Organizational meetings are tentatively scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 21, 11 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., Hidden Valley Lake Community Service District board room; Wednesday, March 4, 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., Upper Lake; and Thursday, March 19, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Main Street Grill, Clearlake.

Charter members include Louisa Acosta, Mary Heare Amodio, Aqeela El-Amin Bakheit, Victoria Brandon, Betsy Cawn, Becky Curry, Wanda Goforth Harris, Virginia Ingersoll, Julie Kreis, Susanne La Faver, Ruth Matz, Tedde McMillen, Kathleen Morgan, Joyce Overton, Denise Rushing, Mireya Turner and Juliana Vidich.

Annual dues are $70; however, a sliding scale with a minimum of $20 is available for women with limited income.

Upcoming training and conference opportunities for Lake County women include NWPC-California Caucus quarterly meetings March 27-29 in Marin County, July 10-12 in Ventura, and October 9-11 in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The national conference is August 7-9 at the Radisson Hotel in Newport Beach. Cost for the national conference is $175 per person for registration and meals. Hotel rooms are $109 plus tax for a double or single room.

For more information, please contact Susanne La Faver at 987-1146 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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Master Gardeners will discuss and demonstrate pruning and other cultural practices that help produce large, healthy rose displays. Workshop participants should bring heavy gloves and pruning shears for hands-on practice. The meeting site is wheelchair accessible.

University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener President Jane Jacobs encourages home gardeners to attend the workshop, especially if they have ever thought that pruning roses is hard.

The Lucerne Alpine Senior Center is home to the Memorial Rose Garden, an impressive collection of roses that the whole community can enjoy. Workshop participants will help the senior center with their roses, and the site provides a wonderful opportunity for home gardeners to get hands-on training through the UC Cooperative Extension.

Master Gardeners are a group of selected, trained residents who work as volunteer staff for the UC Cooperative Extension. Master Gardeners provide accurate horticultural information on vegetable gardening, trees, soils, lawns, ornamental horticulture, insects, diseases, use of pesticides, and other related topics based on research of the University of California and other recognized research institutions.

Information about the rose pruning workshop can be obtained by calling UC Cooperative Extension at 263-6838, or on the Web at http://celake.ucdavis.edu.

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LUCERNE – The Lake County Democratic Club meets at noon on Saturday, Feb. 14, at the Lucerne Alpine Senior Center in Lucerne.

The senior center serves breakfast from 9 a.m. until noon.

Carol Cole-Lewis the President of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Lake County (UUCLC), facilitated the UUCLC's Health Care Community Discussion on Dec. 28 at the Kelseyville Senior Center. The meeting was one of thousands that were held nationwide, as requested by President Obama's Health and Human Services Cabinet nominee, Sen. Tom Daschle.

Cole-Lewis will share the results of this discussion at the Feb. 14 meeting.

The public is invited. Membership in the Lake County Democratic Club is open to registered members of the Democratic Party.

The Lucerne Alpine Senior Center is located at 3985 Country Club Drive (corner of 10^th and Country Club) in Lucerne.

For more information contact the Lake County Democratic Club, telephone 263-4529 or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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Frey is a three-time medal winner at the Chelsea Flower Show in London for her creative garden designs.

The club hopes community members will take advantage of this rare opportunity to hear an exceptional garden speaker at 2 p.m. on Feb. 17 at the Scott’s Valley Women’s Club House at 2298 Hendricks Road in Lakeport. See the club's Web site, www.clttgc.org, for directions.

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The team will meet beginning at 7 p.m. at its headquarters, Northshore Fire Protection District's Upper Lake Fire Station, 9420 Main St.

Training will follow the meeting.

All interested individuals are invited to attend. You don't need to be a diver to participate.

For more information call Team Leader Capt. John Rodriguez at 275-2446 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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Jim Leonardis of Leonardis Farms has agreed to host a delivery service to the Kelseyville/Lakeport area free of charge to members. Courtesy photo.

LAKEPORT – A new food pick-up location has been established just south of Lakeport for members of the Lake County Food Co-op, Chair JoAnn Saccato announced this week.

“This will enable west shore residents who want fresh veggies weekly to pick them up without having to drive to Clearlake,” Saccato said.

The co-op, which grew from a grassroots desire for higher quality produce, according to Saccato, was organized and founded just over one year ago.

“There were many local voices calling for support of our local and organic farmers,” she said.

“Eliminating expensive transportation not only reduces our greenhouse gas emissions, but it reduces our reliance on foreign oil, which has become very expensive not only in terms of US dollars but in terms of US lives in the war in Iraq,” Saccato explained. “And frankly, the food tastes much better as it is picked fresh the day before delivery.

“The co-op has taken off and now has the support of more than 200 members throughout Lake County,” she added.

The co-op offers two products weekly, the “$16 Purist Box” of local and regionally grown certified organic vegetables and the “$9 Fruit ‘n’ Veggie Box” that are also organic from a distributor.

“Many members subscribe to the 'combo' option, buying both boxes together for $25 she said.

Saccato publishes the week’s box contents on Sundays, via email, and accepts orders until 10 p.m. Monday.

Co-op members assemble the boxes on a voluntary basis on Thursdays and, until last week, members had to pick up their boxes on location in Clearlake between 5 and 7 p.m.

Now, Saccato said, Leonardis Farms has agreed to host a delivery service to the Kelseyville/Lakeport area free of charge to members. Members are now able to pick up their produce boxes that have been paid for in advance at the Leonardis Farm.

Specific location information is available by contacting the co-op at 707-993-4270 or www.Lakeco-op.org.

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