Petal Pushers Garden Club Meeting Minutes, February 25, 2025

submitted by Pam Walker

Meeting Location: The Garden Center Grace Barnes room

GUEST PRESENTER: Deirdre Kann from The National Weather Service (Retired)

Program Title: For Goodness Flake ~ The Science of Atmospherics Snow and Ice

Deidre demonstrated many aspects of how snow forms. We all the loved the graphs and photos she shared via the slide presentation.

Some of the highlights included: Snow crystals are 3 Dimensional. Snow is not only frozen water, but is made from crystals in the atmosphere that attach to water droplets as they move through the air. Humidity and temperature affect each flake. Deidre showed us how two snowflakes CAN be identical, as long as both crystals are in the exact same environment, temperature and humidity. Types of winter precipitation: sleet, freezing rain, snow and graupel (soft hail or snow pellets). Sublimation is when snow evaporates before turning to water, which is very common in our desert environment.

BUISNESS MEETING: Old and New business

The members who head up the The Linus Blanket Committee gave a demonstration of how to create our blankets. They also provided paper patterns to use as guides when cutting each corner and the fringe. You can bring in your finished blanket anytime. These blankets are given to numerous agencies for people in need from infants to seniors.

The bake sale Petal Pushers had at the rummage sale was a success! We discussed how the bake sale was set up and operated. We made a list of ideas and improvements for next year in terms of types of baked goods and packaging sizes for each item.

How Penny Pines is going to change will be decided during the Convention in April. More to come.

We discussed how the State Fair Flower Show is to be affected next year. Our flower show room has been given to the Children’s Art display because their space is now storage for ABQ’s Covid Supplies. This leaves us without a location to hold the Flower Show. A letter was drafted and shared by email asking the Governor to ask the State Fair committee to consider setting up a portable storage unit to house the Covid supplies and giving the space back to the Children for their Art Show and allowing the Flower Show to continue in its previous location.

It was agreed that we would meet the second Monday each month to do our maintenance day, starting with the Marie Torrens courtyard raised planters. This is the first impression people have as they enter the Garden Center. This month is the Center-wide clean-up day, so we will join the other clubs on this day.

Each Garden Club Group has been asked to donate 10 items for the Silent Auctions for both Conventions in April. Fortunately, we have received the needed donations.

Members were reminded to place their personal flower orders by Friday March 10th. Pre-payment for the flower orders were collected at the meeting.

We have scheduled our Spring Luncheon and volunteers will coordinate it. The menu as planned will be: salads, desserts, breads and drinks.

The May 27th Meeting is a Field Trip to the Randall Davey Audubon Center and Sanctuary in Santa Fe. Tour begins at 9:30 and then lunch in the picnic grounds. We casually discussed buying sandwiches and drinks locally.

We have a fun project for our March Meeting on the 25th.

Petal Pushers Garden Club Meeting Minutes, January 28, 2025

submitted by Pam Walker

Meeting Location: The Garden Center Grace Barnes room

Speaker: Marianne Bettinger “Paper Flowers”

Joan Karrie introduced Marianne since they are friends. We brought our own scissors and wire cutters and quickly got started making two types of crepe paper flowers. Joan had typed up the instructions clearly and each pair of ladies used similar materials to make similar flowers. It was fun and something different for our club.

Business Meeting:

We received certificates for our donations to Penny Pines. $50 is the usual donation, but that will be changing, along with the fact that we can no longer request where we’d like our donated trees to be planted. More information to come.

We received a thank you note from Barrett House for our donations during the holidays.

Linda Rasley delivered five blankets to Project Linus. In February, we will get a refresher on how to make these so we can make them at home.

The “Square” credit card reader is almost operational. We met with the banker who walked us through the final steps. There will be two small (a few cents) transfers between the Square account and the bank to verify that the link between the two is working. We will be using the “Square” for our sales at the upcoming rummage and spring plant sales since most people will buy more if they can use their credit card.

Susan Head discussed the February rummage sale and the concession stand we will be operating. Petal Pushers will not be selling any hot or cold foods, so that simplifies the operation. Please bake some goodies to sell, take a photo of your recipe and ingredient packages, and email them to Susan so she can create the food safety information sheets we’ll have available for the public. Susan passed around a sign-up sheet for the rummage sale with 2- and 4-hour work shifts available. If you didn’t sign up, please call Susan and volunteer for a time slot.  This is a major fundraiser for Petal Pushers and we need “all hands on deck.”

