June 7 Monument Community Pride Celebration

Join us to celebrate the beautiful, talented and hard working people of the Monument Community on June 7th from 10am-4pm at 1500 Monument! Our Community Gardens Action Team will have a booth with a Kids Garden Discovery Area and there will be many other fun activities. Children will plant a seed in a pot to take home and there will be lots of dirt to dig into!

Also, come by to check our our ROLLING GARDENS, who said you need a yard to garden in. We want the residents of Monument to plant in containers on their patios and then roll them out to local storefronts to beautify the area!

Bring your own, grab your containers from your back yard and put them in anything that has wheels and rolls!

Call me if you would like to get a copy of our "WISH LIST" for our booth. Donations are welcomed at this early stage of our project. (925) 676-8515

April 16th Meeting Minutes

Monument Community Partnership
Community Gardens Action Team
www.communitygardensactionteam.blogspot.com
April 16, 2008 at the Keller House

Present: Virginia Aquirre, Janice Winsby, Susan Vought, Ekkehardt and Lucy Keller, Lina Ortiz, Mary Lou Laubscher, Stan Hansen

Guest Speaker, Donna Snyder: Container Gardens Expert
Shared about her trip with Elder Hostel to Ventura County where they visited many farms and fields. Here are some tidbits of her presentation. She visited a strawberry field and found that there are two different types of strawberry pickers. The first type of worker shows up that day to work and the second type are employed through the Union. The first type works faster and harder and the second type pace themselves. Hard work because you are picking with your pointer and thumb and your back is bent. The strawberries are put in the boxes unwashed so that they stay fresh longer. This particular strawberry field took six years to get it to where it can produce this many strawberries. A tip she learned is to not wash your strawberries early, wash them on the day you will be eating them. She also visited a lemon farm and lemons from this farm were used in Sunkist products. She saw many truckloads arriving to this farm to dump their lemons. The most pristine lemons are selected for Sunkist products. Sunkist does not pack lemons unless there is an order for them. She then went inside to a warehouse where she saw many catwalks that were completely mechanical. She saw women picking out the bruised lemons. The bruised ones are used to feed livestock. She was most impressed by a photographic computer that scans and separates the lemons by size and color and she thought this was truly amazing. Next she visited 100 acres of pixie tangerines at Tom Churchill’s farm. He inherited this land and then found a niche in the tangerine market. She brought a pixie tangerine for us to taste and it was delicious. You can buy them at Trader Joe’s and fancy supermarkets. She also talked about an unusual farm they visited where they grow black radishes as well as white ones and are long like carrots. They sell these radishes to restaurants only. This reminded her of a farm she once went to where all they grew were different types of sprouts and also only sold them to restaurants.She showed us pictures of a tomato plant green house, where they grow tomato plants in individual containers. Here are her tips for the garden: -When planting tomato plants take a small clear plastic up that has the top part removed and place around the stalk to protect it from bugs. -One teaspoon of tobassco sauce with garlic and water, also wet newspaper, or dawn soap can be used to spray at the base of the plant to protect it from aphids or bugs. -Plain water also works. -Add B1 to the soil when transplanting a plant or fish emulsion is also great and will keep the plant’s environment thriving so that it can flourish and grow.

Check In’s and Announcements:
- Janice, introduced how to help schools during this economy. She talked about www.DonorsChoose.org which is a simple way to provide students in need with resources that our public schools often lack. At this not-for-profit web site, teachers submit project proposals for materials or experiences their students need to learn. These ideas become classroom reality when concerned individuals, whom we call Citizen Philanthropists, choose projects to fund.
- Virginia, worked on a logo collage for our community garden action team.
- Ekkert, Markham Nature Area Plant Sale, May 4th
-All Facilitators Retreat, Saturday, April 19th, 9-4
-Senior Action Team Meeting, April 21, 9:30am Police Sub Station, “Driving Longer and Safer”
-Grant Training First Five, Tuesday, April 22 10 a.m., 1485 Enea Circle, Suite 1200
-more material was brought in for the future Garden Library at the Keller House
-Our Community Gardens Action Team blog is at, www.communitygardensactionteam.blogspot.com
-For Cambridge Elementary School Garden updates visit, http://www.mdusd.k12.ca.us/cambridge/garden.htm.
-All Facilitators Retreat, Saturday April 19th 9am-4pm
-Senior Action Team, Driving Longer Safer Monday, April 21 9:30pm
-Family Friendly Grant Information Session, Make Up April 22, 10am at the First Five Regional Office


