RE: comparing price, practices, places

H* A*

Friend:

Attached are some recent emails I've sent out on gardening governance. Good
luck!

Adam Honigman

Darshell:

First check out the American Community Gardening Association ( ACGA) and
the Trust for Public Land (TPL) websites. Both organizations have a great
deal of useful information on community gardening and may have links and/or
contacts about community gardens and organizations in your area. 

Talk to your neighbors about whether they think a community garden is a
something they'd be willing to support as gardeners, monetarily or as an
amenity they would push their local elected officials to support. Be sure
that folks withing a five block area really want a community garden to
happen or you'll have a sore back!

Check you municipality's rules on composting, whether you can get a source
of water, etc.. Make friends with your garden site's neighbors, especially
if you want to keep a beehive! ( Check your municipality's rules on bee
keeping.) 

If you have the land, the gardeners and neighbors who are willing to
tolerate you in your pursuit, email me again. As a community gardener for 20
years in NYC, our crew has made our share of mistakes, the lions share of
which can be avoided. Remember, in an urban area with so many competing uses
for land, community gardening is 50% gardening and 100% political. Make sure
that you get a genuine consensus from your community before you start and do
everything you can to keep your garden inclusive and fun.

Community gardening is extremely fulfilling but can break your heart if you
don't pay attention to  the community first. It's always people before
plants.

Good luck!

Adam

	-----Original Message-----
	From:	Darshell Silva [SMTP:dsilva@rifoodbank.org]
	Sent:	Wednesday, January 19, 2000 7:30 AM
	To:	community_garden@mallorn.com
	Subject:	[cg] Re: Starting Local Community Garden

	My name is Darshell Silva.  I am the Agency Outreach Coordinator for
the RI
	Community Food Bank.  A group I work with is looking into starting a
	community garden and has no idea where to begin.  The garden would
be a
	vegetable garden with produce going to community residents.  Please
send any
	information available or just some where/how to start information.
Thanks
	for the help.  Darshell  Silva    dsilva@rifoodbank.org

Kathy:

I serve on the 13 person steering committee of  the  Clinton Community
Garden in NYC ( clintoncommunitygarden.org). We are organized as a
501(c)(3), i.e.  not-for-profit corporation and lease our garden space from
the NYC department of parks. Our board members are elected for 2 and one
year terms on a staggered basis ( odd & even years) so we have a degree of
continuity. We have no president but we do have a treasurer and a record
keeper/archivist         ( we're 20 years old.) 

We govern the garden by subcommittees which we create as needed: public
space volunteer committee, compost committee, beehive committee, back (
individual plot) garden committee, special events, fundraising, neighborhood
outreach...you've got the idea. 

All steering committee members are active gardeners and are extremely busy
people ( our lives are filled with New York minutes) who balance jobs (
sometimes 2-3 jobs) family, community service, etc.. We are often what are
perjoritively known as "neighborhood activists." 

Answer 1: Yes, your non-profit can lease from another non-profit in all the
50 states.

Answer 2.: Get your gardeners into a space, maybe a church to ensure good
behavior for your first annual gardeners general meeting. Create an agenda
to follow with a 2 minute rule for all speakers. Get a moderator - maybe the
clergyman- someone impartial for sure. Have all the Board Members there.
Distribute flyers to all gardeners before hand listing a suggested agenda
for the meeting, asking for additional topics if needed. Set a time frame
for the meeting - ie no more than 2-3 hours.

Proposed Agenda:

State of the Garden Report:

1) We lost the old President ( Mom/Dad is dead...we kids have to be
grown-ups now) who did everything for us and gee this is hard running this
big 'ol garden and all.

2) Here's how we did last year, and boy it was a mess, but here is the
status of  our lease with the neighborhood association, our bank account,
our compost heap, garden hoses...etc

3) Here is the situation of the garden as it stands today, February___,
2000.

