Meeting Introduction (John – 1 min)
Treasurer’s Report (Suzanne – 3 min)
- One check for $100 was made out to Christ Church (as a donation.)
- No electric bill. We have a credit remaining for $90.
President’s Report (John – 5 min)
- NGA wants gardeners to sign the NGA committee agreement. Words are much stronger. Struck down the law on booze. So it’s ok now. They do have a right to do soil testing and things to protect us against state and city ordinances.
- BBQ tickets on sale at meetings and cleanups. $15 for adults, $7 for kids
Vice President’s Report (Thom – 5 min)
- Water: June to July we’ve used 981 cubic feet of water which translates to 7045 gallons. We don’t know if they are charging us properly but we’ll keep on it.
- Mural: The wall mural is loose, coming away from the wall. It must be rebuilt. Need to break off loose stuff…. Liability issues if pieces start falling down on people’s heads. We’re trying to contact Zagaar. (the artist who built it.) Garden will split the cost with the owners of the house. We will cap the garden contribution to $1000. If it’s more, we will present cost to garden membership. The damage is 8 feet and below. Continued discussion on this matter….. “Does this impact our signing of the agreement with NGT? They want to be informed about what changes we make that have liability issues. Will they contribute any $$? Who owns the mural?” No resolutions yet. NGA paid the repairs on mural 8 years ago. Nothing will happen with this until all parties are involved. We have a copy of the house’s deed and there is info about the wall and fence and ownership. So we need to look into it. Also discussion on getting rid of mural and just painting the wall….
City Harvest (Ed – 3 min)
- At the end of June, we had donated 382 lbs. for the year. (Last year, we were at 443 lbs. by the end of June.) By 2 weeks into July, we should be at about 500 lbs. Also, 65 lbs were picked on July 14, 2014. So thanks for all the donations and thanks to the City Harvest Crew.
- .Summer Camp in the garden: The kids planted bush beans for transplanting into gardens later and Vincas to take home. The second week of camp we visited the Wissahickon Environmental Center. We are also looking forward to a bird walk at John Heinz, bee demo with Don Shump, and a visit to Bartram Garden.
- Janice and Ed would also like to thank Kathy DiLonardo and Katie Parker who helped straighten up after the first scamp session.
Bees (Carolyn – 3 min)
- There was a huge swarm on July 13th. Landed on the lilac bush. Don and Carolyn caught it and it’s now back in the apiary. Inspector came from the State Dept. of agriculture. We cannot sell our honey wholesale.
Special Topics
- July means we are in the half way part of the year. Two inspections have been done already. There are a fair number of people who are not attending meetings and cleanups at all (or just 1.) Row captions will be in touch to let you know if you are at risk. There is a list in shed to make up hours. We need gardeners to step up and do their part. 5 cleanups, 5 meetings are required. Cleanups are 2 hours long. Weeding, sweeping, cleaning garbage are all tasks needed regularly. Record your hours on the login sheet in shed. We are also looking for things to be planted, picked and weeded in your own plots.
- BBQ : $15 for adults, $7 for kids. Checks or cash. Date of BBQ is Sept. 27 at 4pm.
- Children’s garden is still up in the air, whether it will be fixed up or be defunct and changed to something else…. Being discussed.
Meeting adjourned at 7:40pm. (Great turnout despite the thunder storm!) Kudos to those who attended!