TVGC Projects

Community Service -- Update for September 2022

Barbie Lickness & Judy Sundermann, Co-chairs

This year TVGC has selected a community service project unlike any other we have supported in the past, one that will help special needs adults throughout our valley:  Cultivating Inclusion Farms (C.I.F.).

C.I.F. is a five-acre farm near Murrieta Hot Springs Road and the 215 freeway. Its multiple raised garden beds and fruit orchard provide vocational training and employment opportunities for individuals with special needs, while participating in a true gardening experience. 

Each “farmhand” comes to the farm accompanied by their personal coach to assist them. Watering, weeding, planting seeds and starter plants, and harvesting are all part of their experience. The “farmhands” also learn simple gardening practices and enjoy garden craft projects, as well. 

All produce harvested goes to a local food pantry. So many people benefit from the Cultivating Inclusion Farm. 

Barbie Lickness and Judy Sundermann, co-chairs of the Community Service Committee, as well as several other TVGC members have participated in C.I.F. activities in the past, but the Farm needs more of our help. Much of the work of the Farm cannot be accomplished by the “farmhands”, so that is where we come in to help, completing many of the tasks begun by the “farmhands” and undertaking those gardening duties that are beyond their abilities. 

We are having a C.I.F. Committee Meeting on Wednesday, September 21, 2022, at 8:30 a.m. It will be held at the Cultivating Inclusion Farm, 38775 Alta Murrieta Drive, Murrieta. 

We hope you will consider joining other TVGC members as part of the Cultivating Inclusion Team. We will have a signup sheet at the September meeting and Barbie, Susan Corey and Susan Puma will be there to answer your questions. To learn more about Cultivating Inclusion Farms watch the YouTube video at: https://youtu.be/2XGzFxagiqU

For photos and additional updates, please go to the Cultivating Inclusion page.

Civic Beautification

Temecula Valley Garden Club seeks opportunities to provide environmental landscape design and education.  In past years we did projects such as coordinating the the garden restoration project for the entrance garden at Jacob’s House, an independent hospital hospitality house in Temecula that provides temporary housing for family members who live outside the community and who have a loved one hospitalized nearby, suffering a traumatic medical life event or crisis.  www.jacobshousetemecula.org

This project was led by our community service chairperson Susan Puma.  Our community partners helped to remove their old, overgrown landscaping and replace it with lush, water wise plants, trees and landscape materials and a new irrigation system.  Click on Jacob’s House to see photos and videos of the planting by Waterwise Botanicals.

In 2019-20, we are seeking to plant trees in public areas that need them. The TVGC has selected the City of Murrieta to receive the first tree. The chairperson is Faye Wons. 

On October 9, 2019, Temecula Valley Garden Club donated a Coastal Live Oak to the City of Murrieta. Members of the Garden Club were on hand, with George Moring and Park Maintenance Personnel, to plant the tree. Faye & Whitey Wons worked with the City of Murrieta to place the tree for the Garden Club. Quercus agrifolia, the California live oak or coast live oak, is a highly variable, often shrubby evergreen oak tree, a type of live oak, native to the California.

The 36 inch box required some heavy equipment and a large hole, prepared by the Parks Maintenance Personnel from the City of Murrieta.

Community Service

In 2021, a new major project for the club is the creation of a native plant garden in a public park in Temecula. Our club has designed and will install and care for a demonstration garden at the Sam Hicks Monument Park near the Temecula Valley Museum. The garden will consist of only native plants which are also drought tolerant and help support the natural ecosystem of our community. Our website will provide information on the native plants and the park visitors will be able to see how the plants will look at different seasons and as they mature. We hope to inspire residents to add native plants to their gardens. We are very grateful to the City of Temecula for this opportunity. The committee members leading this project are Master Gardeners Susan Cline, Chris Curtis and Janice Rosner and Committee Chairperson Judy Sundermann.

For further updates, go to Sam Hicks Park page.

The Club will continue its community service projects.  One of these is the Grow It and Give It program which we began in 2009.  Members donate excess produce from their gardens or bring canned and packaged food to our monthly meetings.  All donations are delivered to a local food pantry to help those in need.

In addition to our ongoing projects, we will continue to focus on Youth Gardening projects (as much as we can--given limitations imposed by the pandemic.  Our goal is to help establish sustainable gardens and teach wise gardening practices to local youth groups, to yield a harvest of produce, and to provide a healthy habitat for our pollinators.

One of the new major projects the club will focus on in 2019 and 2020 (and will continue into following years) is the publication of a series of booklets for local residents providing gardening information specific to the Temecula Valley. The first booklet is a guide to selecting the best trees for residential planting, and the second booklet is on shrubs. Other booklets will be on topics such as using native plants in  landscape design, selecting low maintenance and drought tolerant plants suitable for our area, and how to create a healthy garden wildlife habitat. The committee member leading the project is Ruth Lozano.

February 2021 Update:  We have added “Cultivating Inclusion” as a community service project. 

