May 2023 Membership Meeting Agenda

Wednesday, May 17th

may-2023-member-meeting-agenda_minutesDownload

Introductions (Kerri and Dana)

• Welcome!

 Steering Committee for 2023 season

• Co-Presidents: Dana Skallman and Kerri Brewer
• Ops: Looking Peter Brown (currently no co-chair)
• Membership: Liz Wagoner (currently no co-chair)
• Treasurer: Helen Johnson
• Events: Alicia Berbenick (currently no co-chair)
• BQLT Rep: Anastasia Standrik
• BQLT alternate: Cristina Velez
  

Covid-19 and the Garden (Kerri and Dana)

• Hollenback will be open as usual in 2023; we will monitor any Covid-related developments and make changes to our open status accordingly.
• Gate stays open when members are in the garden.

Membership Committee (Liz): 

• Membership requirements for a plot or plot waitlist are: Dues & 3 Meetings/ 3 Workdays/ 4 Open Hour sessions
  • Memberships can be in pairs
• Non-plot membership requirements, i.e. to have a key, are 1 meeting/1 workday/2 open hours sessions each season. 
• Garden is open Saturday and Sunday, 10am-4pm; gardeners complete open hours during these blocks or during other blocks of time. Open hours get recorded in binder in the toilet.
• Please sign the bylaws by June 15. By signing, you agree to the Hollenback Garden community agreements. You can sign online or in-person. 
• Plant your plot by June 15th, or forfeit it
• New members and being an apprentice
  • Apprentices farm the Margaret Lamar community plot. 
  • If you would like to become a member, sign in and also email: hollenbackcommunitygarden@gmail.com to let Membership know you’d like to become a member. Include your email address, phone number, name, and if you plan to share a membership your partner’s name and contact info.
  • If you aren’t on the listserv for new members yet, email to let us know. 
  • End date for new members to join this season is May 31.
• Plots
  • We will hold a drawing for the waitlist with apprentices  in July. The waitlist varies every year – about 6-8 people on it now. 
  • Plots are distributed each year in March in order of the waitlist. 

Operations Committee Update (Peter): 

• A big shout out to:  Dylan, Jeff, Gizella, Sandra, Taylor, Ricky, and Anastasia who jumped in to paint the shed!
• Seedlings: GrowNYC order delivered and planted! Shout out to Kerri for picking those up for us!
• Compost Committee
  • Eric & Moss committed to leading this year. Mulch appreciated!
  • A reminder to everyone – chop and sort your organics before placing them in the proper bin… the smaller the better to break down quicker.
  • If you put food scraps in the active compost bin, please cover with a handful of greens and browns. 
  • No meat, animal products or paper.
  • Please put thorny material and invasive weeds into the brown city compost containers for street pick up.
• Water Committee:
  • Christina & Shana committed to leading this year. Thank you for quenching the garden thirst!
• Trash Committee – We need some folks to lead this weekly effort.
  • There is a lot of debris in the garden that needs to make it to the curb in addition to our bags of trash, recycling and city compost. 
  • Let’s bundle and stage debris by the front gate for ease of getting to the curb on trash nights.
  • Trash pick up is M, W, F (take out night before Sun., T, Th–trash + recycling) 
  • Please take out if you see it full or or if you grill or add food.
• Plot maintenance (eg things overgrowing; surrounding pots)
  • Please be mindful of things overgrowing and blocking paths between plots.
  • The small bits of woody debris in the compost area make for good ground cover around the raised beds.
• There are three, assembled raised beds in the back of the garden ready for a home.
  • If your bed is beat or if you want a second level for ease of access let me know and I can help. 
  • We also have wire mesh that can be stapled to the bottom to deter rats.
  • If you make a double height bed, wood debris can be used as bulk backfill then covered with garden cloth, then soil and compost on top.
• We have a large delivery of compost coming from BIG Reuse on Saturday May 27th 2 PM. Please come by to help move it into the garden and distribute to your plot and common areas.
• An order was placed with Greenthumb for soil, mulch, woodchips and wood planks for bed repair. A delivery date has not been confirmed and it may be later in the summer. Volunteers will be needed to move everything into the garden.
• In the coming weeks, we will be moving our solar panel from Don’s roof to the fence behind our compost bins. Volunteers will be needed to help and we also need a long extension ladder if anyone has access to one?
• New Bench options for the back of the garden
  • Both use material on hand. Both can be moved around fairly easily for events.