The new Garden Center grounds coordinator is asking all clubs to commit to working on their gardens. Once it gets warmer, Petal Pushers will work in the courtyard one Monday per month @ 9:30.

April 14 and 15, 2025 is NM State Garden Convention in ABQ. These are always fun. Mark your calendar.

April 17 and 18 is the South-Central Region of National Garden Clubs convention in ABQ. This is a rare treat to host them here, and our own Christine Longthorp will be installed as the new director. There will be a fashion show with clothes from the Assistance League of ABQ thrift store. That will be interesting!

April 25 and 26 is the spring plant sale. We’ll be selling plants from a commercial grower and our cute cups and small containers with plants in them.

May 27 is our field trip to Santa Fe Randall Davey Audubon Center.

If you’re interested in organizing Petal Pusher’s participation the October Glow ‘n’ Stroll, please contact our Pam Perez as planning meetings have begun.

Next meeting: February 25, 2025 at 9:30 a.m. Garden Center.

Guest speaker Dierdre Kann, Retired weather service, “Snow and Ice”.

Petal Pushers Garden Club Meeting Minutes, November 19, 2024

submitted by Pam Walker

Meeting Location: The Garden Center Grace Barnes room

Speaker: Amber Benson, New Mexico State University and Bernalillo County Extension Service

Amber is the chairman of the Master Food Preserver Program and she’s passionate about her chosen field. You can find her at farmers’ markets and judging at the NM State Fair. She gave us an overview of the various methods of food preservation. Here are some highlights:

The quickest method is freezing. Using a vacuum freezer bag technique will provide a good seal from the air, good for a year in the freezer. Dehydration takes longer although a dehydrator will help. The old method of canning using paraffin to seal it is no longer approved. And don’t be tempted to can tomatoes or salsa as the pH of those can allow botulism to grow. All the equipment needed to preserve food is available for check-out from their equipment lending library.

Amber uses her calendar extensively to plan for harvest dates, purge old food from the freezer, and plan when to make seasonal food gifts for family and friends,

To learn more about the NMSU programs, go to https://bernalilloextension.nmsu.edu/team.html

USDA Home Canning Guide https://nchfp.uga.edu/resources/category/usda-guide

Business Meeting:

Ginny reminded us that award nominations are due next month. You can find the information at newmexicogardenclubs.org . Each garden club is requested to provide a $25 donation to fund those awards. We voted “yes” on that idea and Ginny will decide which award we will sponsor.

We briefly talked about the Glow and Stroll last month. PP gave away about 160 pencils to children and we had lots of new displays in our area. Next year, we’ll carve the pumpkins the day before the event to ensure that they don’t wilt. Ginny emailed her G&S photos to us later in the day. Petal Pushers’ area was the best!

We’re going to start making Linus blankets at our own homes instead of meeting at someone’s house. However, many of us need a refresher on how to make them, so that will be part of our January business meeting. In June, we will collect all the blankets everyone has made and donate them to the Linus organization.

The Penny Pines program has changed and what we know about it is that each $50 donation will entitle us to a certificate (which we print out). Our next donation will be in memory of Sonia James.

Susan is still working on getting the Square payment system up and running so we will be able to use it in February at the rummage sale. Lots of roadblocks but she’s about to complete the registration with the State of NM. In January, we will finalize what foods and drinks PP will be selling for that event. Save all your good junk for the rummage sale!

  December 6 & 7 is the holiday craft fair and plant sale. Volunteer on the website and come shop!

The next step in the courtyard will be to plant tulips in the two raised beds Nov. 22 @ 1:30.

Our holiday party will be at Susan Head’s house.

Tuesday December 10 at 12:00 noon.

The meal will be catered by Mario’s Italian Restaurant. Please RSVP to Susan by December 1.

We will have a small gift exchange. Please bring a wrapped holiday-themed gift, $15 or less.

We will be collecting for Barrett House. A monetary donation needs to be sealed in an envelope. If you are not attending the party, you may take your donation to Susan’s house.

December 12 is the Garden Center volunteer luncheon. If you volunteered for any event during 2024, you’re invited. Please RSVP on the Garden Center website.

Next Petal Pusher meeting is January 28, 2025 @ 9:30, Garden Center. Guest speaker Marianne Bettinger “Paper Flowers”.