Date: Wed. July 15

Time: 1:00pm Meeting • 2:00pm Speaker: (no one at this printing)

Place: Extension Office

Topic: No special topic as of this printing...if you can do one see below. Note: Have a topic of MG interest or a guest speaker you would like to have at any our meetings? (Please contact either Pres., Margie Karl or V. Pres. Norm Meyn.)

I really appreciate all the support and hard work being done by the Peoria County Master Gardeners. All of our approved projects have added an educational component this year. That should make all of us very proud. It hasn't been the easy route to take at times but I know both the community and Master Gardeners are benefiting from our efforts.

I also want to express my appreciation for the ongoing hard work from the rest of the board members. They make my job as President much easier. A lot of the behind the scenes efforts are not always as seamless as they appear.

Thanks to my helpers/leaders on the Jr. Master Gardener project too. We are going strong. Last Tuesday, after weeding our vegetable gardens, we discussed wildlife habitats. Jr. MGs are currently interviewing neighbors to increase backyard habitat awareness and understanding. Neighbors having a backyard with all the basic needs of wildlife will be awarded a Backyard Buddy certificate by the Jr. MGs. As a fun project, each Jr. MG will be making their own gourd bird house to create shelter for a bird in their own backyard.

Thanks to a very thoughtful "helping hand" who provided us with a jar complete with larvae and host food, we are also learning all about the life cycle of the Monarch butterfly. They are now hatching out of their chrysalis into butterflies and we will soon set them free. The complete metamorphosis has been very amazing.

So as we move forward into the hotter weather and start to really unfold the bounty of the summer months, I leave you with this: "Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul." ~ Henry Ward Beecher

- Margie Karl