6:30 to 7:00
Signing of bylaws, paying dues, signing up for hot/cold watering weeks…..
Dues for 2014 are $50 per plot.
7pm:
Meeting introduction by Cindi.
Cindi resigns as president. John Ventre will be taking over Cindi’s duties as Chair.
Cindi’s comments include: “Thank you for accepting new dues amount.”
“Thank you to past officers from 2012-2013” ….
Introduction of new slate of officers:
John V entre (Chair)
Thom Hardenberg (Vice-Chair)
Suzanne Schectner (Treasurer)
Janice Chorba (Communications Secretary)
Lisa Zollinger (Recording Secretary)
Meeting turns over to John V. whose comments include: “Keep gardening as our focus.”
Treasury report, 2013 summary
(enough to cover water bill and other expenses)
NGA is now NGT (Neighborhood Garden Trust)
• They will be rolling out a new web page that will have all sorts of information –
• There will be a map with links to garden pages
• There will be a page for “How to support NGT”
• Protect and Preserve page for those interested on starting a garden (process and application)
• News and events
• Resources (links, message board and press kits)
They are interested in using a garden for the rollout of the webpage with gardeners attending. Mid-day and Mid-week.
Some items and activities they are looking at for this and coming years…
• Participation at the PHS fall fest
• Bike tour with gardens as stops for bikers
• A Citywide Community Garden Day – Timing is still up in the air. It would be a day for the gardens and each garden would decide how to recognize the day.
Looking to draft a new NGT Garden Agreement. It sounded like it would apply to new gardens but established gardens may need to sign (organic, soil monitoring, etc.)
Bees and other news:
Pruning is done. Not much taken off of cherry trees because we didn’t want to lose a season of cherries.
Cats are fine. They are fat. Total beggars. Must go on diet this summer.
The bee news is not great. We had 4 hives going into winter. We lost 2 over winter. We don’t know why. Carolyn opened top of hive in Jan. to feed it and it was dead. We still have 2 strong hives. We ordered 2 bee packages which includes 1500 bees and a queen. Cost is $100 per package. Unfortunately, the first year of a hive usually doesn’t produce honey….
Please put any recycled honey jars in Barbara’s plot number #26 or in the shed.
The water will be turned on the last Monday in March (the 31st)
City Harvest:
We had 1300 lbs of produce from the garden last year.
If you’ d like to join and participate in City Harvest, meet in the garden on Monday mornings at 9am to approx. 11am.
No plots were turned over this year. All the same members. There are currently 48 people on the waiting list. There was discussion on how to redo the waiting list. It was suggested that interested people should reapply every year to weed out people who move, lose interest, etc.
Water report:
Water will be turned on Monday March 31.
In 2013 the water was turned off on Nov.1. That’s when Thom went over the final billing to reconcile our usage with the bill. On Feb 12, 2014 we received a letter from the water dept. stating a new process of billing for water usage. In the past year, we received bills each month for $200 and some dollars…. We now have a $2,300 outstanding water bill balance. We need a new program of water usage, storm runoff, and how to keep track of our usage…. We’re still not sure what’s going on. Tom will continue to read water meter each month and keep accurate data. Thom will go to PHS and NGT meetings to keep communication open…. So this summer, think conservation!!
This SATURDAY’S CLEANUP
This is not a regular garden clean-up, but a very specific one involving pruning the fig tree and a general “dusting off” of the garden!! The ground is still frozen. While participation isn’t mandatory, any time you put in will go toward your total clean-up hours. And, if you can, please bring along your (small) electric saws to help speed things along.
Thank You and Look forward to seeing you between 10 & noon on Saturday!
Compost:
Karyl gave us some insight into the concerns present when using commercial compost, which is going to contain biosolids. She has passed on this link http://www.nationofchange.org/keeping-sludge-away-your-seedlings-harder-you-think-1393172339 which addresses the issue plainly:
“Out of the thousands of toxic chemicals that are found in that sludge, they strictly regulate exactly 10 heavy metals and two pathogens. And it’s nice that they regulate lead, mercury, and Salmonella. But you’re still left with everything else: flame retardants, nanoparticles, pharmaceuticals, endocrine disruptors like triclosan, cancer-causing dioxins, and a long list of other nasties you don’t want in your garden. Or in your body.” Karyl recommends visiting the Organic Materials Review Institute at https://www.omri.org/ for a listing of safe products for use in your garden. Thanks Karyl!
Next meeting will be April 7 (due to Passover and Easter the following weeks.) Cleanup will be the 12th.
Meeting adjourned at 7:56pm.