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The Tollgate Farm News Volume 21 Issue 10 October 2015

MSU Tollgate Gardens Volunteer General Meeting in the Conference Center

Thursday, October 15, 7:00 PM

Cooking Demo Cooking Demo Cooking Demo All Those TomatoesAll Those TomatoesAll Those Tomatoes

On October 15, join Tollgate volunteers in the conference center to wind down a great year in the garden with a cooking demonstration using toma-toes that you, your neighbors or your co-workers grew. Enjoy the fragrance and samples of interest-ing recipes as culinary instructor Mary Spencer provides inspiration and instruction for dishes that include tomatoes. Mary will provide recipes you might use for your holiday celebrations.

Mary Spencer is excited about the new loca-tion of her cooking school, Taste: A Cook’s Place, in the new Village Workshop in North-ville, www.tasteacooksplace.net, where she teaches a variety of classes for home cooks. Topics for upcoming evening classes include Oktoberfest, Autumn in Vermont, Shrimp, Pierogi Love, and Cooking with Pumpkins and Squash, as well as cookbook nights focusing on a particular chef or trend.

A frequent presenter at garden clubs and a culinary instructor at ABC Warehouse, http://www.abcwarehouse.com/Content_Pdfs/2015-FALL%20Classes%208x11%20ABC.pdf, Mary conducts food tours, does menu planning and researches heirloom recipes. She has been teaching cooking for 16 years including demon-strating new chicken dishes, Italian cuisine, casseroles, seasonal canning, authentic Polish cuisine, pressure cooking, holiday cookies and festive desserts. Mary’s goal is to make people better cooks.

TOLLGATE GARDEN VOLUNTEER TOLLGATE GARDEN VOLUNTEER IMPORTANT DATES AND EVENTSIMPORTANT DATES AND EVENTS OCTOCTOCT MEETINGSMEETINGSMEETINGS

14 Fall Fair Meeting 7:00

15 TGV General Meeting 7:00

OCTOCTOCT ACTIVITIESACTIVITIESACTIVITIES

17 Fall Clean Up 9:00

24 Demo Garden 9:00

31 Tool Shed Clean Up 9:00

No Tollgate Volunteer Meetings November and December

NOVNOVNOV MEETINGSMEETINGSMEETINGS

3 TGAC Meeting 7:00

7 Recognition Dinner (RSVP) 4:00

DECDECDEC MEETINGSMEETINGSMEETINGS

1 TGAC Meeting 7:00

DECDECDEC ACTIVITIESACTIVITIESACTIVITIES

5 Rose Garden Mulching 9:00

Rain, Wind, Shine & Volunteers Brought Fun for ALL at the

2015 Fall Fair

Photo by Mike Janczarek

f rom the Tol lgate Farm Manager Roy Prentice

Greetings All,

Fall Fair: We had a good Fall Fair this year! Consid-ering the wet weather for the first part of the day, we had a very good turnout. The Fall Fair has had quite a run of years with good weather. Perhaps we now

have absorbed our bad weather karma and are safe for the next several years. We also had ample opportunity to test the wind-worthiness of all crafts. Our craft activity group did a superb job again this year. We had loads of food and a great selection for all of our volunteers and visitors. Many thanks to all that brought in salads, cookies, brownies and other goodies for our volunteers and guests. Everything worked to make it a great event! Fish were caught, wagons were ridden, bugs, bats and serpents were handled, hot dogs were sold and lots and lots of fun

was had by all. It takes a lot of volunteers to stage such a successful event. This year we had over 100 volunteers handling all aspects of the event! Please help me thank our major donors: ITC and Superior Machining who helped us fund the fair this year. As I say every year (and it is true every year) it was the best fall fair ever! Considering the weather, we all deserve a big round of applause for pulling off such a great community event. Congratulations and deep thanks to all of the volunteers that made the day such a success. I know that all of our visitors really enjoyed their time on the farm.

Recognition Dinner: The recognition dinner is coming up soon. Please reserve your calendar for Saturday, November 7th starting at 4:00 . Every year I look forward to this event. It is wonderful to get together with the many people that have made the Tollgate gardens so beautiful all year. It is also great to see what everyone looks like when the dirt is all scrubbed off! Our meal and many of the thank-you door prizes are generously provided by the America-na Foundation. I look forward to a special evening.

Invitations go out to anyone who logged at least one volunteer visit to the farm this year. If you do not receive an invitation to the recognition dinner, it probably means that you did not sign in at the volunteer center this year. I do not want to miss anyone who would like to join us for the dinner. Please let me know if you were missed in error.

