On March 31, the Warren St Marks Community Garden held our second annual Spring Egg Hunt. Garden members and other members of the community came together to hunt for eggs, enjoy refreshments (including the addictive “bunny bait” popcorn provided by Courtney Burns), and celebrate the beginning of Spring in the garden. Our seven foster chickens made a guest appearance, roaming freely around the garden, taking dust baths and eating worms. It was a joyful event, and we would like to thank everyone who attended. Happy spring!

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The Annual General Membership Meeting of the Warren St. Marks Community Garden on March 3, 2013

Attending:
Pat McCarty, garden administrator
Melanie Holcomb, garden member
McRae Petrey, fundraising coordinator
Ryan Reineck, garden member and chicken coop builder
Sheri Stein, garden co-coordinator
David Bivins, membership coordinator
Kristen Davis, garden member
Valerie English, communications coordinator
Kit Schneider, garden member
Andrea Kannapell, garden co-coordinator
Chloe Abercrombie, garden member
Cathy Carver, events co-coordinator
Katie Stoehr
Ruth Chasek, treasurer
Aaron Koffman, meeting facilitator and garden member
David Tendrich, garden member
Lou Levit
Dylan Mabin, garden member
Gail Denesvich/Ken Takatomi
Emilie Hagen, events co-coordinator
Kathy Hutson, garden member
Stephen Arthur
Mical Moser, garden member
Nina Fattahi
(SOMEOF THE ABOVE WITH NO DESCRIPTION MAY BE MEMBERS)

We opened by going around the room stating what we love about the garden. That included the following.

Sunset in the garden. Chickens. The community. The sounds the chickens make in the evening. Getting fresh herbs.
Picking vegetables. Relaxation. Getting dirty. Getting salad out of the garden. Taking care of chickens. Privileged to
unlock the gate and go in whenever I want. Our meetings, no matter how hard they are. Noticing the change of
seasons through what’s blooming. Green space on the block, while other open spots have disappeared.

Pat McCarty noted that everything we do, from steering committee, to members’ participation, is directed toward the
garden’s sustainability, for this season and distant future.

Administrative coordinator report – Pat McCarty
Description of responsibilities: Liase with other organizations, including paperwork.
Be familiar with bylaws. Should attend most garden days and meetings. Position can be shared.

March is a very busy month with other greening groups.
Green Thumb Grow Together on March 23. at Hostos Community College on the Grand Concourse this year. Free
bus in prior years from the Pacific Bear’s Garden. $3 for the day, T-shirt, seeds, plants etc.
March 9, BBG has its annual Making Brooklyn Bloom
NYC Community Garden Coalition, advocacy group, has monthly meeting, helps protect gardens in the future. Many
gardens are NOT protected. Next meeting April 27.
March 29&30, the Just Food conference.They can help organize a CSA if we want one.
BANG

Communications — Valerie English
Handles all communications through the year, some 40 e-blasts, posters, general info posters, any kind of
announcement, postcards for the calendar, managed the Web site and Facebook page.
Those in attendance asked to distribute a few cards through the neighborhood. Great gratitude for her contribution.

Events — Cathy Carver, Emilie Hagen
Worked with publicity coordinator… Plans events, coordinates parties, oversees community outreach, should attend
most garden days and meetings. Kids birthday parties, Movie Night with Mike the Movie Man, Local Produce
Festival, Make Music New York. The year of the chicken — the egg hunt.
Cookouts at garden days.

Fundraising — McRae Petrey
Two main events: plant sale, marathon bake sale. No bake sale this year, because marathon was canceled.
Plant sale. Sold our own seedlings as well as those bought through the city. Will try same this year.
Got a Green Guerrilla grant that we put toward the chickens, and will try again.
Re plant sale: Tomatoes and cucumbers sell well. The stoop sales tended to attract stuff that we didn’t sell. So maybe
consider doing just one, and cutting off donations after 10 a.m. We still have T-shirts to sell.

