Minutes from October 10 Meeting

October 10, 2012

Attending: Jennifer Tucker, Warren Leitzel, Cathy Pierce, Jim Pierce, Kat Alden, Lisa Beherec (and Henry!), Sally Mills, Brian Burger, Judith Fordham, Catherine Smith, Nick Brink, Toni Brink, Betsy Green, Julie Mason

Items discussed (with some overlap)

Who is our audience?   Currently:     Adults through the Garden Talks and informal teaching

                                                   Suggested:   Young people (teens from PVHS and Youth Center at OGS)
Older Gardeners (Stand Up and Garden)
Children
Homeschoolers

Why do we want to see the Learning Garden continue?

Ø  Financial benefit

Ø  Food security

Ø  Grow for the Outreach Center

Ø  Reach kids

Ø  Its community aspect with a tangible result

Ø  The community (particularly young folks) lack resiliency and need adult mentors

Ø  Learn from good gardeners to supplement a primal instinct to garden

Ø  Need to keep Warren busy

Ø  Support the Farmers Market

Ø  Teach what to do with fresh food, simple home remedies, weeds as food and medicine

Ø  Teaches even veteran gardeners new things

Ways to reach more people

Ø  Facebook

Ø  Website

Ø  Blog

Ø  Sign

Learning Garden Leadership

                                    Position                             Main Person             Assistant(s)

            Garden Coordinator/Master Planner               Warren                 Jim (aka The TaskMaster)

            In charge of procuring supplies, seeds, other inputs. Keeps track of what is planted where and when it needs harvesting. Communicates with volunteers (aka Worker Bees), calls meetings and work parties, oversees watering and mowing activities.

            Herb Garden Coordinator                               Jennifer                Betsy

            Directs all aspects of the Herb Garden, including production of value-added herb products.

            Communications Person                                 Julie                     Brian

            Receives progress reports and general garden information from all other leaders and disseminates it to appropriate Garden audience(s).

            Treasurer                                                         Julie                    

            Keeps track of income and expenditures. Issues monthly reports to Core Group.

            Education/Outreach Coordinator                   Kat                       Cathy, Toni

            Schedule and oversee education programs on gardening, putting food by and cooking from scratch at the Garden and off-site. Reach out to groups in the Valley to see how we can be of service to each other.

            Market Manager                                              Nick                     Jim, Warren

            Coordinate volunteers to harvest and staff the Market Table. Harvesting includes making garden produce table ready and helping customers harvest more if needed. Staffing the table includes engaging market goers in the Learning Garden.
Note: Julie and Judith committed to 1 week a month Market Duty.

            Peon At Large                                                 Lisa

            (Her term...Ha!) Helps as often as possible, including harvesting for the Food Bank in the Outreach Center

Monthly meetings will be held at 7:00 the second Wednesday of the month upstairs at the Green Drake

Agenda Items for Next Month

Ø  Treasury update

Ø  Committee BIG WIGS reports

Ø  Finalize BIG WGS job responsibilities

Ø  Further discussion on the Garden’s intended audience

Ø  Discuss Website/Facebook ideas

Ø  Discuss new signage

Ø  Input on seeds/plants to purchase/start for 2013

Ø  Open discussion

Ø  Decide meeting start and end times

Ø  Next meeting =