The following interns completed their hours in August and September and are certified University of Illinois Extension Master Gardeners. They are Martha Baddour, Judy Fraker, Margaret Hill, Berta Lewin, Patricia Plaut, Sheryl Sinnott, Donna Skaggs, Leora Chambers, Laura Feidman, Nancy Gill, Linda Isenhower, Ann Marlow, Carolyn (Carrie) Petracca, Robert Shoop, and Margena Worley.

For me, the 2004 Master Gardener State Conference started off on a high note with "20 Minutes in the Life of a Tree." The speakers gave a lively eye opening "performance" in the peaceful setting of Rock Springs Nature Center. Rarely will you find two speakers so enthusiastic about their topic. It seemed that everyone attending the conference found their sessions and tours not only educational but also enjoyable.

Being Master Gardeners, one of the highlights of the conference was the meals we shared together. Mealtime was used as a time for sharing information from the sessions we had just attended and equally important, it was a great time to get to know each other better.

In addition to the sessions, everyone enjoyed the storyteller, the musicians, the award presentations, the door prizes and the silent auction, which raised more than $3000 for the State Master Gardener Program.

Mark the dates, September 22-24, 2005 on your calendar for next year's conference in Collinsville. Hope to see you there!

- Ann Marlow

STATEwas great! State meeting seemed to be a great success–thanks to all who helped.From boisterous speakers with startling new thoughts on tree planting, to salsa making, to garden stories by MG's and stories by the guest speaker–great lectures, workshops, entertainment, and company. And that WAS Jan Fisher and Marge Perry doing a polka to the strolling musicians playing "Roll Out the Barrel!"

AWARDS: Please submit ideas for awards for business friends, friends of MG's, and community good gardener awards to Christine or myself for our business meeting in November.

BUDGET: Due to larger "carryover" than expected, the budget committee increased allotments for several things for next year including the Garden Walk, programs, community gardens, and Idea Garden improvements.The budget report is available for viewing in the Master Gardener office.

In addition, we have a SCHOLARSHIP FUND in the budget for anyone who would like to attend an event (such as state meeting, bus trip, workshop) but may not have the ready cash for it. We want as many as desire to enjoy the activities. Just ask Sandy & she will try to help if you need it!

PROGRAM COMMITTEE: Next meeting Oct. 7, 11 a.m.–PLEASE attend if interested- they need new co-chairs and new members to continue to inspire us with great programs, AND they have a bigger budget this year. They need to get ideas for next year already and would like your help and thoughts.

IDEA GARDEN: What's up:Lots compliments at State meeting tour. One person said it was "dazzling." We are organizing new chairs and co-chairs for next year so now is your chance to give ideas and experiment with plants you may not grow in your own garden! We are also looking for a new overall IG chair/co-chairs; Children's section co-chair, Strolling Garden co-chair and possiblyfor other areas. We would LOVE to have new input in decisions/ ideas!Get involved, learn more, and have fun while at it. Volunteer.

We are planning on having "Gardeners Chats" next March through October on the last Saturday of the month at 11 AM. Speakers will be hort. educators and MG's.

Euro American donated plants: All those who used plants donated by E-A in the Idea Garden or community gardens, please email me your evaluations of them, how they did, what conditions they were under, etc. by October 21. This is really important to give information back to them so we can keep the plants coming! We had about 850 donated plants this year.

GARDEN DAY 2005: Reserve the date! March 4 & 5, 2005. March 4 to be 1/2 day for just MG's with Tony Avent. Sat. March 5 will have: Tony Avent of Plant Delights Nursery; Erica Glasner of HGTV "A Gardeners Diary"; Barry Glick of Sunshine Farms; and Ken Druse, prolific author whose works include "The Collectors Garden". The theme probably will be "What's New in the Garden." We hope to have new plants/ unusual plants, design info with these & older plants & foliage with dynamic speakers, aaaaand vendors. Shopping, anyone? Happy to have your help with organizing and planning this event, too.

Enjoy the pumpkins, color, and pleasantly cooler weather.

- Ann Tice, President

Mark your calendars to attend the Master Gardener Annual Business Meeting on Tuesday, November 16th at 6:30 p.m. We will start the evening off with our famous Pot Luck Dinner. The Extension office will provide chicken as the main dish. MGs are asked to bring a salad, vegetable, or dessert to share.

