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Revving up for Spring 2018

It’s already April and we are in the mood to get our hands dirty!  But hey, there’s a foot of snow on the ground still.  This is more than just an annoyance, it’s downright painful!  After a harsh winter we are ready for some warm gentle breezes and green grass!

Our Garden Orientation is this Thursday, April 19, 2018, where Heike will show us the operations of the garden, how to access water and hoses, what our responsibilities are as gardeners here, etc.  We’ll do this despite the inches of snow we’ll still have on site!!

There are also a number of activities happening this spring at the Renfrew Community Garden and at the Renfrew Community Association including Earth Day Celebrations!  Keep your eyes attuned to the Renfrew Community Association FB page for more information on this April 21, 2018 event!

Want to learn how to plant trees? Or just want to help out? Get involved in planting trees and shrubs in our Edible Tree Forest (AKA trilobite swale) this spring.  Dates and times TBA and will be announced with short notice.  Contact us to get on the mailing list and/or monitor the Renfrew Community Garden YYC Facebook group to get the minute by minute updates.

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Meeting Minutes – January 26, 2018

Present:  Lisa, Amber & Heike
From 7:30 PM to 8:30 PM

Budget

The following financial reports were reviewed and approved for submission to the RCA as soon as possible:

  • 2016-2017  RCA/RCG Financial Reconciliation Report
  • 2017-2018 (to date) RCA/RCG Financial Reconciliation Report
  • 2016-2017 RCG Finance Report
  • 2017-2018 (to date) RCG Financial Report

The 2017 Mission Statement, Bylaws , Registration and Rental Agreement document was reviewed and then amended for the 2018 season.  The amended version was approved to be posted and used for the upcoming 2018 gardening season.  (It has since been posted to this blog).

The 2018 Renfrew Community Garden 2018 Orientation Meeting has been TENTATIVELY set for Thursday, April 19, 2018.  Stay tuned for the actual date.

Stanley Jones School Historical Gardens weeding project – Heike said she’d investigate the membership for interesting in maintaining this amazing opportunity to generate funds for the RCG.

SIGNAGE – Amber said she’d investigate the options for signs at the RCG.  These would be small scale signs identifying public pick beds, donations beds and private beds.  The signs could do so much more as well…

Garden ROLES have been altered for the 2018 as per the bylaws mentioned above.  We are now looking to more formally fill these roles.

Next Meeting:  February 20, 2018.  Stay tuned!

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Meeting Minutes – October 25, 2017

Present:  Heike, Samantha, Catherine, Martin, Sierra, Shelley, Lisa
Commenced 7:05 PM, Adjourned 8:05 PM

Bins

  • Gratitude to the Compost Council of Canada and the City of Calgary Folks who are currently helping to build our compost bin (and maybe our storage bin)!  What a difference that will make to our garden!  It is expected to be mostly completed before winter officially begins.

Kiwanis Club Update

  • The CHINOOK KIWANIS CLUB is donating $1000 towards the purchase of the benches, picnic table, bike rack.
  • The NORTHMOUNT KIWANIS CLUB will contribute the remaining funds required to purchase the benches, picnic table and bike rack.  They are also contributing a dedication rock that will recognize the Kiwanis Club as a contributor to the RCG.
  • New Concept Landscaping & Contracting Ltd. is contributing the labour and machines needed to install the new features!

Meetings

  • The RCA Board has asked us to let Corianne know in advance about any meetings we may be planning so that she can schedule them in the RCA calendar. This does not include meetings that we are holding at the Friday Pub Nights (these do not have to be booked).

Mice

  • We should move out any edibles from underneath the RCA patio including bonemeal. Does anyone have a place where we can store these?

Budgets

  • The RCA Board is asking us to prepare a special budget for this coming up spring and summer project expenses. This is good for us because the RCA Board will approve all of our potential expenses in advance (even if they exceed the RCA Financial Policy limits).  This will minimize the hoop jumping next spring when we get back into spending mode!
  • The RCA Board is asking us to prepare an annual maintenance budget that will be attached to the RCA Business Plan which the RCA is currently working on.

Balancing & Closing the Books for 2017

  • We will need to reconcile our 2017 spending and revenue against the following to close the books on this year.
    • Parks Foundation balance
    • RCA RCG Account balance
    • 2017 Membership List

Planning for 2018 – Project

  • We received $1000 from Stanley Jones School for the Historical Garden Weeding project this summer. We must ensure that this money (any gaming money) is spent STRICTLY on AGLC approved items.
  • Ideas – If there is a project or idea that you want to lead and create, please provide a short description of your concept, a list of the materials that you will need to purchase and the approximate cost of each item to the RCG committee co-Chairs, Heike or Lisa.  The deadline for submissions is early February 2018.  We will combine all of the project budgets into one large RCG project budget and submit to the RCA Board at the February Board meeting.
    • Trees, bushes, perennials (Lisa)
    • Metal tags and wire for labelling trees and bushes (Lisa)
    • Stamp set (Lisa)
    • Signage (we need to assemble a list of potential signs and then order/create them)
    • Garden soil to top up beds (Lisa)
    • Compost/manure required to enrich the beds
    • Tree watering bags (about 6) (Lisa)
    • Bunny protection for bushes and trees over winter
    • Micro-library
    • Trellis
    • Bulletin board/Sign
    • Street signs (eg. 8th Ave, Renfrew Crescent)
    • Banners, signs, sandwich boards
    • Compost/Storage Bin accessories/materials (eg. Concrete sidewalk squares)
    • Cinder blocks for the Water Tank
    • Motion Lighting
    • Insect Hotel

At this point, the RCG committee moved and approved the purchase of new garden soil and compost/manure for Spring 2018.  It was generally agreed that the beds need to be topped up.

Planning for 2018 – Annual

Action plan for Winter 2017/2018:

  • Update bylaws
    • When should renewing members pay? (End of October?)
    • When should elections be held? (End of October?)
    • Add a clause that asks members to keep the gravel clean.
    • Pets?
    • Maximum number of beds per member?
    • Other?
  • Elections
  • Advertising for 2018
  • Eduational Seminars
  • Spring Up! for the Renfrew Community Garden Fundraiser (discussed as an option)
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RCG Social Media

Now that the Renfrew Community Garden is built and actively growing, we are starting to rely more on social media to relay our day-to-day news and updates.  To participate, this is where to find us:

TWITTER

  • In Twitter, search for @RCAGarden1

FACEBOOK PAGE

FACEBOOK GROUP

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Do Not Walk In The Trilobite Swale Please

You won’t believe it!  The trilobite swale is complete.  After digging down 60+ cm in some places and moving over 135,000 pounds of soil to the landfill site… after bringing in 43 yards of garden mix and 32 yards of mulch & spreading it all around by hand… the trilobite swale is complete!

Yesterday we seeded the trilobite swale with Miracle-Gro Flower Magic for the bees, white clover for fixing nitrogen and daikon radish for loosening the heavy soils below!  SO PLEASE ACCESS THE GARDEN USING THE ENTRANCE-WAYS 🙂.  Let’s let the little green things start to grow in peace.