Minutes from Monthly Meeting

April 16th, 2009

Gardeners in Attendance: Cara, Kirk, Mark, Deema, John Spinks, Suzanne, Lon, Rachel, Free, Hannah, Cody, Rachel Sousa, Judy, Charlie, Michael Mattocks, Andy, Peter, Ruth, Alana, Eric 

At the meeting...

Updates and on the horizon

- Cara updated us on the work of the compost committee.  They will present a proposal at our next meeting in May.

- Marisa and Cara went to the Washington Ave. Block Association to talk to them about entering our block in the Greenest Block in Brooklyn Contest.  Though they were on the agenda of the meeting, unfortunately only two members of the block association were in attendance.

- Judy and Marisa are meeting in the garden on Friday May 1st at 8:30 am to go to a nursery in Long Island to buy some plants for the common areas

- There will be a new gardener orientation on Sun. May 3rd from 10-11, followed by a garden workday (May 9th is the raindate)

- There will be a workday at P.S. 11 on Sat. May 2nd from 10-12 to prep their planting beds, for planting to be done on Monday and Wednesday

Brainstorming Events For the Summer

1) Deema expressed an interest in a screen-printing workshop for kids (maybe extending into a larger fundraiser where people could bring t-shirts, bags, etc. to have a garden design printed on them)

2) Peter suggested a silent film with live music accompaniment

3) Hannah was thinking of a Haunted Garden around Halloween time

4) Suzanne was interested in a romantic event on the summer solstice and also a reading of some kind

5) Free shared that her group Redneck Poetry Squad are part of Grassroots Artist MovEment Go Green Tour in June, bringing hip-hop and spoken word poetry to green spaces in Baltimore, Boston, D.C., the upper Hudson and NYC

Volunteers

1) Rachel volunteered to maintain the rainwater harvester (once Charlie has replaced the broken spigot and we are able to turn the system on for the season)

2) Andy volunteered to put trash out on the street and look into recycling in the garden

Get Involved with Existing Projects in the Garden

1) To get involved with the compost committee - contact Sarah, Charlie, Marisa, Judy, John Ryan or Cara

2) To get involved with the education committee - contact Stephanie

3) To get involved with the Community Memorial Herb Garden - contact Mark or Claire

4) To get involved with the BQLT Board Meetings - contact Mike Dimpfl, Mark or Cara

5) To get involved with the BQLT Operations Committee - contact Charlie, Marisa, Emerson, Cara or Mark

6) To get involved with the native plant garden and the common area in the front of the garden, near the house - contact Judy

7) To get involved with the front common area by the city water - contact Marisa

8) To get involved with the common area along the fence with the school - contact Cara

Developing New Projects in the Garden

With all of the compost operation being moved to the area behind the apple tree, we will open up more new common area to develop into a welcoming green space.  

We will have two large new areas:  The area in the back of the garden will be completely open, as will the area between the rain water harvester and the composting toilet.

The following gardeners have thus far expressed their interest in forming an exploratory committee - Suzanne, Deema, Judy, Peter, Marisa, Mark

respectfully submitted by Mark