September 2024

 Eagle Heights Garden Committee Minutes

September 11, 2024 7 PM

Remote Meeting

Alex, Lily, Pam, Jolene, Sam, Nick, Ann and Karen.

Alex started the meeting.

Minutes  With a motion by Ann and seconded Lily the August 2024 minutes were approved. 

Registrar Update

Lily said now we have 12 half plots and 7 full plots vacant.  The Tomato Tasting went well considering what a difficult tomato growing season we have had. 

The budget for next year is available for review.  So far we have spent about $7500, mostly on wages.  We have a budget of $3000 a year for plumbing and we have not spent most of it yet.  Actual revenue was close to the projected revenue in this year’s budget.  We will know how many people are paying the no work day fee in January.

We still need about 100 workday shifts for this year, but there is still time to have them. 

Redrawing the borders of the 500’s row

Lily shared the proposed redraw of the 500’s to make the borders less confusing.  She also proposes to leave half of 514 fallow due to severe flooding this year.

Motion by Ann and seconded by Karen to approve the 500’s border redraw.  Motion approved.

Closing Day

Garden closing day will be in November and a post Thanksgiving Day tool put away is planned.  

Seed Fair 2025 will be Saturday April 5th.  

Seed repackaging will be January 20, 2025.

Weed pile

The weed pile was moved to the Dining Garden by Malachai and Tary from Shorewood.  

Garden Worker Report

Nick said he has been working on plumbing projects.  He still has a couple of underground leaks to fix.  He said he needs to schedule more workdays.  Sam said getting workdays done is her priority.  Pam and Lily fixed some plumbing also.  It was noted that if we have a surprise freeze, turning on all the faucets a little bit will keep the pipes from freezing.  

There was general discussion about the plan for a second line up the main path at Eagle Heights.  Perhaps we should ask Physical Plant for advice about how to proceed.  

There was also a request for horse manure.

Motion by Karen and seconded by Lily to adjourn.

Adjourned just after 7:45pm

Submitted by Karen, subject to correction by the Garden Committee

August 2024

 Eagle Heights Garden Committee Minutes

August 14, 2024 7 PM

Remote Meeting

Alex, Lily, Pam, Yohan, Barb A, Ann and Karen.

Alex started the meeting.

Minutes  With a motion by Ann and seconded by Barb A the July 2024 minutes were approved. 

Registrar Update

Lily said there has been considerable plot turnover lately, but there are only a few empty plots, mostly in low lying areas.

The tomato tasting will be August 25th and the temporary food service permit has been approved. We could use a few more volunteers for the event.

There has been a request to allow authorized personnel to remove weeds in plots without notice to the plot owner.  After discussion, the committee denied this request.  Lily proposes placing written notices on plots to inform gardeners to remove noxious weeds.  The committee agreed.

The budget for the next year will need to be reviewed and approved at the next meeting. 

The leaf pile at University Houses has a plastic pipe that is the overflow for the rain garden that drains all of the university Houses parking lots.  During heavy rains or fire hydrant flushing the leaf pile floods. This means the leaves are sitting in water part of the time.  Lily proposes a rain garden for this area in the future and move the leaves nearer the weed pile.  Discussion ensued.  It is a good idea, but the rain garden would need a caretaker like the other rain gardens to be successful. Since the volume of water can be large, a drainage ditch might be more effective.

Lily proposes to redraw the boundaries of the 500’s row to fix the borders so they are less confusing.  Her proposal will be shared at the next meeting. Also one gardener had to give up their plot in the lowest part of the row due to flooding issues.  A rain garden at the low spot was discussed.

There are many tree stumps in the garden which are difficult to remove.  An organic method to kill tree stumps is to drill holes in it , fill them with Epsom salts, water and cover it and the stump will die.  The committee thought we should try this method.

There is a concern in the non-organic section of University Houses.  A neighboring gardener reports an issue of spray from a neighboring gardener coming into her plot.  Lily proposes that no spraying be allowed within one foot of the plot being sprayed.  The committee agreed.  

