Whitehall Garden Club News: April

Whitehall Garden Bug, Oops, Club: Is Spring finally in the air? Let's say yes! and get on with it! The WGC had the Spring-i-est meeting yet starting with a trip down Farmer McGregor's garden full of delicious breakfast treats. Karen Ranta and Janet Chapman prepared for the WGC Social a scrumptious egg casserole, followed by an apple crumb pie, a berry strudel, and cranberry bread, oh my! The WGC does enjoy the social part of their meetings and we thank Janet and Karen for creating this scrumptious Taste of Spring!

Being completely satiated, President Kathy Ross officially began the April meeting with a Fast Ten presentation by Ann Palmer discussing mushrooms, their benefits, dangers, and culinary preparations. Mycology is the study of fungi and it's always good to have a mycologist with you, as you go hunting for mushrooms. Ann brought mushroom samples for us to view, and enlightened all of us with information about the mysterious yet marvelous mushroom.

The meeting continued on with committee reports and discussions of upcoming events. Mark April 28 on your calendar reminding you of the annual Arbor Day event held in the Community Center. It is a wonderful event with representation from agencies everything "tree" and beyond. There will be lots of information, vendors, and experts available.

At the conclusion of the formal meeting, President Kathy Ross introduced the program on Entomology, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. A quick lesson on insects (90% of living creatures on this planet are insects!), but Musca Domestica (the common housefly) dominated Jayne Dean's presentation with lots of prejudice and bias, as noted with her facial expressions, fly swatter, and vivid descriptions. However, the day was saved when fly fisherman Ann Palmer (in full fly fishing garb) entered stage left and began to not only extolled the many benefits of most species of flies but insects in general.

Ann shared the secrets to good fly fishing, how to watch for the insects that are around, on, or in the water to know what fly to use. Ann also discussed the many values of insects (as pollinators, the decomposition of organic material, food supply for so many animals, etc.) with many samples, books, and charts being passed around supplied by Kaleena Miller from the MSU extension office right here in Whitehall! Hence the name of this presentation, my friends The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly!