CG update for newletter and SHRA meeting 5/3

As of 4/21/09 these are the SHCG updates that will also be shared at the next SHRA meeting:

1. We have donations already starting to come in and want to make more community partnerships. Letters asking for donations that are out: Costco, Oakland, Mr. Mulch, Strader’s Garden Center. Letters thanking for donations: Wild Birds Unlimited. Please tell us your other ideas and connections.

2. Entrance idea for funds out. We have approximately 10 people willing to help. What great support!

3. Nature Hills Nursery Winner was announced on 4/17, and we were not selected. A calendar to share information of this kind of information is now on our blog.

4. Coordination to have the support of the OSU Master Gardener program is underway. We are sort of the guinea pigs for this!

5. The city wrote back. I heard from a new person, Maureen, and I hope she will be supportive; our previous city contact, Tina was very nice and enthusiastic about our idea. She included the agreement to put community gardens in the park. Things to consider:

• Water taps are an option from the division of water and power, public utilities dept? How much would that cost? What would it look like? Would we be able to get drip irrigation and a hose spigot? Bill says one CG was allowed to turn on water over the summer, but we would have to check that it is potable.
• Maureen is willing to have a meeting in the park May 1. This is great! I would like planners, trustees and Bill Dawson to be there. Would other neighbors being there help or should we save that for later?
• Maureen asked for SHCG to contact the “Northwest Area Commission”? Who are they? Upon my research I found that we do not have any representation for our area-so they do not exist. She wanted us to meet with them because: "parks often have competing space for programs, we ask the groups that have oversight of the area plans to review and provide direction to the Department." She will be getting back to me about this issue.
  I want SHCG to meet with NWCA to get their support. I have emailed them about a presentation.
• I called Bill because the agreement states that CG work has to be done as outlined by "the Franklin Park conservatory." What is the outline? He is not sure what this means either.
• The agreement states that power tools can be used with written approval-what is the process behind this?
• The agreement states that any fees that are charged have to approved-what is the process behind this?
• What are the city's maintenance standards that we are to adhere to?
• What about my friends of the park question? I am going to go for it because Bill says it will be incredibly helpful to realizing our vision. Need four other people to sign up. I am hoping the three garden coplanners and Tom, as the SHRA president, will join on. This is in the works.

6. I volunteered for another CG kickoff event to learn how others have organized their garden. It was incredibly helpful and I have posted photos and paperwork on the blog: http://sycamorehillscommunitygarden.blogspot.com/ .

7. I found our community connection to donate veggies/fruits to within the Plant a Row for the Hungry program: Clintonville Beechwld Community Resource Center.

Update for SHRA meeting

I thought I would follow through on Tom's good idea to email discussion points about committee updates ahead of time.

For the SHCG:
1. Captain planet grant in to help make garden children fun and friendly with art and educational materials.
2. Fiskars grant and Aveeno grant did not award funding
3. Looking forward to healthy sprouts and Scotts grant submissions in October.
4. Waiting again to hear back from city, will write an email to remind them.
5. Currently a letter is being written to create community partnerships
6. Is it important to make it clear that no funding for the garden comes from SHRA?
7. Over 80 posts on blog.
8. Happy to see blog linked on SHRA website.
9. Would like to tell NWCA about garden, but think we should wait for more information from City--Tom says their annual meeting is coming up, first Wednesday of the month at Meadow Park (Jennifer Adair, president, dad lives here).
10. Macy's April fundraiser a possibility, but for next year.
11. Will have garden meeting for whole community once we hear back from the city.
12. Would like to break ground in May 2009!

others added:
entrance idea-1000 towards garden

Meeting Summary

We just had a good meeting, and I will sum it up for everyone:

1. garden plan: submitted to city, waiting to hear back, I will email and bug Tina-Linda suggested grills in park/garden which is great idea
2. grants: Linda is finishing up Fiskars, Sue will check over Captain Planet and then we will send in, waiting to hear back from Nature Hills, will resubmit Growing to Gree in October WITH a budget (which I forgot to attach)
3. timeline: posted on our blog, check it out: http://sycamorehillscommunitygarden.blogspot.com/2009/01/timeline.html
4. connections: High priority. We need to make connections. We need someone to draft a letter as a script for people to say when contacting business/organizations and/or to send out/email. I got a partial list from Tom as to who has helped SHRA in the past. Other people had ideas and connections. Please add those ideas in your reply or post to blog
5. Blog: you have all been invited as co authors to post. I know this is a new technology, so maybe we can have a training session. It would be helpful to meet at a library with a computer room, or for people to come over with laptops. I shared my vision for the blog, too, and I basically see it as a way for kids to get involved as writers and photographers, etc, as well as all the other adults in the community garden.
I think that is it. Maybe we can have the next meeting in February and focus on the connections. It would be fun to all make calls at once, perhaps less intimidating!