Starting next year, The Preserve will want a report of all pesticide and herbicide spraying at University Houses, including dates of application and amounts.  Discussion ensued.  When University Houses was merged with Eagle Heights, there was an agreement that the non-organic gardeners could continue gardening as they had. (I think this is true but I am not certain?)  At this time the non-organic section of University Houses is in the C, D, E and F rows of the garden.  Starting next year all new gardeners will be required to garden organically.  After discussion, it was agreed to have the non-organic gardeners sign a form that makes them aware of the new reporting requirements when they renew their plots.

The weedpile windrowing composting at Eagle Heights is still being discussed with Malachai.

The north south access road erosion at Eagle Heights was discussed at the GOC meeting.  It is proposed to share costs of the repairs with all users.  The gardens will also share costs because sometimes Shorewood uses the road to make deliveries to us. 

The mulberry tree will be evaluated for safety.

We received a delivery of chips from Housing, but Heartwood Trees has not made a delivery yet.

Garden Worker Report

Pam said the 5 carts are now back in service and Nick has a list of parts we still need to fix more.  The mowing never stops this year.  Pam said the gardeners have been very helpful and supportive this year.  

There will be plot clearing workshops this weekend.  There is plenty of work to be done and the garden workers plan more workdays.  

There was an email from Nick, who could not attend the meeting. 

• With some benevolence and wisdom from Karen, Pam and I were able to get a handful of carts repaired and back out for gardeners. The three of us spent an afternoon making repairs and I know Pam had done a bit more too, so she could speak to any further progress.
  
  

• The other has been plumbing, as we've had a few leaks spring up. Pam and I worked on a busted riser in the 1300s, which put the row out of commission, but were able to get a new one installed and get the water back on. I was using the leak as an opportunity to go through all the old plumbing parts (risers & spigots mostly) to see which were usable but didn't make it through the full stockpile before leaving on my trip. The water had been back on but I didn't have a chance to fully clean up the area around the leak, so I apologize for leaving things in a bit of disarray.
  
  

• Within the shed, I was sorting out our old plumbing supplies and had tried to mark everything I made it through. If I remember correctly, anything with pink ribbon could potentially be repaired while anything with green tape could be recycled or tossed. If folks wanted to see supplies and brainstorm a way to repurpose, feel free, although most things marked 'to go' are in a rough state.
  
  

• Which leads me to the proposed supply request. I believe we have a budget left from what was allotted at the beginning of the season, so hopefully not a big issue, but I think it would be good to get some more spigots ordered. Most of what we currently have are shabby. We ordered two in the last supply request, which seemed to work quite effectively. You can see them at the first plot of the 300s. I think if we ordered another 15 (10/EH and 5/UH), that would cover us for quite some time and make repairs easier as we don't need to test which parts do and don't work.
  
  

• If folks agree on the order, this is the link for the spigots we previously purchased from Ace. Jolene, would this be enough, or would you like an official supply request sent in? I'd be happy to do that if need be, just let me know.  https://www.acehardware.com/departments/plumbing/valves/rough-faucets-and-hose-bibbs/41972?qtyRequested=1&deliveryRequested=false
  
  

After discussion, there was a motion by Ann and seconded by Karen to buy 25 spigots.  Motion carried.  

Motion by Barb A and seconded by Lily to adjourn.

Adjourned just after 7:35pm

Submitted by Karen, subject to correction by the Garden Committee 

July 2024

 Eagle Heights Garden Committee Minutes

July 10, 2024 7 PM

Remote Meeting

Alex, Jolene, Pam, Sam, Barb A, Ann,  Nick, and Karen.

Alex started the meeting.

Minutes  With a motion by Barb A and seconded by Ann, the June 2024 minutes were approved. 

Registrar Update

Since Lily was not here, Alex presented her report (in italics).

We still have some openings but there also continue to be new applicants. 