Open forum Discussion [ Have a sign in sheet for non-Board members which is
shown to all gardeners as they enter the door]. All Board Members get 5
minutes to state their cases. One initial statement per Board member. Then (
Timed 2 Minutes) all gardeners get one statement. 

4) Record keeper writes all suggestions down. Moderator uses whip, gun and
chair to control the wild animals in the room. 

Moderator asks:

OK, do you want a garden?

How do you want the garden organized?

How will the work of the garden be best done, because the garden has
non-gardening work to be done. 

How many times a year does the membership meet ( suggestion: the Clinton
Community Garden membership meets annually, the steering committee monthly,
all members are welcome to attend and present though not vote at the monthly
steering committee meetings) what is the garden's form of governance? Should
we organize as a not-for-profit-corporation?[Good idea, you can give letters
for contributions, limit your liablility if an accident happens.]

[We like the presidentless form. We use a rotating chair system for our
meetings. Whatever works for you.]

OK, ( if you get this far) we are going to create some working bylaws. This
is what we're going to say to the Neighborhood Association Board. 

Here's the tricky part:

OK Mrs Jones, you're committed to do which job?

Kathy, good luck. Check out the the American Community Gardening
Association's website (www.communitygarden.org) and the Trust for Public
Land website ( www.igc.apc.org/tpl/). Both of these groups should have
information on community gardens in your area with some pointers on how to
get started on governance. 

All the best,

Adam

Proposed Agenda:

	-----Original Message-----
	From:	kathy_lovig@hermanmiller.com
[SMTP:kathy_lovig@hermanmiller.com]
	Sent:	Wednesday, January 19, 2000 1:50 PM
	To:	community_garden@mallorn.com
	Subject:	[cg] (no subject)

	Our Community Garden is owned by our Neighborhood Association
(non-profit
	organization) and run by a committee of Gardeners who report on a
bimonthly
	basis back to the Neighborhood Association Board.  I am currently
the president
	and we have had a bad year due to 6 of the 8 Board members being new
to the
	Board and the Garden committee members being almost all new as well.

	The past Garden committee was run almost entirely by 1 person with
the help of a
	few others on occasion.

	With the departure of this person...we were left with a dilemma of
none of the
	Board members being Gardeners and none wanting to take on the
responsibility of
	running the garden.

	Long story short...I sent out a letter indicating that if the
gardeners didn't
	step up to the plate and take control of running the garden..we
wouldn't be able
	to have a garden for this last year.  This didn't sit well as you
might imagine.

	Ever since, we have had problems with the running of the garden due
to many
	faults on many parts and this has led to a few of the gardeners
wanting to
	incorporate themselves  as a non-profit organization and lease the
garden from
	the neighborhood association.

	I don't know how much assistance you will be able to give, but....

	Question 1:    Is that legally possible for a non-profit to lease
from another
	non-profit?  This is in the state of Michigan.

	Questions 2:   I want to make a concerted effort at trying to make
this next
	growing season work.  Our Board is going to make an effort at
focusing in on the
	efforts of the gardeners (grant money, administrating, meetings,
etc.).  Can you
	give me any tips as to going about this?  Books, reference
materials, etc.  I
	see this as resembling a brand new endeavor (since I don't believe
many people
	have experience in doing this type of thing).  How do I get started?

	Your feedback would be much appreciated.

	Signed,
	Beginner Garden Administrator
	Kathy Lovig

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Magicjime@aol.com [SMTP:Magicjime@aol.com]
> Sent:	Wednesday, January 19, 2000 10:02 PM
> To:	community_garden@mallorn.com
> Cc:	Magicjime@aol.com
> Subject:	[cg] comparing price, practices, places
> 
> I am new to the leadership of a community garden in CT. and would like to 
> expand and improve on our program .I have been looking for information . 
> There are so many questions .     How much to charge for plots ,how big, 
> rules, resources, responsibility and how to get people to do community 
> service . Any Ideas ?
> 
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