The North Thompson Valley Garden Club held their regular meeting on February 17, at the NT Volunteer Centre in the Ridge.
During the meeting they heard a short report from Cheryl Thomas, who has just returned from a visit to Taiwan on behalf of the North Thompson Food Action Network. Thomas will be presenting a report also to the District of Barriere at one of their next council meetings.
The Garden Club is currently planning the following upcoming events:
• In March, members will get together to paint flower pots, which will then be sold at the Celebration of Rural Living Expo and Trade Show in April, where they will be sharing a booth with the North Thompson Food Action Network.
• On April 13, members will be present at the Seedy Saturday event in Clearwater.
• And in May, members are planning to make some hyper-tufa pots. This event will be discussed in more detail at the next meeting.
After the meeting, guest speaker Steven White from Little Fort, spoke on composting.
Many items can be composted: vegetable and fruit peels, rinds, cores, seeds and pits, coffee grinds, tea bags, breads, grains, nutshells, paper, eggshells, leaves, grass and small branches. Green items, such as grass, food scraps, and garden trimmings, produce nitrogen, while brown items, such as fall leaves, straw, and newspaper, produce carbon. The desired resulting ratio is to end up with 30 percent carbon to one percent nitrogen.
Along with several handouts on the subject, White also brought along several books that he has found very informative on the subject.
While some of the titles are likely out of print, most should be available through the local library.
• Composting for Canada, by Suzanne Lewis
• Organic Growing With Worms, by David Murphy
• How to Have a Green Thumb Without an Aching Back, by Ruth Stout
• Square Foot Gardening, and All New Square Foot Gardening, both by Mel Bartholemew