Calendar
Shell Beach at sunset. Picture taken from the Pismo Preserve.
Central Coast Chapter Meetings & Other Events
Our Newsletter Keeps Everyone Up To Date.
Send Us Your Photos & Events!
Let others know what's going on by sending your articles, photos, and event info to: crfgccnewsletter@gmail.com
Please submit your items by the 15th of each month for inclusion in the next newsletter.
Note:
There are two back-to-back meetings in April.
The April 1st meeting is described just below and the April 8th meeting is described further down. Don't miss out!
March Propagation Meeting POSTPONED DUE TO RAIN!!!
NEW MEETING TIME: April 1st, 2023, 1:00PM to 4:00PM
All other details below are still valid.
Free and open to the public.
Time: 1 pm - 4 pm
1:00 pm: Socializing
1:30 pm: Meeting begins
Location: CRFG Demonstration Orchard at Cal Poly.
Learn to propagate fruiting plants!
We are hosting a “Propagation Workshop” in the CRFG demonstration orchard at Cal Poly to create items that will help fund our Chapter’s scholarship account. Bring cuttings of edibles that grow on their own roots, such as figs, pomegranates, and grapes. Divisions are also welcome, such as strawberries, herbs, etc. We will also be grafting leftover rootstocks. The items will be sold or raffled or auctioned at future events to benefit our Scholarship Fund.
Wear: shoes appropriate for walking in dirt and possibly mud.
Bring: hand tools, gloves, a hat, sunscreen, and your own water bottle
Directions: At the corner of Highway 1 and Highland Drive, turn onto Highland Drive toward the Cal Poly campus. Turn left on Mt. Bishop road, then immediately left again into the parking lot of the Crops Unit. Park in the dirt parking lot. Carefully walk across Highland Drive and walk back up to the CRFG Demonstration Orchard.
From Nell:
Even though the calendar says Winter, Spring is in the air!!! The sun is warming my lower back as well as on all the growing plants I'm
working on. My crazy 'experimental,' unknown peach varietal has already passed its peak bloom and is setting fruit like mad!! Time to
get back seriously into the garden/orchard/field again.
To that end, while you're out trimming and pruning your plants, please save your cuttings/divisions/seedlings/etc that can be propagated and bring it to the Chapter's orchard at Cal Poly on April 1st. Help us create fundraising plant material for our Scholarship Fund.
These items should be fruit-related. What does that mean? You can stretch it to include items such as 'walking onions' and other plants that could contribute to the health of your fruiting plants. This plant might be an important factor in IPM (Integrated Pest Management), or has soil enhancing properties, or other attributes. If so, these plants could be included. Please remember our 'fruit only' policy and “no citrus.”
If you don't have plants to donate, just bring yourself, gloves and a couple of tools, along with the usual, sunscreen, hat, etc. We'll have tables set up around the site with a specific task designated for each table. There's something for everyone to do, so don't let a fear of propagation, “brown thumb-ism,” or grafting stop you from attending. We need plants to be watered, labeled and put into categories; plant material to haul away, as well as the eternal weeds to pull.
Why is this meeting/workshop important? This year we've placed an emphasis on fundraising for scholarships and to see what our Chapter can muster going forward. We want to create a sustainable program where we don't deplete the chapter's resources by over-funding students with our limited resources, or even underserving the students if we could have given more. This has never happened before, nor is it probable in the future. But we want to have a base year going forward - so we have something to project from for future years. This is our base year - and we need your help.
With our limited outreach, we felt it best to concentrate on selling fruiting plant material that doesn't cost too much to produce and sell it at our community events for near market value. We don't want to compete with nurseries, nor are we in the commercial plant wholesale business. We simply want an efficient and reasonable way to fund raise for our scholarship program.
Next year's goal has not been decided and we're open to all ideas on attaining more funding. As the chair of the committee I'd love to have your input and suggestions as to what other fundraising activities we might pursue.
Help us make this year's fundraising focus a reality - come help out, visit with members, bring and enjoy fruit/snacks and let's enjoy the Spring weather.
Once again the event is April 1st at the Chapter's Orchard off Highland Ave.
Show up at 1:00 to socialize. The official workshop gets underway at 1:30 and goes until 4:00.
Thanks!
Nell Wade (along with Karen Kolba, Linda Robertson, and Tucker Schmidt)
Meetings
Prior to the outbreak of coronavirus, our meetings were usually held the afternoon of the 2nd Saturday of the month, except in February when it was held on the 4th Saturday. In general we gathered at 1pm for socializing and refreshments, then the meeting begins at 1:30.
Most of our meetings were open to the public. We encourage the public to join and learn with us!
Please check out our meeting manners prior to attending.
No pets at any meeting, please!
April Meeting, April 8, 2023
The next regular monthly meeting will be held at Claudia Callwood's house in Atascadero.
The speaker will be Jayme Finley, co-owner of Finley Family Nursery, which began in 1995. She is a graduate of Templeton High School, Cal Poly SLO and the Master Gardener program. Finley Family Nursery features edibles, California natives, a large selection of lavender and other fine perennials, shrubs and trees in a farm atmosphere. Attracting pollinators and beneficial insects is an important part for any thriving garden. Jayme will present a few of her favorite plants that attract bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.
Schedule:
12:00 Set up.
1:00 Socialize and enjoy snacks brought by members.
1:30-3:00 Meeting and presentation by Jayme Finley.
3:00 -3:30 Clean up.
Where: 12215 Cenegal Rd, Atascadero
See instructions and map later in the document
Hosts: Claudia Callwood and Joe Berkman
What you need to know: Everyone bring chairs unless you want to sit on the dirt. Please bring food offerings for the group. Bring your own water container. There is shade but hats and sunscreen are recommended. Please carpool if you can. No restrooms will be available. “Go before you go”!
Directions to Next Meeting (see map below)
-
Get off 101 at Traffic Way in Atascadero.
-
Go west and immediately turn left, then right around a church parking lot, onto Santa Lucia.
-
Stay on Santa Lucia. You will pass the Atascadero High baseball field, continuing on Santa Lucia driving uphill.
-
At the 4-way stop sign which is Santa Lucia & Portola, just continue straight on Santa Lucia for over 3 miles.
-
At Laurel Road, go left.
-
At Cenegal Road, go right and continue to the end. House numbers are on the mailbox post, on the left side of the street.
Parking: According to Claudia, "Parallel parking will be on one side of the street which will be the same side as Claudia's property."
Our Best CRFG Manners While Visiting Homes, Nurseries, Growers, etc.
1. We never bring pets to meetings/tours and we never even ask if we may!
2. We do our best to use public facilities or our own restroom before the meeting.
3. We do our best not to ask to go inside the hosts’ home.
4. We never pick fruit, flowers, foliage, weeds, seed pods and we never even ask.
5. We do our best to car pool and park with great respect to our host and the neighborhood.
6. We never talk when our host is talking. We do our best to stay up close when given a tour.
7. We never “take over” the tour and tell everyone how we do it at our home!!
8. We have thoughtful questions but try not to ask questions that embarrass our host.
9. We do our best to help our host feel good, feel appreciated. We clean up our mess.
10. We stay on the path, with our host …and never go walking around on our own unless given permission by the host.
11. At the end of the tour, we make a special effort to thank the host. We “gather up” and have some sort of “closure” to the tour.
12. We even write thank you notes when we get home, especially if we asked a lot of questions, were impressed, were surprised, were treated well. We write thank you notes even when we are not the leader!