• Option 1 – $240 budget and probably 2 days effort. 

• Option 2 – $115 budget and quick assembly.

Treasurer (Helen):

Treasury related questions/Paypal issues: hcgbk.treasurer@gmail.com. Do not email Helen directly.

• Pay your dues, on a sliding scale from $10-50, by June 15th. Use paypal: @HCGBK, or use paypal.me/HCGBK. Venmo is not an option.
• Email garden related purchase requests directly to Dana and Kerri for approval (send to Hollenback email above) prior to making any purchases. Once approved and purchased, send reimbursement materials to Sasha.
• Items that exceed $250 require community vote.  Once approved and purchased, send reimbursement materials to Helen.

BQLT Updates (Anastasia and Cristina):

• What is BQLT? www.bqlt.org
  • Brooklyn Queens Land Trust: 35 community gardens as members
  • Liability insurance, nonprofit status, city water, maintenance support
  • Protected land
• Water is on!
• BQLT Point People: Domica Roberts (BQLT) and Alonso Cordoba (our “Ambassador”) 
• Emails full of info from BQLT to come!
• Key dates for BQLT – upcoming events
  • Next General Gardener Meeting: Saturday, May 6th 2023, Garden location [TBD]

Events Committee Update (Alicia)

• Open Garden event day is June 3rd. Please sign up for any 2-hour slot. There will be a scavenger hunt for families plus an art station to get creative. You’ll get workday credit! Other ways you can help:
  • Start propagating house plants. We will be giving them away during this event. 
  • Consider bringing a baked good for sale.
• May 20th, 11am-noon (before our workday), we will have Kwesi Joseph, an urban gardens specialist from Cornell, in person to lead discussion and answer any questions anyone has on gardening best practices and plot maintenance. We’ll have bagels, coffee and juice available.

Email Protocols (Dana and Kerri)

• Listserv purpose; Liz is the point person.
• Only use listserv email for announcements and events that relate to gardening; ex: BQLT updates, events happening w/ Green Thumb, educational opportunities with BBG, watering requests, sharing gathering info with garden. Please do not reply all.
• It’s NOT MODERATED so use sparingly.
• Proposals, ideas, concerns, questions–send directly to Kerri and Dana (send to Hollenback email: hollenbackcommunitygarden@gmail.com) who will share with SC and respond accordingly. 

Season schedule: 

• Garden Meeting/Workday schedule:

1. Wed. 5/17 at 6:30pm. Meeting (in Garden)
2. Sat. 5/20 at 11am. Workday
3. Sat. 6/17 at 11am. Meeting and Workday
4. Wed. 7/19 at 6:30pm. Meeting (In Garden)
5. Sat. 7/22 at 11am. Workday
6. Sat. 8/19 at 11am. Meeting and Workday
7. Wed. 9/20 at 6:30pm. Meeting (in Garden)
8. Sat. 9/23 at 11am. Workday
9. Sat. 10/21 at 11am. Meeting and Workday
10. Sat. 11/18 at 11am. Closing Workday

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April 2023 Membership Meeting Minutes

WELCOME
Kerri welcomed everyone to the first in-person meeting of the season. It was pointed out that it was Earth Day.

NEED PEOPLE TO SERVE ON STEERING COMMITTEE
Peter was introduced as the new person on the OPs committee. He was in the garden years ago and has now returned.

The Steering Committee needs co-chairs for the following committees:
-Membership
-Ops
-Events
Reminder that all members are required to serve on a committee at some point.

KEEPING THE GATE OPEN
It was stressed that we must keep the gate open when we are in the garden.

