Sunshine Community Gardens

18 March, 2021

www.sunshinecommunitygardens.org

Gardener's Picture page

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A Tribute from Several Gardeners to a Fallen Gardener

Janee Marie Trybyszewski

May 22, 1924 - March 3, 2021

Our dear, longtime garden member Janee passed away at the beginning of March. Her daughter, Martha Trybyszewski, also an SCG member, helped her mother stay active in their plot even throughout 2020 at the age of 96 years old. Though we do not keep the records needed to declare her "oldest active gardener", Janee was surly among a very few in our 45-year history who were longtime members and gardened at Sunshine into their mid-90's!

Ila Falvey noted that Janee even continued volunteering at the Plant sale in recent years by working at The Holding Table and Kay McMurray said,

Janee was someone who always left me smiling after talking to her. During her last year or so, I would occasionally see her hauling her full-size plastic trash can full of weeds off to the compost pile. I would offer to do it for her and she would always refuse. She would say 'Thank you, but no, this is my exercise for the day'. I will miss her greatly.

Steve Uecker, her friend and Zone Coordinator, submitted the following tribute (slightly edited):

I heard about Janee's passing just about when I was scheduled to pick up my (2021 Plant Sale) garden plants. Appropriate, I thought. When I think of the garden, Janee comes to the fore of my mind. She was my neighbor in Zone 6 by the greenhouse for - however many years - and always a joy to see and a bright spot in the day. A beacon of positivity!

She would be there, her wild white hair blowing, just happy to see the clouds. She would say, 'Aren't we lucky to be here today?' I appreciated her gardening style that mixed flowers, herbs, and the veggies sprinkled throughout. That gardening style did not gibe with her brother Jerry however, who also gardened at Sunshine and had very firm ideas on a proper garden. Jerry and Janee had spirited disagreements on this issue. Interestingly, I believe one of our other gardeners, (was it Vernon Barker? - the raised beds are a memorial to him) just happened to serve under Jerry in WWII and they had not seen each other since reuniting at Sunshine. Small world.

For those of you who may not know her name, she always ran the gate at the plant sale, holding back the masses - with a smile. At one point she held probably most of the offices - years ago I asked her why she didn't get back involved - she laughed as a response.

Janee worked at UT in the Chemistry & Physics departments and got to meet the great minds of the day during her tenure there. People who were really expanding the frontier of our understanding of molecular forces. These amazing people were also the architype of a nerd at times and part of Janee's job was to help them interact socially at department functions and remember to do things - like-eat.

She was one of a kind and will be sorely missed.

Her services were held on 3/14, here is some background information: Janee Marie Trybyszewski was born on May 22, 1924 in San Saba, Texas and passed away on March 3, 2021 in Austin, Texas. She was under the care of Cook-Walden Funeral Home.

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The First Poppy of the 2021 Season

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Sunshine Board Updates - Info from Kerry Drake

Board Updates:

To fill you in on a few updates about what's been happening at Sunshine, here is a little beginning of the year summary of some of the things being discussed by the board:

New Logo

Garden members voted in a new, multi-media adaptable Sunshine Community Gardens logo. Thanks to our hardworking logo brand ambassador, Isabella Encela, for all her work on this. More to come, incorporating your member suggestions of tee shirt colors, etc.

Clarifying the disposal of waste in the dumpster or compost area

The board has been working with many knowledgeable members about simplifying disposal rules and educating garden members about them. Look for more and continued information about this soon.

Service Hour Waivers also include a waiver of the TSBVI Hour

If you are Service Hour exempt because of the important volunteer position you have assumed at SCG, the board has adopted a waiver for your TSBVI hour, as well. We thank you for your hard work and the many hours that you put forth in helping the garden and the gardens of TSBVI running smoothly.

Finances

Though for safety reasons we are not having a plant sale, our finances are looking okay, thanks to lack of activity, travel, etc. We are thankful for your generous support of Central Texas Food Bank. (See article in the Weekly Weeder from our treasurer.)

Plot Report

We have no empty plots, and a lengthy waitlist. Wait times are also lengthier than before. The garden has been a great gift during the pandemic and has encouraged many people to look to gardening.

Jeff/Jen Plant Sale

The board is working with Jeff and Jen to expand their online sale to include a brief sale onsite. We are also working on putting together a listing on the website of other local sources for spring plants for Sunshine gardeners to explore.

Garden Weather Station

The garden weather station with internet access is on its way to full installation. More information about the station will be forthcoming in a future Weekly Weeder from board member Doug Zullo.

Info About Weather Station by Board Member - Doug Zullo

We have the weather station up and running! It is attached to the wooden structure just to the east of the greenhouses. The data reporting is linked through the Sunshine Wifi, and there are a couple ways to access the data.

Weather Underground URL:

https://www.wunderground.com/dashboard/pws/KTXAUSTI2542

Weather Underground is great because it stores a lot of data, so you get a good history.

WeatherLink URL:

https://www.weatherlink.com/embeddablePage/show/802d0138a9af489ea79b9bf77447959c/summary

WeatherLink shows mostly just current conditions and doesn't show much beyond the current day or past 24 hours.

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A Creative Vegetable Design

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