At the last GOC meeting Laura Wyatt suggested we consider appointing an invasive plant person in the gardens. Ideally it would be someone with a lot of plant knowledge to walk through the gardens and look out for invasive species, especially new ones. 

-Nick thought this would be a good idea.

We also discussed the possibility of collaborating with the Dining Farm and putting fruit trees in the buffer zone/former 400s (where we once had them before). 

The proposal for the windrow composting at Eagle Heights should be ready for the next GOC meeting. If it’s approved there, I will share it with the committee for review by the garden committee. The University Houses weed pile is not looking great, and we do not have a confirmed plan for it. The constant rains have flooded the lower areas of the garden, and I don’t think that any trucks can drive in right now without getting stuck. A rearranging of the weed pile and mulch area at UH might make room for a water retention/rain garden area. The storm drains from University Houses all drain into that low area from an underground pipe.

-Pam reports that the weedpile at University Houses has now been stacked, so there is more room for weeds. 

I’d like to go ahead with the plan to change University Houses Gardens to organic-only, except existing gardeners that can continue to use non-organic practices if they renew. We’d ask those gardeners to report their pesticide/herbicide usage so that we can pass that information on to the Preserve. They track other non-organic control methods and would appreciate being informed about it. If everyone is still in agreement, I could update the application for 2025.

• After discussion the committee agreed with the plan to transition all of University Houses to organic and to update the 2025 application accordingly.

I’d like to propose that we hold the tomato tasting again this year in early September. 

• We should hold a tomato tasting.

Does anyone know who the birdhouses behind the Eagle Heights shed belong to? A gardener wants one, and I did not know if they were just abandoned there, are garden property, or are from the Preserve.

•  There was discussion about making sure they had sparrow excluders, but no one knew where the birdhouses came from.

A gardener reported that she fell on the washed out road leading south past the shed at Eagle Heights. She requests that this be repaired. I plan to bring this to the next GOC meeting, since various groups use this road

•   The committee agreed this is a topic for the GOC.

We are out of wood chips at Eagle Heights. We were able to get a new delivery to University Houses a few weeks ago, but University Apartments will not have more chips for some time. We have a small brush pile there that we could place a work order to have chipped, but gardeners would like more delivered also. I will try to see if Shorewood or UW Grounds have any when I get back. If anyone knows of a reliable source of wood chips, that would also be great. It would be good to avoid having contractors dumping without notice, since this was such a problem in the past. 

• Ann recommends Heartwood Tree Care for chips and thought they would be careful of walnut chips if asked.

Tire tracks have been seen going around the Eagle Heights gate.  The committee thought this was also a topic for the GOC.

Mulberry Tree

After discussion, the committee would like a qualified person to check the tree for safety.  If it is safe, it could be pruned back.  We could also have mulberries in another part of the garden, perhaps near the 500’s.  Could Lily ask someone on the Preserve staff about the safety of the tree.

Garden Worker Report

Pam said the Garden Workers have all been mowing and mowing and mowing.

She also said she has run multiple productive workdays.

Jolene said the last GOC meeting was a tour of Eagle Heights and Malachai offered the use of the Dining gardens ride-on mower.  Malachai would offer training to the Garden Workers.  The Garden Workers thought it was a good idea and would save time.  The mower would be used on the main path, the perimeter and around the 500’s.  We all agreed the bigger mower would not work on the smaller paths.  The committee is comfortable with the use as described above.

Alex thanked the Garden Workers for their hard work.

New Topics

Barb A said the Arbor rain garden had standing water for three days after the last huge rain storm. Pam said she and Doug dug out the trench leading out of the 115 rain garden.  Nick having rain gardens is great.

Karen volunteered to help with cart repair now that the cart parts have arrived.

Jolene requested that a gardener attend the GOC meeting.

Motion by Karen and seconded by Barb A to adjourn.

Adjourned just after 7:35pm

Submitted by Karen, subject to correction by the Garden Committee