New Date and Location for December MRFC Holiday Party

2024 MRFC Holiday Potluck:

Location: Palma Sola Botanical Park, at the indoor Galleria area

Date: Sunday, December 8 

Schedule:

1:30-2:00: Setup

2:00: Meal

Fellow MRFC Members,

The Sunday MRFC Holiday Potluck at Palma Sola Botanical Park is a Go

Most MRFC members have seen the emails about the holiday potluck planning. With the Harlee Center in use for all of December, and Palma Sola Botanical Park unavailable on our usual meeting night due to its Winter Nights Under the Lights event, we decided to move the potluck to the afternoon of Sunday, December 8, with setup at 1:30 and meal at 2:00. But the good news is that Palma Sola can let us use its indoor Galleria area, which has exactly the facilities we need.

The expected turnout will be less than our usual holiday bashes, but we decided to go ahead. Our thanks go to all of those who sent RSVP’s. If you didn’t RSVP, it’s still OK to attend. Indeed, we will be delighted to see you. But please do RSVP in the future-- it’s very helpful for the event planners.

The MRFC will supply a turkey (tip of the hat to our chef, Dennis Gretton), water, and tea; attendees will bring their side dishes and, if they wish, beverages. Please remember to bring your own plates and utensils. 

RSVP to MRFCemail@gmail.com and include:

(a) The number of attendees you will bring, including yourself, and

(b) The side dish you will bring.

Current predictions are for nice weather, so we should be able to tour the fruit tree collection and see where the restoration task stands. And please remember to support our sister organization, Palma Sola Botanical Park. Executive Director Bev and her staff have been very helpful to us, even though they already have a full plate of events and hurricane recovery.

The MRFC Board

October Meeting and Yard Tours Cancelled

Fellow MRFC Members,

Due to Hurricane Milton, the Board has cancelled next Monday's club meeting, and the member yard tour scheduled for October 19 will be rescheduled to a future month.

No doubt many of our fruit trees will be blown over. For those that can be stood back up, correct resetting techniques can greatly improve their chances of recovery. This video by Jeff Wasielewski illustrates these techniques (the portion from minutes 20:30 through 33:00 concerns post-hurricane recovery). Jeff, along with Jonathan Crane and Carlos Balerdi, also explain resetting and other important post-hurricane recovery practices in this online article.

We hope that you and all our fellow Floridians will be safe, and will be able to manage whatever challenges this historic storm brings.

-- The MRFC Board of Directors

September 2024 Meeting - Paul Beaver - Western Amazonia Fruits and Ecotourism

Speaker/Topic: Paul Beaver - Western Amazonia Fruits and Ecotourism

Meeting Date/Time: Monday, September 9th, 2024 at 7pm.  

Location: Harlee Building/County Fairgrounds, 1303 17th St W, Palmetto, FL 34221

Our September Speaker

From the Program Committee: 

Our September 9 speaker will be Paul Beaver, owner of Amazonia Expeditions. Amazonia Expeditions offers specialty travel excursions in wilderness and wildlife reserves throughout South America, as well as in Africa and Asia, but its primary focus is the Amazon forest of the Tahuayo River basin in Peru.

Paul is a supporter of the Angels of the Amazon foundation, which provides the indigenous people living in the 14 communities of the Tahuayo River with basic human needs such as health care, education and economic initiatives. The people of the communities help protect a biodiverse 1.1 million acre conservation reserve that is home to the greatest diversity of species of monkeys found in any protected park or reserve in the world.

Paul received his doctorate in biology from the University of Chicago in 1976. After teaching positions at Purdue University and the University of Washington, he began work as a conservationist biologist and ecotourism provider in the western Amazon forest in 1980. His conservation work earned the 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award from the University of Chicago, and his work in ecotourism earned his business a Presidential Award for social responsibility in Peru in 2019.

Paul will give a presentation on his ecotourism mission as well as review the unique fruits of the western Amazon forest.

August 2024 Meeting - Kevin Hook - Growing Vegetables In Florida

 Join us Monday, August 12th, 2024 at 7pm.  

Harlee Building/County Fairgrounds, 1303 17th St W, Palmetto, FL 34221

Our August Speaker - Kevin Hook 

From the Program Committee:

The Florida vegetable gardening season isn’t here yet, but it’s not too early to start planning. At our August 12th meeting, MRFC member and market gardener Kevin Hook will share his expertise in growing vegetables in Florida’s challenging conditions.

