Author: The Hippo Press

Bow Garden Club invites you into the garden

Master Gardener Joyce Kimball is the Publicity Chair and former president of the Bow Garden Club and a former president and current executive board member of The New Hampshire Federation of Garden Clubs. Bow Garden Club maintains 10 “beauty spots,” such as the town gazebo. They generally hold meetings on the second Monday of every month at 6 p.m. starting again on Monday, Sept. 9, with an educational program by Advanced Gardener Ron Trexler from UNH Cooperative Extension, who will speak on preparing gardens for winter. People are encouraged to stop by a meeting to see if they are interested in joining. Kimball spoke about the Bow Garden Club and some end-of-summer garden tips. Visit bowgardenclub.org.

How did the Bow Garden Club get started with the New Hampshire Federation of Garden Clubs?

It’s kind of a nice little story. It was three women from Bow that were just sitting around talking about plants and flowers and they decided to start a garden club. I’m not quite sure, because that was back in 1964, a little before my time, I was alive but I wasn’t part of a club. It was 1964 and it just kind of went from there. They joined the state garden club, which is called New Hampshire Federation of Garden Clubs, Inc., which is a consortium of like 18 to 20, I think right now, area garden clubs across the state.

What is the New Hampshire Federation of Garden Clubs?

Every state in the country has a federated garden club and we’re under the umbrella of the national garden club. We have regional and national, so we get out there as far as covering anyone that’s at all interested in plants or anything green. Some people are vegetable gardeners but most are floral gardeners, or both…. We act as ambassadors from the state garden club to go out to the local garden clubs to make them aware of benefits … like learning how to do floral arranging, that kind of thing, things that are available to them through the state organization and sometimes even the national organization. So just a way for people with like minds and interests to get together…

Who can join the Bow Garden Club?

One club may include five or six towns. It all depends on how big they are. Bow, for instance, has 70 members, which is a lot for our size town. Most of them are from Bow. But we also have someone from Manchester, somebody from Derry chose to join us because we’re one of the few that have evening meetings. We have somebody from Pembroke, Concord, and I think that may be it right now. Oh, actually we have one from Australia because our president just went to Australia and she is staying as a member. So we really branch out.

What are a few garden tips for this time of year?

Because [plants have] grown so fast with the heat and the extra water … I would advise people to cut them back. There’s still plenty of time to let them reflower. If they’re looking kind of leggy, as we call them, with long stems, or if the blossoms have gone by you should cut those off anyways to encourage new stems. It’s a little too soon to start cleaning the garden, that shouldn’t happen till October, or as we call it, ‘putting the garden to bed,’ so to speak. That’s when you cut them all down to the ground, but way too early for that. .

What can one expect at a garden club meeting?

Don’t worry about eating because we call it the Food and Garden Club because we can cook as well as we can garden. We have one of our committees, the refreshment committee, people are assigned a certain meeting to come up with a theme and provide the refreshments. I think people come for the food as much as anything else. We don’t meet during July and August, we do other things, we have a ‘Cocktails in the Garden’ we did recently…. We have an educational program at every meeting that starts at 6:30 and usually goes for like an hour.

—Zachary Lewis

Featured image: Courtesy photo.

owner of Glimpse Gallery

Meme Exum is the owner of Glimpse Gallery in Concord, whose mission is to uplift artists in the community. The gallery holds six shows a year with six artists for each show. Curator Christina Landry-Boullion shows her art in each exhibition as well. The current exhibition, which runs until Sept. 9, has its last reception on Saturday, Aug. 24, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Glimpse Gallery asks that those interested in attending RSVP through their website. Visit theglimpsegallery.com.

Explain your job and what it entails.

I own and run a small fine art gallery in downtown Concord, New Hampshire. I scour Concord, and ultimately New Hampshire, [for artists] who are looking to get their name and their artwork out to the public. I’m not a traditional gallery, I don’t have constricting contracts or commission structure. All day I’m constantly on the phone and doing email…. The best part is viewing all this incredible new art.

How long have you had this job?

I’ve had it in tandem with other jobs, whether you equate that to a side hustle or the one I had the longest, for 12 years.

What led you to this career field and your current job?

I love art. … I want to be immersed in an arena where I’m constantly seeing cool, new art, and this is the best way to do it. I have a leader personality so I don’t mind doing the admin and the business structure of it….

What kind of education or training did you need?

I have a college degree in political science with a minor in international affairs and ultimately hard-life experience was what taught me everything I know now to run the gallery. Everything from my stint waiting tables to doing administrative work to my marketing career for high-end architecture.

What is your typical at-work uniform or attire?

Fabulous dresses and heels. My outfits are my art. …. It’s super fun, energetic, accessible….

What is the most challenging thing about your work, and how do you deal with it?

Keeping up with correspondence, and I try to approach it with humility because I always want to answer and I want to give timely responses and answers to people that are really being vulnerable by presenting me with their art.

What do you wish you had known at the beginning of your career?

That time is more valuable than money.

What do you wish other people knew about your job?

That humility is an important facet…. I am learning every day…

What was your first job?

Working at a consignment shop for women’s clothing in Atlanta, Georgia. On the weekends I also did Baskin-Robbins, so it was a twofer.

What is the best piece of work-related advice you’ve ever received?

It would go back to the Baskin-Robbins job and Mr. Hauk [the manager] telling me to focus and listen … that’s the best piece of advice.

—Zachary Lewis

Five favorites
Favorite book: Sapiens by Yuval Harari. It is such an incredible book.
Favorite movie: The Fisher King with Robin Williams and Jeff Bridges.
Favorite music: Hans Zimmer. He does those incredible movie scores.
Favorite food: Popcorn cooked in a pan (not microwave popcorn).
Favorite thing about NH: The wildlife. I’m very geared toward nature. I’ll brake for snakes in the road.

Featured photo: Meme Exum. Courtesy photo.