The APS held its March meeting at the usual time and place, 7:00 pm at Zilker Gardens Meeting Room. The usual contingent of members showed up along with a few new members who are always welcome. Some had ponds, others were looking for ideas before they went through the process of building their new pond.

As this meeting was held the day after St Patrick’s Day, Sonja opted for the Irish touch to the food with Baked Potatoes and all of the fixin’s, and a full table of complementary dishes and salads. To top it of, she made Irish Soda Bread and Irish Pistachio Cake. As usual, everything was quite delicious and oh so tempting.

Madame President a.k.a. Linda Tinsley opened the meeting by asking the new members to stand up and introduce themselves. All obliged and we  extend them a hearty welcome to our little group. This was followed by the usual run of announcements and pleas from different Chairs of various committees for help with upcoming projects.

APS is attempting to expand our membership and is setting up tables with volunteers to hand out literature and answer questions at various locations and times around Austin and the neighboring cities. One such event is this coming weekend, April 6 & 7, at the  Zilker Garden Festival. Please contact Jeannie Ferrier if you would like to volunteer to hand out pond info at the APS booth. 512-288-0039.

Another very big one is the following weekend when APS is undertaking to build a pond at the Down Home Ranch from 9 am to 4 pm. The Ranch is located at 20250 FM 619, Elgin, Texas and is a working farm and ranch for people with intellectual disabilities. This will be a work day with lunch provided and is scheduled for Saturday April 13th. Contact person is Karl Tinsley at 512-358-1342.

With business out-of-the-way, Linda introduced our guest speaker from the City of Austin, Erin Cord who went on to give a very interesting discussion on the merits of getting our backyards Wildlife Certified. Many of us  have already certified our yards and gardens and every little bit helps to promote keeping Austin green in more ways than one. With the increased growth of the City, many wildlife habitats have disappeared and every little space that is set up to nurture all forms of wildlife is much appreciated especially by the animals and birds.

The meeting ended with the usual drawing and again, several lucky members went home with a very nice gift.

The next APS meeting is on Monday, April 15, tax deadline day at Zilker Gardens starting at 7:00 pm. This is our annual plant swap which are always lots of fun. Although there are certain protocols that have to be followed like volunteers having first dibs at the plants, by the end of the meeting, there are usually more plants left over and everyone goes home with whole bunches of new goodies. One rule that is observed that if you bring plants and they don’t all get taken, you are responsible for taking them back home with you.

OK, enough already. I wonder if Sonja has an Income Tax flavored dish in mind. Something exotic like the Shirt Off Your Back Roast or something more down to earth like Congress Agree to Disagree Soup. The last to be taken with alka-seltzer.

See you on April 15.

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