“Cultivating Inclusion” is a four acre farm that provides vocational training and socialization outlets for youth and adults with special needs. The farm could really use our help donating old/new equipment and tools and to help pick produce, grow seedlings, weed, and water. Judy would like volunteers to help out at the property. They are located on Alta Murrieta Drive in Murrieta. Please contact Judy Sundermann or Janice Rosner for further information.

"A little more than a year ago we were asked to help Cultivating Inclusion with their Farm.  Cultivating Inclusion was started in 2015 by the nonprofit Go Bananas with the help of the City of Murrieta.  The purpose is to provide vocational skills training for people with disabilities.  The Farm is a job location for both Day Programs and Adult Transition Programs aimed at adults and youth with special needs.  Last February I was able to help with a craft project and could see how TVGC could be of great help. However, Covid 19 had other plans.  Although the vocational training has been on hiatus, volunteers from the community have been busy improving the Farm in many ways, including an outdoor classroom with a shade cloth cover, new drip irrigation, new raised beds, and mulch to discourage weeds and keep moisture in the ground.  Janice Rosner with the help of Riverside Master Gardeners and Cultivating Inclusion volunteers has been able to make significant improvements including starting the planting of Spring and Summer crops. 

How can TVGC help?  Right now the Farm needs weeding, planting and harvesting.  We want to have a thriving  garden when the vocational training reopens.  I have set up the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays from 10:00 AM - Noon for our club to help.  With four acres we have plenty of room for social distancing.  

Check out Cultivating Inclusion’s Facebook listing:  https://www.facebook.com/CultivatingInclusion

--Judy Sundermann, Community Service and Youth Gardening 

January 2022 Update:  More Great News! Cultivating Inclusion Farm, a project we have been helping for the past two years, received grants this year - $5,000.00 from the City of Murrieta and $5,000.00 from the City of Temecula. The grants will be used to buy tools, fertilizer, soil amendments, irrigation equipment, plants and seeds to help with their mission. Cultivating Inclusion is a 4-acre farm that is a job location for young adults with special needs to learn skills. We grow a variety of fruits and vegetables which are harvested and donated to the local food banks. The Farm is open from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM Monday through Friday at Alta Murrieta Sports Park in Murrieta.

Volunteers are needed!

Members of Boy Scout Troop 384 with parents and siblings picked nearly 2,000 pounds of citrus at Cultivating Inclusion that was donated to local food banks.

To see more photos and additional updates, click on Cultivating Inclusion

Conservation and the Environment

Club members continue to generously support the Penny Pines Reforestation Program to maintain existing tree stands and improve wildlife habitat or replant burned or otherwise damaged forests in the Cleveland National Forest and other areas.  This is done through donations collected at our monthly meetings and gifts to honor special people and in memory of loved ones.  We have received awards from CGCI for our generous donations and the number of plantations purchased in a calendar year.  The chairperson is Valerie Berry. 

If you would like to donate $68.00 for a "Plantation", please download the form attached to this page (scroll down to the bottom of this light green section), complete the form and bring it to a meeting or mail it to the address on the form.

Plantations are important for watershed protection, soil stabilization, shade for recreation areas, and scenic beauty. For more details, go to http://californiagardenclubs.com/pennypines 

Education

Monthly meeting programs, guided field tours, and workshops are activities that increase the knowledge of our members.  These activities are planned by our TVGC members.  The chairpersons are Susan Corey and Lesley Gjedde (Programs), Karolyn Marr and Kathie Taylor (Trips and Tours), and Master Gardeners Christine Curtis and Janice Rosner have planned Educational Workshops for members and the public.

Our Club website and Facebook page offer a wealth of information, including articles and links to other sites.  Members and visitors can find information on upcoming events, all aspects of horticulture, floral design, conservation and the environment.  The website administrator is Patricia Boyd, and Janice Rosner and Jane Payne are our Facebook Administrators. 

At our monthly meetings we have a Master Gardener’s table where members can find answers to their gardening questions.  Members are encouraged to attend educational programs and conferences sponsored by CGCI and other organizations.

See the Workshops page for a list of Educational Workshops open to the public, as well as fun Craft Workshops.

Floral Design

Members are encouraged to attend the Floral Design Forums presented by CGCI Palomar District.  You can find the schedule on the Palomar District page. The CGCI chairperson is Susan Puma.  We have also incorporated floral design into workshops for members to prepare them for entering floral designs at the accredited Flower Show.

Dos Valles Garden Club has invited TVGC to partake in a series of five Floral Design workshops held at the Valley Center Library. Contact person is Ruth Lozano.

Flower and Plant Show

After a hiatus of two years due to the COVID pandemic, TVGC is presenting their annual Flower Show and Plant Sale on April 23, 2022 at the Temecula Community Recreation Center.  The theme is “GARDEN KALEIDOSCOPE … The Exciting World of Color”. At the show, members of TVGC and the community will exhibit the finest specimens from their gardens, their creative floral designs and imaginative botanical art works. Youth and Educational exhibits will also be included. National Garden Club accredited judges will carefully select the winners in each category. As in past years, visitors to the show will be able to purchase a variety of plants grown by Club members, and Master Gardeners will be there to answer gardening questions.

