Eagle Heights Garden Committee Minutes
March 12, 2025 7 PM
Remote Meeting
Nick, Lily, Ann, Ric, Jolene, Alan, Jessica, Barb A, Alex and Karen.
Jessica started the meeting.
Minutes: With a motion by Ann and seconded by Lily the February 2025 minutes were approved with the correction to windrow composting instead of window composting.
Registrar Update
Seed Fair April 5, 2025
Lily said 452 Gardeners have renewed their plots and we now have 75 new gardener applications. We have 19 full and 17 half plots empty. Most of these plots are not the best.
The no workday fee of $45 has been paid by 179 gardeners. The average is 150. 60 gardeners abandoned their plots last year compared to 45 the year before. The average is 50.
The mulberry tree evaluation purchase order to Physical Plant has been approved and we are awaiting their response.
There is no update on the windrow composting project on the weed pad because the GOC meeting was cancelled.
Garden Worker Report
Nick reports that the new Garden Worker Zach will start March 15th. Nick and Pam will start explaining the duties on March 19th. Pam has been looking at our Weed Wackers and has made good progress. She also cannot get horse manure at the time.
Policy on Financial Assistance
Ric asked if the policy was in final form. Lily suggested we work from the draft presented to us. The committee agreed this was a good start. Discussion ensued. One question was, can a gardener use the plan 2 years in a row? The policy would be first come first served. The policy needs to be in place by December 15 of the year.
At other area gardens run by the Gardens Network, they use a sliding income scale for lower fees. The committee agreed that we will give some guidelines but we need to trust people. Jolene suggested that a gardener applying for a second year will have lower priority over a new applicant. The Committee liked this idea. Lily will keep track of the donation money in the general fund. The new policy will not offer three workdays in exchange for plot fees.
The soil is now 40 degrees. Some gardeners are now planting spinach.
There was discussion about gardeners helping each other when one was on vacation. Gardeners need to help each other and keep watch on neighbors plots when they are gone.
Adjourned about 7:27 pm
Submitted by Karen, subject to correction by the Garden Committee