At 7:15 pm there will be a short business meeting and election of officers. The nominating committee is Jim Hays, Heather Miller, and Rita Weisiger. At 7:30 p.m. we will have the presentation of awards, followed by reports on presentations at the State Conference.

Please register by Nov. 11 so we will be prepared to feed all those who attend. Call the Extension office at 333-7672 or email Christine at cmartinz@uiuc.edu.

Also note the annual Holly Day Luncheon will again be held at Kennedy's on Tuesday, December 14 at 12:00 p.m.

This brief article presents a few of the tips, tricks, and picks covered in the workshop Surfing the Green Wave: The Master Gardener's Guide to the Web that I presented at the 2004 Illinois State Master Gardener Conference. Workshop self-study materials are available at: http://garden-gate.prairienet.org/mg2004/

You found a great Web site but now you can't find it again because you forgot the address or your dog ate your bookmark. Just as you can find a familiar book on your bookshelf by remembering a few key characteristics – green paperback, large format – make it habit to memorize a finder reminder, for useful Web sites and you will be able to find them again via Google.

Do you go straight to Google with every question and then wonder why you often end up frustrated, scanning through long lists of results, and unable to find what you are looking for? You're not alone. Just as you need to learn your way around the reference books in the Master Gardener office, so you need to learn your way around your virtual library. The following is just a small sampling of long-lived, authoritative horticulture sites that consistently offer high-quality information.

• Ohio State's Factsheet Database [http://plantfacts.osu.edu/web/] is a specialized search engine that searches Extension and University horticulture publications. [Finder reminder: factsheet search engine]
• The USDA Plants Database [http://plants.usda.gov/] is of particular value for native and introduced plants that are found growing outside cultivation. [Finder reminder: usda plants]
• UIUC Weed ID [http://web.aces.uiuc.edu/weedid/]. An interactive weed ID key for Illinois. [Finder reminder: weed id uiuc]
• If know your tree or shrub by its botanical name and want to learn more about it, visit the UIPlants database [http://woodyplants.nres.uiuc.edu]. A great self-study resource. [Finder reminder: uiplants]
• Chicago Botanic Garden Illinois' Best Plants [http://bestplants.chicago-botanic.org/] offers a searchable database of plants tried and tested in Illinois' fickle climate. [Finder reminder: bestplants]
• Search Google Images [http://images.google.com/] or Webshots [http://community.webshots.com/] for pictures of plants you're interested in.
• The Garden Watchdog Guide to Gardening by Mail [http://www.gardenwatchdog.com] is a collaboratively maintained database of consumer reviews and opinions of mailorder sources. Check before you shop!

If you have questions or comments, please email me at fletcher@prairienet.org. If there is sufficient interest, I am willing to repeat the workshop for the local crowd.

- Karen Fletcher

Actually it may be a little late to be making herbal vinegars if your herbs are looking a little ratty and ready for frost. BUT if your basil is still going strong and you have a second or third crop of volunteer dill or cilantro then it's vinegar time. There are several rules for making good herbal vinegars and I rarely see all of them included so here goes:

1. Check to make sure the vinegar is at least a 5% acidity. White wine vinegar is especially lovely (but more expensive) to use as your "base" but my second choice is white vinegar and third is cider vinegar. Red wine may be used with strong flavored herbs like basil, garlic, or rosemary.Cider vinegaris also good with mints, lavender, and roses for a bath vinegar (one you use inthe tub or spritz on your skin instead of using for cooking).

2. Use herbal vinegars in your recipes instead of lemon juice. You can decide what flavors you prefer in your recipes and make the vinegar accordingly. For delicate chicken recipes you mightuse a vinegar with a "base" of white wine vinegar or white vinegar infused with herbs such as tarragon, basil, shallots, marjoram, dill, bay, lavender, rosemary–but probably not all these in one vinegar. Choose several that seem to go together such as tarragon, shallots and maybe one more. Another herb vinegar combination for potato salad or cucumber and tomato salads would be an herbal vinegar containing dill and garlic. Use your creativity and common sense; look at how you cook and make the kind of vinegars you need in your kitchen. LABEL THEM.

3. Harvest fresh herbs just before they bloom when the flavor is strongest, between 10am and noon on a sunny day–make sure they are clean (hose them down the night before or early in the morning so they dry naturally). Herbs must be dry or the acidity will be diluted in the vinegar.

