Update for the Robert McClure United Church

Board of Directors meeting May 26, 2009

GOVERNANCE

Board of Directors
The garden board has met three times this year and plans to continue holding regular meetings throughout the season. The board of directors for the garden currently has six members:
- President, Sheila Ford
- Vice-President, Maeve Bard
- Secretary, Joan Liland
- Treasurer, Lorna McKenzie
- Director, Alex Summerfield
- Director, Alma Newton

Incorporation
The garden has applied to Alberta Corporate Registries to be incorporated as a society. In compliance with the Societies Act, our legal name will be McClure Fellowship of Gardeners. We expect to be incorporated within a month’s time. Incorporation is important for meeting requirements for funding applications and for accessing some sources of volunteers.
Mission statement: Building Fellowship through Community Gardening
Affiliations
Joan Liland is our representative on the Core Steering Committee of the Community Garden Resource Network (CGRN). The CGRN is a project of the Calgary Horticultural Society with a mandate to strengthen and promote community gardens in Calgary. Recently the CGRN has put on workshops to teach people how to grow vegetables for the first time.

MEMBERSHIP AND PLOT RENTALS

All plots are fully rented out this year and we still have a waiting list. Demand for plots in the city is on the rise because there is increased interest from people wanting to grow their own food. It’s not uncommon for some gardens to have over 40 people on their waiting list. We didn’t have as many on our waiting list mainly because we are not yet as well known and we knew ahead of time we wouldn’t have any plots left so we didn’t go out and try to recruit new members. This garden is still the only community garden in the NE that’s open to public participation from everyone so future demand for plots will likely increase.

To try to accommodate more gardeners who may not yet be able to get a plot, our Board has created a new category of membership where people can join the garden as member for $5. They will have voting rights and can garden and have access to the orchard and the shared common plots where we grow the flowers, herbs, and vegetables.

SITE IMPROVEMENTS

Composters – Joan and Jack Liland are repairing the front composter.
Interpretive Signs – Lorna and Wayne McKenzie have built small signs that will be put up throughout the garden to identify and highlight various features.
Herb Patch – The new flower bed in front of the plots that was created last year is in the process of being transformed into an herb patch. Greengate Garden Centres has donated a whole bunch of herbs and we have transplanted other herbs from other places in the garden into the bed. Some members will also bring herbs from home to plant in that bed. Some flowers are already in the bed and more will be planted amongst the herbs.
Pumpkin Patch and Squashing Weeds – We will be growing pumpkins and summer and winter squash in the space created when we moved the raspberries last year. This is a part of The Great Cover Up project under Fruition where we employ creative use of crops and mulches to suppress weeds.
Melon Path – The 1/3 of the flower bed next to the church that’s right next to the garden shed will be used to grow melons. It’s a sheltered microclimate that’s quite warm so we may be successful. It will be the second test site for Fruition’s The Melon Colony project.
Ground Cover – The limitation with woodchips as a mulch for weed suppression is that it breaks down over time and weeds will grow back. A more effective strategy would be to grow something that would compete with the weeds. White Dutch Clover is a perennial, low-growing legume. Once established it can successfully compete with quackgrass and broad-leafed weeds. It fixes its own nitrogen, is drought tolerant and is low maintenance because it never needs mowing. We will be putting in a small trial batch to see how it fares. If successful the woodchips between beds can be converted to clover. This will lessen the burden of having to top up the mulch every year and digging out the weeds that grow in the mulch. As a bonus, the beds will be nestled in green so the garden will be more attractive.
The pile of soil - left over from the patio construction will be moved and spread out on Thursday May 28th. The rocks will be set aside and used to create a border for the two irregularly shaped flower beds out front.
Flower beds– Rhubarb will be transplanted into the border of the bed behind the dumpster in place of the zucchinis that were grown there last year. It will carry on the edible landscaping theme for that bed. The bed currently has strawberries in it as a groundcover and it also has daylilies with edible flowers and tubers. We’ve been weeding and edging all the flower beds and will add more mulch and flowers in the future.
Transplanted tree – the tree (originally planted by the youth group) that was moved last year has survived and is now budding out. Usually it’s the last to bud out compared to other trees but it’s keeping pace this year so that could be a sign that it likes its new location. We made sure we had lots of volunteers to keep it watered last year and that has helped. We’ll do the same this year.
Construction – Building a fence will be our first priority this year. Damage continues from the cut-through traffic. Some of the transplanted raspberries have been trampled to death and there have been a lot of footprints in the beds this spring. We have applied for funding for the materials and will proceed to organize volunteers once funding is in place. New plots, a handicap access ramp, new composters and a new sign are also possibilities for this year depending on funding and volunteers.