Garden coordinators – Sheri Stein, Andrea Kannapell
Rebuilt compost plot, reorganized shed, brought in chickens, bolstered community plots.
Good idea to publish map of what we plant where in community areas

Membership coordinater — David Bivins
We appear to have gained 68 new members last year, 29 in one day, due to circumstances around the chickens. 29
orientations in 2 days. Seven paid members never received the orientation. Everyone who expressed interest was
reached out to. We have at least two members who don’t use the Internet, and we reach out to them by phone. My
goal is to make sure everyone knows the rules, and also the spirit of the garden. It’s important to focus on what’s
good about the garden. Everyone who did the orientation was kind and courteous.

We alternate between two sets of locks. We will switch keys April 14

Plot co-coordinators — Ryan Reineck and Alison Novack
High demand for plots and the waiting list is long. Usually only takes a year or year and half because there is a lot of
turnover. But that is diminishing. We could have done a better job making sure people show up for garden
days.Facilitating waiting list for plots.

Publicity coordinator – position open
Makes connections to local newspapers and distributes. fliers. Val could send if she had the information. Andrea will
work with Val to build a list of who to inform. Cathy also may have contacts.h Fliers Almost everyone on the block
has a sign saying “no fliers.” However, when we don’t flier, may add to sense we acting without consulting the
community. We may add laminated posters to our fences and flier just our own trees.

Treasurer – Ruth Chasek
We are in good shape, $6,782, about $1,000 more than last year.
Income: $1,200 more this year, Paypal income has become a major membership enabler. Expenses were about
$1,000 higher than last year. Biggest expense was coop.

Ruth will create a chicken analysis to go forward, so that we know what keeping hens actually entails. We have to
create a process to decide in future about hens that adds tp inclusivemess.

SIDEBAR: Pat McCarty and Sheri Stein
No need for soil testing this year.

BANG report – Sheri Stein
We joined a small land trust of five gardens, to make us the owners and stewards of our own gardens. BANG has a
board of directors, composed of one person from each garden. That means each garden is involved in all decisions.
Some members have been part of community gardening for 30 years. Complicated process to create the
organization, which needed to be in place before it could solicit funds. So the individual gardens have loaned money
to it, anticipating reimbursement. All the land was conveyed to the land trust in February. Now BANG can get grants
and donations. By next year, all the loans from the gardens should be paid back.
Now we are part of a larger organization that needs money. BANG needs $7,000-$8,000 a year, for insurance etc.
Needs help with grant-writing and ideas on raising funds.
Warren St. Marks needs a rep and an alternate. The meeting cannot happen w/o the rep. Anyone can go, but only
the rep/alternate can vote.
BANG is currently not envisioning an annual donation from each garden; it thinks it can make the budget through
grants and other fund-raising.

Would it make sense for there to be dues Uncertain — this will be a discussion in BANG. Reps elected every other
year. But we can make it a one-year post.

This is part of a national trend, to have small organizations that control neighborhood gardens. We want to think of us
as BANG. The less we think of it as us and them.

(Some expressions of preference to make it a donation rather than a loan, and perhaps try to do annual dues from
each garden. No final decision on loan or gift, but WSMC Garden votes to dedicate $1,000 to BANG.)

BANG meetings are every third Thursday of the month. The BANG annual meeting is April 7, at BBG, 11 a.m. Go to
the Washington St. entrance to get in free. At that meeting, dues could be discussed.

VOTE ON BUDGET passes by a show of hands. BANG budget awaited.

BYLAWS:
discussion of establishing working teams.
committing to self regulating teams

With such teams, what are garden days for for big infrastructure, like raised beds, pathways, moving chips, sifting
compost

Should each member commit to 4 garden days, by date; and work team Plot holders join a second work team The
teams would report to one coordinator. Clear standard for membership in good standing.

VOTE: member in good standing participates in garden work team and attends 4 work days per season. Question of
whether dates must be set at joining/key exchange is tabled for later discussions. Passes by show of hands.

Set day for when dues must be paid. Passes by show of hands.

To join steering committee, must be member in good standing for a year. Steering committee can waive time
requirement if necessary. Passes by a show of hands.

