Life Member Lunch July 14
Tickets sales will close this Friday, July 7
Now this is newsworthy: New This Year: two options for lunch menu! (Who's fancy?!)
A big thank you to Susy Warren and Lynette Caplice, our Luncheon Committee, who met with Josh Vogle at the hotel this week to finalize the details of our event. Together they came up with the lovely menu below. If you have already bought your ticket, we will email you to find out which you prefer. If you have yet to buy your ticket, you will have a choice at check-out. Email us by clicking here
Along with some nice sides, you have a choice of :
Quiche with broccoli, sautéed onion, roasted red pepper, and swiss cheese with lightly dressed greens; OR
Mediterranean Grilled Vegetable Stack with grilled eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, red peppers & portobello mushrooms marinated in balsamic vinaigrette and served with couscous
Note: You may buy tickets for friends as long as they are also Life Members. Please be sure to tell us their names so that we have name tags etc. Also, you will need to note their menu preference in the messages section because we aren't fancy enough to figure out how to have multiple menu options in the checkout.
Mike Starks, Superintendent of the Chautauqua Utility District (CUD) since 2018, is pictured above with just some of the equipment he uses to regularly test the drinking water we enjoy here in Chautauqua.
Last summer, Mike led a tour of the Waste Water Plant down at the south end of grounds and I was lucky enough to be on the walk. Before that walk, I thought that facility down on the South End did all the water things that needed doing in here Chautauqua, but I was very wrong. The facility on the south end processes waste water—"dirty" water leaving our homes and headed back into the lake. (Spoiler: the water going back into the lake after it leaves the south end facility is cleaner than it was before it came out of the lake, even though it has endured a few, um, indignities along its journey through the pipes of Chautauqua.)
So that was waste water—outflow—but you'll be glad to know that there is a whole 'nother facility to treat, process and store the water that comes in from the lake before it flows out of our taps.
Water is pumped in from the lake near the Gleason and up to the facility behind the Colonnade (you've seen the building before, but perhaps like me, you assumed it was just offices or something. I was ignorant of all the testing and treating that goes on in there certainly did not know that there are huge holding tanks underneath it!).
Sadly, although I heard tell of all this last summer, I cannot attend the Lake Walk on Monday, so this will all remain apocryphal for me. I hope that you are free and can go see for yourself the extensive treatment the lake water undergoes to make it safe for us to drink.
The Bird, Tree & Garden Club does not have Lake in our name. For the most part, we stick to the Bs, Ts and Gs, however Lake Programs have been part of our curricula since 1952. As much as we like the inclusive ring of LBTG, there are already numerous groups around the lake whose primary focus is the lake. Our mission is essentially education and conservation. The health of the lake is important to all of us and we often encourage our members to do their part to maintain lake health through rain gardens and watershed management. We tend to think about the health of the lake in terms of recreation, but this week we will will talk to the man we trust to remove all that scary stuff from the water so we can drink it without worrying about our safety.
Monday July 3rd
4:15PM Lake Walk: Chautauqua Utility District's Surface Water Treatment Facility Tour with Mike Starks
Location: We will meet at the Shoreline & Wetland Gardens by the Pier Building and walk up to the Chautauqua Utility District Surface Water Treatment Facility behind the Colonnade for a behind-the-scenes tour of the water intake facility.
Tuesday July 4th
Happy 4th of July! Please note there is no Brown Bag this week.
4:15PM Garden Walk with Horticulturist Joe McMaster
Location: Smith Wilkes Hall - Lakeside
Wednesday July 5th
8:00AM Wednesday Weeding
Location: Meet at the Butterfly Garden at the corner of Massey and South Avenue by the South Gate
Please join the BTG every Wednesday morning at 8 AM to help remove invasive plants with Betsy Burgeson and her team! You do not have to be a member to volunteer. Learn more at the link above.
12:30-2:30PM Open Garden: Shipman Gardens at Miller Cottage
4:15PM Tree Walk with Naturalist Jack Gulvin
Location: Smith Wilkes Hall - Lakeside
Thursday July 6th
8:00AM Bird Walk with Ruth Lundin
Location: Smith Wilkes Hall
Bring binoculars if you have them, and please leave dogs at home!
12:30-2:30PM Open Garden: Shipman Gardens at Miller Cottage
Location: Sports Club
Friday July 7th
Location: Smith Wilkes Hall - Lakeside
Location: Arboretum (at Wythe and Whittier)
What's New?
New Plantings at the Hall of Christ
Look who I caught digging up the lawn of the Hall of Christ on Friday. It was none other that the Supervisor of Landscapes and Gardens at Chautauqua, Betsy Burgeson.
Betsy's crew planted a long row of dwarf fothergilla flanking the walkway with a pair of flowering dogwoods (Cornus florida) anchoring the the shrubs at the stairs. All will have a ground cover of 'Autumn Bride' Heuchera villosa beneath. This will be a lovely planting when it fills in and especially lovely next spring and fall during wedding season here in Chautauqua. Featured in the foreground are some hostas that were beheaded by deer hours before Betsy planted them. Anyone else have this problem? Deer are not common inside the gates during the season (seems they do not want to buy that gate pass), but they visit during the off-season and they found Betsy's holding bed across 394 just before their big debut at the Hall of Christ. (Don't worry - they will recover.)
Want to Volunteer?
Come volunteer and get to know the BTG up close and personal! We could use help with hospitality projects, planning for next summer’s house tour, Wednesday’s team weeding efforts, and the weekly Sunday afternoon Activities Fair in Bestor Plaza!
Email lizfoxkeogh@gmail.com if interested.
Week One in Photos
Nature walkers sample Juneberries on Jack Gulvin's Wednesday Tree Walk
Joe McMaster Tuesday Garden Walk along the Promenade
BTG Historian and Shipman Garden Docent Janine Obee holds the 1922 plans for the Shipman Garden.
Lily Burgeson enjoys quiet time at Mina Miller Edison's favorite place in the Shipman Garden. The garden is open on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 12:30-2:30pm. (And no, you can't climb up there. She gets special privileges as the daughter of St. Betsy.)
The Wednesday Weeding Crew and their supplies at the edge of the Butterfly Garden. Join us this coming Wednesday - learn a little something and feel virtuous all week long because you got your hands dirty!
Ken Blankenship helped birders get up close to a marsh wren on the Wednesday off-site trip.
Our first Champions! Six kids completed the Champion Tree Tour Scavenger Hunt and were awarded patches and pins at our first Pinning Ceremony on Tuesday. Congrats to the young naturalists!
Purple Martin Report
7.1.2023
The loss of two clutches (11 young) at the golf course was disturbing. Probably due to predation of parent birds. The rest of the martins are doing OK despite the couple days of bad weather, which did not increase mortality greatly. On Friday, I found 194 young alive and 16 eggs not yet hatched.
Jack will host three more Purple Martin Chats this season. They are not to be missed! Learn more and watch a video here! Bring the kids on Thursdays at 4:15pm to the Sports Club—you'll be glad you did!
Need help finding your way? Take a peek at the beautiful garden map drawn by Jane Nelson, or use the interactive version in the BTG app.
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