FUNDING AND DONATIONS

Greengate Garden Centre – We are partnered with greengate for our Fruition program. They have donated seeds for the garden and will donate seeds, soil and plants for the Fruition projects. At the end of the season they are willing to donate the fruit bushes and trees that they have left to our orchard. greengate is also providing us with free web hosting and professional web design. The garden will have its site incorporated into Greengate’s. Their site is more frequently visited and we will gain greater exposure this way. They have also have a PR firm they work with and they will help us promote the garden and our programs in the media.
Greengate is a key partner for the Calgary Horticultural Society and they sponsor the Garden Show. They have been a major sponsor for community gardens like The Garden Path in Inglewood and for plant societies like the Rose Society and Orchid Society. They are a great partner to have and we’re fortunate they’re on board.
UCW – A great big thank-you for the donation to the garden for the fence. It’s wonderful to have that kind of support and to be able to show it in our recent grant application. Financial contributions from other groups carries a lot weight when applying for grants because it demonstrates that a project has interest and support from the community.
Youth Group – Thanks to the Church’s youth group for donating seeds to the garden. We’ve added them to our growing seed stash which will be shared by our members and used to for our community programs.
The Calgary Foundation Neighbour Grants – Jeanette McDonald helped us apply for a $5,000 grant for the materials to build the fence. The garden is not yet incorporated so without her help and the church’s, we would not have been eligible to apply so thank-you. We will know within a month how the application went.
Home Depot – Team Depot is a program where Home Depot employees volunteer in the community by helping non-profit and charity groups with construction projects. We’ve approached them for volunteers to help us build the fence and with our other construction projects. They are interested in helping and they have applied to headquarters for a donation of the lumber to us for the new plots. We hope to hear back in a couple of weeks time.
Shell Canada Community Service Fund – One of our members is an employee of Shell and he can apply for a $1,000 grant from his company if he volunteers a certain amount of time with the garden. Since the fence is the first priority, he will be applying for funds to cover fence materials.

VOLUNTEERING

Work bees and potlucks – Two work bees were held in May. We will hold at least one monthly for garden members to get together and do some work on the common areas and to socialize and get to know one another. They usually run on a Saturday from 9-3. Everyone is welcome and we encourage you to come out and see what we’re up to.
Calgary Attendance Centre – They will be coming out again this year to help us. The first work crew is scheduled for Thursday, May 28th and we will try to schedule them in for the rest of the season as well.
Telus Day of Service – Once a year Telus posts volunteer requests from the community and their employees sign up and come and help out. We have asked them to help us plant the beds at the Leisure Centre on Saturday May 30th.
Child and Youth Friendly Calgary – We’ve posted a request for kids in grades 7-12 to come out on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons to volunteer in the garden. They would come with a supervisor. The youth did take some free sweet pea seeds to help with the Peas on Earth program but did not seem as enthusiastic about doing gardening so this may not pan out. It’s important we get youth involved in gardening so we will continue to work with this group and see how it develops.
Heart of the NE Resource Centre & Parent Link – A group of 10 kids (3-6 years old) and their parents will help plant some squash and potatoes in the Leisure Centre beds in early June.
Volunteer Calgary – As soon as we’re incorporated we can sign up with them and post volunteer positions in their database. They will also help connect us with corporate group volunteers through the United Way Day of Caring program and with other groups such as seniors.
The Calgary Drop-In Centre – We’re arranging for volunteers from the Drop-In Centre to come on Wednesday afternoons to garden at the Leisure Centre. They have volunteers from their clients and the community. They also have the ability to pick-up donations. This gives us a couple of ways to get the produce donations from the Leisure Centre back to the Drop-In Centre.
Service Clubs, Church youth groups, kids clubs like Boy Scouts and Girl Guides, seniors groups, etc. We would like to develop a relationship with these groups so they can volunteer regularly in the garden. So far we haven’t had time to pursue this very far but we plan to.