Setting up the teams.
Pruning and off-season maintenance.
compost
community plots
watering/weeding
sidewalk/treepit and special maintenance
open hours
fundraising/grant-writing
children’s events
events

Moving plot planting deadline to second garden day

Garden day is 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

Shorten posted open hours: 10-4 Saturday and Sunday.
Passes by a show of hands.

Elections
Administrator — Andrea Kannapell
Treasurer — Ruth Chasek
Gardening — Emilie Hagen (with help from Mical Moser)
Membership — David Bivins
Plots — Dylan Mabin, Tammy Dunn
Events – Chloe Abercrombie (with help from Kathy Hutson)
Fundraising — McRae Petrey
Communications — Valerie English
BANG — Sheri Stein/Kathy Hutson

All approved.

Chicken report.
An organizational success. One large orientation for chicken tenders, Tammy sets up calendar, everyone volunteers
for open shifts and communicates when issues come up (no log in sheets, low on greens, need to trade a day) .
Through the winter, we’ve had to bring water to prevent freezing. A great experience to maintain focus.
We can use this for other parts of the garden governance.

What will be the process to decide for next season Governors Island might not need us next year, they would prefer to keep the flock together. If they manage for 2013-14, we will not be needed.

Would we want our own hens
There will be a presentation on the first garden day on chickens, to say what the experience was from eye of both
chicken tenders and neighbors. The Governors Island flock would prefer to stay together than be split up among
community garden like us.
Coop could be storage area in the summer.

Vote to make rebuilding the compost bins a priority this year. Aaron Koffman self-nominates to be special project
coordinator.

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Steering Committee Meeting
at Yogasana
Feb. 17, 2013

In attendance:
Pat McCarty
Cathy Carver
Sheri Stein
Kristen Davis
David Bivens
Andrea Kannapell
Valerie English
Dylan Mabin
Ruth Chasek

Discussion of governance, defining purpose of Annual General
Membership Meeting.

A pastiche of general thought from those in attendance:
Good governance allows the membership the freedom to go about its
business. Steering committee must guide, mediate when there is
conflict. We have become more open and welcoming since last fall. We
must maintain the garden, keep it open as much as possible, do what’s
right for the land as well as the members. The work next door has been
noisy. We have had a lot of positive energy from the fall. Perhaps
redefine “active members.” Learn from last year’s events. The annual
meeting is a time to elect leadership, review bylaws and review
finances. Should we increase our outreach for the general meeting?
Email is fairly thorough; the two people who don’t have email can be
phoned. Meeting is an exciting time to have ideas about what role the
garden plays in the community and what direction we want it to go in.
Great time to join together with a core group and really get started
thinking about the year, We can use the energy that has come into the
garden to set up an ambitious agenda, because we’ve learned the more
that goes on in the garden, the more goes on in the garden.

Specific agenda for March 3.

1. Reports from coordinators on the past year and forecast focus this year
Forecast for major projects: compost reconstruction, pathway
rebuilding, overhaul Web site, etc
Sheri: Explanation of BANG as land trust that holds deeds to five
member gardens and represents a coming-together of community
gardeners. It will apply for grants and the gardens will need to do
fund-raising. We do not have BANG’s budget for this year yet. Annual
meeting April 6. We will put the $1,000 loan in the budget to be voted
on at the annual membership meeting. We are part of a larger
community now, not merely stewards but owners of 5 community gardens.
BANG will have Facebook page.
BANG only now getting its money. Anything we can loan them would be
great. Perhaps $1,000.

2. Present draft budget to be voted on. (Ruth will create draft
budget, but needs help figuring out water expenses and figuring the
budget for converting coop to greenhouse.)

3. Review bylaws — put in BANG, set new plant-by date (May 1?),
steering committee can waive requirement that steering committee
member must be a garden member for at least a year.
Institute working groups: All members must join one, plot holders must join 2?

compost: 20?
community plots — (would Ryan consider leading this working group?) 20?
watering and weeding: 20?
sidewalk/treepit maintenance & special maintenance: 10
open hours: unlimited
fundraising/grant-writing 6
events 4
children’s events 4
Do we need a membership working group? (to keep track of responsibilities).

