Minutes of the May 2010 meeting

Minutes of the Adanac Park Community Garden Society meeting of May 13th, 2010

Present - Stuart Morris, Jeff Smith, John Van Akkor, Sonja Oldershaw, Ian Buck, Nancy McRitchie, Toni Chubb, Shannon Zander, Sue Uustal, Kristina Zerr, Marilee Dahl, Pam Knott, Helen Clarke, Betty Huynh, Naomi Rouleau

Call to Order, 7PM

Motion to approve the agenda - M/S/C

Nancy McRitchie reported on recent developments.

• A proposal has been made to the Park Board Proposal. Stuart Morris will email a copy to members.

• Four funding proposals have been submitted
• $2000 has been raised in two grants for the fence
• A funding proposal for a shed has been turned down
• A proposal has been made to New Horizons for Seniors for 90 tons of gravel. The proposal will be pending until July or August
• Nancy has received several letters of support from various community groups

Motion to form a design committee - M/S/C. Members interesting in being on the committee to meet after the main meeting to organize.

Motion that the membership direct the design committee to draft recommendations regarding the common space layout in the garden and present it at the June 10th 2010 meeting - M/S/C

Motion to form a fund-raising committee - M/S/C. Members interesting in being on the committee to meet after the main meeting to organize.

Nancy provided an overview of the draft society guidelines.

Motion to adopt the draft society guidelines in principle - M/S/C

Motion to adjourn - M/S/C

Garden plot and number images

On the April 8th meeting of the society, the membership approved the number of plots at 56 and the dimensions of the plots at 4' x 18' x 8". Here are some images illustrating this (note that the layout has not been decided on yet, this layout is just for purposes of illustration).

Here's what a garden gnome looks like in one of the plots:

And here's the dimensions of the garden overlaid on the actual garden site:

Upcoming events at Village Vancouver

There are a number of seminars coming up on Saturay, April 10th 2010 at Langara College that would be of interest to community gardeners. For a full description and to RSVP, go to Village Vancouver's events page.

Seed Saving in the City

Seed saving is the missing link in food security. In our current climate of seed patenting and ownership, it's important that our communities retain their knowledge about how to properly save seeds. We'll talk about the politics and the joy of seed saving, learn basic skills, and discuss the creation of neighbourhood seed saving collectives throughout Vancouver. Your donation includes a copy of The Five Levels of Seed Saving by Terry Klokeid. (Copies of Robin's brand new booklet Grow Your Own Seed Collective will also be available for $10.) Part of Spring Cultivating Food, Cultivating Neighbourhoods series.

Creating Community - Supporting a Neighbourhood that Pulls Together

City dwellers have many skills and resources all around them, but may not have a mechanism for organizing and drawing on those skills at the times when they're most needed.

We'll look at how the sharing of resources takes place so easily in rural communities, and how this can be applied to building a wider community in an urban area and the valuable support it can provide. Part of Spring Cultivating Food, Cultivating Neighbourhoods series.

Concepts in Year Round Gardening

The Whys and Wherefores of food cycles - why we want them and how to get them. We will plan round the calendar food supplies, both in the larder and stored in the garden.

Part of the proceeds will help support SPEC's School Gardens Project.

Designing for Long Term Storage

Food storage is missing from our modern habit and building design. We will discuss food preservation (tubers, grains, onions, etc.) and how to choose locations for many food types so that appropriate storage areas can be created in apartments and houses. We'll also examine common problems and strategies to reduce waste.

Food Gardening Workshops With Grant Wilson

Grant Wilson is a former organic farmer and has been teaching gardening to adults and children since 2003. He also operates an edible landscaping business www.gourmetgardens.ca He has a number of upcoming workshops that might be of interest to Adanac Park Community Gardeners at a very reasonable price. Workshop schedule is here.

Minutes of the February 3, 2010 meeting

Adanac Park Community Garden
Minutes  February 3, 2010

Chair:  Angela Kenyon
Present:  Angela Kenyon, Stuart Morris, John Van Akker, Sonja Oldershaw, Heather Creamore, Nancy McRitchie, Sue Uustal, Carol Creamore, Shannon Zander, Kristina, Pam and Brent Knott, Helen Clarke, Louise Allen, Elizabeth Lamb, Sharole Morrison, Gary Hamilton

Agenda approved

1. Information sharing on what has happened since group last met
2. Discussing next steps
3. Inviting people to help create the garden
4. Questions / answers / discussion

Introductions

Information sharing:
This is a community initiative, not a co-op committee or initiative. Many thanks to Ian Gregson for getting things started. He has passed the torch and a small group has picked it up.  We have been active and have:

1. Formed the Adanac Park Community Garden Society which is becoming incorporated as a non-profit society. The seven first directors are:  Nancy, Angela, Stuart, John, Heather, Sue and Shannon.  All gardeners will be members of the society and at each annual general meeting there will be an election of the new board. 
2. Investigated other community gardens to find out how they have been started and how they work. There are guides to starting up community gardens, and a list of websites with excellent information.  (Action: information will be sent out to everyone, all are encouraged to read.
3. Confirmed with Park Board the steps to get approval for the garden:
   1) get non-profit status, 2) meet with Park Board staff ( Bill Manning), 3) develop a proposal for the garden and submit it to PB staff.  4)  PB will survey the neighbourhood to see if the garden is supported.  5) Bill will submit our report and his recommendation to Park Board commissioners who will decide. 6) PB will sign a lease with the Adanac Park Community Garden Society, probably for five years.   7) we need to purchase insurance, available for about $100 year through the BC Council of Garden Clubs.
4. We have also confirmed with Park Board : a) the proposed space of 125’ by 95’ is still fine and is supported by PB staff b) the location is on the east side of Adanac Park near to Boundary Rd, with the final spot to be sorted out once PB staff come to meet with us. c) once approved, PB crew will, at no cost to us, bring in the water to the garden and set up 3 hose bibs, remove the turf, and bring in the soil. d) PB won’t provide a fence or any materials for building the beds, or any plants. We will have to fundraise for that

Timelines:  we hope to be building the garden beginning in early summer, and have plots ready for planting for next spring.
Next steps / things that need doing:

1. Outreach / communications: invite neighbours outside of the co-op to get involved.  Action: Nancy / Angela will create poster.  Pam, Stuart, Helen and Sue will distribute it.
2. Hold design meetings to create a vision and plan for the garden. (March).  People should look at other garden designs and bring ideas. Stuart will share map info.
3. Develop the proposal for the garden to Park Board, and get letters of support.
4. Apply for grants:  application deadlines are March 31st.  
5. Create a budget based on our design, set fees for garden plots, and start fundraising.
6. Create guidelines for garden users that ensure we follow Park Board guidelines and that describe expectations.
7. Build the garden: fence, shed, paths, plots, benches, place soil and gravel. This will be a lot of work throughout the summer.  Many hands are needed.
8. Form a membership committee to keep the gardeners list and the waiting list.  This committee will probably collect the fees and get people to sign on to the guidelines. 

Meeting dates:  Second Thursday of each month, at 7 p.m., in Adanac Co-op Hall.

Next meeting:  March 11, 7:00 pm.
Agenda:  design / visioning; sign up as volunteers.
.

Link Roundup

There are lots of useful community garden resources on the web. Here are some of them

• The Pandora Park Community Garden blog contains
  
  • Photos of stages of the garden's construction
    
  • Drawings of the garden's layout
  • ...and a green tool shed design competition.
    
• Here's a pretty incredible community garden website from Australia. This extensive site includes:
  • An excellent article on the basic infrastructure of a community garden.
  • A discussion about the role of permaculture's role in community gardens.
  • A gardening safety guide.
  • ...and lots more.
    
• The Vancouver Park Board's Community Garden web page. This page provides links to the garden walking tours.
• The famous Vancouver City Farmer's web page. Among many other valuable links, this group has a community garden page that lists most of the community gardens in the GVRD along with links to their web pages.
• The square foot gardening system has been adopted by many urban gardeners because it's easy, conserves water, and is high-yield, all attractive features in an urban landscape.
• Homegrown Evolution, a blog about (among other things) urban gardening.
• A primer on low-flow drip irrigation from Lee Valley. Drip irrigation is one of the most efficient irrigation systems available.
  

Taking a Virtual Tour of Vancouver's Community Gardens

It's possible to have a look at many of Vancouver's existing community gardens using Google Street View. Here's how:

1. Go to Google Maps in your web browser (http://maps.google.com/maps)
2. Type in the address of the community garden that you want to look at (EG - "Maple & W 6th, Vancouver, BC" for the Kitsilano Maple gardens) and press search. The main map display will be then centred on that address.
   
   
3. Click and drag the little yellow person icon from the left side of the map onto the street location of the garden. Notice that as you drag, all the streets that have a street view change to blue.
   
   
4. Once you release the icon, the map view will change to a street view. At this point, you can click and drag on the photo to rotate the view, and use the "+" and "-" keys to zoom in and out for a better look at stuff.
   
   
5. To move up and down the street, you just click on the direction arrows on the street lines.
   
   

That's basically it. You can get an idea of what these gardens look like in the spring without actually physically going there in the nasty winter rain. And to get you started, here are a few direct links to some gardens:

Kitsilano Maple Community Garden
Mole Hill Community Garden
Elizabeth Rogers Community Garden
Wall Street Community Garden

Welcome

Welcome to the Adanac Park Community Gardens blog. This site will provide the latest news and resources about the community garden, and aims to serve as another focal point for the local gardening community. Feedback is welcome.