It is a community garden. That is not just for our members, but for the wider community as well to enjoy the space.

LISTSERVES
The listservs have been broken into wider community, members, and apprentices. Members were discouraged from using reply all.

MEMBERSHIP REQUIREMENTS
Kerri reviewed membership requirements on behalf of Liz who was not present.

The membership requirements are:

Pay dues by June 15 (sliding scale $10-50)
Read and sign the bylaws every year

Members with plots must plant them by June 15.
3 meetings
3 workdays
4 open hour sessions (2 hours each)Our posted open hours for the community are Saturdays and Sundays from 10-4 pm.

Posted open hours are required by the BQLT.

There is a signup sheet to make sure we have those hours covered.
If Saturdays and Sundays don’t work for a member to do open hours, they can also get an open hour credit on other days as available.

Members must keep the gate open during open hours and must sign in the book (kept in the compost toilet) to get credit.

Up to two members (or member pairs) can claim the same time slot for open hours.

Kerri explained a member pair, which means that membership can be shared between two people. They can divide up their hours between them (for instance, one goes to one meeting and the other goes to the two others) but they cannot multiply (i.e. the pair do not get two credits for the same workday if both attend).

There is also a non-plot holding membership level. Requirements for this level are dues, bylaws, 1 meeting, 1 workday, and 2 open hour sessions.
New members become new members by showing up and expressing their desire to become new members.

New members should email hollenbackcommunitygarden@gmail.com to make sure they are noted as having joined and so the garden has their contact info.

New members and non-plot holding members garden together in the Margaret Lamar Cooperative Farm.

New members can arrange to receive their key after paying dues and attending 2 meetings and 1 workday.

BYLAWS

We went around and read the first half of the bylaws aloud, a paragraph each, also introducing our names, the year we joined the garden, and one thing we want to grow this year.

The second half of the bylaws covers the responsibilities of the Steering Committee. These were also read aloud, by Kerri, at Alisha’s request.

ALISHA’S ADDRESS TO MEMBERSHIP REGARDING HER PLOT

The April 22 meeting agenda had been sent the membership on April 21, with the following note about an open plot:“We have one potentially open plot to distribute and one sabbatical plot (Barak’s). These will go to the next members on the waitlist, in order. We’ll distribute these after the meeting.”

The potentially open plot belonged to Alisha. At this point in the meeting, Kerri announced that Alisha had asked to address members, and Alisha was given the floor.

Alisha handed around a sheet of paper including her documentation of her credits last season and dates and her summaries of her communications with the Steering Committee about those credits.

Alisha read an address to the group. Her documentation and her address to the group are attached.

apetro_hollenback_disputestatement_042223Download

apetro_hollenback_worklog_2022Download

Alisha’s address stated that she was asking wider membership for grace because she had missed the rule that only one BQLT meeting or workshop can be used for a garden credit.

She attended only BQLT meetings last year, one of which took place at Hollenback. She had mistakenly believed that she could use these credits for her meeting credits. Alisha said that she now understands the rule that only one “outside credit” is allowed.” Having earned 19 credits in
total (some disputed by SC), she was coming to the community to request a warning instead of losing her plot.

Alisha also presented concerns with the tone and timing of SC communications regarding her plot. She found it relevant that the membership coordinator took about a month to respond to her email attempting to claim credit for the BQLT meetings she had attended. During that month passed the final Hollenback meeting, which Alisha could have attended if she had gotten back the SC’s answer in time.

A discussion occurred, with regular garden members speaking as well as members of the current and outgoing SC. Some people felt that Alisha had signed that she had read the bylaws and needed to be held to them; that with space at a premium, exceptions should not be made. Others questioned whether there was harm in offering forgiveness or grace in this situation.

Alisha pointed out that the bylaws require the SC to respond within a week to member emails.

Mark felt that pointing out SC failings on the bylaws was a red herring meant to distract from Alisha’s failure to meet bylaw requirements. He wanted those enforced and for SC bylaw issues to be discussed separately. Rose pointed out that the BQLT requires more open hours to be posted than we currently have posted.