Garden Planner Meeting Agenda

Hi, Ladies, Here is our agenda:
1. Blog (content, authors)
2. captain planet, other grants
3. garden design
4. timeline
5. connections to community

I am attaching the captain planet grant I have written up before corrections, so please print it out and mark it up, or email it back to me. It is all about getting kids involved in the garden, and it was really fun to write! If you can visit the blog before the meeting that would be good, too, but if not, we will go there together!
http://sycamorehillscommunitygarden.blogspot.com/

SHCG meeting on 11/13

At the SHCG meeting on 11/13, we:

1. went over the grant for the Columbus Foundation I submitted to make changes for next year's submission
2. showed the grant I submitted to Aveeno
3. we went over the community garden proposal and lease agreement from Columbus Parks and Rec-have questions on including a structure in the garden plan, but they said that we can explain why we want it in our garden design and go from there
4. decided on a design of the garden to submit to Columbus Parks and Rec (Sue will have her friend digitize and beautify it)

I have three possible grants for funding that I need help writing. We have a chance for some serious monetary support if we get these done. Would you contact me if you can help?

Welcome from Amy & Kim to the first SHCG meeting!

Tonight's meeting has 4 main targets: (with notes by Kim in BOLD)

• build on background knowledge of community gardening – Coordinator A_has the only real background on Community Gardening. Enthusiasm, however, was expressed by all attendees and it was uniformly agreed that the community would come to embrace the garden.
• introduce coordinators – Amy _and K_l were introduced as the Coordinators.
• share survey information and begin planning discussion: overall, positive responses were returned via the surveys. Negative responses were, in general, received from the homes most closely situation to the garden.
• decide on a follow up meeting and garden tour date: Sue and Amy will plan the garden tour for 8/29. Our next meeting date was not set, but will be decided on the tour.

The agenda (7/16/08):

1. Franklin Park Community Gardening Film – the attendees watched the film and generally agreed this was the vision for the garden. Ideas for the methods for planning the garden were discussed but none were agreed upon. This was set aside for a future date.
2. Introductions –Survey Results: The surveys show that over 30 people are in support of or interested in the garden.
   i. The only no's were from Shadowbrook who are indifferent besides the site.
   ii. 5 people are willing to be co-planners. The site choice was in favor of Shadowbrook, but only slightly. No decision has been made because we are still waiting on Parks and Rec.Veggies and flowers are the most popular items to grow in the garden. Most people are willing to work in the garden occasionally, 6 people will work as much as possible, and 5 would like extra food/flowers donated to their homes. Most people would like to see a shady meeting area and a storage shed in the garden, and the kids area and picnic table garden features were also popular. There are many resources in our community, especially gardening experience and tools to share.
3. Set Future Dates

A couple of things to do while you are here:

1. Please make sure to sign in so we know who came. Attending the meeting were Sue, Roger, Melody, Stephanie, and the Coordinators.
2. Look over the map to see who is interested and where the surveys came back from.
3. Think about anything you would like to cover in the next meeting.

So far, we would like to put these things on the agenda:

• garden design ideas and plans: Grow a Row for the Hungry, elder help and care, produce and flowers to donate, Sale of surplus produce and flowers to local restaurants, Teen activities, Toddler Garden, Field trips for local school children, Storage shed idea,
• water for the garden: A garden in the Park would pose water problems as there is no source in that area. Rain barrels could be installed if a central building were erected (i.e. a shelter, gazebo or storage shed). Pros and cons were discussed (individuals bringing in water). Shadowbrook has an unlimited supply of water from the creek but pumping it to the garden would also pose difficulties. The discussion was tabled until a site is agreed upon.
• garden rules: It was universally felt that the garden should be a true "community" garden – everything in the garden is to be shared by the community, but individuals could have their own raised bed. Everyone agreed that the garden should be organic and kept looking nice. More rules can come with time.
• update on city coordination: Amy to provide this at the next meeting as she is waiting to hear back from Bill Dawson who has a meeting on 7/20.
• inviting wishing well acres? Perhaps In the future
• possible roles around the planning and implementation of the garden (secretary, photographer, treasurer, grant co-writer, PR person, etc) People can just start thinking about what they would like to head up so we can spread out the duties.

Timeline: Some things are off the original goal, but that is okay. This is just a guide.

• June: Information sharing/gathering, Organize a meeting, Choose a site
• July: Form planning committees, identify our resources & needs
• August: Columbus Garden tour, Plan garden philosophy & design
• September: Plan for garden guardians & kids, Determine rules
• October: grant application due SPRING 2009: BEGIN OUR GARDEN!