SPUDS Membership Meeting Minutes-for Friday, Sept, 25th, 2009

notetaker: deNeen Baldwin

Members attending:

Barb Heywood-Jones, Herb Jones, Bill Engelson, Karl Goodwin,
Bob and Velda Parsons, Marjo von Tooren, Bob and Carol Vosburgh,
Mike Nestor, Fireweed, deNeen Baldwin, Rae Eckel, Derek Takerer,
Shaun Woods, Susan Marie Yoshihara, Veronica Timmons

Agenda:

1. Welcome, meeting guidelines, thank you’s

2. Introductions- Why I'm a SPUDS member

4. Report from the Core Group

a. 2008

b. 2009 – what worked, what didn’t (row responsibility)

c. Fall – harvest date? Tilling? Fall cover crop?

5. Discussion/decisions
1. Decision-making process
2. Issues: soil amendment - presentation
3. Policy re use of animal products/green composting

6. Next year’s Core Group, roles, communication system

(blogspot and bulletins)

7. Other

Report from the Core Group

Herb Jones gave a report on what has happened during the 08 and 09 seasons. He will write it up for the blogspot.

This year’s harvest is slated for Saturday, October 3^rd from 10 – 12 noon. If it rains, come the same time on Sunday, October 4^th.

Please bring :

-A digging fork (rather than a spade, which can damage the potatoes)
-A large pail or bag for your potatoes
-Gloves
-Hat and water might also be handy.

Organic apple juice will be provided, baked potatoes and chili. Timing has taken into consideration the desire of some members to attend Recycling earlier in the morning.

Please RSVP either by email or call deNeen at 250-335-3027, or Fireweed at 1209.

If you are unable to make it, please make arrangements for someone to pick-up your share or make other arrangements.

Discussion

Several rounds of input from those attending the meeting made up the bulk of the
evening’s discussions. Generally, members felt that they joined SPUDS to be a part of a cooperative community effort concerned with promoting Denman sustainability. However, most people felt consistent communication has been lacking; Carol Vosburgh, Fireweed and Rae Eckel have volunteered to work on communications. For those who do not use the internet, copies of all the documents will go into the Freepost in an envelope marked SPUDS.

It was also agreed the structure of how the field work is to be done needs revision. The idea of assigning rows didn’t work; both because it wasn’t always clear, and that the idea of solitary work on the field, while useful for those who couldn’t attend the designated work parties, didn’t contribute to the coming together of co-op members.

To date, there has been a Core Group of those interested in the decisions of how the field is planted, maintained and harvested. Some were concerned that they didn’t get enough information about what was happening and wanted to change how decisions are made. To that end, Fireweed and Mike made a bid for SPUDS to use the Consensus method of decision making. An email to the meeting from absent member Ron Sakolsky was read by the facilitator, also advocating for the use of consensus process.

It was decided to have a meeting about that process so those of us who are not familiar with it, and interested in decision making, could make an informed choice. That meeting will be held on Tuesday, October 6, 2009 at 7:30 pm, at Susan Marie Yoshihara’s house. 3906 Wren Road. Please ensure this is a scent-free event. For more information on Consensus and general news on SPUDS go to http://www.wearespuds.blogspot.com/ (please see the previous post on this blog for updates on the Oct. 6th meeting)

In the spring, the issue of animal manure versus plant based fertilization came to light when the Co-op was offered some island steer manure. There will be another meeting to discuss this, and other agenda items, once we have decided on the Consensus option.

See you at the harvest!