Northeast Decatur Growing Community

Join us!

We're looking for both experienced and aspiring gardeners, from ANYWHERE.  Those living in the NE quadrant of Decatur, GA (bordered by the CSX railroad to the south and Clairemont Ave. to the West) and beyond into unincorporated DeKalb will find it most locationally desirable, but we welcome those from further out, in any direction.

The NEDGC is as much about growing community as it is vegetables, shrubs, and flowers. Its goal is to provide a healthy and enjoyable pastime, where new friendships develop.

If you'd like to participate in discussions, and receive reminders of upcoming meetings, join the NEDGC Yahoo Group or send your name and e-mail to dav3kell@gmail.com.

If you're on Facebook, you can also join the NEDGC Facebook page.

The Park and Garden Project behind the Church at Decatur Heights seceded from the NEDGC and is no longer a NEDGC project.

Church Park & Garden project secedes from NEDGC

The project for a park and garden behind the Church at Decatur Heights has elected to secede from the Northeast Decatur Growing Community.

No NEDGC resources will be directed toward this project henceforth.

Audio segment from 9/14/2010 NEDGC meeting

There seems to be some disagreement on what was actually suggested and agreed upon at the 9/14/2010 NEDGC meeting re. the Church Garden/Park project as it relates to the NEDGC.

Dave was proposing the Church Garden/Park be managed as a project, but still under the auspices of the North East Decatur Growing Community.  Deanne agreed to that, but apparently extrapoloted the idea to the Church Garden/Park seceding from the NEDGC (something Dave didn't catch at the time, or he would have pressed the point for clarification).

You can judge for yourself from the actual words that were spoken.

 

NEDGC20100914mtgDaveDeanneCommentsReProject

 

In any case, if the core group of the Church Garden/Park (however that is defined, since there is no formal membership process) wants to secede from the parent organization which nurtured the idea from the beginning, that is its prerogative.  It just needs to understand that it will no longer be under the umbrella of the NEDGC and will not be supported by any of its resources. That might not seem significant now, but very well might be in the future.

Just for the record, it is not (as has been implied) UNneighborly to record public meetings when the sole purpose is to provide accurate miutes of the meeting.  I do this all the time at City of Decatur meetings without objection.

Overview of 9/14 monthly meeting

Ten people attended the 9/14 meeting:

This was the agenda:

The Organization Committee reported out first.

Ryan presented the results of some research. 

A two page handout summarized what's involved in a nonprofit corporation in Georgia and a one-page document summarizing alternatives to incorporation.

These two documents will be included in the continuation.

The general consensus seemed to be the Church/Garden project should be kept as simple as possible.  Dave suggested it be run as a project, as the NEDGC has plans for other projects in the future. Most seem to agree.

Gina presented the Park plan, including one handout with a schematic (which will be included in the continuation. 

Dave presented the layout for the raised beds (which was shown in an earlier post).

The group then held an open discussion.

Some concern was expressed about moderation of the Yahoo group.  Dave explained he tries to get people off moderation as soon as they shown they are responsible posters and not spammers or troublemakers.  He noted that, as of an hour before the meeting, no posts were awaiting moderation and no posts have been restricted nor edited.

Some seemed to prefer to communicate via Deanne's e-mail list.

More details will be added later.

Planned raised garden plots behind the church

This is the same plan which was going to be presented at the last meeting, had there been time.

It provides a layout which will ultimately accomodate 34 3x6 raised garden plots, with a 4 ft wide north-south walkway down the center, 4 feet E-W aisle, and 2 ft of space from the back wall of the church and the neighbor's wood fence.

Monthly meeting tonight

From Deanne 

This month's meeting is Tues., Sept.14^th @ 7pm in the community room of The Church at Decatur Heights. The Organizing, Park, and Garden committees will give updates, and we'll decide as a group our best approach for the project overall. We'll then break into committee groups for the last third of the meeting. Anyone with an interest in participating is encouraged to join in!

Plan for raised gardening beds

Here's the plan for raised gardening beds in the area directly behind the church building (sorry about the quality -- I'll clean it up when I have a chance -- but it is accurate, per the grid lines (2 ft. behind lines).

This plan provides 34 4ft x 6ft beds.  The freestyle beds (grow what you like) will start at the South (bottom of image).  The structured farming (managed and rented by Jerome) will start at the north. As more beds are rented, the two sections will grow toward each other, until they touch each other.

We plan to rent these beds for $X (TBD) a year. We will stake them all out, but will build them as funds are available. Enough lumber to build at least one row of beds on each end has been donated.

The main walkway through the beds will down the center. All aisles will be wide enough for wheel chairs.  There will only be 2 feet between the beds and the church wall and the neighbors wood fence.

Organizational details to be discussed in tonight's (8/10/2010) meeting

Reposted here from the Yahoo message board, as requested by Deanne

Hi Folks!

Besides nailing down the Park & Garden plans & forming committees at tonight's
meeting, we also need to take the steps to actually create the gardening group!
We're not even "official" yet! :0)

Here's a link to  the newly formed Midway Woods Garden & how they've gone about
it. ( The project was featured on Decatur Metro yesterday.):
http://www.midwaywoodsgarden.org/public-documents-records-forms

Let's all be  thinking on it! :0)

Deanne

East and West signs up

The east and west signs were posted this morning, after checking that the north and south signs were still up.

The east sign is on Winn Way where it dead-ins into Arcadia (where it will be seen by many eyes, if DeKalb Co. doesn't pick it up).

The west sign is on Forkner just west of Glendale:

Decatur Beer Festival grant application is in

Beat the deadline by nearly two hours:

Note: If we get a grant, we're expected to donate five volunteers to work the DBF.

Church sign is up

We now have a church sign (both sides), street signs, and internet postings and notices.