Estelline, SD

At Lister Donley Memorial Garden Thursday, July 31st.  Bring weeding equipment and drinking water.    We will be discussing the output of the Donley family planted garden and its relationsip to the Farmers’ Market and Food Pantry about 8 pm at the shelter.  Some harvest is likely — the Pacman variety broccoli is still producing and there is thinning to do in the row crops.  There will be a short presentation on getting red tomato fruit. 

Market as usual on Friday evening 4 to 7 pm at Bandstand Park.  Then activitites move to the ball park; concessions starts before dark and family entertainment (Shrek , animated ghoul  lives an adventursome life with lots of humor for all ages) on the movie screen at dark 9:30 pm.  Enjoy!

SD Arts Council grant will provide professional services to assist the community in creating a mural on the south side of Ward’s Shopping Center.  Congratulations to Dayle S on the successful application;  ideas and design suggestions are requested — you can mail them to Dayle at PO Box 453 or drop them off at their home. 

Watch for more opportunities to participate in generating art and fund raising soon.

• Water Lines and Electricity are in the trenches;  there will be some settling in the trench area so drop the sod bits and more soil in there,  and WATCH YOUR STEP AROUND THE GARDEN  -THE GROUND IS UNEVEN-
• Children’s Garden plans this year are bolstered by grants from Homemakers (FCCA) for seed and equipment and the Master Gardener Program for programming;  congratulations to Mary B for success in bringing proposals to fruition.  Watch the newspaper for specifics of the Pumpkin Patch Kids 8 weekly sessions, 2 hours each, for students in grades 3-5 to be held at the Community Garden.
• Applications for garden plots are now available at Country Corner and Reliabank.  There are 23 plots tilled, and more space available.  Please send your application in as soon as possible to make planning speed along-  We hope to complete assignments before the middle of May. 
• Conquering the sod in this inaugural year will take effort — for optimal growing conditions we will try to till the garden and remove the grass (please bring your rakes) every 7 to 10 days before the crops go in.
• First garden work day: May 3rd  4-5:30pm        Bring rakes and a trash bag.  We’ll collect ALUMINUM that day as well, so magnets will be helpful.   Bring your own beverage — we’ll have cookies. 

What do you think of having the SD sanctioned chili cook-off in Estelline?  It is one of the ideas that came up after the Tues. meeting.

Who would like a job in Estelline?  Can you help us find a  Farmers Market manager (every Friday night for 18 weeks and promotions time), and a unit director (full time) and a part time staff person to serve a Boys and Girls Club.   Here are three new jobs for Estelline — exciting      YES!     Job descriptions need to be developed: can you help?

We also need leadership help for getting the Club going.  So speak up if you could help out with working or giving ideas.   Contact Tonya Williams.

SDSU Cooperative Extension Service and our community coordinator popped the question  –HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO CELEBRATE  — achieving intermediate Horizons goals?  After mid July sometime they’ll provide the cake and funds!! Whoooopeee!!!!

April 15th we mulled it over a bit and thought a party on Friday in conjunction with Farmers Market would be good.  What do you think?

And “thank yous” to Northwest Area Foundation, and SDSU,and CES staff, and especially the always cheerful Cheryl Jacobs, our coordinator.

A burst of April get togethers — getting prepared for summer!

9th    Grant writing,  school cafeteria 6:30- 8pm

14th   Farmers’ Mkt committee  school cafeteria  6-6:20pm followed by Garden committee 6:30- 8:30pm

15th   Strategic Planning  east room Trails’ Edge  6:30-8:30pm

16th   Green Group meets to discuss spring cleanup etc.    school cafeteria  6:00-6:20pm followed by

16th   Grant writing   school cafeteria  6:30-8pm

Four area residents will give an introductory talk on permaculture at the Legion Hall (Main Street) on Saturday, March 29^th.  The one-hour talk starts at 1 pm and is free and open to the public.  The talk is hosted by the Estelline Area Horizons project.

Permaculture (permanent agriculture) is a design science which integrates landscape and people providing their food, energy, shelter, and other material and non-material needs in a sustainable way.  The philosophy behind permaculture is one of working with, rather than against, nature.

“The permaculture concept originated in Tasmania, Australia, in the 1970s,” said Karl Schmidt, one of the four presenters.  “From Australia it has spread across the globe and is practiced and taught in virtually every country on the planet.”

Schmidt, and his three colleagues, Jane Hegland, Dean Isham, and Jessica Miller, were trained in permaculture design by Bill Mollison, one of the two originators of the concept, and Geoff Lawton, managing director of the Permaculture Research Institute in Australia.

Permaculture draws information from many fields, including agriculture, horticulture, soil science, animal systems, geography, agroforestry, interior design, construction, and engineering.  Its goal is to integrate this information into sustainable planning and design.

“This talk will be of interest to anyone concerned about the future of the planet, food security, and sustainability,” said Schmidt.  “But more than that, it is about sharing the proactive message of permaculture and what people can do themselves in dealing with these concerns.”

For more information, contact Karl Schmidt, 688-4913, or kjschmidt@mchsi.com.

Readers of the Estelline Blog–please notice that the right-hand bar now contains links to the minutes of the Horizons Executive Committee meetings (in Microsoft Word).

 I do not know if anyone else put the crew up that completed the Leadership Plenty Series last fall with the “Can Do” T-shirts but I have one to share with the group!  Again, since I attended the blog traning, I am trying to catch up by sharing some photos. 

I learned how to blog this week at the blog training in Estelline from Cheryl and am sharing photos of the group that attended the program last September in Huron.   Harvey was part of the panel discussion of communities attending and represented the Estelline Horizons group extremely well.