Committee Reports
1. Ygnacio Valley High School Garden
(Chair: Kevin Edwards) for pictures of the future garden site please visit, www.communitygardensactionteam.blogspot.com
Stan Hansen and Susan Vought visited Cambridge’s garden yesterday and thought it was beautiful. They liked what the beds were made of, concrete blocks. Cheaper and more affordable than ties. Will consider this as an option for the future Ygnacio Valley High School garden.
Considering changing the direction of the beds, will speak with Kevin Edwards.
2. Cambridge Elementary School Garden
(Chair: Janice Winsby, Matt, Colleen, Janice, Lina, MaryLou, Leslie, Stan, Ekkert, 90 Day Committee)
Visit http://www.mdusd.k12.ca.us/cambridge/garden.htm to see pictures of the gardening activities taking place at Cambridge, Janice Winsby is leading activities and announced that on April 26th there will be a work party of kids and families. Has a mound of woodchips waiting to be shoveled.
Drip system in, a friend of a father of one of her students who is a gardener did the work. Would like his name so we can refer him to others needing garden services. Lina will start compiling a list of gardeners on the monument whose services may be used on future jobs.
3. Smaller Gardens
(Chair: Miguel Salgado, Colleen, MaryLou, rep. from Martha’s group, Matt, Ceasar Chavez Club, SAT)
A. Small Gardens Sub Committee met on February 27, 2008
(Susan V., Miguel, Enrique, Lina, Stan, Ekkert, Mary Lou)
Colleen suggested we give hand outs and free seeds at the Monument Celebration at our booth.
Old wheel barrows or plaster 2 wheel carts are useful for rolling gardens.

Planning our Booth at the Monument Pride Celebration on June 7, from 10-4pm
(Signs, Informational Flyers, Small Container Examples, Buzz Bertalero Hour, Pass Out Seeds,Garden Art Picture Display of our Monument Gardens, Food Display of what Monument Gardens Grow, Youth tell their gardening experiences from Ygnacio Valley High, Oak Grove Youth, and Cambridge.)
*Stan knows of a sign painter and we will give him a call. *We will hand out a one page sheet of How to Grow A Garden. *Our group will bring examples of their own container gardens. Lina will bring two rolling gardens, Elena and Anthonys garden. Colleen Major will also have some of her potted plants there in a rolling wagon.
*Janice our Master Gardner will be there to answer gardening questions. *Confirm Buzz Bertalero. *The garden art project will be to use markers and crayons draw their favorite flower, veggie, tree etc…
*Booth Help Schedule: 9-10am, Set Up, Jancie, Mary Lou, and Lina will be there all day, 10-11:30am, 11:30-1pm, 1-2:30pm, 2:30-4pm,

Next Steps: Plan our booth for the Monument Community Pride Celebration on June 7th,
Agenda for Next Meeting: No speaker in May because our meeting will be dedicated to planning our booth. No meeting in June because June 7th we will be at the Monument Pride Celebration helping at the booth, July mtg. second Wed. of the month
This Meetings Highlights: Good Speaker, Food, Good company, Good team spirit
How this meeting could be improved: End on time

Next Meeting: (Regular Monthly Meeting, 2nd Wednesday of Month)
May 14th Keller House, 6-8 pm, brown bag dinner
May 28th possible last minute planning meeting Lina will notify if needed

*Bring pictures, a friend and come 15 min’s early to see pictures on the laptop