The Spring C.G. meeting

The first community garden meeting of the year was held in the Perth Dupont Library''' It was very well attended Alison, Kevin,Edward, Michelle, Roy, Marcel, Millie, Yvette, Jamie, Susan, Sarah and Sandra .

Meeting Agenda April 7, 2007

MISSION STATEMENT

We are a multi-cultural group of gardeners, with ethnic and life-style diversity. The Community Garden is a place to grow, not only good organic food and flora, but a place for people and families to grow, and have a chance to learn and strengthen their leadership skills.

April 7, 2007 Community Garden Meeting Agenda

• 2:00 Welcome and Introduction to Community Gardening

• 2:10 Open Discussion About Our Need For Clear Guidelines

Regarding Rights and Obligations

• 2:30 The Social Eco-System and Food Web:

The Steering Committee - The Core Group Membership Committee - Keeping Track Of Everybody Finance & Fund-raising Committee - How Can We Get This…? Social Committee - Planning Events

• 2:50 Marcel Fortin will discuss:

Compost System and Compost Bins For Our Garden

Any Questions?

Walk out to the Garden! Discuss Raised Garden Beds For the Seniors

• 1:30 I f you are interested there will be a Computer Clinic

Find out about our new web site, and how you can contribute to it. Also, register your E-MAIL addresses, and trouble shooting.

Welcome to the Perth Dupont Community Garden

My name is Susan Berman and I am the Coordinator of this community garden

Community Gardens or urban agriculture, is any form of food and flora production that occurs anywhere in cities, towns and villages. Sustainable urban agriculture can benefit our quality of life. Gardening can give us physical exercise, and mental relaxation. It’s a great stress reliever. We can have a sense of community belonging, and we can connect with nature - like our Butterfly Garden. We will have greater control over our food quality and get a chance to be acquainted with different foods and cultures. We will also have a chance to share surplus food with those in need, Plot #19 is our Charity Garden, and we have been donating is produce to the ‘Stop’ up at the Davenport Perth Food Centre. Toronto has over 100 Community Gardens & 14 allotment gardens. These gardens grow many things like: fruits and vegetables, herbs and flowers, There are also Butterfly Gardens, Bird Gardens, and Woodland Gardens of native plant species. Community Gardens also help grow stronger families and neighbourhoods.

Introductions: What does a coordinator do? First of all, I am NOT your boss! I am just the one that will go to Parks & Rec to ask for Compost or to the Councillor’s office for special request etc. My assignment from the City is to facilitate Community Growth in the context of the Garden. I have taken community garden leadership training classes and work shops this winter, so I will be sharing what I have learned with you, and practicing it as well. One thing that I have learned is that the key and the success of our garden is in good communication. As the need arises for decisions, I would like to hear from you, even if you think it is a small matter. I would like to use consensus for decision making, to make sure that every one can agree on the choices at hand, if at any point you feel strongly against the choice, then you can block that decision and we will reassess the plan. I have also had some training on conflict resolution, but I hope I don’t need to use it. Our big goal is of course to GARDEN! And have fun! If I can do it right, then the decision making process will be transparent, you won't feel a thing!

The core group: The City also wants any Community Garden to have a core group of at least 5 or 6 people to assist in upholding the regulations that the City has set out, as well as ensuring that the garden maintenance is undertaken by the garden group. That's the Cities words - makes us sound like the garden police! Any Way! - The People that are helping me with the garden are Alison, Michelle and Wes, and May. Melissa and Jonathan, who were here last year, finally got a spot from their waiting list for the High Park allotment garden and are no longer in our garden, so there is a need for an other 1 or 2 other core group members. But first, Introductions:

Core Group members

• Alison Urqhart

• Michelle Vanlooy and Wes Neil

• May Uusberg

The Butterfly Garden

• Kevin Loffree

Developing the Compost System

• Marcel Fortin

How about you? Can we circle around and hear every ones name, and perhaps a little about you?

Open Discussion On Our Need For Clear Guidelines Regarding Rights and Obligations

Having the opportunity to garden is a privilege and a right, especially in a big City like Toronto, it is hard to find a spot of sunny dirt to plant some seeds. So here we have seeds of opportunity, lets use them well and more then plants will be growing! Some community gardens will just have one big area to all share in the planting and weeding and of course the harvesting. But this garden has been set out so we all have our own area. You all have the right to garden as you see fit. Some may want nice neat rows, others will have their own patters. As long as your not blocking out someone’s sun it will be fine. Even weeding, it’s hard to keep on top of the weeds, especially after you have planted seeds, stuff comes up – is that what my plant is supposed to look like? All I ask is that once you’ve con firmed that it is a weed, get it before it spreads its seeds, because it will contaminate the gardens around yours. Some weeds can produce 1,500 seeds in a single plant!

The City has provided us with Community Garden Program Regulations, which is fine, but we are expected to also make guidelines that are tailored to the needs of our own garden. To that end, I am handing out some sample rules from two other community gardens, thought provoking scenarios, and the proposed guidelines that, as the core group, we though were important. There are 3 of each so you can look them over and pass them on, and tell me what you think. Feel free to start asking questions at any time. I have given us 20 minutes for this section, I hope that will be enough time to come to a consensus.

The Social Eco-system and Food Web: our need for Committees

I was telling my son about the structure of the Community Garden, and, with biology on his mind, he said it's like a social eco-system. We depend on each other for the growth of the community garden, the growth of our own gardens, and our own growth.

Committees, or volunteer groups, are needed so we can hear what the gardeners want and need. It will also give all of you the chance to participate in the community gardens growth. So, we need some stronger structure, last year I basically ran the show, and it is too much for me and not fair to you. It was our first year as a community group I didn't have a clue what I was supposed to do but things needed to be done. I did get the support of the other gardeners, and we did a lot, especially during the Fall Clean Up Event, and afterward as well.

Now, this is a new year, 8 new people, so that is a total of 27 gardeners, and we are off to a good start. I would like to propose that we have at least these groups to help sustain the garden, and help it grow. From the work shops that I have attended I have the information needed to make these committees function, I just need the volunteers willing to get involved. The steering committee: This group is the driving force behind the direction of the garden. For this year I think it would be good for the core group to handle this assignment, so if you would like to be a part of this, you can also be part of the core group.

Finance and Fund-raising committee: Right now the garden has no money. The cost of these photo-copies, making keys, work gloves, etc. has come out of my own pocket. I have asked for $5 for the garden shed key to help with these cost. But there are a lot of other things that we use for the garden and events that we should have some financial assistance with.

The membership committee: More that keeping a list of the members names and contact info, and the waiting list, they would prepare and maintain an inventory of the members skills, expertise and interests so we know who to call on for certain projects. They would also decide upon obligations of participation, keep track of the garden meetings and making sure that every one is invited, able to attend, and take notes for our records, and for those that aren’t able to come a certain meeting. The social Committee: This group would plan events like the Spring Garden Prep. May be a mid-summer picnic, and the Fall cleanup event.

You can sign your names on the list provided, or if you want to think about it you can call me up later.

Questions and Answers about these groups:

Marcel: Discussion of compost and compost system

Marcel, one of our gardeners, talked with us about composting and different ways that we could set up a system. After that we wanted to take a walk to the garden,to continue the discussion but it was bad weather that day. A few weeks later, we received this compost bin. It was donated by the group from Scadding court. Problem solved!