EC 2009 01 13
Chanhassen Environmental Commission (EC)
Regular Meeting
January 13, 2009
Members Present:
Ron Olsen, Denny Hansen, J.R. Relick, Beverly Foster, Bill Fouks, Jim
Sommers, Rose Kircher
Guests Present:
Jay Kronick, Lotus Lawn and Garden
Staff Present:
Jill Sinclair, Environmental Resources Specialist
Minutes:
December minutes were approved.
Guest Presentation - Promoting and Encouraging Chanhassen Grown Food
: Jay Kronick
opened the discussion on city-wide gardening by explaining that he wasn’t here as a businessman
but rather as a gardener and wanted to talk about bringing the idea of home grown food to the
Chanhassen community. His interest in creating momentum comes from many years of
gardening on his own. Last summer he didn’t buy any produce from a store from May through
October. He even had enough to share with co-workers and neighbors. He was able to keep a
garden while also being busy with family obligations, his business and recreational activities. He
shared this in order to show that a garden, even a large garden, isn’t all-consuming of people’s
time. This fall he had talked with Jill Sinclair about possibly creating community gardens on
part of his garden center property. It was decided that it wouldn’t work, but the connection
started the discussion about expanding gardening throughout Chanhassen. Tonight he wanted to
talk to the Commission about the vision of home grown food. Without a specific goal in mind,
ideas that were generated included: neighborhood gardens not owned by the city, create a town
farm where people pay to work, learn and harvest the produce, create a horticulture program at
schools, use the large lawn spaces at businesses to create on-site gardens for employees. Jay had
attended a Permaculture Institute open house on Backyard Harvesting last week. There were
hundreds of people in attendance. The idea presented was that homeowners could have a
backyard garden tended by Institute employees. Homeowners had to have a 10x10 area of land
they would convert to garden that received a minimum of 6 hrs of sun. The cost to participate
was $1000 in return for garden prep, maintenance and harvest.
The discussion then opened up to generating other ideas which included:
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Turn corporate open land into gardens
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Ask the family farms in town to rent out space. May not be as accessible.
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How can we talk to people about expanding their own gardens and/or bringing their
neighbors into the gardens.
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Maybe a group could be started who would promote the idea and get funding, ask local
businesses to contribute. Seeds from lotus, rototillers from merlins, etc.
?
The idea should be promoted at Arbor Day and on the website to start linking people
together
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Add education on edible landscaping
The commission thought a community meeting would be the best place to start. How do we
foster more locally grown food? Can the Farmer’s Market be supported more? Master
Gardeners should be involved in the promotion and research of this. Basic question, though, is
how do we sell the idea? How can we get people to come to meeting? Can we use the
community garden list and Jay’s email list to advertise meeting? A listserve could be created for
people to connect them. For the meeting presentation both ideas of having a backyard garden for
one family or neighborhood gardens for many families will be discussed. Jay volunteered to
present. The reason for the meeting should be based on the 5 benefits of backyard gardening.
The meeting should be advertised on the website and the Connection. Also should get a blurb in
the paper.
Discuss and Approve 2009 work plan:
The commission approved the work plan with the
addition of adding an organics project research in February.
Arbor Day:
Bill suggested selling compost in 5 gal buckets at the Arbor Day event. Jill will
advertise that.
General Discussion
:
Meeting adjourned at approximately 8:35 PM.
Minutes Prepared by Jill Sinclair