Green Oasis Community Garden (372 East 8th St, Manhattan)
New 123rd Street Block Association Garden (116 W 123rd St, Manhattan)
Friends of Brook Park Garden (494 East 141st St, Bronx)
This year marks the return to the in-person plant distribution and an expansion to 4 locations! They are excited to offer each garden 4 flats of plant starts total:
2 flats of veggies/flowers/herbs mix sourced from Rise & Root Farm
2 flats of native plants mix provided by Greenbelt Native Plant Center
Art Installation (still waiting on additional details):
Interviews conducted last year about climate change are being brought to life on aluminum, brightly colored 24×24 signs
Signs include question inspired by interviews with QR code link to audio collages of interviews of different gardeners from past year
Looking for us to put up 1 of the signs in the garden starting the week before Open Garden Days – December 15th. Hoping to have Park 12×12 sign with it indicating the art installation
Need someone to do supply pick up next Saturday 3/26 from 10am-1pm. Supplies available attached. Let Courtney and Lara know if you can go.
UPCOMING: We will also need someone on 5/7 for Plant Distribution – details to come! If anyone is available on this day, please let Courtney and Lara know.
Agenda for Next Meeting: Sunday, 3/27
Compost:
Need to vote on current plan or different plan next meeting
Events:
Open Garden Day – June 4
Summer Fundraiser – June 26
Need people for open garden days – sign up sheet TK
Seeds:
Tina has lots of extra seeds – do we want some in community beds?
Seed Library: If we want to start this – is there a volunteer to lead?
To dos:
Community bed rebuilding
Spread wood chips along paths and if you are a plot holder, around your plots
We will find a temporary solution for the two weeks or so when switching over
Compost will NOT close for the winter
Website:
Can we hyperlink “workday” on homepage to calendar?
Calendar needs to be created for 2022 and sent out mid-February – Tina normally does it but would like to step back this year if someone would like to volunteer.
Winter responsibilities:
We have to be prepared for snow clean up – email should be sent out asking for people on deck 2-3 days prior to predicted snow to see who’s free
Snow clean up must occur within hours of snow storm
Steve will empty water tub for the winter season
We need to start the process of hiring someone for tree trimming before next season:
Alyson, Peter, and Corey to start looking for someone, complain on Parks Department Website
Lara had a complaint through Greenthumb. One of the neighbors saw smoke from the chimenea and reported it. As the fire department has in the past approved of use of the chimenea, we are considering it a stalemate with neighbors. There prob won’t be many more bbqs/fires this season anyway. That said, be cautious with fires and neighbors.
We discussed cleaning out the debris by the shed/outhouse. It’s a big task and we should plan ahead to have enough help.
Two members approached Corey after the meeting about hoping to extend their (smaller than average) garden beds with the new lumber. They’d like to vote/organize working on garden beds perhaps before Christmas.
There was a dead squirrel in an open water barrel. This is a reminder that all barrels should remain covered to prevent this.
The community beds were partially turned leaving only a few plants and herbs for the remainder of the season. Compost was sifted and turned.
We’ll use the southwest planters for strawberries and other beds for blueberries. Daffodil planting should wrap up today. If you’d like extra bulbs for another public use, check with Tina.
Please continue to map what you plant. Peter is coordinating a plan of all the community plants on the garden. Adding bulbs and such to that is useful for a number of reasons.
We discussed the existing two plans for community bed reconstruction. Members generally support merging existing beds, but the exact boundaries of the new large bed are to be determined. The mulberry tree and adjacent building shade the beds, but expansion is limited by the path and, especially, the gate and the need for a delivery zone inside the gate. Peter will provide another option (or several). Online minutes will be updated, and/or they’ll be sent on the Mailchimp list in advance of a vote.
We placed a Green Thumb request for shovels, salt, and more to manage snow and ice this winter.
Help increase our donation to NATIFS. Send a Venmo payment to @RedShed. Add NATIFS to your note.
Our Indigenous Peoples Day donation will go to NATIFS. The garden’s treasury will will give $125. The CSA might also donate. We hope to collect at least $175 in addition contributions from members to be bundled with the garden donation. Venmo to the Red Shed account, @RedShed, or give cash to one of our treasurers, Charlotte and Alison.
Charlotte, Rosie, and board members will coordinate adding Alison to our bank account, which requires signatures from all board members and the three of them jointly visiting the bank.
We voted to add a meeting (not a workday) on December 4 for 2022 board elections and any other final votes of the year. Time wasn’t discussed, but presumably it will start at 10:30. Potential board members can be nominated by any member, including self-nomination, anytime before the vote.
David brought a first aid kit and Narcan kit (for suspected opioid overdose treatment) from an event in Cooper Park. He’ll work with the community group from that event to organize a training on how to use the kit, likely at our November 13 meeting.
The Halloween Party is on track. Flyers will be at the garden later this week. Email the events committee (events@redshedgarden.com) to help with publicity or decoration. The Department of Sanitation asked to set up an info table at the party to promote the city compost program, and we voted in support.
Recognizing Indigenous Peoples’ Day and that the garden sits on land taken from the Lenape, we will donate to an organization below, to be decided at the next meeting. We voted to use $125 in garden funds and hope to collect matching funds from members to donate at least $300.
Dwane’s apartment was flooded by Ida. He will continue as a garden member and membership co-coordinator, but while he’s sorting out this situation, Corey is handling most membership coordinator duties for now.
If you want to support Dwane, his Venmo name is @Dwane-Maxwell, or contact redshedmembership@gmail.com for more info.
We voted to make a few process changes, both for better communication and to better comply with our by-laws. The by-laws call for advance notice of votes involving large changes in the garden or expenses over $25:
Members must submit proposals relating larger changes in the garden and expenses over $25 to the RSCG general email at redshedcommunitygarden@gmail.com. Proposals will be disseminated via email newsletters to all members for review. Members will discuss and vote on proposals at general meetings
The by-laws also stipulate that “[m]eeting minutes will be kept and saved on the RSCG website blog for members’ review.”
We voted in July to include minutes of each meeting in the Mailchimp reminder for the following meeting. Going forward, we will use the website to prepare the minutes for those mailings.
The blog is back online, and initial minutes should be posted on the blog shortly after each meeting. Committee chairs and others needing to correct minutes, add details, or provide details on an upcoming vote can edit the minutes over the next week. (Contact Joe if you need a website account.) The minutes sent with meeting reminders will be copied from the website.
The garden has a lot of daffodil bulbs. They were planted around the garden, and extras will be given to Cooper Park volunteers for planting there. There might be extra for planning in other public places in the neighborhood. Ask Tina if you’re looking for any.
The events committee is planning the Halloween party for 1:00-6:00pm on October 31. Charlie Waters will play live music. Geoff will coordinate a playlist. Contact the events committee to be involved with planning. events@redshedgarden.com is now set up to reach committee chairs.
The compost committee is still working on plans for a new bin, to be proposed for a vote later this season. Contact the compost committee to be involved.
We used the finished compost bin for some of the soil recent delivered by Green Thumb, so use bagged compost if you need pure compost.
