CUFSP Meeting Recap 4.01.08

Great news! EarthCo has offered to underwrite all (anticipated) garden costs thus far! EarthCo’s funding relieves our fiscal woes, though we will need to manage our costs in case our estimate of $500-600 falls short, or if we implement more projects for the garden than EarthCo can cover. Additionally, we have future costs to consider.

I submitted the project proposal to facilities today. As we discussed Sunday, we will have our Garden Groundbreaking event April 18th at 3pm. At that time we will amend the soil, plant seeds in containers to be transplanted in May, or sow directly in the soil, depending on the plant, and run various garden preparation/community interaction projects.

We have 2 ½ weeks and LOTS of tasks to do. If you volunteer for a task, your job this week is to research the item—where can we buy it? How much will it cost? How will it function? If you take on a garden project for groundbreaking, between next Sunday the 6th and groundbreaking you will need to procure the supplies. Also, be creative with supplies—any recycling or reuse of materials is a plus, especially if it saves money.

Also, for everyone interested in planning the physical space, see the following links on what can be planted when, and please come prepared for next week’s planning discussion:
http://www.justfood.org/cityfarms/tipsheets/web_version_planting_calendar.pdf
http://www.justfood.org/cityfarms/tipsheets/A-1-b_Garden_Planning.doc

Unclaimed Projects:

Soil Testing—THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. There is a Just Food workshop April 8th, NEXT TUESDAY from 5:30-7pm in upper Manhattan that will instruct people how to test their soil. Let me know if you can attend this and I’ll send more details. Let me emphasize that we CANNOT PLANT unless we know the soil is safe, so the person who takes this on will earn the eternal gratitude of us all.

Research tools and toolbox—we need to know places we can procure tools, used or new, and an outdoor box to contain them. Another ESSENTIAL task.

Tabling—Help get the word out! We can have a table at the Sunday farmer’s market if we have volunteers to staff it.

Summer volunteer coordinator—Someone needs to amass a list of volunteers for summer garden maintenance. Bri is asking campus green groups for volunteers.

Trellises?—I offered to do this but I can’t manage it. Trellises are not necessary but would be really cool and would offer vertical garden space.

Vertical Tomato Planter?—Topsy-turvy anyone? A very fun project to take on for groundbreaking: http://topsyturvys.com/index.html

Food?—Would anyone like to arrange for some provisions for the event? Maybe apples from the Thursday farmers market?

Anything else? Email me with other ideas you might have.

Claimed Projects:

Site Measurement—Ted

Publicizing—Channa. Andrew offered to help flyer, which all of us should do! If anyone is interested in helping Channa with publicity, please email her at cb2537@columbia.edu

Garden Bench—Rickie

Compost bin—Liz

Compost—Liz

Rainwater harvesting system—Ted

Seed research—Hannah K.

Children’s group—Sarah

Greenhouse use—Sarah

Additional Funding, summer volunteers—Bri

Garden Internship—Kari

Calendar:

April 4th: Meeting with Joseph Heavey to discuss the Dining Advisory Council and a local foods brunch, 11am. Email Liz Alloco era2116@columbia.edu or Julie Quinn jdq2101@columbia.edu for more info.
April 5th: Food for Thought film festival in Inwood: http://www.foodfilmfest.com/
April 6th: Real Food New York state meeting at Vassar College
April 11th-12th: Conference on Schools, Food and Community at Teacher’s College: http://www.tc.edu/life/ Contact Pam Koch if you are interested in volunteering (and getting in free!): pkoch@exchange.tc.columbia.edu
April 16th-April 22nd: Earth Week
April 18th: Garden Groundbreaking!