Hello Everyone,
Last night we had a very productive meeting-- thank you to everyone who joined in and those who volunteered their time with us! I've attached the agenda that I handed out at the meeting.
Jeanne Patterson invited me to join her, Tony Sloan, and other knowledgeable and helpful people at 6 PM to take a look at 3 lots on S. Pearl St. and the 2 potential sites at the middle school. The Pearl St. lots would all work horticulturally as gardens. There are concerns that they are somewhat hidden from public view, one lot is directly under power lines, and also (a biggie) we are not sure who owns them-- they very well could be privately owned. Any garden on Pearl St. would be on the smaller side.
The middle school offers many exciting options and the potential for a much larger garden. A very visible, yet smaller garden would fit in the front of the school and a garden as big as 100' x 100' would fit in the back. Integral to any plan at the middle school would be a children's garden. Setting up a dedicated teaching area for the use of the students would be a priority in any plan we presented to the BOE. We believe that they could use this area to teach many subjects, open them up to apply for lucrative grants, and most importantly, show a new generation where food comes from, proper nutrition, and the importance of working together as a community.
At 7 we all made our way to Zebu and loosely followed the attached agenda. We decided, since this group was initialized with the 94 W. Front St. lot, and so much effort was put into utilizing that space, we should still work to make sure that it is preserved as open space. The lot should not be sold, especially since a primary argument of the council, against a garden, was that it should be open for all to use. We also agreed that because we have been stonewalled on that site, and in the interest of getting a garden anytime soon, we are officially moving forward to have a garden at another site. As of now we are focusing on the middle school. Ernest will be reaching out to the superintendent today and we will be trying to set up a meeting with her, Tony, and just a small group to introduce the idea. We don't want to overwhelm with too many  people. The sense is that if we can get her on board, the BOE will be more inclined to be in favor of a garden on their property.
As a contingency to the middle school, we are still keeping an open mind to privately owned land that might be available. There is a lot behind the Lamplighter on Harding that has potential, and we would still like to get a definite answer on the lot next to Trinity Church on Front St. (that seems to be a real dream location for many gardeners). 
Finally, we discussed the adoption of the Count Basie monument plot. We agreed that we would pursue adopting this site-- doing periodic weeding and cleanup. I will send out the application to Deborah Eadie at NJ Transit by the end of the week.
As a reminder, there will be a group at Riverside Gardens, Sunday, June 26th from 9am to 1pm, doing grunt work-- weeding and pulling invasive vine. Please join in!
If anyone has any input or questions, please let me know-- 
Thank you!
John
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Hello everyone,
Yesterday I met with Deborah Eadie who heads up the NJ Transit Adopt-a-Station program. She was very helpful and gave me a packet to begin the application process to adopt the Count Basie Monument site. We can discuss this further, including how / if we would like to proceed, at our meeting on Monday night at 7 at Zebu.
More importantly, Ernie and I attended the RiverCenter's breakfast meeting this morning. Ernie gave a short introduction to our quest to get a site and the response was very enthusiastic! There are many possibilities to tie our garden in with local business and restaurants. Several business owners expressed an interest in possibly sponsoring plots, and using some herbs from our garden to promote Red Bank as a "locavore" town. Ernie and I then walked around town and talked to a few other restaurants that were not in attendance, dropped off some brochures that I made up for them, and spread the word that a community garden IS coming to Red Bank!
It seems that the representatives from the RiverCenter were also enthusiastic about the idea of a community garden.


At our upcoming meeting, a priority should be to discuss what our new top sites are.
We keep hearing enthusiasm for the Middle School, including the front of the school. If we agree, we can put together a proper proposal for Laura Morana, the superintendent of Red Bank Borough Schools, then she can present it to the board of education. We won't really know if the Middle School is possible until we present them with our organized ideas, and of course we have a proper look at the site by our farm engineer.
All good things to discuss!
Remember, if you plan on weeding on Saturday morning, please wear long pants and closed-toe shoes.
Thank you and please let me know your thoughts--
John
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Good morning,

We are planning an organizational meeting this Monday, 6/20 @ 7PM and Zebu. In the future, depending on the size of the group, we can walk over and meet at Ernie's office on White St. and Broad, across from Starbucks. 
At this meeting I hope we can come together to refocus our efforts. As of now we are community gardeners without a garden of our own. I think this will change soon, but as we work for our site, I think it has been a positive experience to garden around town. There are other opportunities for this as well. We are planning on meeting to finish up our work at the Count Basie Monument this Saturday 6/18 at 8 am-- show up when you can! Also, we just got invited to help Bob Hespe and his group with the roses at Riverside Gardens. That will be Sunday 6/26 from 9 to 1. (please see his email pasted below) Thanks Bob!