Activity Days: There are still a few work days left this year. Please check the Tollgate calendar and join us for a little end-of-the-year activity in the gardens. Think about how ready you will be come February to get back to the soil. Channel that future enthusiasm to a work day during the next month to help us get Tollgate ready for the winter and to complete other fall chores around the farm. Our many visitors and I really appreciate your efforts!

See you soon,

Roy

GREETINGS

The Tollgate Quilting Bee’s Fall Fair Raffle Bag

Irene Fahey Waiting Out the Startup Rain Delay

Phyllis Stengel Greets the Fall Fair Visitors Photos by Darretta Ferasin

THANK YOU to the Fall Fair Committee and all the volunteers and contributors that made the 2015 event possible. Your volunteer hospitality promotes a positive image to the public for our Extension site and is greatly appreciated. Thanks also to the efforts of

volunteers and the Nursery team for a successful first effort on a fall plant sale.

Our October calendar contains work days for the close of our gardening season including clean up dates and our final December activity for rose mounding. Any garden leaders that want to save or propagate items in the garden need to do so by the October 17th clean up date. Annuals will be removed and gardens deadheaded on these next clean up dates unless specific arrangements are given to Roy or me. As we have done the past 2 seasons, the hostas on the site will be left to wither to avoid possible Virus X cross contamination. The Nursery team has concluded the divisions and donations for the season see more info in the Nursery Notes.

VOTE NOW October is the month to vote on all elected positions for TGAC. Though the field of nominees was very limited to the current members in the nomination process, write-ins are welcome and the process will be completed per the bylaws. Please submit your ballot for officer positions in person at the membership meeting, by mail or e-mail to Roy prior to the meeting or by proxy via phone call/ message to Roy for the same deadline. As always you are encourage to run or vote for any willing member for these positions. Your continued participation in the process is appreciated. Look for the ballot in this issue.

As a note to new members and a reminder to all: there are no membership meetings in November or December. The October 15th meeting is you last chance to gather with our group until the recognition dinner on November 7th.

I would like any feedback members may have on our use of the Doodle site for communication of work days this past season. Was it easy to use? Did you like being able to see other attendees for the work dates and events? Would you like to see a different approach or continue this system for next season? E-mail me your thoughts and

comments [email protected]. Thanks

Thank you for being a Tollgate Garden Volunteer.

Renee Cottrell, President

NotesNotesNotes from the President

Photos by Renee Cottrell and Darretta Ferasin

The First Annual Fall Plant Sale

The 2015 Gardening Season Comes to an End

Nursery Shade Trellis Project Eagle Scout candidate, Ben Killian, and his crew completed the third shade trellis over the nursery on October 4. Ben’s project was to add an additional shade section to the nursery. This is an ongoing project with more sections anticipated in the future.

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Martha Montgomery Recently Tollgate lost a dear friend in Martha Montgomery. Martha and her sister Barbara Burke have volunteered at Tollgate for many years. Martha began her tenure at Tollgate in a big way, being awarded the “Golden Shovel” award in 2007. The golden shovel award goes to the first year volunteer who logs the most visits to the farm. Martha went on to serve our volunteer organization in many capacities including acting as our volunteer organiza-tion’s Vice President. She was a dedicated friend of Tollgate. She will be missed.

Roy Prentice MSU Tollgate Farm Manager

Martha Montgomery and Her Sister Barb Burke at the Maple Syrup Day 2010

She huffed and She puffed, She even blew down a tent or two, but even Mother Nature couldn’t stop the 2015 edition of the Tollgate Fall Fair. And what a great fair it was as was testimony of over 1000 smiling guests.

I can’t thank all of those involved with the Fair enough for the work they do during the year, and those that work so hard in the days leading up to the event. Without your help the fair could never go on. Of course, thanks to all the volunteers that worked that craze weather day of the Fair, we all left with something to remember that Fair by.

Special thanks to Roy and Cindy for allowing us to throw one heck of a party on their lawn, and to the American Foundation, ITC, and MSU for their continued support.

Have a safe and health holiday season; hope you will join us next spring for the starting of the plan-ning for 2016 Fall Fair.

Dennis Roggers [email protected]

Submitted by Dennis Roggers

FallFallFall FairFairFair ATTENTION PHOTOS NEEDED

FOR 2017 TOLLGATE CALENDAR

I hope many of you have been taking pictures of the farm and continue to do so throughout the year and may be willing to share your pho-tos with the rest of the membership by submit-ting them for consideration for the Tollgate Calendar. The pictures in the calendar are all taken by volunteers and employees of MSU Tollgate Education Center. It is great fun for me to compile the photos to make our calen-dar each year. I am accepting any and all pho-tos of the farm for the 2017 calendar but am in special need of fall photos

The preferred format is in landscape format.

