Board meeting minutes for 3/13/18

• • There was much discussion of the permitting situation for the upcoming Zoroastrian fire jumping festival. Responsibilities were assigned for tracking down pols and fire department officials.
  • We named executive officers for the year: Marga Snyder will serve as our executive director, with Jackson Gilkey as deputy director and Matt Arnold as secretary.

Events

• • • We’ve been asked if we can host a geodesic dome – ala the one that Buckminster Fuller installed in the garden forty years ago – for a couple of weeks around the time of the Loisaida Fest. We all love it, but it can’t be on the meadow – it would destroy the grass that we bought sod for – so we just have to figure out where to site it.
    • We’re one of the host gardens for the Ecological City pageant coming up in May, and they need volunteers.

Plots

• • • “Still want your plot?” nudges have gone out. Let Rita know in writing! Available plots (there are three now) will be assigned to folks who have been members for at least a year. New members can always take on a community plot while they wait for plots to open up.
    • Let’s all keep the paths in front of our plots clear this year!

Sustainability

• • • Voted to fund eco-printing of a climate change raising banner Jon Keller designed, and to explore building a climate change library (i.e., a weatherproof bookcase to house info on climate change – Green Oasis has a nice one).
    • Prima’s keepers, Todd and Terry, installed a new pump and tubing. We need to be aware of when it’s unplugged and make sure to turn it back on to keep the moss happy.

Landscape and maintenance

• • • There are now seven mushroom beds that will soon be sprouting bluets, nameko and shimeji fruit – all edibles. They’re great for woody waste disposal and decomposing weeds – Jackson built them with prunings from trees. They’ll be marked with crumbled brick and signs will be posted.
    • Fence and pavilion update: test pit for the pavilion will be dug soon; the new fence will be installed in the fall, post-season.
    • Also, we’re getting new locks, and paid-up and hours-logged members will get keys.

Finances

• • We’re pretty much broke, though fees will replenish our coffers a little. The film crew shooting on the block said they’d contribute something for hosting their very lost Bowery subway stop (thanks to Sarah Ferguson for negotiating that and shooing them away from the gate!). Our inability to host weddings serving alcohol has hit our revenues pretty hard.

–Matt