Minutes:20120613

From EcoReality

1. Meeting starts 09:03
   • Present:
     • Members: Jan Steinman, Carol Wagner, Rudy Siegers.
     • Guests Carrie Chang, Ben Corno, Geo Morrow
     • Facilitator: Jan Steinman
     • Recorder: Carol Wagner
2. Check-in
3. Agenda approved.
4. Minutes of previous meeting, 2012-06-06 not posted yet, not yet approved.
5. Old business:
   • Matters arising from old minutes: past minutes not reviewed.
   • To do list - reviewed.
   • Calendar reviewed.
   • Grant applied for and we have been approved to hire a summer student. Hired Meaghan McLaughlin, arriving next Monday!
   • Project updates:
     • Upcoming classes and events:
       • Cheese workshop on June 24.
       • Jan will prepare ¼ page flyers and ten page-size posters.
       • Rudy and Ben will distribute/post flyers/posters.
     • Necessary changes in involvement in EcoReality:
       • meeting of potential investors scheduled this Saturday evening.
     • Goat shed II
       • Needs internal gate latches, other minor bits, then can be rolled into place.
       • Possibly better tire/wheel recruited from Carol's dad. Need to evaluate.
     • Commercial propagation greenhouse:
       • Purchased more irrigation supplies, nearly done.
         • Basic irrigation for all rooms designed as parallel fertigation/clear water systems; prop room irrigation needs elaboration for table watering.
         • Connection to reservoir irrigation will not be part of Project 126.
         • Need irrigation complete and working in west room in the next week.
       • Still working on tables (2 yet to do, with simple mods needed on various others).
         • Investigate some alignment system for table toppers so they don't fall off the bottoms.
       • West room rotovated; beds being prepared.
       • Need to tape up small tears.
       • Moved all tables to centre room so west room could be rotovated.
       • Still need to raise floor of centre room this fall after harvest of one of the outer rooms is complete.
       • Would like to close out this capital project in the next week!
     • Emergency power:
       • Reviewed project needs and status.
       • No change - on hold until next fall; need to have in place by next winter.
     • Yellow house suite - no change; waiting for an interested investor to take part and fund.
     • Water system maintenance - Still need to haul out and repair old cistern and fill in the hole.
6. Health & Safety - no concerns.
7. New business:
   • Co-op owns two pianos and they can be tuned for $100 each on Thursday. Willing to take farm products in barter.
     • AGREED: to spend $200 to tune two co-op pianos, barter farm products as much as possible.
   • AGREED: to extend our mortgage by $35,000 to cover upcoming investor redemptions. Jan will come up with final wording as per CCEC's requirements.
   • Review 2012-05 harvest, 2012-05 sales, and 2012-05 labour
     • Ben noted that transplant starts do not show up anywhere. They don't appear on harvest records, but neither ones actually sold show up on sales records. Jan will investigate.
     • Market sales data. Fine tuning the process: inventory in, inventory out, sheet of products, one per row, each sale logged per row.
   1. New project: produce cooling shed. Possible workshop.
   • Upcoming volunteers:
     • Meaghan (paid intern) arriving Monday, through late September (640 paid hours from grant).
     • Erica: mid-June through mid-August, but not confirmed. Jan to provide Carol with information.
     • Shane contacted and coming soon, nominally 5 July through "whenever" (need to clarify).
     • Laura Oxley - August 13 - 29.
8. Arrivals/Departures:
   • Carrie leaving next Sunday -- thank you! We will miss you, Carrie!
   • Dave Friend coming Saturday, June 16, overnight in yellow house south bedroom.
   • Sharon coming on Saturday, June 16, overnight in white house.
   • Brenda (friend of Sharon) coming on Saturday, June 16, possibly overnight in white house.
   • Meaghan arriving on Monday, June 18, in yellow house basement east room.
   • Ben away June 21 - 24.
9. Farm meeting:
   • Manure was delivered from Gavin.
   • Tables moved out of west greenhouse room to centre room and rotovated to prepare for planting; bed building in process.
   • Market on Saturday, pick lettuce on Friday evening: Geo, Carol, and Jan will help Ben harvest.
   • Developing irrigation for east garden beds.
   • Move large gate in east field farther north and put in small gate at corner - gate is marked for digging.
   • Pursue a chest freezer for cold/cool product storage. (Jan Steinman)
     
10. Plans for next week:
    • Transplant cabbage.
    • Trim goat hooves.
    • Complete and move goat shed II.
    • Complete greenhouse tables and irrigation, close Project 126 expenditures and reconcile project.
    • Design reservoir siphon starter and obtain parts in Duncan. (Jan Steinman)
      
    • Sunday is drop off day for broom.
    • Cheese workshop Jun 24th.
    • Host ING pot-luck for July 4th? Not confirmed.
    • Fix washer/dryer in white house. (Jan Steinman)
      
11. Confirmed next meeting: Next residents' meeting: Wednesday, 20 June 2012, 09:00, Jan facilitating and Carol taking notes.

• Meeting adjourned, 10:14
• Respectfully submitted, Carol Wagner 10:15 13 June 2012 (PST)