[MassChestnutOrchards] FW: matacf minutes aug. 2009

[Yvonne Federowicz]

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*    MATACF Morning Growers Meeting  8/2/2009  Brian Clark's Farmhouse,
Ashfield, MA
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Present:  Rufin Van Bossuyt, Charlotte Zampini, Mike Novack, Brian Clark,
Rich Hoffman, Bruce Spencer, Jaime Donalds, John Emery, Brad Smith, Mike
Meixsell, Guy Shephard, Lois & Denis Melican
Ruth Anderson, Mr. Anderson

F1s  are doing well in various place
Some have gone to SKLT, Glocester, Yvonne's yard temporarily

Controls went to SK.  Rufin planted short Nanking line at Dartmouth.
Dartmouth is having trouble
Riverbend may have gravel underneath, having trouble in areas
Exeter line went there.
Doing well, dug holes.

Westerly still needs seedlings planted

Pollinations: 
YF did Exeter & E Greenwich Nanking, Exeter & Glocester -Clapper
John Emery did several also

Brain Clark did a great job on the large Conway tree

There is still an issue on how we can get the nuts ˆ Board meeting issue on
money expenditures

Charlotte has agrifos/Pentrabark mix.  Mix it just before use, wet bark
completely.  Becomes systemic.

Inoculations done in June ˆ did 200-250 trees ˆ had two four-person crews,
that part worked well.  Was a big job though.
Pre-chosen trees ˆ that was important.  (flagging) with labels
Borer & marker, inoculator, taper, and recorder
Put two sets of holes in a few trees.  That would make for a bigger task
though.
We moved fast, was fairly tiring.

Rufin:  early Medway ones are gettings much larger.  All the moisture has
enabled many to put on 2-4 feet of growth, with no fertilizer.

We would like more feedback from Kendra  about what we are judging on before
we rogue things out.

John Emery:  EP inoculation sites are about 10% smaller than the other...
Could have been condition of the inoculant.  Diameter of colony shouldn't
matter.

They do a snapshot approach on judging inoculation sites.

Jamie & Charlotte:  Orchard reports needed by September 15th.  Easier in the
autumn to measure. 
National would like the data for the annual meeting but Charlotte needs to
compile them.

We aren't all in National's standardized format yet...

Stirling has no orchard manager at the moment.  Two people is better.

All F1s distributed this year were Upton x Fitzburg ˆ KJ1.

Under 10 feet ˆ measure height
Over 10 feet ˆ estimate and caliper

SK/MG orchard doing well
Glocester needs its pump ordered

Westerly ˆ additional irrigation equipment delivered yesterday
Brian Pistolese ˆ 1991 TACF

Might need calcium ˆ Mike N.
Soil test very important
Yvonne will ask the Master Gardeners
Scrubby white oaks there are also fairly short

Rufin:  orchard maintenance
lots of effort has gone into pollinating and planting
difficult when people have moved

Conway and Stirling were left without managers for a while
Lancaster also
Stockbridge
Craig Moffit has back problems

Lots goes into pollinating and getting orchard established
Mike M. isn't that a function of orchard location?

Roving crew could help

Can we get Kendra involved with the roving orchard maintenance?

CT, VT, NH have been utilizing Kendra's time a lot

Getting crews out to do maintenance is harder

Making sure that each orchard has a monitor/manager
A lot of the work doesn't take much time

Can Kendra help organize a work day?  Bring out food etc.
An intern next year could be good.

Next year pollinations:
One for John Emery's in Nankin
Possibly another for SK?

Others?

May do one or two more if we have good partners
Yvonne: suggested that new orchards be vetted partly on their availability
of people to help rather than just land.

Jamie:  we need people to look at what we have, it's difficult

Letting people know when you have help important

Can we assign Stockbridge to Kendra? Jamie will talk to Kendra about
Stockbridge

Kathy: Vincent Hebert Arboretum interested ˆ lots of foresters available but
need to know what to do

Organic mulches for Stockbridge
Yvonne will get name of organic fertilizer she used on blueberries

Mike N.: our „development‰ is different from many nonprofits ˆ it's person
-time

Trustees of Reservations contact ˆ can they adopt an orchard?

Lois:  We should make a simple document to organize all the summer tasks and
share it


Next summer is lots of inoculations: Elder Hostel?  Earthwatch?


Charlotte and Lois will work on the Earthwatch.
Trustees of Reservations ˆ how can we move that along? Guy is involved in
his local TR group.
We haven't heard back from the Mount Gracie person.
Anne Myers had contacted TR but nothing developed ˆ they are active inareas
slightly different from us.

Guy will try to make some contacts and get back to Jamie.

Deer repellants tbd.

Seed Orchard
DCR has been pro-seed orchard ˆ Lois and Denis.
A MOU is underway but still in the works
This is about the large seed orchard at Moore State Park.
They would send us a MOU
Denis: chestnut chocolate ice cream was made... it went over very well with
the DCR personnel
Ben & Jerry's should have a chestnut ice cream flavor...
Denis has promised us all some at our annual meeting...


