Community Garden Committee, April 5, 2017
HOLDEN COMMUNITY GARDEN COMMITTEE MINUTES
April 5, 2017
Mission Statement:
The Holden Community Garden Committee is a volunteer organization working to provide and support Holden residents, individually and collectively, to grow food, flowers, fruits, and herbs on town land including the redeveloped property on Highland Street. Our efforts will enable residents to enjoy the beauty of our town while developing a sense of community through cooperative action, learning about sustainable and environmentally conscious gardening as well as ethical harvesting.
The Holden Community Garden Committee also exists to foster the education of the children of Holden through the support of community gardens in local schools and community groups. These gardens will help to develop the appreciation of future generations for the importance of agriculture and responsible environmental practices, and provide education and positive experiences through gardening and physical activity.
In Attendance: Marcia Hastbacka, Chair: Members: Jessica Cosenza, Michael Mazloff
Not In Attendance: Tanya Lewis, Ryan Fahey, Geri Herlihy (Liaison to Board of Selectman)
Meeting called to order at 6:40 p.m.
Agenda:
Steven & Spencer Braithwaite presented the proposals for their Eagle Scout project. (The Plans are attached to these minutes. The Picnic Table proposal had a $210. quote included. The scout (Spencer) informed us that Jess Pion had told him that the school was going to pay for these to be built, pending approval of the project. Jess C. addressed this by thanking him for his interest and thorough outline (he can actually have these built before the end of this school year, he believes) and then explaining that we had not yet officially decided to dedicate any funds as a group thus far for the project. The HCGC members had previously understood that it is a part of the Eagle Scout project to come up with their own plan for fund raising or community donations, and therefore the remaining members in attendance tonight had not anticipated this monetary expectation for funding to come from the school. The scouts and their Dad have experience in building these tables and would like to proceed. They are prepared to explore other funding and donation resources, but they would like to know if the school would donate any portion of the cost or fund this project in its entirety.
The HCGC approved the table project. Those will be built this year. The scout is just waiting to hear if we will fund all of it, any part, or none of the estimated cost. If the school for any reason does not want to receive the tables for installation in the garden, the HCGC committee could consider installing them into the Highland St. project. Re: Raised beds – the other scout (Steven) is happy to plan his project on raised bed installation. Davis Hill currently has wood and soil onsite to build kindergarten beds, and will add some compost to the soil that has been saved.
It was previously thought that with the help of the Davis Hill community those beds could be completed during a site build date. Davis Hill can still do that on their own, or allow this scout to come in with a crew and get it done.
The HCGC moved to approve this scout project, however we reserved the designation of site location, as the Highland St. project will also be needing assistance with installation of raised beds. If the school feels that the scout assistance if more immediately necessary, then we may move to allow for this project to take place on the school property. However, if the school community can complete that project on their own, then the scout will be asked to assist with completion of bed installation on the Highland St. property. Jess C. will bring the above information to the members of the Davis Hill Community Garden.
MOTION #1
To approve the plans for picnic tables (Eagle Scout project of Spencer Braithwaite)
Voted and Passed
MOTION 2
To approve the plans for raised beds with the location to be determined (Eagle Scout project of Steven Braithwaite)
Voted and Passed
Minutes of 3-22-17 Meeting
It was noted there was a typo in the Mission Statement and a motion was made to amend the mission statement to read: The Holden Community Garden Committee and delete “The community garden”
(Line 5) Note: The correction has been made. Because we did not have a quorum, the minutes of 3-22-17 will need to be approved at the next meeting.
Update on Davis Hill
There will be a Health/Science/Art at Davis Hill School on April 7th and the Holden Community Garden Committee has been asked to participate. Marcia Hastbacka and Tanya Lewis will represent the HCGC at that event.
Highland St. Property
A brief discussion was held about the Highland St. property including Michael’s proposed Work Templates. Since we do not know definitively about our FY 18 Budget monies, and because we did not have a quorum, no motions were made or votes taken.
Meeting was adjourned at 8:10 p.m.
No date or time was set for the next meeting to be held during the first week in May.