Sunshine Community Gardens

Sunshine Weekly Weeder Newsletter

25 May 2017

www.sunshinecommunitygardens.org

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Sunshine Gardens Elections

Congratulations to Nick Sweeney, Marilyn Landberg, and Carol Limaye for being elected to President, Vice President, and Treasurer respectively. Their term will being on June 1st.

The following members of Sunshine were elected to the nominating committee for the 2017/2018 term

Margaret Powis
Marianne Mulrey
Jen Woertz
Kristin Phillips
Steve Uecker
Scott Morris

Thanks to all of you for being willing to contribute to Sunshine.

All Gardeners Meeting

Amendment to withdrawal rule - Ratified by members
New Waiver rule - Ratified by members
Rate increase proposal - Voted down by members

Water Capture, Storage & Conservation at Community Gardens Panel Discussion

Saturday, June 3rd, 10-11:30am

Homewood Heights Community Garden, 2606 Sol Wilson Dr., 78702

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1272163382882375/

Web Site

Just in time for summer gardening - let's talk about water! Visit Homewood Heights Community Garden for a tour and panel discussion all about water capture, storage, and conservation. Learn successful strategies for setting up a rainwater system and the technical ins and outs of water storage and conservation and mulching techniques. Meredith Gauthier from City of Austin Parks and Recreation will also explain the City's rainwater rebate program.

Panel speakers: Greg Hammond from Homewood Heights Community Garden. O ther water expert panelists TBD. Panel discussion will be held in a shaded area.

Micah 6 Food Pantry and Sunshine Community Gardens

Sunshine Community Gardens has been donating vegetables to the Micah 6 Food Pantry since 2003. Micah 6 is a coalition of eleven University of Texas area churches.

This organization saw the wisdom in coming together to form one large accessible food pantry in that area. It has been recognized as one of the largest distributors of food from the Central Texas Food Bank.

What does SCG do?

We garden the large area in front of the office trailer specifically for the Food Pantry. We collect donations from gardeners and deliver them directly to the Food Pantry. When gardeners are out of town and notify us of their willingness to donate vegetables during that time, we harvest and include those vegetables in our deliveries. Gardeners may contribute vegetables from gardens by harvesting them and cleaning them as much as possible and placing them either in the refrigerator in the office trailer or in the designated "Cool Room" in that trailer. Those contributions will be included in the twice a week deliveries.

When do I need to get my vegetables to the office for inclusion?

Deliveries are being made on Thursdays at 3:00 PM and Saturdays at 9:00 AM.

How can I be a part of the volunteer team?

We do need volunteers to help harvest and prepare deliveries and/or to deliver. We are in particular need for volunteer to help with the Thursday harvesting/deliveries since we have just added that day to our schedule. Service hours will be awarded.

Who do I contact?

Contact Dana Kuykendall at kuykendall@austin.rr.com or (512) 496-6575 or Mary Gifford at mgifford@austin.rr.com or (512) 453-9742.

What do I do if I want someone to harvest while I am on vacation?

For now, notify either Dana or Mary. Be prepared to share your specific plot location and the dates that you will be gone. Also, provide any specific information about what you want to be harvested. Soon specific information on our flagging procedure will be posted in the Cool Room and featured in an upcoming Weekly Weeder.

Going to be gone this Summer?

Please contact Emlyn Resetarits at emlyn.resetarits@gmail.com if you are going to gone for all or par t of the summer and need someone to tend your plot. Emlyn is on the wait-list and willing to help out over the summer.

American Community Gardening Association 2017 Conference

If you are interested in attending the 2017 ACGA conference representing SCG on July 27th - 30th in Hartford Connecticut please contact Randy at jartdaht@gmail.com. The garden will cover the cost of airfare, hotel and most meals.

Volunteers Needed - Porch Repairs

We are looking are volunteers with construction experience to assist with repairs to the trailer porch. If you are interested please contact Jeff Monks at garden@jeffmonks.com

Garden Etiquette

Welcome to our new members and hello to everyone else. We hope you feel welcome and feel the pride that members with longer tenures have in Sunshine. We are one of the largest community gardens in the United States. We are also our own non-profit. Run totally by volunteers. And we are all one of those. To make our garden a safer and more efficient place please consider the following to which we have all agreed:

Speed Limit

3 actually means that the speed limit is 3. This reduced speed is part of our agreement with TSBVI. It's not optional.