Kevin is a longtime MRFC member who grows a wide variety of tropical fruit, tropical vegetables, and temperate-climate vegetables on his 5-acre homestead in north Sarasota County. He supplies produce weekly to the Sarasota Farmer’s Market, and donates additional harvest to local food charities.

July 2024 Meeting - Dr Steve Vernon - Pineapples

Join us Monday, July 8th, 2024 at 7pm.  

Harlee Building/County Fairgrounds, 1303 17th St W, Palmetto, FL 34221

Our July Speaker - Dr Steve Vernon 

From the Program Committee:

Our July speaker will be Dr. Steve Vernon of Miami. He is a retired physician with a distinguished career including service as an attending pathologist in several Miami hospitals, as an associate medical examiner in two Florida counties, as Clinical Associate Professor of Pathology at University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, and many other achievements. In 2022 he received the Florida Medical Association’s Award of Distinguished Service, its highest honor.

In the world of tropical fruit, Steve has a variety of interests, especially dragonfruit and pineapples. He is a Volunteer at the  Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden and at the Fairchild Farm in Redland. At our meeting, he will speak on pineapples. He plans to bring small plants of some exotic pineapple varieties for our raffle table, a rare opportunity for us to obtain these.

June 2024 Meeting - Dr. Craig Huegel - Creating a Pollinator Garden

Join us Monday, June 10th, 2024 at 7pm.  

Harlee Building/County Fairgrounds, 1303 17th St W, Palmetto, FL 34221

Our June Speaker - Dr Craig Huegel

From the Program Committee:

Our June speaker will be Dr. Craig Huegel, Director of the USF Botanical Gardens and author of six books on Florida native plants and wildlife and two popular blogs related to gardening in Florida and native Florida plants.

Originally from Madison, Wisconsin, he earned a BS in Zoology and a MS in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Wisconsin, and PhD in Animal Ecology from Iowa State University. He has served on the faculties of the Universities of Kentucky and Florida, as Administrator of the Environmental Lands Division for Pinellas County, and as an Adjunct Professor at St. Petersburg College and Tampa College.

He will speak on Pollinators and Creating a Pollinator Garden. There is worldwide interest in the decline of pollinators, and a critical need to create landscapes to benefit them. In this program, Dr. Huegel will provide practical information on how to do this.

May Meeting - Florida's Neighborhood Bats by Shari Blissett-Clark

Join us Monday, May 13th, 2024 at 7pm.  

Harlee Building/County Fairgrounds, 1303 17th St W, Palmetto, FL 34221

Florida's Neighborhood Bats
Speaker: Shari Blissett-Clark 

Our May speaker will be Shari Blissett-Clark, President of the Florida Bat Conservancy. Shari has dedicated 40 years to private and public conservation work, including fire management, invasive species management, and natural areas management. She is a long-time member of the Florida Native Plant Society, Xerces Society, Bat Conservation International, Southeast Bat Diversity Network, and the North American Bat Network.

Shari owns and operates Bat Belfrys, a Florida non-profit organization that designs and builds bat houses. Proceeds from bat house sales directly support the initiatives of the Florida Bat Conservancy. The houses are scientifically designed to attract and protect bats, and have been extremely successful in Florida.

Shari’s visit is an opportunity to purchase these bat houses and pick them up at the meeting, saving the cost of shipping them from Shari’s location in Citrus County. However, it will be necessary to pre-order them. Details of the houses, prices, and pre-ordering information are available on pdf at this link: Bat Belfry's. Please consider supporting the bat population and Shari’s non-profit organization by taking advantage of this opportunity.

Shari’s presentation, Florida's Neighborhood Bats, will take us on a journey to uncover the myths and reveal the truth about these amazing flying mammals. We will explore the important roles bats play in insect and disease control, food production, and human health, and reveal the true value these unique mammals bring to our daily lives. The presentation will even include some live Florida bats.

April 2024 Meeting - Bananas - Celeste Welch

Link to Slides from Presentation

Join us Monday, April 8th, 2024 at 7pm.  

Harlee Building/County Fairgrounds, 1303 17th St W, Palmetto, FL 34221

Speaker: Celeste Welch

For April we are pleased to feature one of our own members, Celeste Welch. Along with her husband, entomologist Craig Welch, she owns and operates Sulcata Grove, a tropical fruit farm in north Sarasota County. In addition to fresh homegrown tropical fruit and vegetables, Sulcata Grove produces and markets fruit trees and other plants, seeds, pasture-raised eggs, honey, dried fruit, Sulcata tortoise food, and more. More information is available at the Sulcata Grove website and Instagram page.