MARKETING AND PR

Publications – a one-page information sheet on the garden has been created and made available to the public. It’s been helpful for communicating with potential donors and volunteers. A copy is attached. In the future, when we can get a volunteer who’s great a desktop publishing and a budget for printing, we hope to do up a proper pamphlet.
greengate Garden Expo – Two board members joined a representative from The Garden Path and Gael Blackhall, the coordinator for the CGRN at a table at greengate for their busy spring sale. We talked to the public about community gardens and gave out information.
Alexander Calhoun Library – Many people have never heard of a community garden. To raise public awareness, we’re participating in a series of talks at the Calgary Public Library for their Diversity Services program for seniors. Last week McClure and The Garden Path spent an hour and a half at the Alex Calhoun branch and shared stories and information on community gardening. We are presenting at four more dates at different branches in June and July.
The e-Universe – Check out our new blog! Our new board member, Alma is a whiz with all things internet and she’s designed and built a great blog to help our membership stay connected and to help promote the garden to the general public. The link is: http://mccluregardeners.blogspot.com/ Visit it often to find out all the stuff that’s happening in the garden. Construction of our website is underway and a link to our blog will be posted at the site.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH – FRUITION

Project Update
Green Cats - Greengate has donated 300 catnip seedlings and they are ready for planting
- We’re helping to train a new group of volunteers at the Inglewood garden to continue their Pet Project program which also grows catnip for the MEOW Foundation.
- So far six community gardens, three private gardeners and volunteers with MEOW will be growing catnip. This program has now successfully become city-wide. The goal is to grow the 350 pounds of nip (fresh weight) that MEOW needs.
Peas on Earth - Free seeds are now available to community and non-profit groups if they want to participate and grow some sweet peas to promote peace.
- The website is under construction and when complete, people can go there to log in the length of their rows.
The Great Cover Up - The garden will be employing three different methods of weed control this year. These include variations on planting cover crops and edible cover crops, manual removal by pulling and digging the weeds out and mulching with woodchips and other materials like granite.
Metro Grow-Ops - We’ve helped the clients at Calgary Drop-In Centre start their own community garden, The D.I. Gardens. One of their key goals was to create a quiet space for their residents where they could enjoy one of the comforts of a home – a garden. They have a container garden on the 5th floor balcony. It could very well be the city’s highest community garden. Planting has begun and the radishes and lettuces have already sprouted. It’s a south facing, glassed in balcony so it’s almost greenhouse conditions. We have high hopes for the tomatoes and peppers.
- The D.I. Gardens also wanted more space to grow fresh food for the Drop-In Centre. The balcony is too small for that purpose so we collaborated with the Village Square Leisure Centre to use their beds to grow flowers and vegetables to donate to the Drop-In Centre. Many people pass by these beds daily so it will also serve as a public learning exhibition on local food growing.
- The D.I. Gardens are doing so well that there’s interest in expanding the program to the 6th floor balcony and to the Bridgeland Manor site for their seniors.
Homegrown Goodness - greengate is designing a logo to go with the slogan. Customized row markers are in the works and in the future they will be used for promoting local food growing in Calgary.
- Eco-Pots – for those who have no garden space, container gardening is an option. In mid-June, we’re rounding up interested parties to go to greengate and reuse planters that people bring in for recycling and plant vegetables in them. They will be put on display at the front of the store and people will have the option of taking them home.
The Melon Colony - Three test sites are planned to experiment with growing watermelons and cantaloupes in Calgary’s climate. One is in the Sunnyside community garden, one at McClure and one at the Leisure Centre.
- Sunnyside is already planted from seed. Seedlings will be used at McClure and the Leisure Centre soon.
The Planting of the Red Sea - A search is underway for a person/group to lead this project. The Leisure Centre has agreed to let us use one of their beds and we’re looking at other sites as well. This project would take a lot of organization so we may have to start the process this year so it can take place next spring.