mate ignores me as I dig in the flower bed beside our driveway.
The natural world’s perfect indifference has always been the best cure for my own anxieties. Every living thing – every bird and mammal and reptile and amphibian, every tree and shrub and flower, and moss – is pursuing its own vital purpose, a purpose that sets my human concerns in a larger context. The dramas and worries and pain that are the warp of my life, woven tightly through the light and love and joy that are its weft, don’t register on the bluejay at all. The earthworms beneath the soil, haven’t the least idea of the frets that pluck at my heart. In their rest, I find rest.
And the natural world is everywhere, not just in my wild yard, or on my favorite trail at the local park, or in the woods beside the borrowed cabin. It’s in the branches of the sidewalk trees as they begin to split open and change the grayscape to green. It’s in the sparrows and the starlings, taking nesting materials into the cracks around the windows and doorways of commercial buildings. It’s in the sky, full of drifting clouds, and in the sandhill cranes flying beneath the clouds.
I can scroll and worry indoors, or I can step outside and remember how it feels to be part of something larger, something timeless, a world that reaches beyond me and includes me, too.
--Margaret Renkl
2. Approval of the minutes – March 12th meeting. As no objections or corrections to March’s minutes were noted, Jennifer Buss declared the minutes to be standing approved as distributed.
3. Treasurer’s Report – Jennifer Buss
In Sheila Greer’s absence, Jennifer Buss reported that as of March 25, there was $3258.07 on hand in the club’s treasury. Leona MacDonald suggested that we check to see how much we need on hand to remain within district requirements. A copy of Sheila’s quarterly report is attached to the Minutes.
DUES need to be collected by May 31. Wendy Young collected checks during the meeting. Checks may also be mailed to: HVGC, PO Box 1204, Clackamas OR 97015
4. Committee Reports / Project Updates:
a. Membership Coordinator – Wendy Young reported that we have 42 members, including 38 household memberships.
b. Programs updates – VP’s: Sandy Platz distributed the hostess sign-up sheet and has also emailed it. A switch was made to the guest speaker calendar, and Shelley Fenton distributed a new Year-at-a-Glance sheet to reflect this.
The May 14 meeting will be a field trip, please bring a sack lunch. The two places to be visited are located near each other.
c. Budget Committee Mtg – Set for April 23rd 3:00 pm (Jennifer Buss’ Home)
Jennifer asked that any suggestions for the Budget Committee be emailed to her so that it can go on the agenda.
d. Scholarship Program discussion/updates – Mike Rasher – There was a discussion of how we can use budgeted money to provide awards or scholarships. Ideas regarding awards should be emailed to Jennifer or Mike. Anything related to organizations supporting gardening, agriculture, forestry or education in these areas would be good candidates. Karen Burmester suggested that, as many club members are grandparents of local students, we could check to see what projects are being undertaken at the local schools. Leona MacDonald reiterated that it is becoming increasingly difficult to get information from the schools to outside entities.
e. Sara Hites Rose Garden – In Chairperson Priscilla Robinson’s absence, Patti Taylor reported that much trimming was accomplished at the last outing under the tutelage of Harry Landers.
f. Update of the Clackamas Spring Luncheon – Wendy Young described the luncheon and meeting as very interesting and informative. Seven HVGC members attended. Wendy suggested that the clubs involved could be a good source of idea exchange regarding outreach activities.
This was the Canby club’s first time at the meeting, having just joined the Oregon State Federation of Garden Clubs after several years as an independent organization.
Muriel Pagel and Lynn Hatfield stressed the need for volunteers to fill assistant director and treasurer roles. Current District funds were reported as $6673.57. Potential designation as a 501C3 organization was discussed with no vote taken.
Harry Landers was a guest speaker and had lots of information derived from his many years as Curator of the Portland International Rose Test Garden, including his primary fertilizer, alfalfa rabbit pellets. Pat Allen added that Harry stresses “strongly pruning weak roses.”
g. Member Updates: Open Mic
Jennifer Buss said that Diane Bryant was recovering from her surgery and doing Physical Therapy.
Because members tend to forget to surrender their ID pins at the end of our meetings, we will be using ID stickers instead.
5. Garden Club Updates and Info to share: Jennifer Buss
Members offered information about plant sales, shows, garden tours and fairs:
Kelso Garden Club Plant Sale, May 4, 9 am – 3 pm
Oregon City Garden & Art Tour, Village at the Falls, June 29, 10 am – 4 pm
--Bob Mell reported on the Greater Portland Iris Society’s upcoming show schedule:
May 5, Early Season Iris Show, Clackamas County Fairgrounds, Canby
May 25th, Mid-Season Iris Show, Clackamas Community Club, 15711 SE 90th Ave.
