Margaret Goolsby’s family surprised her Saturday afternoon with a birthday party at Hidden Meadows Vineyard and Winery in Jemison, and the family graciously invited CCMGA members. There was wonderful  food, lots of presents, and lot of laughter! HAPPY 80th BIRTHDAY, Margaret!

MEET LEE and WALLY WALTERS. Lee and Wally went through the Master Gardeners Class and certified in 2013. When I first met Wally and she spoke, I fell in love with her beautiful German accent. Lee came to my creaking wagon’s rescue during a work session at my home, oiling and greasing the noise right out of it. That is the kind of people they are:  kind, compassionate, seeing needs and meeting them.

In 2007, Lee and Wally retired and moved to Lake Mitchell outside of Verbena, from Enterprise/Ft. Rucker, AL. Lee is a 43 year Veteran (active, Reserve and Guard) Army Aviator/Flight Instructor (helicopter). He also has commercial fixed wing ratings and several ground instructor ratings. His job has taken him from Texas to Virginia to Iran and then to Ft. Rucker for the last 30 years. Wally retired from nursing, a job she loved. They have been married for 42 years and have 2 sons, Richard, who lives in Birmingham and Marc, who lives in Memphis, TN. They have four grandchildren.

They chose the Chilton County Master Gardener Class because of it being in the county in which they live. During their certification process, Lee and Wally helped with  Plant Sale set up and sales. They also worked with the Fig and Vine Cutting Team in January and helped to propagate fig trees.

Lee has the normal yard maintenance experience and has tried growing citrus in containers. Wally started gardening about 30 years ago and enjoys a nicely landscaped garden. Like many of us, their interest in gardening began with liking things to look nice. This interest led to planting shrubs and flowers in beds and pots. Their favorite aspects of gardening is seeing good results and being outdoors.

Their yard and garden consists of one plus acre of lakeside property on a slope, 1/2 is kept natural, ¼ is Bermuda grass, small area of raised beds, plantings of azaleas, hydrangeas, roses, evergreens, plus annuals and some perennials. Lee says when the work is done, his favorite spot is the lakeside patio or deck. Wally prefers sitting on the balcony overlooking the lake. Between them, they spend 5-20 hours maintaining their yard, depending on what needs to be done. Lee prefers any plant material that is low maintenance. He grows a few peppers, okra, tomatoes(for the squirrels) and some citrus. Wally prefers maples, dogwoods, roses, hydrangeas and a variety of perennials and annuals. Their soil is really poor, so they also do a little composting to use in amending the soil.

Lee prefers hobbies that take him outdoors and close to nature:  salt and fresh water fishing, boating, gardening, hiking, flying and traveling. Wally also likes to be outdoors swimming, boating, hiking, and weeding her flowerbeds. She enjoys classical to modern music, art and travel. Both are avid lovers of animals and are the proud parents of two rotten spoiled cats and are big supporters of the Chilton County Humane Society. They enjoy playing board and card games with their children, grandchildren and friends.

One can guess that Wally is from Germany but the city is Stuttgart, Germany. She met Lee while visiting a girlfriend in Texas. They had a correspondence courtship and after 10 months she joined Lee and the were married in Texas. She has worked as a secretary and as a real estate agent. They have traveled the past four years with Overseas Adventure Travel touring  Boston, New Zealand, Australia, Baltic Countries, Russia and just recently to Argentina/Chile (from the Andes to Patagonia). They have also traveled on their own to Europe and Asia. Wally tries to visit Germany at least every 2 years to see family and enjoy spending an afternoon in one of those great European cafes with tortes, cakes, pies, pastries displayed everywhere.

They believe words to live by are Honesty, Integrity, and Loyalty. They wake up in the morning thanking the Lord for another day. They try always to be cheerful and not take things too seriously.

Lee and Wally say their favorite thing about Chilton County Master Gardeners  are the nice people that are involved.

Steve McAnally has given service and dedication as a volunteer to CCMGA by developing, creating and overseeing the organization’s website. Steve certified with the Chilton County Master Gardeners in 2012. Having limitations that keep him from working with the more physical side of the MG program, he was quickly drawn to his interest and niche’.

In 2009, the Chilton County Master Garden Association needed a new webmaster. Leo Phillips started and managed the website since 2009 but was ready to move on to managing the First United Methodist‘s webpage and to his other interests.

Enter Steve McAnally, a Master Gardener intern enrolled in the 2012 Master Gardener Program sponsored by the Auburn Extension Service. Steve had plenty of experience with computers and web pages in his past working history. He is a graduate of Southern Methodist University and has a professional career spanning 40 years in the computer field.