Don’t forget to check out the Opportunity Drawing to take a chance on winning a gift basket or other item of your choice.  There will be so much to enjoy at this year’s Flower Show. Chairpersons are Susan Corey, Susan Puma and Sheri Whitton. For more detail and entry forms, go to the Flower Show page.

Youth Gardening

For the past several years, TVGC has assisted local schools in the development and planting of vegetable gardens and education related to plants and floral design.  The children learn a love of gardening and knowledge about food sources.  Many children have exhibited floral designs and other garden related projects at the Flower Show.  This year’s community service projects will focus on educating our youth to grow and maintain sustainable gardens and create a natural habitat for years to come, and in 2022 with an emphasis on adding native plants that will bring pollinators to the gardens.  The chairperson is Judy Sundermann.

In 2016, Judy was leading workshops at Rancho Damacitas.  For more information go to the Rancho Damacitas page

In fall of 2017, Judy and her committee began working with the second-grade classes twice a month at E. Hale Curran Elementary School in Murrieta.

Go to our Facebook page and search for pics of some of our projects:  www.facebook.com/temeculavalleygardenclub

"Our project at E. Hale Curran Elementary School has been a great experience for all our volunteers. We introduced very eager second grade students to many aspects of gardening, including growing plants from seeds and cuttings, floral design, and starting a vegetable and butterfly garden. In return we got lots of hugs and smiles. I want to thank all the members for their support, ideas and help with supplies -soup cans, beads, pine cones, dried rose petals, dried flowers, etc. Because of your help we were able to provide educational projects that were also fun."  --Judy Sundermann - Committee Chair

September 2018 Update:  "The kids are back in school!!! We will begin our school visits in late September at the Susan LaVorgna Elementary School in Winchester in a before school program. We will be meeting with the students there once a week and helping the students revive the school garden that’s been neglected many years."

October 2018 Update: "We will be working with 24 kids in a before school program at Vintage Hills Elementary in Temecula.   We will have PTA parents helping us."

December 2018 Update:  "Our projects at the elementary schools are going very well. We installed sixteen ollas to help with the watering at E. Hale Curran and planted our winter crop. At LaVorgna Elementary we have planted three of the beds with vegetables and are preparing a bed for several varieties of Iris. Vintage Hills has been great to work with. We have support from their PTA for tools and materials and have planted three of the beds. Rabbits have been a problem but new fencing should be in shortly. It is really great to see the interest of the students at all the schools. Our projects have been successful because of all the help from club members. In October we used over 800 succulent cuttings for the 250 pumpkin cans the children made."

April 2019 Update:  "We try to do the same projects with all three schools. We are seeing the fruits of their labor.  Broccoli, Kale and Chinese Cabbage are thriving.  Pea vines have flowers and onions are sprinkled throughout.  New plantings include strawberries, carrots, radishes, tomatoes, zucchini, and sunflowers. The children are learning about growing plants from seeds, cuttings, and division, and about seasonal vegetables and flowers. 

September 2019 Update:  The students are back in school and we will start our garden programs in late September. Our committee began preparing materials for our lessons at our first workshop in July. We prepared cans for the dried floral design project and the Halloween themed cans that will be planted with succulents.

February 2020 Update:  January has been a great month for school gardens. The rain and mild weather has nurtured the winter vegetables and flowers that have been planted at La Vorgna Elementary and E. Hale Curran Elementary. We should have a good harvest of onions, radishes, carrots, spinach, cauliflower, lettuce, swiss chard, kale and peas in the near future. The students also planted sweet peas, pansies, pinks, sunflowers and snapdragons to attract pollinators to the gardens.

Please continue to save Progresso soup cans, 16oz and the small cat food cans. For the floral design lessons we need dried materials, such as Lily of the Nile, Statice, Baby’s Breath and the pods from the Fortnight Lily.

(Note:  When the Covid pandemic spread, sadly, TVGC activities with schools ceased.)

Scholarships

For a number of years, the Club has offered a scholarship to students studying in fields related to horticulture and other areas consistent with the goals of TVGC.  The scholarship is presented to the chosen recipient at our May general meeting.  Information about the scholarship program and the application process can be found on the Scholarship page.  The chairperson is Faye Carter.

(Note:  The way scholarships at schools are handled changed.  As an alternative, TVGC is contributing money to youth programs through Master Gardeners of Riverside County.)

NGC and CGCI Products

The following is a list of products available to purchase through the websites of the state and national organizations: 

National Gardener Magazine 

Handbook for Flower Show

Creative Flower Arranging

Outlines of Period Floral Arrangement

Creative Floral Design – Step by Step

Essence of Creativity

Stewards of the Land – A Survey of Landscape

Architecture and Design in America

For more information on Penny Pines, follow this link:  https://www.californiagardenclubs.com/penny-pines/