4. Fill bottles or glass jars with sprigs of herbs or coarsely chopped herbs (smash the garlic cloves). I usually fill the container about 2/3 full. Pour the vinegar of your choice over the herbs and CAP WITH NONMETAL LIDS (cork or use plastic wrap between jar and metal lid). To hasten theflavoring, heat the vinegar in a porcelain, ceramic,or glass pan to just below the boiling point and pour over herbs. Let the containers sit for 2 weeks to one monthdepending on what strength you want. If you use chive blossoms or opal basil it's fun to see the color infusing into a white vinegar.

5. If you make a "seed vinegar", use 3 Tbsp. of crushed seeds (such as caraway, celery, mustard, cardamom, fennel, dill, anise, cumin, coriander) to 1 quart white wine or malt vinegar. Heat vinegar to just below boiling point and pour over seeds. Let stand about 2 weeks.

6. When the vinegar is "done", strain (I use coffee filters) into a clean bottle, add a fresh sprig or the herb used to enhance the appearance. Label. Cap with non-metal (cork or plastic lid). Hardware stores have bags of corks in a variety of sizes. You may take some raffia and tie around the bottle neck with another sprig of herb.

7. I can't find a recipe right now for fruit vinegars but raspberry and blueberry vinegar usually includes some sugar and usually uses white vinegar. Fruit vinegars are wonderful for fruit salads or pie crust recipes that call for 1 Tbsp. or so of vinegar in the crust and then fill the crust with peaches or other fruits.

I checked a source book for recipes for herbal oils and it said some of the same things for the vinegars–pour warmed oil over herbs and after two or three weeks strain into a clean jar, etc. HOWEVER that is no longer suggested because of the possibility of salmonella. I recall theJanuary Herb Seminar several years ago where Rosalind Creasy (who writes regular foodarticles for Country Living Gardener) demonstrated a marvelous way to do herbal oils.

1. Use skillet to gently warm extra virgin olive oil. Put your herbs such as garlic and rosemary in the skillet and warm for a few minutes (do not allow garlic to get brown because it gets bitter) until the flavors intensify and then pour the oil off into a clean container. It should be refrigerated.

2. Good choices for herbs for oils would include basil, fennel, marjoram, rosemary, savory, tarragon, thyme, garlic, shallots, and bay. Again choose a few that go together for the way that you cook.

Rosalind Creasy then went on to demonstrate making roasted potatoes with herbal oils. I had been constantly frustrated with roasted potatoes getting too dry and crunchy but Rosalind's recipe makes the perfect roasted potato.

• Use a cast iron skillet, have several tablespoons of herbal oil in the bottom of the skillet.
• Cut baking potatoes lengthwise and put face down on the oil.You can have some rosemary in the bottom of thepan for extra flavor.
• Sprinkle with kosher salt and bake until done.

I can't remember what temperature or how long she said. I just usually bake it at 400 degrees until done; the time varies depending on the size and type of potato I use. Baking potatoes are great but if you can find them, Klondike Rose are a yellow-fleshed red potato that can be used many ways and are really excellent. Bon appetite!

- Marsha Eischen

I once read in a realtor's magazine that a swimming pool decreases the value of a home and a garden water feature increases the value. Easy choice. I decided to dig a pond for Koi and exotic water plants.

I anticipated the project to be a learning experience, but not to the extent of how much. I should of had a clue when the construction company which built my house solemnly expressed that they were not comfortable in doing the electrical work for the waterfall. I started digging anyway. Wiring could come later.

Digging a pond is hard work. The first major lesson turned out that getting rid of the dirt was a thousand times harder! Maybe not the first flash of insight, but real close to the beginning. There were so many. Fortunately, a vacant lot only two miles away looked like it might need some fill. As I pushed my wheelbarrow repeatedly past a neighbor's swimming pool I wondered whether I made the right decision. Never did trust those real estate people.

The hole was dug, and equipment delivered including liner, hose, couplings and pump. Other parts also arrived, but I didn't know what they were. Some were even left over when I was done. Called and asked for a refund, but they couldn't stop laughing long enough to get my name. Sent them another person's name. Hope someone got a refund.

My initial calculations gave a 4000 gallon pond. The 4750 gph pump would be just right given distance from intake to header pool and the increase in elevation. All precisely planned. However, I got tired pushing my wheelbarrow to the nearby vacant lot. The pond turned out to be only 1000 gallons on a rainy day. But on the plus side I could turn on the pump for an hour and oxygenate for a week. That's important for Koi.