Rose stated that as a former membership coordinator she had had to take people’s plots who didn’t do their hours even if they were upset about it, but that the membership rules are meant to encourage engagement, and that she probably would have found a way to work with someone who had as many credits as Alisha did.

Helen said that she didn’t feel the extra credits were relevant and that everyone has to abide by the same rules. She also expressed displeasure that Alisha had filmed SC at the plottery.

Rose noted that the bylaws require the plottery to happen at a meeting and wondered if the plottery happening on a different day was intentional on the part of the SC. Kerri said that was not intentionally done to prevent members from observing.

Some other members spoke up in favor of the rules as the rules.

Other people spoke up in favor of granting Alisha’s request.

Kerri said that there really isn’t anything that the SC could do, and that Alisha wasn’t the only long time member who had been informed at the end of last season that they were losing their plots after not earning enough credits.

Rose asked why Alisha was allowed to address membership if membership was not going to be allowed to weigh in on the SC’s decision.

A vote was called on whether to vote to overturn SC’s decision not to work with Alisha instead of taking her plot this year.

Mark pointed out that SC members are allowed to vote.

A vote was taken by raised hands. A quorum was not taken.

The vote on whether to vote failed, with 9 voting to vote and 11 voting not to vote.

Rose noted that she had resigned from the 2021 SC over concerns about democracy and transparency.

OPS UPDATE

Peter gave updates on various Ops concerns.

The first was the Rainwater harvester.

Our neighbor, Don, had attended the meeting. During the introductions he had stated that he was attending the meeting in hopes of improving his communications with our garden.

Peter updated members that the caterpillar will no longer be a rainwater harvester, as we would be removing the rain collecting apparatus from Don’s roof at his request, along with the solar panels on his roof that had previously powered the compost toilet fan.

Mark suggested filling the barrel up with water from the hose and that it might be possible to phase out some of the pickle barrels as he believes them to be a mosquito concern.

Rose mentioned that screens on the pickle barrels might need repaired, but Ernesto showed that they had already been repaired.

Shana felt that the weeds are a bigger mosquito problem than the pickle barrels, and expressed concern that there would be a long line for can filling at the caterpillar if some pickle barrels were eliminated.

Mosquitos and the long term plan for the caterpillar were suggested for a topic next meeting.

Members were encouraged to weed the paths.

Other ops topics from Peter included:
– Bed replacement needed
– Deadlines to order soil and mulch from GreenThumb etc were missed, communications ongoing but might need to spend garden funds on this
– When soil and mulch arrive, extra workdays will be announced
– Water damage to shed would require painting and fixing doors, would schedule a workday for this soon
– Lots of garbage, old wood, scrap etc needs to be disposed of and pickup options are under discussion

SUB COMMITTEES
Trash
SC mentioned that trash goes out Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday nights, with recycling going out also on Thursdays.
Rose mentioned the new city trash rules that loose bags cannot go out until 8 pm.
She wondered if we would be putting the trash out in a container instead, which would need to be replaced in the garden the following morning after collection.
She mentioned that the trash committee is basically Bob at this point and wondered if he could get some credit for that and if the trash committee could be more formalized and have more members on it.

Shana mentioned additional brown bins from the city. Members were reminded to dispose of weeds and thorns in the brown bins instead of the compost.

Members were reminded to pack out their food garbage rather than leaving it in our can.

Compost
Volunteers were solicited for the compost committee. [Who?]

Water Committee
Shana and Cristina volunteered for water committee (filling pickle barrels). Mosquito dunks for the barrels were mentioned as the water committee’s responsibility.

SEEDLINGS
It was announced that assorted seedlings will be delivered on various dates for member use.

TREASURER REPORT
Helen gave the treasurer report, going over dues and reimbursement as outlined in the meeting agenda. She was asked for the total in the bank. She said it was around $4,000 and that she’d get back with the exact total.

BQLT
Anastasia and Cristina explained a bit of their roles as the BQLT reps / community liaisons as outlined in the meeting agenda.