When can you vote: must be a member in good standing to vote for at
least 3 months? Define good standing: Pay dues, join committee, come
to at least 4 garden days or take on equivalent in projects. Plot
holders have additional responsibilities, what are they?

4. Steering Committee elections
Consider requirement for steering committee members to come to a
certain # of steering committee meetings.
Administrative coordinator
treasurer
garden coordinator
membership — track open hours
chicken? or special projects?
plots
events
publicity
fundraising

5. renewal, keys, committee memberships

6. presentation by chicken tenders (Kristen, Andrea) and monitors (Dylan)

7. new business:
how to use coop in the summer
discussion of whether to begin a CSA program
announcements of Garden Days and steering committee meetings

Other general discussion:
We will turn off the automatic renewal function in Paypal.
Snow shoveling taken care of largely by Dylan and Pat.
Get full accounting of what the hens cost, including donations.
Try for more grants.
We should limit birthday parties to 2 weekends a month, and time limit
to 2 hours

Followup after the 2/17 meeting:

Andrea interviewed Sheila McDevitt of 6-15 Green on their
organizational system and how they monitor compliance.

At joining or renewal, members sign up for 4 two-hour shifts of open
hours, commit to two group work days, and one community assignment
(could be tending community plots, taking out the trash, treepit
maintenance, steering committee, or other roles that are guesstimated
to be a 20-hour commitment through the year). Those who need to change
their open hours organize a trade themselves.

The work teams (trash, community plots, compost, etc) self-organize
and log their work in a google doc. They finalize the information at
the end of the season and send to the membership coordinator, who logs
the info on the membership spreadsheet.

For open hours and group work days, there is a master sign-in sheet
in the garden.

People who have missed some of their responsibilities can make up
hours in Leafdrop or Winter open hours. Members cannot renew until
they have made up their time.

6-15 Green has about 35 “compost members,” who are not full garden
members. Each must turn all the bins in their assigned week, which
takes 3-8 hours. There are also Food Coop teams who turn the compost
the other weeks. So all bins are turned every week through the year.

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All garden members are encourage to attend

The Annual General Meeting
and Pot Luck Brunch*
This Sunday, March 3
9am - 1pm

LOCATION
Fifth Avenue Committee
621 Degraw St. (bet. 3rd & 4th Ave.) map
www.fifthave.org

AGENDA
1) Coordinator reports
2) Garden Budget
3) Review Bylaws
4) Steering Committee Elections
5) Membership Renewal, NEW GATE KEYS!** & Garden Team Formation
6) Chicken Tender Presentation
7) New Business

*Please bring a dish or beverage if possible.

**The locks on the garden entrance gates will be changed on Sunday and new keys will be distributed at the meeting. If you cannot attend the meeting, please contact the membership coordinator via email to arrange an alternate date to pickup your key.

See you all on Sunday!

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SAVE THE DATE
Sunday, March 3
9am - 1pm

for the
Warren St. Marks Community Garden’s
Annual General Meeting
and
Pot Luck Brunch*

LOCATION
Fifth Avenue Committee
621 Degraw St. (bet. 3rd & 4th Ave.) map
www.fifthave.org

AGENDA
celebrate last season’s success
steering committee elections
updates and reports
budget approvals

*Please bring a dish or beverage if possible.

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Warren St Marks Community Garden
Steering Committee and Chicken Tenders Meeting
Saturday, January 19, 2013

Time: 10:30 am
Place: PURE restaurant (88 Fifth Ave.)

ATTENDEES
-Coordinators
Cathy Carver
Ruth Chasek
Emilie Hagen
Andrea Kannapell
Pat McCarty
McRae Petrey
Sheri Stein
-Chicken Tenders
Chloe Abercrombie
Tammy Dunn

AGENDA

Planning for Annual General Membership meeting, scheduled for 2/17, 2013, 5th Avenue Committee offices. The basics for an annual meeting:
Introductions
Reports
Budget Approval
Elections
and, in WSMC Garden practice, collecting renewals, key distribution, scheduling open hours management

Occasionally, annual meetings have been facilitated by someone not on the steering committee.

Saturday, we can expand on these basics. How will they look on 2/17?