Mt.Gracie might be willing to do an easement for a long-term seed orchard
also Mike Novack has volunteered land
Charlotte: excellent fields near Wachusett Reservoir
Large open fields
DCR land also

Existing orchards can be reused as a single „block‰ for seed orchards

Seed orchard maintenance will be different
Once selected, they just get to grow
Initially will be very close together

Need water access or truck
Water buffalo not big enough for DCR spot?

There is a well in the field nearby

Mike Novack's area has plenty of water available ˆ stream that never dries,
several springs

Need soil testing done on area ˆ Bruce Spencer
soil structure too

Lois and Denis will get a comprehensive soil test done

John Emery:  should we plow/treat in advance?

John Meiklejohn did plowing and it helped a lot


Next year we could be doing crosses for the seed orchard, then plant in 2011
Do some test plantings, soil testings, irrigation, etc. next spring -


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*      Afternoon Board Meeting   1:25pm Brian Clark's Farmhouse, Ashfield,
MA
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Board Members Present: Jamie Donalds, John Emery, Brad Smith,  Mike
Meixsell, Guy Shepard, Lois Melican, Denis Melican, Kathy Desjardin, Yvonne
Federowicz, Rufin Van Bossuyt, Charlotte Zampini, Mike Novak, Rich Hoffman,
Brian Clark, John Mirick

Guests present: Ruth Anderson, David Anderson, Barbara Clark Graves, Susan
Clark, Penny Novack, Phil Ewnip(sp?) curator of birds and mammals at San
Diego Natural History Museum, Nelson Cawkins an original MATACF charter
member, Bruce Cawkins his son, Judy Hoffman

Brian Clark says farm has been in family since grandfather bought it in 1886
 Original farmhouse was up the hill
In the 1920s they added a second floor
Was dairy and apples, now just apples

Chestnut orchard is up road,Hawley orchard is on another piece of their
land.  They have about 70 acres of apple trees -
Tens of thousands of trees

Trees have gone in over several decades
Apples are the commercial crop.  Whole Foods and Trader Joe's main markets.
They use IPM

* Treasurer's Update Mike

No funds restricted right now

Normally this time of year we'd be negative ˆ shows that we haven't spent as
much on orchard supplies this year.

Rich Hoffman: he never gets notified if his donations to our chapter thru
National actually get to us.  Mike N. does get that.  No one has asked him
to verify that independently that we have the money in the accountˆ he will.
Organizations should periodically verify this by more than just Mike.


* Jamie:  we will ask Mike N. to bring in a bank statement to verify.

Also members can send Mike note via email and he can verify that we received
the donation directly to chapter

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*  Motion: approve Treasurer's Report: Mike M., seconded Brad.  approved
unanimously.
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* Secretary’s Report:
Kathy: Membership is 337 members.  Contacts: reports of possible mother
trees, forwards to Charlotte and Rufin.

At the ISA Fair we had a “Learning Box” from National, it was very nice

Kathy renewed our mailing permit.

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* Motion to Approve minutes from last time ˆ Brad, seconded Jamie.  Approved
unanimously.
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Our membership is down slightly.  It fluctuates a bit.  Economy is bad.

Kathy receDonations over $250 in a year require a special letter from the
donee.  kathy will ask National how this works.  We need at least 1/3 of our
support to come from the general public.

Executive Committee ˆ how does this work?

Jamie ˆ usually officers plus one at large.

Jamie will use the Committee:Mike Novack suggests $1000 as the limit.

Executive Committee is 4 officers plus past presidents.

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* Motion: A phone bridge will be usable for Executive Committee Votes;
* expenditures will not exceed $1000.
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Board of Directors should be notified when we decide to spend any money this
way by the next Quarterly Board Meeting via Email and then a report at the
meeting.
 Mike Novack. seconded by Rufin. Approved unanimously

Tower Hill event:  25 year anniversary honoring John ?.  Brad: let's give a
plaque from Guy with an inscription

NC Newsletter has an article about a scientist who worked with Dr. Graves,
in Berkshires.

Jamie and Brad will work on covering the Tower Hill event.

The ongoing saga of the weedwhacker...

Guy will donate a good steel weedwhacker to the chapter.

Everyone thanked Guy.

Chapter reimbursement for Jamie's travel.

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* Motion: cover Jamie's autumn meeting National TACF travel not to exceed
$400.  Guy.  
* Seconded: John Mirick. Approved unanimously
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We should plan for this to be in the budget and not approve it on a
case-by-case basis ˆ John Mirick.

Mike N. - we will be getting into a period of significant fluctuation.
John M. - usually in nonprofits budget is approved in advance, Executive
Committee can then go ahead and spend it as long as it does not exceed
this.

Annual Meeting ˆ Location and Speaker

Asian Longhorn Beetle? Guy volunteered to find us a speaker.  Rufin:  oaks
and beech are not preferred ALB hosts.
Federal people have mentioned chestnut but they could be meaning horse
chestnut.