The photos can be submitted to me, Nancy Roggers, or to Roy Prentice, farm manag-er extraordinaire, on a memory stick with your name and phone # so that I can return it to you or you can e-mail them to me at [email protected]

The deadline for submitting your photos is January 31, 2016.

The garden tool disinfecting station has been moved to the Volunteer Communication Center (VCC). It was difficult to keep supplies and the tabletop clean in the shed. Cleaning supplies and instructions will also be available in the nursery shed for the 2016 gardening season.

New Location

The Nursery Team extends a huge THANK YOU to all the Tollgate Garden Volunteers who have provided such wonderful support to us this year! It has been a great year, with several big milestones:

WINTER PROPAGATION PROJECTS: The Nursery team began the gardening year in March – planting, transplanting and pinch-ing back native plant seedlings grown to expand the selection offered by the nursery. The Nursery Team will be meeting later this month to discuss and plan this winter’s project.

SPRING PLANT SALE: Your donations this spring filled the nursery with great, healthy plants that enabled an all-time sales record. This annual fundraiser to support the gardens brought in $8,647, 82% more than the prior record! The sight of a barren nursery quickly spurred us into high gear to solicit your donations of plants and recycled pots to refill the nursery. And Tollgate

Garden Volunteers came through - donating almost 900 plant divisions since the spring sale, and also refilling the nursery shed with hundreds of recycled 1 and 2 gallon pots to hold all these donated plants.

FALL PLANT SALE: On September 26, the nursery hosted a plant sale to showcase fall bloomers and provide an opportunity for gardeners that prefer fall garden renovation to purchase Tollgate nursery plants. The promotion of this sale was primarily internal to keep it a low key event. About 50 customers shopped the sale, purchasing approximately 220 plants, gener-ating $1,110. Combined, the fall and spring plant sales have contributed $9,757 to the support of all Tollgate Gardens this year!

NURSERY IMPROVEMENTS: Three sections of overhead trellis have been installed in the nursery this summer. Eventually this structure will be ex-tended over the entire nursery, providing a greater aesthetic appeal, adding to the comfort of both plants and gardeners working in the nursery by providing a minimal sun break, and potentially enabling more efficient watering systems and the use of barriers to deter animal damage.

NOW, IT IS TIME TO PUT THE NURSERY TO BED FOR THE WINTER… this means checking labels, cutting back plants, making sure the pots are all dug in and updating our year-end inven-tory. We must complete these tasks earlier than usual this year due to the trellis construction on October 31… so please get your fall divisions to the nursery by Saturday October 17! Updated lists of needed plants and donation procedures are available on the Tollgate Nursery website - http://tollgate.msu.edu/gardens/the_nursery. ***PLEASE NOTE THAT DONATIONS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED AFTER OCTOBER 17***

THE NURSERY TEAM IS CURRENTLY LOOKING FOR SOME ADDITIONAL MEMBERS! This is a great time to get involved with our winter gardening project. Please contact Peg Palmer or Renee Cottrell to get additional information or to join the team.

Peg Palmer - [email protected] Renee Cottrell - [email protected]

NURSERY NOTES October 2015

2015

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HEY TOLLGATE GARDEN VOLUNTEERS!!!!!

This season you’ve managed to put in 4,413 hours of your time here at the farm and in the gardens. This number is calculated from our sign-in sheet with each visit averaged at 3 hours per visit, which is what our average workday is scheduled. Not everyone stays for 3 hours when they come out. In fact some stay longer and there are times when we all forget to sign in. So that number, the 4,413 hours, is really much higher.

You will see from the Tollgate Garden Volunteer report that nearly ¾ of our membership, 173 people, were able to come out to the farm. That is pretty im-pressive, really. And what is even more impressive is what our time volunteering is worth, $23.07 times that with our hours, 4413, and it comes to a whop-ping $101,807.91.

We are a great, no, a fantastic group of people!

October 2014 through September 2015**

This season we had a total of 226 members divided into the following categories:

Volunteer Visits Tally

1381 active member visits averaged at 3 hours a visit = 4143 hours.