April 2023 Member Meeting Agenda

Introductions (Kerri and Dana)

• Welcome to the Hollenback Garden 2023 Season!

Steering Committee for 2023 season

• Co-Presidents: Dana Skallman and Kerri Brewer
• Ops: Looking Peter Brown (currently no co-chair)
• Membership: Liz Wagoner (currently no co-chair)
• Treasurer: Helen Johnson
• Events: Alicia Berbenick (currently no co-chair)
• BQLT Rep: Anastasia Standrik
• BQLT alternate: Cristina Velez
  
  

Covid-19 and the Garden (Kerri and Dana)

• Hollenback will be open as usual in 2023; we will monitor any Covid-related developments and make changes to our open status accordingly.
• Gate stays open when members are in the garden.

Membership Committee (Liz):

• Membership requirements for a plot or plot waitlist are: Dues & 3 Meetings/ 3 Workdays/ 4 Open Hour sessions
  • Memberships can be in pairs
• Non-plot membership requirements, i.e. to have a key, are 1 meeting/1 workday/2 open hours sessions each season.
• Garden is open Saturday and Sunday, 10am-4pm; gardeners complete open hours during these blocks or during other blocks of time. Open hours get recorded in binder in the toilet.
  • Expect an email for more details about open hour signup

• Please sign the bylaws. By signing, you agree to the Hollenback Garden community agreements. You can sign online or in-person.
• Plant your plot by June 15th, or forfeit it
• New members and being an apprentice
  • Apprentices farm the Margaret Lamar community plot.
  • If you would like to become a member, sign in and also email: hollenbackcommunitygarden@gmail.com to let Membership know you’d like to become a member. Include your email address, phone number, name, and if you plan to share a membership your partner’s name and contact info.
• Plots
  • We have one potentially open plot to distribute and one sabbatical plot (Barak’s). These will go to the next members on the waitlist, in order. We’ll distribute these after the meeting.
  • Plots are distributed each year in March in order of seniority. Those who do not have a plot this year, but remain members in good standing, will receive a plot next year in order of seniority with the garden.
  • We will hold a drawing for the waitlist with apprentices in July. The waitlist varies every year – there are currently 6 people who joined in 2022 who are still on the waitlist for a plot in 2024.
  • Bylaws explain how this works.

• Listserv
  • There are three listservs: (1) Riseup listserv (full members only); (2) Apprentice listserv – hollenback-apprentices@googlegroups.com (for 2023 apprentices) and (3) a community listserv for former members and others interested in hearing about events at Hollenback.

Operations Committee Update (Peter):

• Early season goals include:
  • cleaning up from winter
  • spring city water hookup (complete!)
  • detaching rainwater harvester from neighbors building
  • relocating solar panel from neighbor’s roof to garden
  • replacing beds
  • replenishing soil & wood chips
  • repairs & repaint shed
  • Repair, rebuild, repaint benches
  • Completing beehive platform and fence.
• Compost Committee
  • Has to be turned. Need to find interested folks to coordinate. Let Peter know if interested!
• Water Committee:
  • Simple — keep water barrels filled and put mosquito things in there. Let Peter know if interested!
• Trash–M, W, F (take out Sun., T, Th–trash + recycling)
  • Take out one night before – note: new take out time is 8 pm.
  • Please take out if you see it full or fill it or if you grill or add food
• Plot maintenance (eg things overgrowing; surrounding pots)
  • Please be mindful of things overgrowing and blocking walking ways and access to others’ plots.
• Compost! Ours doesn’t get to heat that city compost used to so please no meat or animal products or paper. Please review the plaque above the compost and cover with a handful of greens and browns. Primarily, cover up the food to keep critters at bay.
• Seedlings: GrowNYC order to come! We’ll send an email when they arrive. Also an order coming from GreenThumb.

Treasurer (Helen):

Treasury related questions/Paypal issues: hcgbk.treasurer@gmail.com. Do not email Helen directly.