Clackamas
June 26th-29th, American Iris Society/Society For Japanese Irises National Convention
--Yvonne Kochanowski said the Clackamas County Master Gardener Association’s Spring Garden Fair is May 4-5, Clackamas County Fairgrounds, Canby
--Patti Taylor announced the North Clackamas School District FFA Plant Sale, May 3, 4, 5, 10 and 11, Land Lab, 13201 SE Hubbard Rd., Clackamas
--Carol Mohr says Beaverton Garden Club Plant Sale is May 11, 9 am – 2 pm, Nexus Church, corner of Hall Blvd and SW 22nd Ave, Beaverton
--Blue Star Memorial activities will be included in Lake Oswego’s Memorial Day Event, May 27 at the Veterans Memorial, Foothill Park, with a Marker dedication
Leona MacDonald encouraged everyone to check out Beaverton Farmers Market, Saturdays, SW 5th Avenue next to the Library
Wendy Young recently emailed the Clackamas District Newsletter and encouraged us to subscribe to it to receive it directly.
Jennifer Buss proposed an idea to help members learn about each other’s gardening interests and experience: An interview with one or two members each month, regarding how they became interested in gardening. She volunteered to be the first to recruit participants and conduct the interviews.
6. Reminders:
a. April Birthdays - 3rd - Yvonne Kochanowski; 14th – Patti Taylor; 28th – Pat DeLucia
b. Coffee Chat – April 23rd @ 9:00 am Biscuit’s Café - SE 91st and Johnson Creek location
c. May’s Club meeting will be a field trip, bring sack lunch.
d. Elsie Skinner Progressive Design Guild meeting – April 22nd Pat Allen adds that this month’s subject will be “Driftwood Designs.”
e. Wendy Young announced we will have an informal coffee with Connie Evans at Miramonte Point on Monday, April 29 at 10 am, and encouraged everyone to come.
7. Old Business:
a. Blue and Gold Star decorations: Katherene Kerner volunteered to chair a special committee to coordinate the decoration of markers for specific holidays. Veterans’ Day, Memorial Day and possibly July 4th was suggested as times to decorate the markers. Yvonne Kochanowski, Sandy Platz, Priscilla Robinson, and Jan Ferguson-Bresee volunteered to be committee members. We should set that budget.
Katherene Kerner asked members Yvonne, Sandy P and Jan F to meet after today’s meeting to discuss budget issues.
b. Carol Mohr – update on logo for clothing: Carol showed a sample of aprons and described other clothing options (3/4 sleeve shirt) available for embroidery of club logo. She will email information regarding products and pricing.
8. New Business: No new business was introduced.
9. Horticulture & Arrangements – Everyone can participate and bring from your Spring Gardens, Spring Blooms, discovery of a new plant, a flower arrangement, a new garden book recommendation, nurseries you’ve been to lately, whatever suits your taste and time.
--Donna Endicott brought new camellia blooms.
--Wendy Young brought money plant starts.
--Jennifer Buss noted that the local nurseries have not had a lot of products, probably due to the cold weather and people holding off on planting.
--Leona MacDonald shared that Daisy Gardens in Sandy is a good place to check out plants.
--Jennifer Buss suggested walking through Laurel Hedge Landscape Design in Estacada, and Brentwood Nursery in Boring, especially for bonsai pines, as well as Pleasant Valley Greenhouses on SE 172nd.
--Yvonne Kochanowski mentioned One Green World as a plant source.
--Patti Taylor suggested visiting Happy Valley Nursery on SE 122nd near Sunnyside, especially since it has been so impacted by road construction in that area.
--Wendy Young said that Paradise Acres, next to Tony’s on Hwy 212, has very knowledgeable employees.
--Bob Mell pointed out Yamada’s Harmony Point Greenhouses in Gresham as a good source of plant material.
10. Raffle – Janet Rasher’s raffle item of a “bunny basket” with pruning shears and garden gloves was won by Carol Mohr.
11. Adjournment at 12 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Mary Lou Epperson
Notes from the Guest Speaker:
Botanical Fabric Printing – Casey Newman, Cedar Dell Forest Farm
Website: http://www.cedardellforestfarm.com
Casey has a graduate degree in forest ecology and is a crafter/artist as well. Her farm in Gresham focuses on growing plants used to produce dyes for fabric printing. She also conducts workshops and children’s camps to teach her processes.
She described the dyeing process as “Nature Magic,” or “eco-printing,” with colors and shapes incorporated in her designs exhibiting the physical source and/or season of the plant she used. She brought examples of her work: Silk embroidery threads, silk yarns, and silk and cotton scarves. She described how she may use immersion dyes to soak a fabric or yarn, and how she layers leaves over her target fabric, rolls the fabric onto dowels, and steams the roll, which leaves an imprint on the fabric.
Some interesting tidbits: Silk and wool, protein-based because they are produced by animals, absorb dye more easily than plant fibers like cotton or flax. A “mordant” is sometimes used to create a bond between color and fabric. A common mordant is alum. Plants or other dyes containing tannins often don’t require a mordant. Oak galls, high in tannin, can be crushed and used to form a “resist” during the printing process.
Green is the least common color that a plant pigment produces, yellow is the most common. Pink and red flower petals, such as fireweed or dahlia produce yellow dye. Purple, red and blue dyes are “fugitive,” (not stable), yellows are more permanent. Iron can be added to the dye process to shift yellows toward green, and pinks toward brown (called “saddening”). Indigo is one of the rare producers of blue colors, only turning from green to blue when exposed to air. Onion skins are the beginner’s entry to dyes.