May 11, 2009

Urban garden meeting ...

We found out today 75 people attended the meeting Friday night at DP Wigley on urban gardening in Racine. We obviously missed out! If anyone who was there is willing, post a write-up of the meeting in the comments. We'll try to follow-up with organizers this week on the take-aways from the meeting.

Here's some photos:




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13 comments:

  1. Anonymous5/11/2009 11:55 PM

    Fantastic meeting of a lot of passionate gardeners, students and beginners.

    I think a special recognition is due to the students from Walden that were in attendance. It was great to see the young people out there trying to make a difference.

    There were several master gardeners in attendance as well and people from Gateway and Park High School.

    The number of projects (both proposed and actual) going around the city was quite incredible. I had no idea!

    Definitely a packed house, which I found surprising and uplifting.

    One of the key takeaways from the night was that two people were going to work on getting a website off the ground as an information hub for people to start sharing ideas, garden locations, questions, places to sell and donate, etc.

    One of the people that volunteered was a student from Walden and the other was actually filming the event. The student photographer from Walden was there also and might have some good pictures.

    I look forward to seeing what they come up with! Great showing for Racine.

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  2. Colt5/12/2009 5:35 AM

    This is best thing to happen in Racine in the 15 years I have lived here.
    We can expect from what the group will nurture economic investment,JOBS, Healing all kinds of great stuff.
    My thanks to God and those who make this happen, The Flynn's, Kate from Kenosha and of course Sarah (Bones)Wright.
    I was glad to be a part of it.

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  3. Anonymous5/12/2009 8:30 AM

    People are super interested. There were so many different reasons for being there. Gardening has helped improve our neighborhood. People are outside. We share plants and advice. I see butterflies, hummingbirds and toads. We have very little crime occuring on our block. I am in the city of Racine. The Nehemiah Project had several members/volunteers in attendance as well.

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  4. Anonymous5/12/2009 8:58 AM

    The ladies from Eat Right Racine were also in attendance. They started to share their vision for a healthier menu at RUSD.

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  5. Anonymous5/12/2009 9:22 AM

    It really was an inspiring and focused meeting. Thanks so much to the hosts! I look forward to seeing all the different types of garden projects develop.
    There is another meeting this Friday for people who are interested in becoming more involved in organizing the group. Hopefully more support, resources, and information will continue to be available to everyone involved in urban gardening in Racine.

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  6. Anonymous5/12/2009 9:34 AM

    Yeah, there was a group of about 10 people that volunteered to be on some type of committee to ensure the project keeps moving forward.

    Where and when was the Friday meeting?

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  7. Green Racine5/12/2009 9:39 AM

    http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Green-Racine/2009/05/09/Victory-Gardens-Come-to-Racine-

    A podcast on what happened.

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  8. Anonymous5/12/2009 10:22 AM

    Next Friday's meeting will be at the same time and place as last Friday's - lower level DP Wigley (Third St & Wisconsin Ave) at 6 pm. The primary focus of this next meeting is to name the group, launch the website, website content, and where to start planting. It's certainly been established that there is enough interest and energy. This meeting is also open to anyone who wants to attend.

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  9. mark@dpwigley.com5/13/2009 9:22 AM

    I think it might be interesting if we had an internet name event-Let people turn in names for what they think would be a fitting name, and either let the board select the best name, or let the the bloggers vote for the best name. I am not sure how to do this on this site-but maybe we can come up with possibilities before Friday. "Grow Up Racine, Green Racine (surprisingly available!), Racine Greens, Down to Earth" all come to mind....

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  10. Wayne Clingman5/13/2009 10:54 AM

    Green Racine is owned the .com Org and Info. And this would not be the place to do this.

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  11. Anonymous5/13/2009 2:01 PM

    Great idea Mark.

    Not sure about the Grow Up Racine one though.

    "I'm not a gardener. I'm a plant manager."

    -some comedian

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  12. Anonymous5/18/2009 5:33 AM

    I heard the last meeting was a complete disaster - no organization and no leadership. Very sad. This idea has such potential...

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  13. mark@dpwigley.com5/20/2009 1:37 PM

    The last meeting was only the second meeting-and although only the committee was to attend, interest was so heavy that attendance was doubled, so things did slow down a bit. Because of the season, everyone wants things done now-yet not a lot can be done until agreement is reached upon what the group is about. (Focus!) I think what it needs to be pure and simple is a site for all the different Racine gardening groups to come to to find 1)available land, 2) information, 3) funding/grant sources, 4) available manpower, and 5) group buying discounts. We have already seen considerable gardening tool donations, and an offer for 5 acres of land for food planting purposes for $1/yr. Until incorporated as profit or nonprofit, we can not accept same, so we are meeting again this Friday.
    As for criticisms on the way the meeting proceeded -- why weren't you here to help out? --it's easy to criticize from the sidelines.

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