Meeting was attended by: Iwona, Rachel, Elizabeth, Poki, Dan, Giselle, Joan, Nicholas, John, Mishra, and Kirsten.
1) We started with a round of introductions, asking about what drew each person to the garden and what their involvement has been.
2) We did a REVIEW of the last season at Dandelion Ranch, asking each person: What’s been working for you, and what’s not working for you? Some of the answers that came up…
What’s working:
A fabulous garden and new friends
A looseness in the organization, feels organic
Opportunity to work with hands in the soil
How much we’ve accomplished in just 9 months
Good balance for residents of public/private days… could lengthen hours
Enriching to the residents of the land, and hopefully the larger community
Residents enjoy seeing people at their property
Creating “medicine” to take home
Appreciation for Poki, what he’s willing to take on and commit to, wanting him to feel cared for
Garden as a model for others
No “duty” to work, it’s all based on the desired and will of each person
Possibility to remember old skills and knowledge that have been forgotten
Welcoming and gracious atmosphere
Feels like a blessed project, it is attractive
Possibility to use garden as a tool to create a new paradigm for relating
Possibility for holding classes there
Possibilities for involving and teaching children
Possibilities for trying out more different growing methods
Possibility for coming into balance as a circle, without a few people taking on the “leadership” or doing the bulk of the work
Several people expressed willingness to take on more leadership
What’s not been working:
Faces keep changing at the meetings making it difficult to plan and organize
Committees were started a while back and didn’t continue
People don’t regularly show up to work
Difficult for people to take on leadership when not knowing full system
Plans for larger expansion may be premature if it’s hard to manage the size now
May be pushing too hard to accomplish too much… need to find balance
Need for people to receive/orient those new to the garden
Haven’t contained the turkeys
Certain key people have disappeared all of a sudden… need to reach out to them
Need task lists so workers don’t have to rely on presence of Poki (who creates list??)
Would like longer work times… current hours aren’t always convenient
Poki is not able to continue in current role, and would like to redistribute the energy. He will hold space for the group to discover its next steps
3) We talked about organizing a “big picture” PLANNING MEETING for the garden. This meeting would address what needs to happen to shift the leadership of the garden from the founders to the larger community. The hope is that the group will together decide how the garden will be run, what will be grown, how bills will be paid, etc. There is much to discuss, and it’s important that key people who’ve been involved up to now are able to attend.
It was decided that this next meeting be organized through an online discussion using a Facebook Group. (Since the meeting, Poki has already created a group in Facebook so that discussions can happen. You are all invited to join the group at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/331351296922477/
Or go to the blog page and click the “Find us on Facebook” button on the right side under the “Donate” button.)
A draft agenda will be posted, and everyone will be asked to contribute ideas. The date will be set far enough in advance to give people time to plan to attend this important meeting (perhaps in 2-3 weeks from now).
4) Our last topic was looking at what needs to happen in the garden right away (before the next planning meeting). In addition to the usual work of the garden… watering, planting, transplanting and harvesting… these tasks were discussed:
• Setting up an irrigation system. Kirsten has been getting pricing for purchasing all the parts for the system. So far the estimate is about $190 – 210. Poki was able to salvage some soaker hoses and installed them in 3 of the beds, so we shouldn’t need as much material. Also, it looks like Nicholas has a lead on additional used irrigation supplies that need to be collected… hopefully we can salvage much of what we need and won’t need to purchase it all. We took up a collection at the meeting and now have $44 toward the irrigation supplies. Additional donations will be collected by Kirsten.
• Dan mentioned wanting to contain the turkeys. He would like to get a few people together to help him with this project. Contact Dan at 505-660-8701 if you can help.
Thank you Elizabeth for organizing the meeting, and Kirsten for hosting and facilitating!
Last Saturday March 17
Cultivating (aereting soil with a garden fork) the beds and removing bindweed roots
Planting flower seeds
Double-digging the new "Shrine Hill"
Soaker hoses are installed in 3 of the beds
Garden Parties are held every Wed. and Sat. 1:00-4:00pm
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