Common Ground Community Garden
Meeting Minutes: September 13, 2012
Attendance
Collective members in Attendance:
Carol, Deb, Peter, Alex, Lois, Denis, Christine, Gail, Danae, Rylan, Donna
Others in Attendance:
Councilor Darren Hill, unnamed Luther Heights resident
Proceedings
Garden Steering committee structure/board.
- Currently not working (agreed)
- Do we need people involved of specific things? Yes
Action:
Identified areas earlier in the year. Board / Steering committee
consisting of the following positions: Garden Coordinator, Treasurer,
Registrar, Communications Lead, Site Maintenance lead, Social &
Education lead, Compost lead??
Tentative Leads and Members of groups identified.
Steering Committee:
Monitors garden activity, sets guidelines, resolves issues, assigns plots, etc.
Communications: Jay
Social & Educational: Lois Hertzum-Larsen
Rylan Haas rylanhaas@gmail.com
Compost: ??? (possibly nominate either Donna or Christine)
Communication Committee:
Develops
and maintains communications amongst CGCG members, as well as with the
community as a whole ( Luther Heights, schools, etc) through blog,
email, newsletter, signage, etc.
Lead: Jay
Site Maintenance Committee:
organizes work bees to keep the garden in good shape)
Jay
Social & Education Committee:
Organizes educational sessions, workshops, potlucks and other events.
Lead: Lois Hertzum-Larsen
Members: Rylan Hass
Susan Sauer
Zen Bellotti
Compost Committee:
Educates about composting and helps maintain and make decisions about compost piles.
Lead:
Members: Christine Wilson
Donna Mackay
Darren Hill had meeting with Luther Heights
- One individual interested in having plot (unsure of name)
- Overall Luther Heights satisfied with garden and appreciated vegetables that were donated by Lois and Carol
Do
we need larger plot size to use up all available space next year?
Everyone agrees that this will not likely be the case as there has been a
lot of interest in the garden.
Issue raised: We will have to identify how we will assign remaining plots for next year?
Letter
or script will have to be developed to communicate clearly about the
garden, how interested individuals can be assigned a plot and those
individuals that are interested are welcomed to indicate which
committees they are interest in being involved in.
Danae agreed to draft a letter to be emailed to the list of potentially interested gardeners.
Once this script is developed:
Firstly, Danae will email current gardeners to ensure there continued participation
Secondly, Danae will email list of interest individuals from last year.
Next, Danae will continue to submit news about CGCG to the NPRH newsletters.
Plots will be assigned within outlined stipulation on a first registrations received, first assigned biases.
Will
need to possibly communicate the message differently to seniors in
Luther Heights. Possibly flyers or posters for Luther heights with
email and phone number for contact.
Other
ways to recruit new gardeners, news letter submissions to both of the
local schools and to LH newsletter, continue to leave application at
corner store, as well as, in lobby of Carol Greyeyes apartment building.
Also, create a CGCG poster.
Some
community members were disappointed that they were not involved this
year as they either received incorrect information or misinterpreted
the community garden agreement. We will have to make sure that this
miscommunication does not happen again this upcoming year. Agreement
will have to be adapted. Just have to make sure that these plants do not
shade a neighbours garden.
Do we want communal plots?
Everyone was in agreement that a garlic plot could be planted this fall. 1X3 meters = 150-200 bulbs WAM usually takes 50%.
Action:
Danae to contact WAM and the idea was brought up to use one of the tops
of the raised beds to plant garlic inside using one of the herb
sections in the original garden design.
see link: https://docs.google.com/file/d/1B_lPQZrPjLFUJ8da-0aZejlTtllIL9LsvAojuLp4rZJQBcX6An5vE9sRM0IC/edit
(NOTE FROM JAY - Garlic should NOT be planted in raised beds because they can freeze over winter. They will need to be planted in the ground and have a minimum of 10" of mulch on top to protect them. I LOVE garlic and would love to help with this if needed - Jay)
Idea of voting using survey monkey on what other types of communal plots are wanted once all remaining plots are assigned. This will need to be discussed at a future meeting.
Other issues brought forward
- Raised beds are too high for some seniors wheel chairs
- will create beds that are an accessible height for those in wheelchairs or those who prefer to sit while gardening.
- Alex to build up ground with patio blocks
- Trenches need to be dug for water lines
Action:
Alex to contact Jay for dates and numbers of required volunteers for
these tasks and then a message will be sent out via blog to find
volunteers.
Any
issues regarding the blog? Need to have a schedule page created for
upcoming events, some people still having issues posting comments on
blog posts. Jay has made it so you can comment on posts.
Plans for future meetings?
Plan to have a possible lunch meeting during the next Work Bee Saturday, Sept. 29
@11am - Weeding, edging, compost and discussing future plans
Also
was mentioned that it would be a good idea to have monthly meetings
except in December on a specific day and time to keep the planning of
next season rolling!
Christine has sent a donation request to Rona and will report back on any items we may get.
FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS TO DISCUSS:
- please see the TO DO LIST page on this blog.
