August GANA Potluck & Meeting

Date: Tuesday, August 17 (rescheduled from Tuesday, August 10)
Time: Potluck begins at 6:30pm with meeting to follow
Location: Green Acres Neighborhood Garden, 2601 Dekist

Neighbors Present: Al, Kathy, Jelene, Ann, Colin, Jessica, John

Neighbors enjoyed some great foods from the GANG and a private neighbor garden. Yum!
A representative of B-Top came and taped the group talking about the bypass. The city is offering an Ice Cream Social grant and the group decided it was a good idea. They settled on Sunday, September 12 for the date. More details coming soon.

The next meeting will be Tuesday, September 14. Potluck begins at 6:30pm with meeting to follow, kindly hosted by Al & Kathy 2605 E 5th.

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GANG 2010 - Workshop #4

Summer Begets Fall: Planting the Fall Garden
Sunday, August 1, 1-5 p.m.
Just as summer crops are planted in spring, fall crops are planted in summer. This workshop will focus both on caring for the garden in the high heat of summer and on planting the foods that will be harvested through the coming cool. This is the hay-day of the garden and we will hopefully have yields galore. But, the weeds and insects and drying sun are also trying to make their way, so mulch, shade cloth, row cover and other techniques will be employed as we keep the summer crops vibrant and give our fall crops a running start. Snacks and beverages provided.

Check out Ann's blog for additional pictures and narratives from the workshop.

GANG WORKSHOPS 2010
A Project of the Green Acres Neighborhood Association
And an educational project of the Association of Regnerative Culture
At the Green Acres Neighborhood Garden (GANG), 2601 DeKist St.

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Green Acres Real Estate Update - 7.25.10

Green Acres is a great place to live; convenient to IU, downtown, and eastside ammenities. Check out the latest listings of homes for sale in our neighborhood.

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July Potluck and Meeting

Date: Tuesday, July 13
Time: Potluck begins at 6:30pm with meeting to follow
Location: Jelene's home, 2521 Eastgate Lane

Neighbors Present: Jelene, John & Jessica, Ann, and Mary

There was no pressing GANA business and so the neighbors passed a pleasant evening enjoying great food and each other's company.

The next meeting is Tuesday, August 10. Potluck begins at 6:30 with meeting to follow. Location is currently TBA.

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Meet Alyce

After many attempts to find a home for this rouge rabbit, he was adobted by the GANG and will be a permanent resident of the garden. Make sure to say Hi when visiting the garden and sampling the fine eats you can find there.

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Green Acres Real Estate Update - 7.4.10

Green Acres is a great place to live; convenient to IU, downtown, and eastside ammenities. Check out the latest listings of homes for sale in our neighborhood.

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GANG 2010 - Workshop #3

How's It Going? Problem Solving and Re-design
Saturday, June 26, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
This workshop, led by Rhonda Baird, will ask the all-important questions "Is this working?" and "How can it work better?" We will use permaculture thinking to re-evaluate the design and function of various elements of the GANG site. We may make small physical changes and work in the garden, but this design workshop is intended as a thought pattern exercise that can be applied to any landscape. This is an all-day workshop so BYO lunch. Snacks and beverages provided.

Check out Ann's blog for more pictures and descriptions from the workshop.

The next workshop in the 2010 series is "Summer Begets Fall: Planting the Fall Garden;" held Sunday, August 1, 1p - 5p.

Workshop space is limited. To pre-register, please contact Ann Kreilkamp 812-334-1987or arkcrone@gmail.com. Suggested donation per class: $5 to $15.

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Weekly GANG Work Parties Return

Beginning Thursday, June 17 the weekly Green Acres Neighborhood Garden (GANG) work parties return for the second year. The 2010 work parties will take place Thursday evenings at 7pm and will last until 9pm or as individual participants need. If you would like more information or you cannot do Thursdays but would still like to be invovled, please contact Ann K at arkcrone@gmail.com.

Volunteers receive shares of the garden's harvest, in addition to the positive benefit of connecting with your neighbors for a common good.

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Green Acres Real Estate Update - 6.13.10

Green Acres is a great place to live; convenient to IU, downtown, and eastside ammenities. Check out the latest listings of homes for sale in our neighborhood.

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June Potluck and Meeting

Many of our regular attendees were out of town, so we decided to have an informal gathering in the Green Acres Neighborhood Garden. We will return to our usual potluck and meeting format in July. More pictures from the June gathering are in the full post.

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Pictures from Blooming Neighborhoods 2010

Ann and Jane with their awards!
(more pics in the full post)


City Council Member Susan Sandberg present Green Acres Neighborhood Association with the 2010 City Council Neighborhood Enhancement Award


Ann, Colin, Mary, and Jane accepting the City Council Neighborhood Enhancement Award on behalf of Green Acres


Jane receiving a Certificate of Recognition for HAND Neighbor of the Year


Green Acres' Blooming Neighborhods Table


Mary and Ann chat with a community member taking part in the Blooming Neighborhoods Celebration


Ann sharing community garden information with an interested attendee

Green Acres gave away tomato starts as part of our neighborhood table and they went quickly!