Also important for those fancy fish is a depth of five feet to allow freedom of movement and survival during the winter. Using advanced trigonometry and basic biology I realized no Koi could ever live in my two foot pond. Lesson number 318. Was the increase in real estate value due to how much I was learning?

Things work out though. Koi eat plants and cost six million dollars each. Must be because they are bionic. I browsed the local department store for goldfish. Better name and way less money. I bought five hundred fish and fifty pounds of food. The first feeding frenzy rivaled my waterfall. And action in the pond was much more consistent than the waterfall until electrical short circuits fried all the fish.

I decided to postpone restocking the pond and concentrate completely on plants. Morale increased, and I thanked my good fortunes. Due to delays caused by multiple wheelbarrow trips to the vacant lot it was October and all those exotic plants were now on sale. What beautifully blooming tropicals could I get for my zone 5 water feature?!

- Robert Shoop

Phrustration happens in many aspects of one's life. The computer crashes or gives you a message that strongly implies that you are an idiot. Your car tells you when the car door is open and all kinds of signals of your inattention. The many pests that want to pheast on MY phruits are a major phrustration phor the the phrugal pharmer. Currently Japanese beetles are on the top of the hit list. They love MY blackberry and raspberry bushes. They have partially defoliated MY plum trees. Worst of all they attack MY peaches the minute they begin to ripen. I take some personal sadistic satisfaction in drowning hundreds in a little bucket of soapy water. Applying dorsal-ventral digital pressure to them also satisfies a vengeful urge. I wasn't available to spray the phruit trees at appropriate stages to keep the curculios, peach borers and codling moths at bay so it is somewhat my phault that many phine peaches, plums and apricots reveal a little white worm and their paths near the seed that lessens the appeal. My apples and pears have a very nice outward appearance but also sometimes contain a juicy, disgusting little worm and some rotting phruit phlesh. We mustn't forget the raccoons that love MY cherries and don't mind breaking down the branches to help themselves. Oh yes, the unsolicited pruning of MY apples, peach and peach trees by deer. Each tree less than eight feet tall is completely enclosed and encased in woven wire. With the spacing between the wires greater than two inches the nose of the deer can reach in and browse and prune even with protection. MY cucumbers have been stripped of every leaf that extends beyond the enclosing wire. My wife claims rightly so that they are only doing what they do and have a right to eat as well. I will have to admit that we have had a bountiful harvest in spite of sharing it with others. I just hope that they leave some for me.

- Phil the Phrugal Pharmer

All Master Gardeners including trainees, interns and actives are encouraged and welcome to attend any programs or meetings. All meetings and programs are held at the Extension office unless stated otherwise.

Don't forget to join the Morning Glories for coffee and camaraderie at Old Farm Paneras on Wednesdays at 7:30 am. Look for the morning glory flowers. Contact Bev Cotter 359-2703, bcotter1957@yahoo.com.

OCTOBER

October 5, Tuesday, 1:00pm – Wildlife Mgnt. – Conflicts with Deer, Rodents and Other Wildlife Telenet. Dave Shiley, NRES Mgnt. Educator will discuss decision-making process and talk about wildlife nuisance options available.

October 7, Thursday, 11:00am – Program Committee October 7, Thursday, 1:00pm – Advisory Committee Community Garden Committee reports to Advisory Committee on accounting/evaluations.

October 7, Thursday, 7:00pm – Wildlife Mgnt. – Conflicts with Deer, Rodents and Other Wildlife Telenet – Repeated
October 15, Karyn Traum's last day - We'll miss you, Karyn!

October 21, Thursday 1:00pm – Idea Garden Committee Mtg. Nominations for Golden Trowel awards should be forwarded to advisory committee.

October 23, Saturday, 9:00am –12:00pm – Fall Idea Garden Workday

October 30, Saturday, 9:00am –12:00pm – Fall Idea Garden Workday

NOVEMBER

November 4, Thursday, 11:00am – Program Committee

November 4, Thursday, 1:00pm – Advisory Committee

November 16, Tuesday, 6:30pm – Annual Business Meeting. Potluck at 6:30pm followed by a short business meeting at 7:15pm

November 18, Thursday, 1:00pm – Idea Garden Committee Mtg.

DECEMBER

December 8, Wednesday, 12:00pm – 5:00pm – Interviews for new MG Applicants.

December 14, Tuesday, 11:00am – Holly Day Luncheon at Kennedy's.