Category Archives: Meeting Notes

We’ll see you January 16th for our first meeting of the year to learn about ‘Orchard Landscape Planning’ !!

Upcoming Bainbridge Island Fruit Club meetings:

• 1/18/18 – Orchard/Landscape Planning
• 2/15/18 – Fruit Tree Pruning (with skill building field trip)
• 3/15/18 – BI Fruit Club Grafting Workshop

Meetings are the 3rd Thursday of the month,
6:30pm – 8:30pm at the
Bainbridge Island Grange

Tis the season for cider making!!! We are very excited to have Tom Mueller return to speak to the fruit club about the craft of cider making!!
Yes in deed! Tom is an extreme home cider maker and has graciously agreed to return as a guest speaker to share his expertise and trial & errors with us again!

Day – Thursday October 19th
Time – 6:30pm
Location- Downstairs at the Bainbridge Grange on Madison Ave. (10340 Madison Ave NE, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110)

Tom’s bio —
Tom has been home brewing, making cider and fruit wines for 20 years (when he first moved to Bainbridge). He has been involved in backyard fruit growing and was on the board of Western Washington Fruit Growers Foundation for two years. There they worked with WSU in Mt. Vernon to grow various types of fruit trees and bushes to see what worked best in our climate.

Tom plans on talking to us about how he got into making cider and how he learned the process. He’ll go thru the equipment needed and go over the basic recipe for making cider. He’ll talk about various apple and pear varieties that have worked for him and how to mix different varieties to get more complex ciders. He’ll also tell us what works and he’ll share some of his failures and surprises!

Can you tell we’re excited?!
See you then!

facebook – https://www.facebook.com/groups/BainbridgeIslandFruitClub/

The Bainbridge Island Fruit Club’s September meeting is Sunday the 17th!

• Sunday September 17th at 2pm.
• Location – contact us on FaceBook – Bainbridge Island Fruit Club or BIFruitClub@gmail.com

September’s meeting will be another garden tour! It’s planned for Sunday, September 17th at a club member’s garden.  This is a garden we have NOT visited before so that will be exciting.  We’ll probably also do some fruit sampling while there too.  More to be posted shortly!

Our August Fruit Club Meeting is definitely going to be a fun one!!

Jim is calling it his “Underground Garden Tour” because he will take us on a tour of his garden with a focus on the importance of soil. …Then Darren will demonstrate how to do summer bud grafting, and to top it all off it’s a potluck!

Here is what Jim says –

Join us on August 24th at 6pm. Email us for directions at: bifruitclub.gmail.com. We’ll be digging down to learn how to do a quick soil evaluation, we’ll roam the landscape an see what the plants are telling us about what it is they’re growing in, and how to do a correct soil sample for getting a professional soil test done to see what you’ve got to work with – and what’s missing.

When we’re worn out from slinging all that dirt, our Club President, Darren Murphy, will be demonstrating how to do a summer bud graft on one of the trees to start adding variety to your fruit trees at home without having to add any actual trees!

And, as if that wasn’t enough, we’ll be having a potluck picnic to celebrate summer. Jim has a grill available if anyone wants to cook anything.
Bring something to share and be ready to learn!

You asked for it! You got it!
BLUEBERRIES!
We are fortunate to have a Pam Sinclair speak to us this month about Blueberries. Pam will present an overview of growing blueberries – how to select, grow (soils, pH, watering, fertilizing, pruning, etc.) and the common problems blueberry growers face.
Pam is a longtime nursery person, a certified professional horticulturist and garden educator. She has taught college level soil and plant ID classes, and does a series of basic gardening classes for Valley Nursery in Poulsbo each spring. She has also been published in several national gardening publications.
Pam has been operating a landscape design and consultation business for the past 25 years, GardenGal Designs. She was a longtime resident of the north Seattle area then moved to Kitsap about 10 years ago living in Indianola on the beach for most of that time. She moved to Bainbridge last year. Pam says, “I garden with the help of a loveable but clueless Cocker spaniel and a very helpful, hunting cat. Just wish he was big enough to keep the deer out of the garden!!” “I love talking about plants …any kind!”.
JOIN US FOR A FUN EVENING!