• Pay your dues, on a sliding scale from $10-50, by June 15th. Use paypal: @HCGBK, or use paypal.me/HCGBK. Venmo is not an option.
• Email garden related purchase requests directly to Dana and Kerri for approval (send to Hollenback email above) prior to making any purchases. Once approved and purchased, send reimbursement materials to Helen.
• Items that exceed $250 require community vote. Once approved and purchased, send reimbursement materials to Helen.

BQLT Updates (Anastasia and Cristina):

• What is BQLT? www.bqlt.org
  • Brooklyn Queens Land Trust: 35 community gardens as members
  • Liability insurance, nonprofit status, city water, maintenance support
  • Protected land

• Water is on!
• BQLT Point People: Domica Roberts (BQLT) and Alonso Cordoba (our “Ambassador”)
• Emails full of info from BQLT to come!

• FYI starting April 1, there’s a new time restriction of 8 PM for bagged garbage: https://www.nyc.gov/assets/dsny/site/services/collection-setout-time
• Key dates for BQLT – upcoming events
  • Next General Gardener Meeting: Saturday, May 6th 2023, Garden location [TBD]

Events Committee Update (Alicia)

• Open Garden event day is June 3rd. Please start propagating house plants! We will be giving them away during this event. Also consider bringing a baked good for sale. There will be a scavenger hunt for families. And if anyone would be willing to lead garden tours, please let us know! Formal Email to come with a sign-up sheet for the event.

• May 20th, 11am-noon, we will have Kwesi Joseph, an urban gardens specialist from Cornell, in person to lead discussion and answer any questions anyone has on gardening best practices and plot maintenance.
• Any news and events you’d like to be included for May’s newsletter please send to Hollenbackcommunitygarden@gmail.com, Attn: Alicia in the subject line.
• On social media – tag @hollenbackcommunitygarden for any pics you would like featured. We’ll do our best to stay on top of reposting!

Email Protocols (Dana and Kerri)

• Listserv purpose; Liz is the point person.
• Only use listserv email for announcements and events that relate to gardening; ex: BQLT updates, events happening w/ Green Thumb, educational opportunities with BBG, watering requests, sharing gathering info with garden. Please do not reply all.
• It’s NOT MODERATED so use sparingly.
• Proposals, ideas, concerns, questions–send directly to Kerri and Dana (send to Hollenback email: hollenbackcommunitygarden@gmail.com) who will share with SC and respond accordingly.

Bylaws

• We’ll read out loud. You can sign them online or in person at the meeting.

Season schedule:

1. Sat. 4/22 at 11am. Meeting and Workday
2. Wed. 5/17 at 6:30pm. Meeting (in Garden)
3. Sat. 5/20 at 11am. Workday
4. Sat. 6/17 at 11am. Meeting and Workday
5. Wed. 7/19 at 6:30pm. Meeting (In Garden)
6. Sat. 7/22 at 11am. Workday
7. Sat. 8/19 at 11am. Meeting and Workday
8. Wed. 9/20 at 6:30pm. Meeting (in Garden)
9. Sat. 9/23 at 11am. Workday
10. Sat. 10/21 at 11am. Meeting and Workday
11. Sat. 11/18 at 11am. Closing Workday

March 2023 Membership Meeting Minutes

We have some voting to do. Claire is stepping down, so we need a co-chair. Kerri is applying. We need volunteers for Ops, one for membership, and perhaps events co-chair. Dana proposes we vote if we have quorum for any of these positions. We don’t so we need to do this virtually. Only 46 members are present and we need 2/3rds. Dana asks volunteers to email us if you want to volunteer and then we’ll hold an e-vote in the coming week. We need to do Ops very soon for planning the first workday. (Sat. 5/11) Liz mentioned splitting membership into two, one person to handle tallies, one person to handle apprentice plot and sub-committees. Discussion with Audrey if she would like to take over the Apprentice plot this year as co-chair on membership committee, but she declined. This is an open opportunity for anyone who wants to help get the apprentice plot up and going throughout the season.  

