January 2025 Meeting

Enjoy our first meeting of the new year on Monday January 13th. In honor of Chinese New year we will be conducting a focus on the Chinese tree artform of Penjing. For those who may be unfamiliar, Penjing is an ancient Chinese art form of creating landscape scenes on a miniature scale. It uses stones, wood, and plants to make the landscape. The two miniature tree art forms (Bonsai and Penjing) are similar except that Penjing is more likely to incorporate landscape elements. In Penjing you see a lot of Rocks, cliffs, water landscapes and even figurines.
The year 2025 Will be the Year of the Snake, which is said to be mysterious, intelligent and intuitive. After this meeting you can eliminate some of the mystery around Penjing so we can all be a little more intelligent and intuitive… see what I did there with the year of the snake reference…corny and silly but now you are going to remember it.
As we explore some aesthetic differences between Bonsai and Penjing, everyone is encouraged to bring in a tree that they feel most embodies the art of Penjing so we can reflect on the concepts we discuss.

2nd Annual Camellia Festival – Signup
We are looking for volunteers to represent NFBC at the 2nd Annual Camellia Festival. This will be a new event for NFBC. We heard good things about the first event and expect it to be a lot of fun. We will have signup sheets out at the meeting for those who are able to help.
Date: January 25th (Saturday)
Time: 9am-2pm
Setup volunteers (8:30-11am)
Closing volunteers (11-2:30pm)
Location: Ortega Methodist Church 4807 Rosevelt Blvd
NFBC Event Coordinator – TBD
Members are encouraged to bring material to display and sell

Help Desperately Needed
I am not going to sugar coat it; the NFBC needs new leadership. I am not speaking ill of any of my peers but rather, I speak on behalf of them. Every current Board Member has been involved for many years. During that tiem we have all had increasing personal responsibilities. With all that we have going on outside of bonsai we are running out of steam to help the club and need to step down. We need others to step up and carry on the torch.
Board members are in charge of the regular operations of the club. You do not need to be an experienced bonsai practitioner to be on the board. In fact, the NFBC appreciates the diverse, non-bonsai skillsets that its members bring to the board.
Current and past board members will make themselves available as mentors to new members taking on these roles. If you are interested in volunteering or want to learn more, please send an email to [email protected]. The club thanks you for your help!

10th Annual Multi-Club Picnic and Auction
The Auction is held at the F. Burton Smith Regional Park (7575 W. King Street Cocoa, FL) on Saturday January 25th. The event is held under a huge pavilion with a lot of picnic tables. Bathrooms are readily accessible and there is easy access to parking right by the pavilion.
There will be a potluck also so please bring a dish to share.
This is a great event and opportunity to meet members of other clubs. There are lots of bonsai related items at very reasonable prices. As with any auction, you never know what you will find.

Bonsai Nursery Field Trip
Now you call all relive your favorite days of elementary school with a FIELD TRIP!!!!! Ask for extra pocket money because on Sunday February 16th we will be
visiting a 3-acre bonsai nursery owned and operated by Richard Turner in Vero beach.
This is not an advertised nursery or one that is generally open to the public. Although Richard has a ton of bonsai trees for sale, this is still a side-project for him. He opens his nursery one Sunday a month for a workshop and we will be going down as a group to enjoy the program and buy material.
There are all kinds of trees available to purchase but, being in central Florida, there is a heavy focus on tropicals. Mr Turner has a lot of trees and some trees haven’t been getting a ton of care over the last few years, so they will need a little TLC to get back to full health. However, there are some fantastic trees to be had at very reasonable prices.
Logistics
Richard Turner’s nursery is located in Vero beach so we will meet at Buc-ees Saint Augustine (200 World Commerce Pkwy) to carpool down.
Richard’s weekly workshop normally starts at 10am so we will leave Buc-ees at 7am since it’s about a 3hr drive.

• • Plan to meet at Buc-ees around 6:40 to sort out travel buddies and buy snacks/drinks.

• • If you plan to drive separately text me and I can send the address
    We can stay as long as we would like but the workshop normally lasts from 10-2 which would get us home around 5pm.
    FYI – Richard is not a formal business so BRING CASH. He might accept checks but to my knowledge does not take any electronic payment methods or credit cards.

Registration available now Joy of Bonsai at Joy of Bonsai | Kawa Bonsai Society Joy of Bonsai
The event is being held at Schley’s Bonsai. If you have not been before this is a fantastic opportunity to combine a trip to a great bonsai nursery along with a wonderful event.
The event includes everything you would expect from a bonsai exhibition with demo’s, workshops, vendors, and an exhibit of high-quality trees. The admission price has always been incredibly reasonable. See you there.

December Meeting Recap

Our annual holiday celebration was fantastic. The tree decorating contest is always a crowd pleaser and we were fortunate to be able to have a big potluck again this year. There was a little something for everyone and it brought joy to our hearts and stomachs.

Apologies to the holiday tree decoration participants but we were negligent during the meeting and did not learn who owned our winning tree display while everyone was there. The voting was close but the Willowleaf ficus forest, dressed up for Florida winter, was our winner. Please reach out if you know who created this composition so they can collect a prize!

Secondly, and selfishly, can the owner of the Pickle-dip recipe please reach out to me. I don’t even like pickles, but I need that recipe in my life!