• Location – Bainbridge Island Grange, 10340 Madison Ave NE, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110 (Downstairs)
• Date & Time – Thursday, June 15, 2017, 6:30 – 8:30pm PDT

The Good Fruit Grower Magazine has a ‘good’ 🙂 article archived in the March 2017 edition called – Don’t Invest in Unwanted Growth. Young Trees Can Benefit from Pruning in the Summer.”  Yay!  Now I don’t have to feel guilt ridden by not pruning in the cold spring months!

Hi There Fruit Club!

Here is the low down on May’s club meeting…Permaculture!! Or as our speaker, Scott James says… ‘The (Mis)adventures in Permaculture: A Decade of Fun and Fruit’. Scott says, “It all started with a peach tree…a welcome-to-the-world gift from a neighbor when my little girl was born…”.

Scott plans to talk about– what permaculture is, how he got into it, the benefits of permaculture and maybe some trial & error stories followed by Q&A time.

Please join us for this lively discussion!

• Our meeting (as usual) is the third Thursday of the month, May 18 at 6:30pm.
• Downstairs at the Bainbridge Island Grange– 10340 Madison Ave NE, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110

*Note our new Grange location is at street level entrance on the north side of the building.

Scott James Bio—
BusinessWeek named Scott as one of America’s Most Promising Social Entrepreneurs and Forbes Magazine profiled him as a Game Changer.

The products from his companies have been featured in publications as diverse as Oprah’s O Magazine, National Geographic, Parents Magazine, the Washington Post, Outside Magazine, and US News & World Report. His film projects range from the opening shorts at the United Nations Climate Change Summits (Producer Lyn Lear and Director Louie Schwartzberg) to the breakthrough nature-based series on Netflix (title series: “Moving Art”).

Scott was awarded a Governor’s Award of Excellence in Service by the state of Washington for his nonprofit community preparedness work. His related book – Prepared Neighborhoods – is in the publication process now. Scott’s training includes permaculture, Transition Towns, CERT, as well as mindful movement techniques such as MovNat and yoga…all of which tend to be reflected in his work. Details at scottjames.me.

I hope to see you there!
Tami

Hello Bainbridge Island Fruit Club!

Due to popular demand and because it’s just that time of year, our April meeting topic is “Renovating Old Fruit Trees” with Randy Lee!
Randy will be sharing his expertise in ‘Renovating Old Fruit Trees’ or ….What to do with old trees that haven’t been managed properly. Randy has presented to our club in the past, he is a knowledgeable resource and very entertaining to listen to. Mark your calendar!!

Day: Thursday, April 20th, 2017
Time: 6:30pm – 8:30pm
Location: Bainbridge Grange Hall, 10340 Madison Ave NE, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110

Randy’s Bio-

Randy, grew up on a farm in the Wenas Valley north of Selah WA, hauling irrigation pipes and lighting smudge pots. He has been a WSDA/USDA horticulture inspector, quality manager for Dole NW fruit orchards and facilities, tree fruit packing line manager, researcher and trainer for one of the largest WA state tree fruit grower/packer/shippers in the state, a college educator, agriculture program radio host, food safety consultant for Green Giant, and member of numerous horticultural groups. Randy has a Bachelor of Science in Horticulture from Washington State University, a Masters in Environmental Science from University of Denver, and a Ph.D. in Plant Physiology from University of Idaho, specializing in apple flowering, fruit quality and post harvest physiology. He is a former Master Gardener and trainer to the Master Gardeners. And, “Most importantly I am husband to beloved Wife Lizzie, and father and grandfather to some wonderful kids.”
Randy also likes to fish.

As always bring your friends and get ready to learn some interesting facts about older fruit trees!