At our meeting I think it will also be important that we organize ourselves in a way that the RBCG speaks with one voice, but that we ensure that the cause is not just about one individual. I know I have been sending many emails but I don't want to step on any toes, hopefully we can organize so decisions are made as a group :)
Yesterday I spoke to Jeanne Patterson, a master gardener who is helping us out, for about an hour and she had some great ideas. We can discuss Monday, but I think we need to really look at all the sites in RB again before we completely focus on the Middle School. I seems like the Middle School is a pretty great site, but it will be a different process with the School Board. After speaking with the superintendent and the board president on Friday, it may be a lengthy process. If there is a Borough owned plot that would work for us right away, we might be able to get the council to approve it right away.
I have a call in with Diane Larson-- the head of the Master Gardeners and the home horticulturist at the Ag building in Freehold. Maybe we can get her and her crew on board with us. I also know a handful of horticulturists at Brookdale and I will be reaching out to them.
**Update- I spoke with Diane and once we have a site, or a few site to choose from, Master Gardeners will be available to assist in choosing the best site/ getting things growing!
Also, Ernie is speaking to a group of restaurateurs with the RiverCenter tomorrow morning. I am putting together a brochure for him and I will share it with you all.  
Regarding the Count Basie monument-- I called NJ Transit and got the form to adopt this site, along with RBCC. It looks like a minimal commitment (4 times a year I think?) And yes, I agree we should not focus exclusively on this one site-- but I did have fun. Just a few plants should be fine. Mark Molzon of Molzon's Nursery has said he will help us out.
**Update- I met with Deborah Eadie from the NJ Transit Adopt a-Station program at 2:00 today to discuss adoption and the future of the site. She was very supportive and said that essentially, within some guidelines, the project is ours to plant, etc. as we want, once our application is approved. I hope to have the application submitted by the end of the week.
Hope to see you all soon,

John
*****************************************************************************

 

From: Robert Hespe 

  As you may remember, we (re)met at Riverside Gardens back in March,

when my wife and I and friends and RBR students were pruning and weeding.

Since then, we've been back half a dozen times to get the sorely neglected

rose beds into good shape. And it's been effective.  The roses are covered

with blossoms!

  We're meeting one more time this summer-- Sunday, June 26th.  We'll be

there from 9am to 1pm, doing grunt work-- weeding and pulling invasive vine.

   It would be great if you could  spread the word to the folks on your Maple Cove

and Community Garden email list.

Thanks,

Bob Hespe

 

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Hello!
We had a great time this morning weeding and cleaning up at the train station. It was a really positive community activity where we could all come together to do something good. 
Here is a link to some pictures I posted on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150201646867581.309435.508032580

Feel free to friend me!

Several of us will be meeting there again next Saturday to finish up a few things and hopefully think about planting. We just have to confirm that the plot will be watered regularly now that we are entering the hottest part of summer. I will ask Ed Zipprich to secure this for us.


I know some people cannot join us on Saturdays. If we follow the procedures given by NJ Transit, we can arrange to come at any time, in smaller groups, etc. Please email me if you are interested!


In cooperation with Pastor Lenny at RBCC (thank you for coming out today!), the next step is to pursue adopting this spot from NJ Transit. That way we can ensure that it stays beautiful. I was told that NJ transit has a partnership with Home Depot, who will supply us with plants and other things we need to maintain the spot.


Please let me know if you have any ideas about a plan to adopt the spot or anything else. 
Thanks again to everyone who showed up and I hope to see more of you next time we meet!


FYI-- Count Basie's 107th birthday would be August 21, maybe we can plan something for that day. I feel like we really came together in a meaningful way today around the monument-- Whaddya know, we gardeners actually got to do a little gardening! 
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