Intro – Cyndi
Approval of September minutes
Treasurer’s Report – John on behalf of Deirdre
General Funds Account – September Meeting Balance $2,702.31

September 9/21/2012 BBQ Revenue Revenue 1284
September 9/21/2012 Bees (honey sales) Revenue 124
September 9/21/2012 Bees (extracting fee) Revenue 35
October 10/6/2012 Bees (honey sales) Revenue 257
October 10/6/2012 Bees (honey sales) Revenue 720
Subtotal Revenue $2,420.00

September 9/19/2012 PECO Electric Bill (credit – see below) Expense 0
September 9/19/2012 Bees Expense -60
October 10/6/2012 Bees Expense -74.38
October 10/6/2012 Garden supplies Expense -34.68
Subtotal Expense -$169.06

General Funds – October Meeting Balance $4,953.25

Grants Account – No changes since August Meeting
Philadelphia Activities Fund Account
Starting Balance $2,000
No expenses/revenue – no activity
Ending Balance = $2,000

Green Roof Account Balance – $520 – no activity

Rainy Day Account
Balance = $2,000 – no activity

Utilities
Electric: September’s Bill shows credit of $111.39 and a charge of $29.31 – so current credit balance is $87.48
Water: Water bill has not been received – as of October 6th.

The book sale raised $131. The remainder of the books will go to The Book Trader and any profit will be donated back to the garden.

Dues are projected to increase around $20 to $30 per plot for 2013. This is based on 2010 water costs and includes the addition of mulch to the general operating costs.

President’s Report – Cyndi
The NGA meeting will be on Thursday. Cyndi will attend.
The Garden Council met in September. There was low attendance from row captains. Issues addressed included: 1) Assistant gardeners – 2 drafts of bylaws changes have been worked through and will be revised again before the November general meeting; 2) Bindweed – pull it out!
The holiday party will be held at Old Swedes Church again this year. The extra profit from the BBQ will go to offset the increased cost.

Vice President’s Report – John V.
Committees – it’s been proposed that the current structure be revamped. Proposed new structure would be having “leaders” instead of committees to spearhead items such as “garden health”, etc. Leaders would participate on Garden Council and lead clean-ups. Leaders would be identified over the winter so we can hit the ground running in the spring.

Clean-up this Saturday will start at 8am. It is an important clean-up because we will be starting to put the garden to bed for the winter. If anyone is unclear on his/her status regarding clean-up attendance, please see John V.

Barb would like one or two folks to help her with the website and be her back-up person(s).
Committees

City Harvest – Will be harvesting until Thanksgiving. Have harvested 1,185 lbs of produce to date. If anyone has winter gardening questions see Ed. He has lots of knowledge and ideas.

Bees – They’re ready for winter. Bees born after September are physiologically different from those born in the spring. The bees need around 50 -60 lbs of honey in each hive to get through the winter.

Water – September water use was only 425 cubic feet (31,000 gallons) which is approximately $7.95. The water will be shut off November 5 , 2012 in the morning. Volunteers are welcome.

Old Business / New Business
The compost toilet will be cleaned out at the end of the season.
Winter Gardening – plant garlic now for spring harvesting. If anyone is interested in helping with a winter gardening blog, please contact Barbara McKenzie.
The Rabbit is staying for now. There doesn’t seem to be a legal way to remove it from the garden.

Intro – Cyndi
Approval of August minutes
Treasurer’s Report – Deirdre

The water Company is having billing glitches that affect all the community gardens. We need to sit tight. Two members still owe dues.

President’s Report – Cyndi
The garden won first place in the PHS City Gardens contest. The awards ceremony is at the Naval Yard in late September. We need some folks to attend. There is also a ‘monster vegetable’ contest open to individual gardeners if anyone is interested.

There is a NGA meeting on October 11th which Cyndi will attend.

The Garden Council met last week and broke into three sub-groups to address three issues:
1) Bylaws (Cyndi to head this one) – will address assistant gardeners and proxy voting. They will prepare a proposal for the October 2012 meeting.
2) Children’s’ Garden (John to head this one) – work with local elementary schools to build raised beds. We already have a grant in place that we have to spend that is for educational purposes. They will prepare a proposal for later this season or next spring.
3) Committee Structure (Barbara to head this one) – review usefulness and functionality. They will prepare a proposal for the November 2012 meeting.

The Holiday Party – tentatively scheduled for December 13th from 6-10 pm at Old Swedes. The rental fee is $300. An open discussion was had regarding whether to use a different venue. This was left open and will be revisited at the October meeting.

Vice President’s Report – John
Saturday clean-up will be from 8-12 and will be important because of the BBQ held that evening. Clean-up attendance – some people are behind. Please do extra hours and log them on the sheet inside the shed. Also please e-mail John V. to notify him of your extra hours. More mosquito dunks and twine have been purchased. Row captains will reach out to members regarding attendance at clean-ups and meetings.

If anyone wants to switch plots for next season, please e-mail John V. They will be reassigned on a first come first served basis.

Committee Reports
City Harvest – Working to eradicate the bindweed in Cynthia’s plot. 186 lbs of produce were harvested in August which brings us to 992 this year. Harvesting will continue through October.

Compost – please cut up stuff before putting it in the compost pile. Roots go in the woody items bin. Paper goods are not compostable in the garden.

Bees – getting ready for winter. There is a fall nectar flow. One of the hives will be merged with another one. Honey will be sold at the BBQ. Approximately $1K has been raised from honey sales.

Water – The system has been running when it shouldn’t. Do not turn it on unless you are authorized to do so. If you’re not sure if you’re authorized then ask. The orchard should only be watered once a week if there isn’t any rain. As of August 12th 11,617 gallons had been used. This calculated to approximately $261 at 2010 rates. We expect an annual bill for 2012 of approximately $2,000. The water will be turned off November 5th.

There is a bind weed problem in the garden. Council has not endorsed a proposal to use chemical treatment. If anyone needs help combating bindweed in their plot, let John V know and it can be put on the clean up list.

Projects:
BBQ – It’s coming up. Please sign up to volunteer. Please bring your own chairs and café tables. Brian will have veggies kits at Kennett on Friday for pick up.
Booksale – Anne has received over 70 books so far but please bring more!
50/50 – Greg Line to run at the BBQ.

New Business:
Carolyn requested that the 2013 expenses/budget be addressed soon for planning purposes.

Next month’s meeting will be at Settlement.