Celeste is also an important contributor to the MRFC. As webmaster and social media master for a number of years, she has maintained our ever more important online presence. Sulcata Grove has been a vendor at several of our tree sales, including this year’s, and is active on social media and has produced numerous informative Youtube videos.

At our April meeting, Celeste will speak on one of her favorite tropical fruits, bananas. Her presentation will cover all aspects of banana horticulture for the home grower, including varieties, propagation, and disease management.

2024 Rare Fruit Tree Sale

 

 2024 Rare Fruit Tree Sale!

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New Earlier Date

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Join us for the area's largest rare fruit tree sale 

Saturday, March 23rd, 2024 

9am-2pm

🥭🥑🥥

Premier Sports Campus 

5895 Post Blvd, Lakewood Ranch Florida 34211

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Bring a Wagon and Cash

No ATM on site

MRFC Fruit Tree Sale Flyers to Print and Share

These are great to print and post in areas where fruit/gardening enthusiast may frequent like international grocers, restaurants, and more. 

Full Page Color Flyer

Color Flyers - 2 Per Page

Black and White Full Page Flyer 

Black and White 2 Flyers Per Page

___________________________________________________________

Sign up for MRFC Rare Fruit Tree Sale Email Reminders

March Meeting - Alex Salazar - Mangos

Join us Monday, March 11th, 2024 at 7pm.  

Harlee Building/County Fairgrounds, 1303 17th St W, Palmetto, FL 34221

Speaker: Alex Salazar

This month we welcome back one of our most popular speakers, Alex Salazar.

Alex founded Tropical Acres Farms. Initially the farm was begun on 5 acres of land in Loxahatchee Groves, FL. In 2012 he began a partnership with the Sturrock family on their historic property in West Palm Beach, on which mangos have been grown since the 1920’s. Since that time all production has been moved to this location. 

Over the years Alex has collected hundreds of cultivars of mangos and is still planting more. Alex also grows avocados and sapodillas, along with other tropical fruits. Tropical Acres Farms sells mango budwood, trees, and fruit. More information can be found on his website https://www.tropicalacresfarms.com/ , which also has a wealth of information about mango and avocado varieties.

Alex always provides us with the latest news from the Florida mango world, plus a forecast of the upcoming mango season. Because the long trip from West Palm Beach would take too much time from Alex’s busy schedule, this month’s presentation will be virtual. We’ll see Alex’s presentation live on screen, and will be able to ask questions interactively.  If this is successful, we hope to have occasional virtual presentations from other experts who would not otherwise be available to us.

February 2024 Meeting - Alyssa Vinson - Mushrooms

Join us Monday, February 12th, 2024 at 7pm.  

Harlee Building/County Fairgrounds, 1303 17th St W, Palmetto, FL 34221

Speaker: Alyssa Vinson - Mushrooms

Our February 12 speaker will be Alyssa Vinson, an environmental science educator for the past 15 years working in Alaska, Oregon and now Florida. She holds a master’s degree from the University of Florida in Ecological Restoration. and is a certified arborist through the International Society of Arboriculture. Her current role as Residential Horticulture Agent in Manatee County allows her to work with the Master Gardener Volunteer program, the Florida-Friendly Landscaping Program, and the Florida Master Naturalist Program. She will speak about mushrooms: their biology, identification strategies, cultural significance and contemporary uses.

January Meeting at Palma Sola Botanical Park - Kenny Coogan - Florida's Carnivorous Plants

What: MRFC Monthly Meeting - MRFC Partners

When: Monday January 8th, 2024 at 7pm

Where: Palma Sola Botanical Park, 9800 17th Ave NW, Bradenton, FL 34209

Please note that our January meeting will be held at Palma Sola Botanical Park, as our regular location is unavailable due to the Manatee County Fair. Members are encouraged to bring a dish or a raffle plant if you can.

Our January speaker will be Kenny Coogan, author of the new book "Florida's Carnivorous Plants." Florida has dozens of native species of carnivorous plants – more than any other state in the United States.

Kenny has a Master’s Degree in Global Sustainability and is passionate about Florida’s wildlife and plants. He is the Education Director for the International Carnivorous Plant Society, and runs a successful carnivorous plant nursery in Tampa, Florida.

Kenny's book and a selection of tropical carnivorous plants will be available for purchase after the talk. Please join us for the unusual and fascinating topic!

You can now pay 2024 dues (still only $12). Please click here for more information about dues and to pay online.  You may also pay with cash or check (made payable to MRFC) at this or a future meeting. If you are not sure whether you have paid yet, please check at the membership table at the meeting.