GCGC January 2012 Meeting

On Thursday, GCGC again met at East Broad Presbyterian Church for a very well attended meeting which consisted mostly of new folks.

I was late and ended up sitting in the back with Bill and played Madam Defarge with knitting my seed stitch patchwork quilt square.

The new buzzword for the evening was “civic agriculture.” That is apparently now the preferred term du jour over community gardening and urban agriculture. It will also include packagers and distributors of food.

Strader Family Appreciation. The main focus of this evening was to thank the Strader Family from Strader’s Garden Centers for the thousands of seedlings and bulbs they donated in 2011. Garden after garden got up to thank Mrs. Strader and her daughter and explaining to what use they put the donated seedlings. Roger encouraged everyone to buy local to acknowledge that most of our donations come from local growers like Straders instead of big box stores.

One of our newcomers this evening was the American Addition Community Garden (which you may have seen on the Christmas show of ABC's Extreme Makeover which featured a Columbus family). She explained how it started with a community garden, expanded to a community center (which now has solar panels on its roof courtesy of EM), and now 20 new homes are being built in the neighborhood. Their fearless leader also went to the Columbus City Council meeting with Peggy to support an increase in the City's support for community gardening by explaining the difference a garden can make in a neighborhood.

Peggy had her Highland Youth Garden volunteers out in force and thanked them for all of their help. Dan stopped by, too, between advocating City Council to also do more to address the blight of abandonned homes and buildings in many of our neighborhoods.

MORPC Local Food Assessment. Michael Doody again brought another speaker. Brian Williams, the Agricultural Specialist at MORPC. MORPC has been examining on the growing and processing food within the twelve-county region to feed everyone in Central Ohio. The Central Ohio Local Food Assessment and Plan was developed in 2010. Copies of the summary plan were available for attendees. The Weinland Park Neighborhood Project aims to be a model for the entire region.

Announcements
* Tyrone Jackson from Four Seasons City Farm announced their first fundraiser of the year. On January 19 at 6:30 at Hal and Al’s Bar in the Southside on Parsons Avenue. There will be a silent auction. More details are available on the Four Seasons Facebook Page.

* Michael announced that Commissioner O'Grady is hoping to hold a half-day community gardening forum in March. They need volunteers to organize and structure it.

* There will be 36 student Master Gardeners at OSU in 2012. Each must complete 50 hours of volunteer service, in case you’re looking for knowledgeable volunteers.

* Bill Dawson had two announcements:

• The Hub Gardens will be having an open garden tour sometime in 2012. He encouraged everyone to open their gardens for visitors on that day.




• FPC is considering publishing a book of stories behind community gardens.

* Derek Lory from Helping Hands Community Garden in the University District announced that the theme of Earth Day 2012 will be Root Down. More details will be coming.

*Andrew wants to create a formal organization for GCGC and asked for volunteers. Peggy and Michael volunteered. They may seek tax-exempt status.

* Andrew also asked who wanted to get involved in starting a communal greenhouse. He got 7 volunteers.

February Meeting: The Hillcrest Baptist Church surprised us all by supplying refreshments for the evening and volunteered to host February’s meeting on Ground Hog Day, February2, 2012 at 6:30 p.m. 2480 West Broad Street in Columbus.