Our first board meeting was a hit!
Thanks for attending our first board meeting
I'm so grateful for everyone who came out to the first meeting of the Mounds Park Community Garden. I appreciate everyone's valuable contributions and super ideas. Here are some images from the evening:
Meeting notes and action items
Here are the takeaways and action items gathered from the first meeting of the Mounds Park Community Garden.
Redesign of garden
After hearing from attendees, the garden will be redesigned to accommodate various needs and preferences of the community. Attendees expressed an interest in larger plots, varying options for plot sizes, and the desire to lease unused plots at a possible discounted rate.
Some volunteers kindly offered to host a design charrette, a focus group to rethink the garden design and build consensus. Nate will follow up with them separately. A meeting for the redesign should occur ASAP in order to adjust material needs such as soil etc.
Things to keep in mind for the charette. The ultimate garden design should include:
A minimum of 3’ paths for accessibility
At least one north/south corridor wide enough to accommodate a skid loader (1.5 to 2 meters)
ADA accommodations and plot options (especially at north end of site)
Three or four contiguous north/south corridors for hoses and ease of navigation
Modular customization of plots to accommodate unknown needs in the future
An area for composting
Water barrels aside any covered areas
After a good amount of research of local gardens and speaking with local gardeners Nate came up with the following structure for plots and their corresponding sliding-scale annual fees (each including a standard 4-8 hours of volunteering per year):
ADA Accessible Raised Beds
4x8x2 sq. ft. $15-$22
4 hrs of volunteering
Introductory plots
50 sq. ft. $22-$30
8 hrs of volunteering
Single plots
100 sq. ft. $30-$36
8 hrs of volunteering
Standard plots
200 sq. ft. $40-$66
8 hrs of volunteering
Double plots
400 sq. ft. $85-$110
8 hrs of volunteering
Gardeners are invited and encouraged to build their own raised beds. But they are not required to. Those who choose not to garden in raised beds should add sticks or re-bar at the corners of their bed to clearly mark the boundaries of the plot and prevent “drag-over damage” from hoses and other implements.
Next steps: garden constructions
Nate will soon reach out to volunteers with first “assignments” for volunteers.
But before then, we need more clarity from the Park’s Department regarding cleaning and preparing the site for construction. On 2/25 and 2/27, Nate sent a message to the Park’s Dept. re: these details and requirements for fencing and a water apparatus. We expect to sign a lease agreement with them soon.
Once we have clarity from the Park’s Department and a date is set for cleanup and preparation of the site, we can schedule construction with garden volunteers. Here is an estimated schedule of the construction:
Site locate for underground utilities
Building of compost receptacles
Mapping garden design to physical space with markers
Removal of grass for garden plots
Note: we are not removing all grass as it will create too much waste and remove valuable organic topsoil. We will remove only grass where garden beds are placed
Building fence
Building tool shed
This is a working list for the construction. Again, it is an estimate that will change over time.
We took your feedback
We got some great feedback from the initial plans of the garden.