To see even more pictures from the event, including other neighborhood tables and other award winners, check out the City's HAND website.

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Green Acres Wins at Blooming Neighbors 2010

Blooming Neighbors will take place Saturday, June 5 and Green Acres will receive two honors at this annual city event. Check out the full post for award notifications, Blooming Neighbors schedule of events, and nomination letters. Come celebrate your neighborhood and the accomplishments of the folks who live here!

Click on images for larger view.

City Council Neighborhood Enhancement Award Winner Notification Letter


HAND Neighbor of the Year Certificate of Recognition Notification Letter


Blooming Neighbors Schedule of Events


City Council Neighborhood Enhancement Award Nomination Letter
HAND Neighbor of the Year Award Nomination Letter

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GANG Update - 5/26/10

Ann has posted an update on her blog, so check it out and stay informed.

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Green Acres Real Estate Update - 5.23.10

Green Acres is a great place to live; convenient to IU, downtown, and eastside ammenities. Check out the latest listings of homes for sale in our neighborhood.

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6th Annual Plant Share - Saturday, May 22

Enjoy Jelene's report, including pics, on the 6th Annual Plant Share:

Here are some photos from the PlantShare. It went really well. We had 11 people participate. You could not have asked for a nicer day either.

One of the great things was that Mary and Abby are master gardeners who volunteer some of their time at Hilltop Gardens and the Director of Hilltop, Greg Speichert, gave GANA a very nice assortment of plants left over from last week's sale. We got a lot of varieties of tomato plants, mint plants (chocolate and sweet), some grasses, and other wonderful plants. We also had other people bring nice plants to share.

Picture 1: L-R, Mary Sasse, Nancy Anderson, Valerie Cox, Mary Wheeler, Abby Pietsch
Picture 2: L-R, Mary Wheeler, Ann Kreilkamp, Abby Pietsch

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6th Annual Plant Share - Saturday, May 22

Details are in the full post in case the flyer image isn't clear.
GIVE…TAKE…SHARE…PLANTSHARE

Saturday, May 22nd 9 – 11am

2521 EASTGATE LANE in GREEN ACRES!

(In case of rain, plants will be in the garage behind the house!!!)

• Share your leftover seedlings, plant divisions, indoor houseplants, etc.
Also extra garden tools, gloves, materials, etc.

• Put plant in a pot or a plastic bag with roots wrapped in wet paper towels.

• Provide the name of the plant and, if possible, planting instructions (e.g., sun/shade, size, color, annual/perennial/ season of bloom)

• Bring donated plants to the PlantShare location between 8:30-9am. If you need a pickup, contact Jelene Campbell at jjcampbe@indiana.edu a few days ahead of time.

☺Help Make Green Acres Beautiful!!!☺

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GANG 2010 - Workshop #2

Get Growing, GANG: Start The Garden
Sunday, May 15, 1-5 p.m.

Led by Rhonda Baird and Nathan Harman, this workshop will provide an overview of spring garden tasks. The first half of the workshop will be indoors and the second half, hands on in the garden. Let's see how those raised, heavily mulched, lasagna beds we built last year are coming along and build a few more, too. We will cover starting seeds in flats and direct seeding, transplanting starts, using the cold frame, checking for weeds, damage and problems, as well as soil analysis and amendment. Snacks and beverages provided.

Check out Ann's blog for more pictures and descriptions from the workshop.

The next workshop in the 2010 series is "How's it Going? Problem Solving and Redesign;" held Saturday, June 26.

Workshop space is limited. To pre-register, please contact Ann Kreilkamp 812-334-1987or arkcrone@gmail.com. Suggested donation per class: $5 to $15.

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May GANG Meeting and Potluck

Date: Tuesday, May 11
Time: Potluck begins at 6:30pm, with meeting to follow
Location: Ann's house, 134 N Overhill

Topics: Project Updates, Upcoming Events, and anything else neighbors want to discuss

Neighbors Present: Ann, Al & Kathy, Jane, Alfio, Asiri, Mano, and Kacey

Kids! - We were happy to welcome three Green Acres children to our meeting. Kids have been come to meetings from time to time and it is always wonderful to have the participation of neighborhood youth. We hope this is a trend that will continue. Parents - if you have hesitated to come to a meeting because you weren't sure what to do with your kids during that time - please come and bring the family with you!

Noise concern revisited - our noise issue discussed last month continues, although the neighbors close to the home report that some progress is being made. Efforts to have no parking signs installed are paying off, but they are not always being properly enforced. Neighbors report that they have been told by City Parking Enforcement that they are not responsible for patrolling the area for parking violations. Ann was able to track down a potential contact for one of the noisy homes. Jane reminded the neighbors to speak with Tim Mayer, City Council At-Large and Green Acres Neighbor, to see if he has any ideas of what else to try.

