North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>]

Title: Interest Groups

    It has been a long time since I've said much about the NAFEX Interest Groups.  If you aren't a NAFEX member (and I understand there are a few such on this list) the Interest Groups are sort of a subset of NAFEX where members can connect with others having special interest in a specific fruit or nut.  In the past, the chairmen of such groups would collect the comments and results of the group members and publish a report in POMONA at regular intervals.    That's still the general idea, but results may vary from group to group. 
    As to what it takes to chair a group, it isn't necessary to have a lot of information on the fruit in question.  The main thing is to have a strong interest.  We had a chairman of the peach group one time, the late Mike Kucyk, who didn't know squat about peaches when he started, but by the time he died, he had started a peach nursery.  He didn't plan it, he was just that enthusiastic.  The thing that counts is to be able to keep in contact with the members, stir up their interest, and ask leading questions when needed to prompt things.  
    Originally, like NAFEX itself, this was all done by letters.  Now, I can set up an internet version which will let a chairman keep in contact with all the members of the group easily, which makes it simple to  collect relevant items out of the archives to make a report to POMONA.  The housekeeping of the list is vey simple, to the extent that I have been doing it for most of the chairmen so they don't have to concern themselves about it and can concentrate on the group.
    If someone feels there is a need for a new group, or they wish to try being chairman of one of the existing groups, there is always room for more enthusiastic people.  Even if the group has a chairman, it's possible to become a regional chairman, though it helps if there are active members in your area before you do so.
    If you have questions about the interest group, or want to join/chair one, contact me offlist.
-Lon Rombough, Interest Group Coordinator
Grapes, writing, consulting, my book, The Grape Grower, at http://www.bunchgrapes.com
Winner of the Garden Writers Association "Best Talent in Writing" award for 2003