Meeting Minutes

March 26, 2023

  • Voted to switch from a key lock to a combo lock for the front gate. The code will be shared with members and can be reset every season. 
  • Compost
    • Voted YES on the compost plans budget of ~$2,000. 
    • David/Peter will begin purchasing supplies this week.  
    • All materials here for the next meeting 04/08. 
    • The Compost Committee will put together a work plan for building a compost bin to discuss at the April 8th meeting. 
  • Votes YES for open hours to stay the same as last year. 
    • A sign up to be sent out with the newsletter twice a month to ensure someone is at the garden during open hours. 
  • Community Beds
    • Seedlings will be planted in community beds by end of april/early may – april 7th order due. 
  • A reminder that anything over $25 shouldn’t be thrown away without garden group approval. 

December 18, 2022

  • Green thumb questions to be answered by Dec 31
  • Calendar Planning for 2023
    • Include elections in the calendar for 2023 and have them earlier (maybe at Halloween Party)
    • Close down garden meeting
    • Be conscious of holidays when planning calendar
      • Don’t plan meetings on holiday weekends
  • Voted on keeping current board positions and will handle 2 empty ones in spring
    • One treasurer and one green thumb board position still open
  • Credit union switch happening
  • Porta potty will be collected for winter
  • Key Discussion: People are not able to access Garden easily because of faulty keys from copying copies
    • Try to make a bunch of copies of the key ahead of the season and use only the master key
    • Spread lockbox code to board in case of emergencies
  • To discuss first meeting in the Spring:
    • Policy about rescheduling meetings
    • Having a sign up for running meetings 
    • Starting meeting at 10:30

November 27, 2022

  • Set a meeting in December. Dec 3 at 10:30 meeting before Holiday Market and breakdown after
  • Green thumb position open
  • Green thumb relicensing due end of December
  • Grant opportunity? Due Jan 10
  • Lockbox for new members?
    • Can’t secure the garden because anybody could have the code 
    • Switch lock this year? 
  • Holiday market  dec 3, 12-3. 10% of sales go to red shed
  • Newsletter about elections and which board positions are open.

October 16, 2022

  • Green Thumb:
    • Looking to get more shovels
    • We can get these on October 29 between 10am-1pm
  • Events:
    • Halloween Party:
      • Voted yes on $300 budget for food and drinks for the event 
      • Still waiting to hear back on pumpkin donation from David for pumpkin painting.
      • Everyone loves the idea of a pie contest. We can include this on the second batch of flyers. 
      • Travis will promote the times of the contests on IG.
      • Action Needed:
        • Alex is changing the flier to say 1-6pm and including the pie contest at 5pm – once we have this updated/printed Travis wanted to get the digital file to post on IG
        • Need people to hand out thank you cards and put up event flyers this week and next – send a list of donors to the team so we can do this 
        • Need a firm list of volunteers for setup, tear down and a food run. Setup at 12:30, food runs the day of (make a list) and tear down after 6:00 pm. Have two volunteers for setup (Jeff and Alden)
        • Alden said his sister would be open to donating her time and performing at the event, although she is a solo artist and usually sings acoustic. Her IG is  @dania_music_ .If this does not work Jeff may be able to DJ and set up a playlist that works.  
        • If we have t-shirts left over do we want to sell those at the event?

September 18, 2022

  • Compost:
    • Voted yes to demolish the bin November/December to rebuild
    • Agreed date to stop accepting compost: October 15
    • Agreed only revisit budget for rebuild if the budget goes out of range
    • Discusses ways to get neighborhood involved with compost:
      • Have public drop-off that match the CSA hours
  • Events:
    • Sophia Roe event on Thursday, October 13 from 5-8
      • The event is ticketed – $50 each and there will be tix reserved for garden members to purchase on a sliding scale
      • Family Style meal – buffet – 75 people total
      • There will be a sign posted with the date a few days in advance
      • We should identify non-profits to share funds with
    • Fall event
      • Will be Sunday, October 30
      • Big celebration around Halloween
      • Painting pumpkins – no carving

September 3, 2022

Compost:

  • brown bin is filled with compost from the city
  • Make sure to chop it up and add browns on top

Missing hose is back!

Landscaping:

  • Assigning beds for people to water
  • Please email Jeff to see which beds still need someone to take care of them!

Put lids on barrels, white nets aren’t working

August 21, 2022

  • We have agreed on the Credit Union switch
  • Greenthumb to expand code for lockbox
  • Ticketed summer event confirmed, family style from Sophia Roe (!!!!) – more info to come!!

August 6, 2022

  • Events
    • Potential event on the horizon with Sophia Roe maybe in september
    • Sophia roe is a food blogger, James bears award winning
  • Landscaping
    • Split up parts of the garden to water more consistently
  • Compost
    • shipment of compost delivered! 
    • Try to cut up your rotting veggies before adding to compost and don’t put weeds in there
    • Update on rebuilding compost bins: don’t have the resources to reconstruct and the cost of the pipe design is really expensive
    • Can Greenthumb redo it? Reconvene at the end of the season to decide, prebuilt options?

July 24, 2022

  • Water
    • Leave mosquito dunks in the water barrels!
      • Joe is getting more
    • Hose is missing? We vote yes on using $50 on a 100 foot hose
  • Rat abatement updates:
    • Green Thumb is renewing partnership with rat abatement companies which just expired and going to start again and run from July-next June.
    • Proposal to have contractors install a small plexiglass barrier for a more permanent resolution which will cost a few 1000 vs constantly paying 200/month for extermination service.
      • Looking into estimates
  • Voted on having sign out front for Venmo donations
    • Can do donation jar at events, smaller fundraising events,
    • Can only have 2 events where we get money where we explicitly ask it for it (i.e. Summer fundraiser)
  • Landscaping
    • Baby Morning Glorys are everywhere! If you see some pull them out :)

July 9, 2022

  • Community Bed updates:
    • Add new trellises
    • Putting in pumpkin seeds, arugula seeds etc.
  • Compost:
    • Person from NYC Compost noted bad odor coming from compost
    • People need to add browns to greens to counteract the odor
    • Voted YES to have a 5 minute compost demonstration at a coming meeting from NYC Compost/or Steve
  • Rat Problem:
    • Out of control, need to hire a professional exterminator
    • Reach out to previous exterminator that city has used in the past
    • In the meantime do we want to use mint scented bags as a temporary solution to trash/recycling?
  • Ornamental Cherry Plum Tree
    • Tree is dying with no return
    • Replace with a non-fruit tree is the best option
    • Japanese Maple is an option, we are doing research and then can vote
    • Tree can be no more than 20 ft
    • Voted YES for parks to come remove the tree
  • Summer Fundraiser Recap:
    • We raised shy of $3,000 (woohoo!)
  • Photoshoot:
    • Someone from Edible Manhattan Group reached out on IG to do a photoshoot in the garden
    • We have no problem but they need permits etc.
    • Proposed solution if they have permits are to put in touch with events and ask for donations