Welcome to the Windsor Park Community Gardens Web Site

East Austin will soon be home to a new community garden. Watch this space for news

Here is what the land currently looks like

Here is a design for the future vision of the space. Click on it for a zoomed in version

Events

Please join us for our next meeting, Tuesday, 7/19 - Contact James Lewis at jlewis@modernatomic.com for more info.

Our Wishlist

Plants and Seeds
Vines
Shrubs
native perennials
fruit trees
clustering bamboo
compost crop seeds
other seeds

Building Materials
Lumber
concrete blocks
fencing
gates
rain gutters
roofing for shed

Landscaping Materials
decomposed granite
stepping stones
trellises
pond liner

Artwork
Logo
garden sign
garden sculptures
artistic garden gate
sun dial

Skills
welders
sculptors
other artists
landscape designers
web designers

Soil Building
straw
hay
manure
mulch
ready made compost
yard waste

Gardening Tools
water hoses
rakes
shovels
hoes
mower
chipper/shredder

Structures
ready-made tool shed
composting toilet
park benches
picnic tables
arbor
playscape

Other
trash cans
very large rain barrels
party supplies

Windsor Park Community Garden
Meeting Minutes 7/5/05

Attendees:
James, Jimmy, Selwyn, Mohan, Elizabeth

Location:
James' house (pre-meeting tour of house, yard and pond)

Topics Discussed:
Garden Design
Articles of Association
Timeline
Regular meeting location and dates
Miscellaneous

Garden Design
Selwyn and Elizabeth met earlier in the day to fine tune and flesh-out the design begun by the design committee last week. Selwyn enlarged the design and brought color copies to discuss. The group was generally happy with the design. There was some concern that the chickens might be too close to the apartments which would be against city regulations. Some suggestions were made for added elements -- a labyrinh, bat house, purple martin house.

Articles of Association
James passed out revised copies for us to take home and read. He will send a copy to the listserv also. Comments and suggestions will be discussed at the next meeting and we hope to finalize the documents at that time.

Timeline
Elizabeth brought a group participation exercise for creating a timeline. We didn't have time to do it, so she explained how it works and we will do it next time. She has created a stack of post-it notes with a task on each one. We will start by placing one on the wall, then pass the stack around the group. Each person will place their post-it note on the wall in accordance with where they think it belongs in the timeline. When all post-it notes are placed, the group will discuss
the order and decide whether it needs to be adjusted, and whether anything needs to be added or deleted. We may also assign dates to some of the tasks.

Elizabeth shared the list with the group and they wanted to have a copy to think about before the next meeting. The list is at the end of this email.

Future Meetings
The group agreed that regular meeting times and location would make it easier to promote the meetings and increase attendance.

Location: We like the idea of meeting close to the land in case we need to check something out. The church has something going on most Tuesday nights. However, the Austin Peace and Justice Coalition rents one of the church's classrooms and may be willing to let us use the space. The library is also booked on Tuesday nights. Elizabeth will check with the librarians about the possiblity of meeting in the reading room. If all else fails, we are pretty sure we can meet at Messiah Lutheran Church.

Dates/Times: Tuesday seems to be the best night for most of the people in the group. For the forseeable future, we will conduct our regular meetings on first and third Tuesdays and committee meetings or additional group meetings (as needed) on second and fourth Tuesdays.

Miscellaneous
James is compiling a list of resource organizations.
Mohan has opened a free checking account at University Federal Credit Union, and deposited our grant money.
James passed out a phone/address/email list which we all promised to use only for the purpose of the community garden.
This was not mentioned at the meeting, but Mohan has asked the Windsor Park Neighborhood Assn. for the funds to send two attendees to the workshop in College Station on Building Successful Community Gardens The executive committee will make their decision on July 9th.

TIMELINE TASKS (in no particular order)
Install rain barrels
Form committees
Finalize Articles of Association
Plant flowers, vines, shrubs
Complete the site design
Solarize pods
Build raised beds
Build shed
Create logo
Lay water pipes
Plant compost crop
Get wired for electricity
Build labyrinth
Build chicken coop
Plant trees
Create ponds
Spray compost tea
Build compost bins
Vote in officers
Create sign
Lay drip irrigation
Lay granite paths
Install purple martin house
Install bat house
Build pergola at garden entrance
Build sheltered potting tables
Procure large rain barrels
Install rain gutters
Research tree selections
Stake out design
Build pavillion
Bring in bee hives

Windsor Park Community Gardens
Meeting Minutes 6/21/05 (Summer Solstice)

Attendees:
James, Elizabeth, Linda, Lori, Tom, Jimmy, Mike, Selwyn and some first timers -- Garland (pastor of the church), JF (Master Gardener), and John Hart (student of landscape architecture)

Location:
Austin Mennonite Church

Topics Discussed:
Water
Keep Austin Beautiful grant
Articles of Association
Volunteer Resources / Grants
Fencing
Design
Committees

Water
Tom will be meeting on Friday with the planning & development director of the Housing Authority of the City of Austin about running water from Gaston Place. If you are interested in attending, contact Tom at alouwishus@sbcglobal.net

KAB Grant
Elizabeth reported that KAB, in addition to awarding us $2183. for materials, has offered to serve as our fiscal sponsor until we achieve non-profit status. (Elizabeth will follow up on that.) They are also available to help us with any obstacles that arise. We may call them in to help with the water. We have some commitments to honor, mostly mid-term and end-term reports with photographs (Linda has offered to be our photographer). We also have to show financial accountability.

Articles of Association
James will be re-working them over the next couple of weeks, so we can discuss them at our next meeting.

Volunteer Resources / Grants
JF suggested contacting Skip Richter at Travis County Extension Service to enlist Master Gardeners who have community service requirements.
Mike's wife is in charge of a foreign exchange student program. The students will be available for community service projects
Jimmy has connections with Friends of the Forest and has received grant monies from them for a school garden.

Fencing
This was a lively topic. We may be able to get about 200 feet of 4-foot chain-link fence for $150. Do we want it? We all agreed we don't want to fence to keep people out, but to create visual barriers for design purposes. Some people were quite opposed to chain-link fence. Many alternative fencing options were discussed. We will table the issue until after the design meeting.

Design
It was agreed that it would be worth taking another look at design. Selwyn (who teaches courses in permaculture design) agreed to head up a design committee. Seven people volunteered to serve on the committee. We will meet in the garden space behind the church on Tuesday the 28th at 7:00. Bring a lawn chair and water bottle. Wear shoes if you don't want fire ant bites.

Committees
We created a Utilities Committee to work on access and infrastructure for water and electricity. If you would like to serve on that committee, contact Tom at alouwishus@sbcglobal.net.
We established that we have need for a Compost Committee, a Labor Committee to gather materials, recruit volunteers, and organize work days, a Finance Committee and an Outreach Committee.

After the meeting, we adjourned to the plot for dreaming and scheming.