King Open Garden Committee Notes, April 26th

King Open Garden Committee Notes

April 26, 2010

Attendance: Giulia Fulci (parent), Mitch Ryerson (parent), Alice Gugelmann and Francey Slater (CitySprouts)

Agenda:

1) Update on COGDesign

2) Workday on June 12

3) Intern applications are out

4) Review of teacher surveys

5) Funding possibilities

6) Possible plant sale, other KO garden event?

Next meeting: Monday, June 14, 7pm, KO library

1. Update on COG Design process

Mitch and Alice met with Lucia from COG Design on April 15^th. She was enthusiastic about the project, asked many questions about CitySprouts and the use of the KO garden space, and explained how COG works. A central part of their work is ensuring that their designs are implemented, which means they'll have a big incentive to work within our budget constraints. Turns out they did a very similar project at Mitchell School in Needham, she'll send us pictures (see next blog posts).

Next steps:

We'll meet again in about a month or so, she'll have paperwork for us for the formal application process. After that she'll match us with a designer, and we'll work with that person from then on.

In addition to compiling the teacher surveys, CitySprouts and King Open need to think about what requirements we have of the space to fulfill the program's goals, as this will be central to working with the designer.

Also, we need to clarify who the formal client will be: Tim the principal? Or CitySprouts? She suggested the principal would be needed to do the final sign-off. In addition, who will pay the application fee?

2. Workday on June 12^th

A group called People Making a Difference (PMD) will be at KO in the morning to do general tidying, building, weeding, and anything else needed to make the garden look beautiful.

3. CitySprouts Summer Internship applications are out: check the library if you or your student would like one. Due back May 21^st!

4. Teacher surveys are back. An intern from CitySprouts compiled them, the results are in the next blog post).

5. Funding possibilities

In thinking about the garden redesign, we need to think of funding sources. Armed with an attractive and professional plan, we could have good success with different local and national funders. Whole Foods and Harvest Coop were a couple possibilities that were raised. Information from Jesse Wenning (parent): Lowes has two application cycles/year--one closed in February, and it looks like the next is October. We have to apply for between $2,000 and 5,000. The project to improve the KO garden seems like it would fit their criteria very well.

In addition, here is a list of potential grantors:

www.kidsgardening.org/grants.asp

www.captainplanetfdn.org/grants.html

www.csgn.org/page.php?id=30 (many for CA only, but some national)

http://assoc.garden.org/grants/

6. Plant sale this year, or other end of semester event?

A couple of years ago, Carla Procaskey and the “Sprouts of Hope” girls group organized a very successful plant sale fundraiser. Should we think about something similar, perhaps around graduation weekend? We could have food, plants, and general garden activities to draw more people into the garden during the festivities. We can start organizing through email.

Action List:

Alice: check with Neusa (family liaison) about scheduled events during the end of the semester, see if we can fit something garden related in

Continue to work with KO teachers to work the garden into existing curriculum

CitySprouts: Fill out COG Design application, get the process started, with advice from parents and teachers

Everyone else: start looking at funding opportunities!

Next meeting: June 14^th, 7pm