by Gretchen Achenbach   November 15, 2014      … from the Annual Meeting Minutes

photos by Tom Long unless otherwise credited

Date Meeting Held:  November 2, 2013  2:30pm to 8:00pm

Program Coordinator: Penny Warren.

Venue: Buck Hill Farm, in Mt. Solon, has a wonderful big fireplace, warm meeting room and bathrooms, and a giant kitchen with plenty of space to heat up or cool down food for the potluck.

Advanced Education: Hike or Salve-Making: Chip Brown and Sandy Greene led a hike on interpretive hikes. Chip had us testing our powers of observation as we searched through the fallen leaves for a hidden pencil and looked for signs of winter, and Sandy taught some “pocket tricks” that can be used to create interest. Sandy brought hazelnuts and persimmon for tasting, and a sprig of witch hazel shrub with its winter blooming flowers and witch’s hat galls.

fall blooming Witch-hazel, photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Witch-hazel aphid gall cones, photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Advanced Education:  Stokesville Observatory and Starry, Starry Night program: Due to impending clouds, the planned trip to the Stokesville observatory was cancelled. Instead, Chip Brown gave an introduction to astronomy and star viewing techniques, after which we went outside and located the Summer Triangle and its associated constellations of Cygnus, Lyra, and Aquila, as well as several other constellations.

Raffle: Tom Long led the  50/50 raffle. Tickets were $1 each (or 6 for $5.00),where the winner gets 50% of the pot and the rest of the money goes to the 2013 Focus Project. The winner was Ann Murray, who generously donated her winnings back to the Focus Project, for a total of $101. Tickets were also drawn to award several wildlife calendars brought by Paul Bugas.

Environmental Book Sale: Books donated by members were sold to raise money for the chapter. Judy Tammi supervised the sale, which raised $47.

Socializing: Members socialized in front of the fire while dining on many wonderful hot dishes and stews, salad, breads, and desserts.

The Summer Triangle is defined by the bright stars Altair, Deneb, and Vega in the three constellations of Aquila, Cygnus, and Lyra, respectively.

Business Meeting: President Sophia Cliffe conducted a business meeting between the two educational programs which included:

• Sandy Greene’s presentation of Kate Guenther’s power point report on our 2013-2014 focus project to create a certified wildlife garden at the Wildlife Center of Virginia in Waynesboro.
• Presentation of certificates to those members recently achieving Certified Master Naturalist status.
• A vote on new board members and bylaw changes.
• Reports from several board members.