Reminder to leave the gate open while you’re there and close when you’re not. 

Liz discusses bylaws, requirements and steering committee information, that all are within the bylaws. She discusses where to sign in in the compost toilet to ensure everyone gets credit. She also reviews open plots and additional opportunities to take part (children’s garden, watering committee, etc.). Reminder and review about plot distribution this upcoming Saturday. 

Claire takes this on, reminding everyone that they can sign up for these opportunities. Water and compost committee members get extra credit for meetings (two of these sub committee meetings count as one meeting). In terms of the plants coming in, please leave some seedlings for apprentices to plant, too. Helen and Claire discuss a bit more about how to break down compost earlier in the process to help our compost break down easily. 

Helen runs through the above. No questions. 

Anastasia runs through the above. If anyone wants to attend BQLT membership meetings, they are held around BK. Christina points out that our garden will eventually host the BQLT meeting at one point and discusses what happens during those. 

Events is focused on just the June open garden day and the harvest fest as our two biggest events. Anything else will happen organically. Kerri runs through the above. 

Claire and Dana go through the protocols for using the email distro, encouraging to be mindful of not clogging peoples’ inboxes. Then we review the full season schedule, noting that Wednesdays and Saturdays are the two big days for meetings. 

Helen proposes a sign for taking out trash and recycling. Claire mentions that it should be there, the info is also on the stickers on the cans themselves.

March 2023 Membership Meeting Agenda

March 2023 Membership Meeting

Wednesday, March 15th – Virtual

Introductions (Claire and Dana)

• Welcome to the Hollenback Garden 2023 Season!
• Ice breaker: Your name, a little about you and (1) thing you’d like to grow this year.

Steering Committee for 2023 season

• Co-Presidents: Dana (vote for replacement for Claire)
• Ops: Looking for 2 people to for this committee
• Membership: Liz Wagoner (currently no co-chair)
• Treasurer: Helen Johnson
• Events: Alicia Berbenick and Kerri Brewer
• BQLT Rep: Anastasia Standrik
• BQLT alternate: Cristina Velez
  
  

Covid-19 and the Garden (Claire and Dana)

• Hollenback will be open as usual in 2023; we will monitor any Covid-related developments and make changes to our open status accordingly.
• Gate stays open when members are in the garden.

Membership Committee (Liz):

• Membership requirements are: Dues & 3 Meetings/ 3 Workdays/ 4 Open Hour sessions
  • Memberships can be in pairs

• Membership will pass out bylaws to be signed at second meeting (April); by signing, you agree to abide by Hollenback Garden regulations
• Garden is open Saturday and Sunday, 10am-6pm; gardeners complete open hours during these blocks or during other blocks of time. Open hours get recorded in binder in the toilet.
  • Expect an email for more details about open hour signup

• There are additional opportunities to earn credits through workshops and sharing – there are details about how to do this in bylaws
• Plant your plot by June 15th, or forfeit it
• New members and being an apprentice
  • Shared herb garden
  • Children’s garden
  • If you’re new, email: hollenbackcommunitygarden@gmail.com with your email address, phone number, name, and if you plan to share a membership your partner’s name and contact info.

• We tentatively expect to have eight plots to distribute on Saturday, March 18 at 11:00 a.m. Please come that morning if you are on the waitlist or if you have a plot and want to switch!
• Those who do not receive a plot this year will retain their number on the waitlist for next year, and will have priority over 2023 apprentices for plot distribution in 2024.

Operations Committee Update (Adrienne and Ernesto):

• Email Hollenback email with project ideas
• Early season goals include: cleaning up from winter, spring city water hookup, hooking up rainwater harvester, replacing beds
• Compost Committee
  • Has to be turned. Need to find interested folks to coordinate. Let Ernesto know if interested!
• Water Committee:
  • Simple — keep water barrels filled and put mosquito things in there. Let Ernesto or Yoni know if interested!
• Trash–M, W, F (take out Sun., T, Th–trash + recycling)
  • Take out on night before
  • Please take out if you see it full or fill it or if you grill or add food
• Plot maintenance (eg things overgrowing; surrounding pots)
  • Please be mindful of things overgrowing and blocking walking ways and access to others’ plots.
• Compost! Ours doesn’t get to heat that city compost used to so please no meat or animal products or paper. Please review the plaque above the compost and cover with a handful of greens and browns. Primarily, cover up the food to keep critters at bay.
• Seedlings: GrowNYC order to come! We’ll send an email when they arrive. Also an order coming from GreenThumb.