________________________________________________________________________

Ruth suggested a review of the bylaws, particularly emphasizing that, in elections, qualifying coordinator candidates are strongly encouraged to have at least one year membership prior to steering committee service. David Bivins also had sought some bylaws revisiting.

The steering committee hasn’t the authority to change the bylaws, merely suggest an amendment, subject to membership ratification. Any amendment pertinent to election protocol must be ratified before a vote. Ruth suggested that any such change would apply to next year’s voting

Even if no new coordinators are elected, a steering committee is considered a new committee with each term. We reviewed the known proposed changes: Administrative Coordinator, Plots Coordinator. We do not yet know whether Kathy Hutson has agreed to serve the remainder of Rosana Vidal’s vacated Publicity Coordinator term. Andrea had spoken with Kathy and remembers that she was disinclined to assume the vacated position.

That others among us have agreed to continue to serve does not guarantee their positions. Dylan Mabin and Tammy Dunn have offered to serve on the steering committee. We agreed with outreach to the community, that the voices of anti-chicken neighbors might be channeled constructively to the benefit of the garden.

There was some discussion as to whether we would elect a steering committee who would then self determine their respective coordinator positions. As a practice, in the past, each position was voted individually. The exact protocols of an election aren’t specified in bylaws: Generally, nominations from the floor, and a show of hands; in some contests, secret written ballots, with candidates excused during the vote.

With reports, it was suggested that each coordinator take a moment to specify the responsibilities of the position he/she serves.

Separately, and lastly, a BANG representative, and alternate must be elected. They can be chosen from membership at large, but preferably, from the just elected steering committee. Sheri Stein agreed to write summary of representative’s responsibilities—required and suggested.

It was noted that TPL had just conveyed the deeds to the five gardens now comprising BANG. As owners, we must assume a different perspective, not as mere stewards, but as owners of not one, but all BANG. TPL distributed material concerning garden responsibilities and potential violations to BANG board members. Andrea said she would make copies of this material for annual meeting.

In the past, Aaron Kaufman had agreed to moderate the AGM. He was contacted during this meeting, and agreed, with the note that he’d not be available Sunday, 2/17/2013, during the Presidents’ Day weekend. There was discussion about rescheduling the AGM, because of likely absences over a three-day weekend, that formal invite/notices hadn’t yet been sent. Pat agreed to contact Denise Torres, of 5th Avenue Committee office, with whom he’d arranged 2/17 meeting space, on Monday, to determine whether they had March 3, 2013 available as an alternate. We cannot schedule to meet everybody’s availability, but we’ll try for majority. (Plan A = 3/3; Plan B = 2/17)

The Chicken Tenders had received the following final report from the Monitor Committee that was represented by both WSMC Garden and those who’d opposed any chicken keeping at the garden:

“The monitoring committee recently met in person to discussed (sic) the concerning issues of the community and the solutions set forth by the tenders and we feel that all issues have been considered in the protocol to take care of the chickens. The monitors have responsibly taken care of the chickens and the space around them. The garden has never seen this much action during the winter months as far as I know; families are frequently stopping by the garden during the day when tenders are there. As a whole, we feel the community is better off with the chickens during this fostering period. We recommend that the garden keep the chickens through April until their return to Governor’s Island. We recommend that the steering committee address all concerns of the community in a thorough communication effort if chickens are going to be considered at any future date.”
There was some discussion about the general disposition of the Chicken Tenders, how they perceived the future at the garden. From Chloe and Tammy (and others of the Steering Committee who’d participated in the effort), there was consensus that, in April, as planned, the hens would return to Governors Island; if, during winter 2013-2014, Earth Matter or another group would ask for foster chicken care, we would better and in more timely way, advise the non-garden member neighbors; we would not seek our own flock at this time; we would not dismantle the henhouse.

We had our annual discussion regarding the maintaining of open hours. It was reminded that we want to avoid the perception of an exclusive garden with locked gates. Pat laid out the arithmetic: 20 open hours/week x 4 weeks/month x 8 months/season x 2 members/shift = 1280. that number divided by c.100 members = c.13 hrs/season/member.