Dumpster

The dumpster is not for anything from outside Sunshine. Not even a little. No home garbage.

No building materials from your home or business projects. No yard waste from your yard.

Only Sunshine trash.

Compost

Absolutely NO khaki weed. It is starting to grow and will soon cover a lot of our common areas.

It is very difficult to control and we need to work together to keep it out of our plots.

If you are not sure what it looks like, please ask. It forms nasty burrs that will puncture a bicycle tire.

Please read the signs and follow their directions.

Different materials decompose at different rates.

Please add only what will decompose in our operation. That means

no plastic
no rocks
no row cover/weed control fabric
no inorganic material of any kind
no wood
no tree saplings
no branches
no bamboo

While some of that will decompose, it takes too long for our operation. Put it in the dumpster.

Whole plants take much longer to break down than pieces. Use the loppers and cut into smaller pieces.

Return all tools/wheelbarrows/screens to the tool shed.

Please leave the trash buckets in the compost area.

Compost Harvesting

Put trash in the trash buckets.

Put material that has not fully decomposed into the large pile next to the eastern fence.

Put rocks in the ruts in the roads or in the trash buckets, never in the grass. Mowers do not like rocks.

Do not create debris piles around the harvest pile. If it is not yet decomposed but will, it goes in the large pile by the fence.

Please remember that compost is a common resource and share accordingly. Thank you

Officer and Zone Coordinator Contacts - Sunshine Gardens

Officers

President - Nick Sweeney nick.sweeney@hotmail.com
Vice President - Marilyn Landberg marilynlandberg@utexas.edu
Secretary - Polly Porter pporter_scg@austin.rr.com
Treasurer - Caroline Limaye scgtreasurer1@gmail.com
Director - Bill Cason wccason@gmail.com
Director - Lori Dobbin loridobbin@gmail.com
Director - Randy Thompson jartdaht@gmail.com

Email the board.

Zone Coordinators

Zone 1, Martin Morales marmoral512@gmail.com
Zone 2, Katy Davis katydavis@austin.rr.com
Zone 3, Ludmila Voskov lvoskov@austin.rr.com
Zone 4, Ila Falvey ila.falvey@gmail.com
Zone 5, Mary Gifford mgifford@austin.rr.com
Zone 6, Charlotte Jernigan charlotte@cybermesa.com
Zone 7, Maria and Philip Wiley m.stroeva@gmail.com, philip9wiley@gmail.com
Zone 8, Shannon Posern sposern@hotmail.com
Zone 9, Kerry Howell casonhowell@gmail.com
Zone 10, Christopher Schroder christopher.s.schroder@gmail.com &
Karl Arcuri karl.w.arcuri@gmail.com

Other Personnel

Weekly Weeder Newsletter - Polly Porter pporter_scg@austin.rr.com
Plant Sale - Randy Thompson & Janet Adams jartdaht@gmailcom
TSBVI Liaison & Volunteer Coordinator - Janet Adams jartdaht@gmailcom
Plot Assignment - Kay McMurry scg.plots@gmail.com
Compost Coordinator - Janet Adams jartdaht@gmail.com
Education Committee - Shannon Posern shannonposern@gmail.com
Carpentry & Repairs - Robert Jarry r.jarry@sbcglobal.net
Water Leak Repairs - Steve Schulz sschulz784@aol.com
Tools & Wheelbarrows - Bob Easter beaster1@austin.rr.com
Kitchen Supplies - Anita Keese anodekraft1@msn.com
(If supplies are needed for events, contact by email or at 512-773-2178)
Compost Tea - Jennifer Woertz jen@enjeneer.com
Micah 6 - Dana Kuykendall kuykendall@austin.rr.com
Micah 6 - Mary Gifford mgifford@austin.rr.com
Website Coordinator - Sharon Rempert scgardenweb@gmail.com

Record Service Hours Online - Green Binder