Treasurer (Helen):

Treasury related questions/Paypal issues: hcgbk.treasurer@gmail.com. Do not email Helen directly.

• Pay your dues, on a sliding scale from $10-50, by June 15th. Use paypal: @HCGBK, or use paypal.me/HCGBK. Venmo is not an option.
• Email garden related purchase requests directly to Dana and Claire for approval (send to Hollenback email above) prior to making any purchases. Once approved and purchased, send reimbursement materials to Sasha.
• Items that exceed $250 require community vote. Once approved and purchased, send reimbursement materials to Helen.

BQLT Updates (Anastasia and Cristina):

• What is BQLT? www.bqlt.org
  • Brooklyn Queens Land Trust: 35 community gardens as members
  • Liability insurance, nonprofit status, city water, maintenance support
  • Protected land

• Water will be turned on during last week of March/early April (likely by first week in April)
• Save the Date for the BQLT Annual Membership Meeting: Saturday April 15th –all are invited to vote on Board Members!
• BQLT Point People: Domica Roberts (BQLT) and Alonso Cordoba (our “Ambassador”)
• Emails full of info from BQLT to come!
• Key dates for BQLT – upcoming events
  • 3/25 Seed Sowing Workshop with Brooklyn Grange Farm–Sunset Park
  • 3/31 Virtual DOH Rat Academy for Gardeners
  • 4/1 GreenThumb’s 39th Annual GrowTogether Conference
  • Next General Gardener Meeting: Saturday, May 6th 2023, Garden location [TBD]

Events Committee Update (Alicia and Kerri)

• Fundraising Ideas: Plant Giveaway/Sale (grow our own seedlings and/or purchase from Go NYC plant sale), Sidewalk Sale during Workdays, DIY Workshop Ideas
• Please start propagating house plants! People love them!!! 😀
• Our first newsletter will start going out in April. Any news and events you’d like to be included for this month or any in the future, please send to Hollenbackcommunitygarden@gmail.com, Attn: Alicia in the subject line.
• On social media – tag @hollenbackcommunitygarden for any pics you would like featured. We’ll do our best to stay on top of reposting!

Email Protocols (Dana and Claire)

• Listserv purpose; Liz is the point person.
• Only use listserv email for announcements and events that relate to gardening; ex: BQLT updates, events happening w/ Green Thumb, educational opportunities with BBG, watering requests, sharing gathering info with garden. Please do not reply all.
• It’s NOT MODERATED so use sparingly.
• Proposals, ideas, concerns, questions–send directly to Claire and Dana (send to Hollenback email: hollenbackcommunitygarden@gmail.com) who will share with SC and respond accordingly.

Season schedule:

1. Garden Meeting/Workday schedule:
   1. Wed. 3/15 at 6:30pm. Meeting (Virtual)
   2. Sat. 4/22 at 11am. Meeting and Workday
   3. Wed. 5/17 at 6:30pm. Meeting (in Garden)
   4. Sat. 5/20 at 11am. Workday
   5. Sat. 6/17 at 11am. Meeting and Workday
   6. Wed. 7/19 at 6:30pm. Meeting (In Garden)
   7. Sat. 7/22 at 11am. Workday
   8. Sat. 8/19 at 11am. Meeting and Workday
   9. Wed. 9/20 at 6:30pm. Meeting (in Garden)
   10. Sat. 9/23 at 11am. Workday
   11. Sat. 10/21 at 11am. Meeting and Workday
   12. Sat. 11/18 at 11am. Closing Workday