New National CEO could come ˆ Rufin? Perhaps next year after he settles in
more
Lois ˆ Collin Novick is a very good ALB person from near Worcester. He is
very interested in chestnut.
National Grid facility in Worcester a possibility. Guy will look into the
spot.  Brad ˆ we could also connect with other beetle groups.  Clint Neal
also is with USDA ˆ came to speak on ALB.

Newcomer sessions at Annual Meeting ˆ how elaborate should it be?
The Learning Box works well for that.

Brad wouldn't mind making up an introductory slide show and bring people up
to speed quickly, early on.

15 minutes before the meeting starts, Brad will hold this.  Opportunity for
questions.
Also a section: where we need help.

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* Annual Meeting Date:  Tentative is November 15th if this works for the
venue.
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Kendra:  not present.

Rhode Island: SKLT: John Mirick to get them a modified Germplasm agreement?
Yvonne has the basic one.

Westerly needs assistance (see morning minutes)
Has new orchard manager, Brian Pistolese.  Will be getting soil tests, etc.
Seed Orchard Development
John Mirick & John Meiklejohn.  Very difficult to bind municipalities.
Private land can be difficult to obtain 30-year commitment on.  MOUs get
something into municipalities but still can't bind the public.
Easement agreements for existing orchards.
Deeded easement vs. deed.  Landowners might want a charitable donation and
deed property over.  They would get fair market value deduction.  Deeded
easement gives lower tax deduction,. (John Mirick)

Would want access to water and a few other similar things.  Particular
situations would differ.
John Mirick: at end of 30 years, what do we want with the trees and land?
Logs?
Land donations: we might be stuck with taxes to pay
John Mirick:  getting a financial aid to people donating use of lands is
good

In a perfect world, what would we want from landowners?

What is the minimum we can accept?

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Everyone:  email John Mirick & Meiklejohn answers to those questions. They
will put together a report for the next meeting.
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Lois & Denis will forward anything from DCR to Jamie.

An electrician friend of D&L have put in solar-powered deer fencing.
Brian: solar fencing has been very reliable for them, more so than regular
Leo Miller ˆ Friend of Melicans

Rufin: Norcross Foundation has donated to the CT chapter, perhaps we can get
something from them as well

Mike N: materials need to last 30 years
Jamie: try to get donations

Trustees of Reservations
Rufin:  Trustees were interested in having a seed orchard in Munson but
smallish, better for demo orchard.  however they do have a field that is
overgrown, needs work on invasives. Not sure about irrigation.

Mike N.: Demonstration orchards vs. 4-blocks sizes ˆ less than 100 by 100
feet ˆ can be put in.

Rufin will look into site again ˆ would need to be investigated for next
summer.  Josh from Trustees of Reservations

Charlotte ˆ orchard report
John Emery and Yvonne did pollinations
We will have several inoculations to do next summer

„Trees in the Urban Landscape‰ - Lois ˆ would like Chestnut Foundation to do
presentation ˆ Elm tree is part of it, can chestnuts be part of this?

That is 2 days before our annual meeting.

Who can take the day off work...
Lois will find out the time.

ISA (International Society ... Arboriculture) Meeting:

We put together a table with display, talked to many people. Rufin, Kathy,
Yvonne, Guy  - canopy, Learning Box from National helped quite a bit.  Lots
of spontaneous conversations. Tree Climbing competitions.  Tour de Trees
Different groups donated a great deal of money for research and
scholarships.

Hazelnuts also will have to be crossbred to make resistant European
hazelnuts to an American disease.  Rutgers and Oregon State have a breeding
program. 


Spring National Board Meeting:  proposal to have regional representative on
Board instead of States.  Possibility of valid points with „greenness‰ of
some Presidents going in.  Jamie wanted continued Chapter representation but
not necessarily Presidents.

Mike N.:  might be best to let Chapters decide.  Might want President or
might want other. 

Some people thought Board was too large and too green.  Some Chapters elect
a President for one year.
Susan Cormier had suggested that President can appoint someone to represent
chapter to National meeting.

ISA has 37 chapters.  Each chapter elects a President and a delegate to
National. 

Rufin:  make terms at least three years on National representation

Some people are „at-large‰ members

Bennington Office being closed at end of year.  Asheville is new place.
Unknown if Daphne to continue.

Orchard Signs finally all done!  Paid for, etc.

Elections:  Is Frank Howard still on the Board?
Yvonne will email who is going to be over their term limits, who is up for
elections etc.
Would Dave Anderson like to be a Board member?
Lives in Lancaster.  Jamie will give him a call.

Denis: fall fundraiser at Moore State Park.  What if it raised funds for
MATACF?  Seed Orchard?  Mid-October?   Get a resistant chestnut for Governor
of MA to plant next spring?  media event.

Denis & Lois did an excellent paper on chestnut for their class at the
Landscape Institute, passed them out.

Might grow into a harvest festival with chestnuts in a few decades

Please email Denis and Lois if you would like to work on this


Autumn Meeting:  Let's shorten the growers meeting

1 hour for the autumn grower's meeting

Start at 1 pm -> 4pm

October 3rd 1pm-4pm

Possibly Riverbend

TACF President is offering Legacy Trees ˆ 25 seedlings

Adjourned 4:22 




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