90 non-member visits @ 3 hours per visit = 270 hours

Total Hours: 4413 ***Value of Volunteer Time - $23.07 X 4413 hours = $101,807.91 !!! ______________________________ **Note: Because of the Recognition Dinner held in November, we tally volunteer visits from October of the previous year through September of the current year. ***https://www.independentsector.org/volunteer_time

Visits

Re-news

New Members

Total Visits

X 3 Hours

1 33 4 37 111

2 14 2 32 96

3* 15 2 51 153

4 12 5 68 204

5 11 1 60 180

6 7 4 66 198

7 6 1 49 147

8 6 0 48 144

9 2 1 27 81

10 3 1 40 120

11 1 2 33 99

12 5 1 72 216

13 4 0 52 156

14 2 0 28 84

16 2 2 64 192

17 2 1 51 153

18 2 1 54 162

19 3 1 76 228

20 4 0 80 240

22 1 0 22 66

26 1 0 26 78

29 1 0 29 87

30 2 0 60 180

32 2 0 64 192

43 1 0 43 129

50 1 0 50 150

99 1 0 99 297

144 29 1381 4143

Tollgate Membership On-Site Visit Report *Example: 3 visits X (15 + 2) members = 51 total visits X an average

of 3 hours per visit = 153 hours

Active 144 29 173

Non-active 30 7 37

Honorary 16

226

Member Category

Renewals

New Members

Totals

Around the Farm by Roy Prentice

Volunteer Activity Day and Meetings Information

248-347-3860 ext. 400

● The Tollgate Gardens Advisory Council next meeting will be held on Tuesday November 3, 2015 at 7:00 in the Tollgate Office Building. All Tollgate Gardens Volunteer members are welcome to attend.

● Listings to contact individual Council Members and Area Garden Leaders are available at all general meetings and in the Volunteer Communication Center.

● Tollgate Volunteer Membership is renewed annually. The 2015 Tollgate Garden Volunteers membership is from December 1, 2015 to November 30, 2016.

Farm Manager Roy Prentice - 248 347-3860 ext. 251 e-mail - [email protected]

President ........................... Renee Cottrell Vice President… ............... Peg Palmer Secretary… ........................ Dave Komraus Treasurer ........................... Sue Janczarek Membership ...................... Nancy Roggers PR ....................................... Yvonne DeMattos Fall Fair .............................. Dennis Roggers Programs ........................... Jackie Stengel Hospitality ......................... Yvonne DeMattos Farm News Editor ............. Darretta Ferasin

For membership questions or to update your current membership information send e-mail to:

[email protected]

MSU Tollgate Gardens Volunteers For general information and questions

Contact Roy Prentice

Activity Days Activity day hours are 9:00 to 3:00 unless otherwise noted on the Tollgate Garden Volunteer Important Dates and Events listed on the first page of the Tollgate Farm News or by the Area Garden Leader (AGL).

Lunch will be provided - veggie alternatives are available upon request.

This schedule does not exclude you from working independently on the site. However, on non-scheduled days, your efforts will need to be self-directed with guidance from the garden area clipboards located in the Volunteer Communication Center.

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Tollgate Volunteer InformationTollgate Volunteer InformationTollgate Volunteer Information

THE TOLLGATE FARM NEWS

Tollgate Gardens Volunteer Office 28115 Meadowbrook Novi, MI, 48377-3128 www.tollgate.msu.edu

Tollgate Garden Advisory CouncilTollgate Garden Advisory CouncilTollgate Garden Advisory Council

Trowel Hand Pruners Loppers Garden Scissors Your Favorite

Weeding Implement Hand Saw

Plant Division Forks Shrub Rake Sun Screen Gloves Knee Pads Insect Repellant

List of Suggested Gardening Implements to Bring

from Home as Needed

Spades

Garden Rakes

Brooms

Wheel Barrels

Weed Buckets

Leaf Rakes

Garden Hoe

Long Handled Garden Forks

Garden Tools Available for Use at Tollgate

Tollgate Garden Volunteers Ballot for 2016 You may cast your vote for the person nominated or write in a member of TGV for the following offices. (NOTE: Be sure if you write in someone’s name, that they are willing to fulfill the office). Please mark your choice, one vote per position, and return this ballot to the general meeting at 7:00 PM

on Thursday, October 15, 2015, when the ballot count will take place. If you wish to mail your ballot, it should be post marked no later than Tuesday, October 13, 2015 in order to ensure its receipt at Tollgate in time for the ballot count. Mail your ballot by folding and using this as a pre-addressed envelope, or in a separate envelope to the address below.

Tollgate Education Center Attention: Tollgate Gardens Volunteers 28115 Meadowbrook Novi, MI. 48377-3128

President ____ Renee Cottrell or ____ _______________________ (Write in)

Vice President ____ Peg Palmer or ____ _______________________ (Write in)

Secretary ____ David Komraus or ____ ________________________ (Write in)

Treasurer ____ Sue Janczarek or ____ ________________________ (Write in)

the tollgate farm news · oktoberfest, autumn in vermont, shrimp, pierogi love, and cooking with...

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