Author: Lee Borden

When we organize a face-to-face program, on, say, starting tomatoes from seed, we are pleased if we get 30 people to attend, and delighted if the audience tops 50. Our views for the videos here on CAMGA.net, on the other hand, routinely number in the hundreds, and it’s not at all unusual for a video to register more than a thousand views. Can you say “impact”?

Simply put, there is no channel of communication available to us that compares with streaming video in terms of the raw power to get the word out. So let’s put it to work, shall we?

It’s hard to imagine any master gardener who doesn’t have valuable information to share, information that fledgling gardeners, and sometimes even experienced gardeners, are eager to hear. What is your story? What are those subjects you understand well enough to be a valuable resource to others? It may not be enough to fill out a CAMGA meeting program or a Lunch & Learn, but it doesn’t need to be. Our videos will all be less than four minutes in length, so your topic can (and should) be narrowly drawn.

We have created a specialty channel just for CAMGA on YouTube, entitled “Stubborn Old Gardeners.” We will produce videos for it that follow a consistent format, and we hope the channel will build a loyal and interested audience over time. If you’re curious why we decided to use YouTube, here’s an explanation.

Curious whether you might be ready to dip your toe in the water? Take a look at 8 Steps, 8 Hours To Your Finished Video to see if this makes sense for you. If it does, you’ll be ready to head to the page called Ready To Submit Your Video Idea? It will take you through the thought process step by step. If you decide to try it, we’ll hold your hand throughout the whole process.

Amanda Borden presented to the Autauga County Master Gardeners Association Lunch & Learn on Thursday, February 2, 2017. Here are her slides from the presentation. We have stripped out all the pictures to allow reading of the text.

Lee and Amanda Borden presented at the Lunch & Learn in Montgomery on February 1, 2017 and addressed organic gardening. Here are their slides. We’ve stripped out the pictures so you can read all the text.

Our Farmbot team has been hard at work preparing for the arrival of Farmbot. We’ve been saying it’s due to arrive in February, but that may be a little optimistic. Actually, Farmbot will begin shipping packages in February in the order they were purchased; we’re not sure how fast they will get down to our order.

No matter when Farmbot arrives, there’s much we need to do to prepare the way. Here’s a report we presented at the CAMGA holiday party on Tuesday.

Farmbot Report

• Your “Farmbot Team” is a loosely organized group eager for additional participants. With apologies to others who have participated but are not named, our group consists of the following persons: John Barnes, Johann Beumer, Amanda Borden, Lee Borden, Lynda Edwards, Linda Griebel, Candy Jones, Mallory Kelley, Mary McCroan, Katrina Mitchell, Carol Pugh, Bill Quailes, and Laurie Weldon.
• There’s lots of information available on Farmbot at https://farmbot.io/.
• We are due for delivery as early as February. We have much to do before Farmbot arrives!
• We will create an outdoor focus area between the existing office building and Queen Ann Road (where the three magnolias are now). It was painful, but we reluctantly decided that two of the three magnolias need to be removed so Farmbot and the control bed we plan to build will be in full sun. The county will pull up the trees by the roots and supply us some decent quality soil to fill in the holes that are left to create a flat area.
• We will build a six-foot privacy fence that will delineate the focus area, which will also provide space for a quail run, a seating area, and an outdoor classroom. It will be served from inside the office building by the west door of the building and from outside by two gates: (1) a pedestrian gate accessible from the southeast corner of the outdoor area, and (2) a vehicle gate that opens onto Queen Ann Road.
• The bed to accommodate Farmbot will run east and west near the southern edge of the outdoor area, but set back far enough from the privacy fence so the fence doesn’t shade it during key daylight hours.
• Because the robotics of Farmbot are precise, the bed to accommodate them must be precise as well. So the bed will be heavier and more thoroughly braced than a typical raised bed. We will use treated yellow pine 2 x 12 boards, braced every 5 feet with posts anchored in earth and concrete.
• We will actually build one long bed 1 ½ meters by six meters, about 5 feet by 20 feet. The end closest to the building will be the Farmbot end, and the end closest to Queen Ann Road will be the control bed.
• In the future, we will have the ability if we wish to do so to extend Farmbot to the entire bed at modest additional cost.
• We will have one or more webcams pointed at the bed so it can be monitored from off site.
• We will organize a handful of workdays to build the bed and then the fence. This is exciting work; we will need lots of hands!
• This document is a work in progress. We will revise it as we develop plans.

 

We are sad to report that we have had to cancel the seminar on Designing Ecological Landscapes scheduled for February 15, 2017 featuring Toby Hemenway and Jason Powell. We have just learned that Toby Hemenway has had to withdraw from all travel because of severe health conditions. Our thoughts and prayers are with Hemenway and his family as he deals with this challenge.

As of now, there are not yet any plans to schedule another seminar. CAMGA will issue full refunds to all those who had already registered and will promptly return any registrations it receives from this point forward.

Renee Thompson is the Harvest for Health Coordinator for ACES. She tells us that there are still places available for cancer survivors within the program. If you know of cancer survivors who would benefit from participation in Harvest for Health, please make sure they see this flyer:

Aren’t you proud of Jane Mobley and Candy Jones for their program on plant classification today? Here are the two books on taxonomy that Jane and Candy recommended:

We’re not authorized to host the slides on this site, but we can send images to them if you wish. Just email Candy, Jane, or Lee Borden and we’ll send them to you by return email.

 

Both Edgar Vinson and Dr Chip East have graciously agreed for us to host here the slides they used this morning for their respective presentations for the Backyard Citrus Program at Elmore County Extension. Thanks, Edgar and Chip!

Edgar Vinson: Satsuma Production Basics

Chip East: Citrus Production

Click below for the slides that Lee and Amanda used on October 18 to help describe the February program. (Note: CAMGA has since canceled the program after Toby Hemenway  withdrew for health reasons.)

On Wednesday, October 5, Amanda Borden taught the intern class at Autaugaville on vegetables. These are the slides she used, with the photos removed so all the text is visible.

Amanda Borden Slides on Growing Vegetables