4/7/12 Meeting Recap

Thanks to everyone who attended our 4/7/12 meeting, and gave up a little of their holiday weekend to work on the garden plan.

Member rules and policies:

• The simplest way to secure our tool shed would be with a combination lock, which  is the method used by Ithaca Community Gardens.
• We would like our memberships to include a work requirement, so we can ensure that communal areas of the garden are maintained. We may request anywhere from 4 hours per season, to a couple hours per month, from each member. We will need to develop a method of tracking these hours, and determine what maintenance work the garden will need. Lower impact activities like painting and tool maintenance can be reserved for members with physical disabilities.
• Aesthetic standards for the member's individual plots were discussed. Although most community gardens do require their members to maintain neat and weeded garden beds, our group has decided that the terms "neat" and "weeded" are too vague and are up to interpretation. For now we will allow members to maintain their beds however they wish, and we will revisit the aesthetic criteria at a later time if needed.
• Rules about what can be planted in individual beds will be very general: don't plant or construct something that will shade another member's plot, and keep all plantings within the bounds of the raised bed.
• Plants that are potentially invasive, like mint, will be allowed, with suggestions of cultivation methods which will keep them in check.
• We will have a required orientation which new members must attend before planting, which will outline our basic rules and policies for the garden.
• Members can keep the same plot(s) until they leave the organization. If we end up with a waiting list and no available space in the garden, then we will expand the garden to meet demand.
• We should keep the fenced area of the garden "No smoking" and "No pets".
• Our membership application should be rewritten to be friendlier, and should include a mission statement about our objectives to make friends, learn, and have fun.
• We should allow people to use chemical fertilizers and pesticides on their personal gardens if they wish, but should have a rule that nothing can be used in the garden which will permanently affect the soil, or which will affect other people's plots or personal health. We should include education about soil health in our required orientation, and should use the community garden as a tool for educating people about safer and more natural alternatives to chemicals.
• Creating seperate areas of the garden for chemical fertlizers and organic fertilizers would be too hard. We should research how garden soil can be rehabilitated after chemical fertilizer use, in case someone wants to convert a chemical bed into an organic bed.

Site Plan:

• We should get the larger water tank (1100 gallons) which will be more convenient and cost effective, since it will require fewer fillups.
• The water tank should be set up to catch rain water from the tool shed.
• The cheapest way for us to fill the tank is to rent a hydrant meter from the Village, for a $122 fee, then pay $8.32 per 1000 gallons. Paying a trucking company to deliver water would cost more. Need to ask the Village about what kind of hose hookup is on the meter, and make sure we have a length of hose which will reach from the meter to the tank.
• We should allow members to keep a water supply in their personal bed, so long as it has the container has a lid (The Village will not allow open water sources in the garden).
•  An 8 ft. X 10 ft. tool shed would be the smallest size to accomodate our needs. We should purchase the shed from Woodtex.
• We will need to set up some protection around the fire hydrant to prevent vehicles from backing into it.
• Creation of the parking lot will leave a large amount of topsoil which can be used in our raised beds. Need to see if we can rent a machine which will screen out the rocks and other debris.
• Our budget estimate on fencing needs to be alterered to reflect costs for 1/3 acre.
• We will need some kind of hard surface around the water tank, otherwise it will be muddy.
• Need a hose reel and 2 50 ft. lengths of hose. Also buckets and watering cans for hauling water by hand.
• Before we can construct any part of the garden, we need to make a "stabilized entrance" of 12 ft. wide by 25 ft. long minimum. (required by village)
• The raised beds will be 4 ft. X 10 ft.
• We need some kind of shaded sitting area.

Food Politics Donation

• The "Food Politics" group that meets at St. Mark's Church would like to take up a collection to benefit the community garden, in honor of Earth Day. They would like to either donate money or garden tools. We should ask for money since there is so much construction work we have to pay for before we can use any garden tools.

Members should think about fundraiser ideas to bring to the next meeting.

Next meeting:  April 21, 2012   2:00PM    Cafe Next Door