In 2012 Steve certified as a Chilton County Master Gardener. He worked with Leo Phillips, Sondra Henley and Audrey Giles, to develop a new web site for the Chilton County Master Gardeners Association. In 2013, Trisha Williams joined the Web Team staff. The development started in September 2009 and went live on December 2012. The aim of the web site is to promote Master Gardeners and gardening knowledge. Steve has met these web site goals constantly as he has sought to improve and provide interest and information to the CCMGA as well as to the public audience. The site is hosted by Auburn University and can be accessed at http://www.aces.edu/counties/Chilton/mg/.

Not only has Steve served as CCMGA Webmaster, he has been a member of the 2013 CCMGA Board, meeting monthly to manage decisions and activities of the organization and a member of the 2013 Finance Committee. His value to CCMGA….priceless!

They have assumed one of most difficult chairmanships possible, besides fund raising.

The army is said to travel on its stomach, so do Master Gardeners.

Each month the Knowles make sure that enough volunteers have been assigned KP duty and remember the assignments via emails and reminder cards.

They insure that there is plenty of food and drink – picking up the slack when a lapse occurs.

They share their wealth of home grown fruits, etc with all of us.

The refreshment table is a pleasure to visit during each monthly meeting.

The Knowles embody the best of Master Gardeners – sharing their knowledge of plants, their enthusiasm, and they their enjoyment of Master Gardening.

The Web Team met the criteria of a Service Project. This project provides a window of opportunity for the Chilton County Master Gardeners and the Cyberspace audience to sit in the comfort of their homes. There they can attend workshops and presentations, and read about community service through the many articles we offer along with other resource links. The Web team also met the criteria of Innovative Projects by establishing the newer technology of a web page to become our association’s newsletter. General Master Gardener accomplishments were met as we researched other informative links that would compliment Master Gardener skills and interests.

In 2009 Leo Phillips started the website giving us the springboard for the CCMGA website today. In 2011, a web team started discussing what else we wanted the site to be and become. Today the web team consists of, Steve McAnally, webmaster and site manager, Audrey Giles, writer, photos and designer, Trisha Williams, editor, Sondra Henley, writer and Barbara McAnally, Facebook Page manager. We wanted Master Gardeners to learn about each other and other people important to the MG Program so we chose to provide articles featuring selected people each month. We provide links to AU Webinars on specialty topics, such as the extreme Fire Ant problem Alabama has faced this year. We wanted research based information at the click of a button for MG to easily link to, so we added Gardening Research, along with Master Gardeners in Alabama and State Master Gardeners. We keep our CCMGA informed of daily weather forecasts and volunteer opportunities on our calendar of events. Categories of articles are Community Workshops, Recipes, Musings, Community Assistance, Speaker Bureau, Plant Sales, Extension Activities, Education Outreach, Group Tours, Timely Garden Tips and others.

Anyone who views our site may use the information provided there. We encourage, educate and share, who we are, what we are involved in and hopefully encourage others to join us  @ http://www.aces.edu/counties/Chilton/mg/.

This project meets the criteria of Demonstration Garden, Hands On Program, Community Service and benefitted CCMGA Plant Sales.

The group learned how to prune fig trees and muscadine vines. Agent, Jim Pitts, represented Auburn oversaw the pruning. The hands on activity and what was learned can now be implemented in the participant’s yards, and communities. All Master Gardener Interns and Chilton County Master Gardeners were given the opportunity to participate in the project.

The Fig and Vine Cutting Team included Ed Simmons, coordinator, Alan Reed, Jimmy and Mildred Knowles, Lamar Giles, Rick Miller, Wayne Short, Bob Bates, Lee and Wally Walters, Bettye Glass, Harriett Jackson, Belita Fowler, Margie Robertson, and John Sanders.

As coordinator, Ed contacted his team by email to inform them of meeting dates and what to bring. He made sure the team was properly informed about pruning techniques, ways to keep limbs separated and identified, disinfecting tools, and rooting practices.

Through this team’s efforts the Chilton County Master Gardeners had plenty of identified fig limbs to take home and root for upcoming sales. Fig tree plants are sold every year at the Expo in August, which features fruits grown on the site.

This team’s efforts begin in cold, wet weather in January and ended at the Expo on one of the hottest days of the year. From this team’s efforts, approximately 68 fig trees and 8 vines were propagated. Growing Figs informational handout was given with each sale.

An additional benefit of the trimmings was the waste which was made into vine wreaths. Several other Master Gardeners collected and rolled the vines into wreaths from the cuttings and sold them at CCMGA Plant sales.