Here is a proposed solution: Work committees, one of which would administer the others’ schedules, would be formed to accommodate posted open hours. This entire effort would be monitored by the Administrative Coordinator. The other committees suggested included children, composting, events (individual members’, not garden sponsored), litter, sidewalks. Plot privileges would require additional responsibility. All members would be required to attend regularly scheduled monthly garden workdays and the preceding meetings.

If we are able to reschedule the AGM, then this Steering Committee and Chicken Tenders blend will meet again on 2/17, to approve a budget and an agenda. Else, we must choose another date to reconvene prior to the Plan B 2/17 AGM.

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Chicken Vote, Monitoring Committee & Chicken Care Training

We are pleased to announce the results of the garden’s re-vote on the chicken issue. A total of 100 garden members voted on one of two options. Here are the options and the results of the vote:

OPTION 1: Relocate chickens immediately (either back to Governor’s Island or Pat McCarty’s backyard):
30% yes.

OPTION 2: Keep the hens for at least a one-month probation, with a monitoring committee composed of equal numbers of non-gardening neighbors and gardeners. The vote of the Monitoring Committee on whether the hens stay through the winter or leave will be binding.
70% yes.

We gained more than two dozen new members in the last week alone. Four hours of orientation sessions were conducted over the past weekend to accommodate everyone joining for the first time. We welcome these new members to the garden, and we look forward to working with them as we work together to strengthen our community relationships and preserve and enhance our precious neighborhood green space.

Our next step is to set up the Chicken Monitoring Committee. Please contact us at [email protected] if you are interested in being a member of the Chicken Monitoring Committee.

There will be a training this Saturday, November 3rd at 2pm for garden members interested in participating in feeding and tending the hens. Please email [email protected] or call (347) 693-6811. Additional training sessions will be scheduled as necessary.

Leaf Drop

We are accepting bags of leaves on Saturday, November 3rd between 11am and 3pm. We will add these to our compost as “browns” over the next year. In the meantime we will keep them in the wire reinforced box built for this purpose in the compost area. Please only drop off bags at the compost area; do not leave bags on the sidewalk.

Hurricane Update

The garden is in good shape following the hurricane. Our western neighbor’s fence on Warren Street fell down in the storm. The steering committee is reaching out to see if our neighbor would like our help repairing the fence.

Last Garden Day of 2012

The next Garden Work Day—the last of the season—is Saturday, November 10th. If you are a plot holder and have yet to fulfill the work requirement, this is your last chance. All members welcome and encouraged to help put the garden to bed for the winter. We look forward to seeing you.

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Make Music New York

Warren St. Marks Community Garden is participating in Make Music New York again this year, on THURSDAY, JUNE 21ST. Make Music New York is “a unique festival of free concerts in public spaces throughout the five boroughs of New York City, all on June 21st, the first day of summer.”

7:00 - 8:00 pm
Bella Voce Singers
a women’s choir based in Park Slope who have performed at our garden several years in a row for MMNY!

8:00 pm
Old-Time Music Jam, with Jeremy Smerd
bring your instruments to play along, or just come to watch!

For more information about Make Music New York go to www.makemusicny.org

Watering the Garden in this Sweltering Heat

During this heat wave, the garden is going to be in dire need of watering. We need someone to water the community plots over the next few days. If you are able to make it to the garden in the early evening tonight, tomorrow or Friday to water the plots, please let the garden coordinators know. You can email them at: [email protected]

Thank you!

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Spoke the Hub, in collaboration with the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music for a second spectacular season, present the 19th Annual Local Produce in the Gardens!

Local Produce Hula 2011

This beloved community green space “tour” featuring homegrown music, theater and dance amongst the plants, has been delighting local audiences of all ages and bringing greater exposure to our neighborhood’s community gardens and performing artists since 1993. Please join us for this day-long celebration of the blooming talent in the heart of Park Slope.

The festivities begin in the Warren St. Marks Community Garden, 11am to 12 noon, featuring:

• Children’s Guitar Workshop with Ezra Maoz
• Funikijam / Family Concert
• Morning Restorative Yoga Workshop with Mina Hamilton

For more information, visit the Spoke the Hub website.

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