GANG - We toured the garden to see the completed work from the SPEA project, as well as the individual efforts of neighbors and the workshop participants - stop by the garden yourself to check out the progress, it is awesome! The second GANG workshop for year 2 is Saturday, May 22.

Blooming Neighborhoods - we still need a few people to sit at the Green Acres table at the event. Jane will call for volunteers via the listserv. The GANG has been nominated for the City Council Neighborhood Enhancement Award and Jane has been nominated for the HAND Neighbor of the Year Award - congrats to both on the nominations. A win in any category earns the neighborhood $100 (which would be great to use towards a Small and Simple Grant).

The June meeting will be Tuesday, June 8 and currently has no where to call home. Jane will call for a volunteer via the listserv.

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GANG Update - SPEA Project Wrap Up

Check out Ann's blog for an update on the GANG and the culmination of the SPEA spring project.

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Green Acres Real Estate Update - 5.2.10

Green Acres is a great place to live; convenient to IU, downtown, and eastside ammenities. Check out the latest listings of homes for sale in our neighborhood.

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GANG and IU SPEA Project - Weekly Blog Update

This spring semester 2010, an Indiana University undergraduate class of 35 students is learning how to design and construct a state-of-the-art compost system for the GANA garden. This class, “E400 Environmental Sustainability,” has been created by Melissa Clark, a lecturer at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Various members of this class have been assigned to write a blog. This week's post(s) follow.
From: Braedon Engle
Date: Thu, Apr 22, 2010 at 10:21 AM


This past Saturday the 17th of April was the garden workshop for the class. We met at the garden in the mid afternoon on a beautiful spring day. The weather was perfect, not to hot with a slight breeze. We were split up into three main work groups. One group constructed the composting systems from the recycled Coca-Cola barrels. We made 3 of the composting systems that will be useful in producing soil for the garden. Another group cleaned areas in yard for new lasagna beds to be constructed. The lasagna beds we made using a combination of layers of wood chips, sawdust, and cardboard. In the coming years the cardboard and other organics will break down and turn into soil. The last group was in charge of weeding the gardens from last year. Overall the day was a great success and we were able to get a lot of work done. I truly am looking forward to eating some produce from the gardens. A special thanks to Coca Cola for the barrels and Bloomingfoods for the cardboard.

Braedon A. Engle

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GANG 2010 - Workshop #1

Less is More: Pruning For Fruit
Sunday, April 18, 2-4 p.m.
This workshop, led by Nathan Harman, will be a strolling explanation and demonstration of techniques for keeping backyard fruit trees healthy and productive. We will work on assorted ages, sizes, and types of fruit trees within a one block walk of the GANG site, including apples, peaches and pears as well as bush and cane fruit. Pruning is by far the most important factor in the health and production of a fruit tree, after soil and climate, and is an essential task every year.

Check out Ann's blog for more pictures and descriptions from the workshop.

The next workshop in the 2010 series is "Get Growing, GANG: Start The Garden."

Workshop space is limited. To pre-register, please contact Ann Kreilkamp 812-334-1987or arkcrone@gmail.com. Suggested donation per class: $5 to $15.

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GANG and IU SPEA Project - Weekly Blog Update

This spring semester 2010, an Indiana University undergraduate class of 35 students is learning how to design and construct a state-of-the-art compost system for the GANA garden. This class, “E400 Environmental Sustainability,” has been created by Melissa Clark, a lecturer at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Various members of this class have been assigned to write a blog. This week's post(s) follow.

From: Marguerite Huber
Date: Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 10:07 PM

"The compost project is underway! The entire class will be out at the GANA Garden this Saturday from 2-5 pm to construct the three compost bins and work in the garden. Otherwise, here are the updates from the groups:

The compost design group has done some research on the specifics of the construction process to make sure everything will be okay for the event this Saturday. They have discussed various construction options, voicing opinions on the relative advantages and disadvantages of each, and gone to local hardware stores to see what materials are available. They have put together a construction diagram outlining the best materials for us to use this Saturday.

The budget group has been working on getting funding for the next financial year from some groups they have contacted. There is a possibility of an offer from Bloomingfoods to purchase some items at cost."

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April GANA Potluck and Meeting

Date: Tuesday, April 13
Time: Potluck begins at 6:30pm, with meeting to follow
Location: Jane's house, 2611 E 5th

Topics: Noise concerns, Project Updates, Upcoming Events, and anything else neighbors want to discuss

Neighbors Present: Jelene Campbell, John and Jessica Gaus, Ann Kreilkamp, Al & Kathy Ruesink, Jane Spearman

Noise concern - Jane reported that a neighbor on 8th street emailed the neighborhood gmail account to voice concerns over noise. She is frustrated that she is not getting the response she expects when she calls police with a noise complaint. Jane invited her to attend a meeting and gave her the HAND contact info and that of Tim Mayer, Council person. Neighbors present shared stories of various noise issues that they have faced over the years.

GANG - Coca Cola is donating three white barrels to the garden for compost bins; Dave Parsons gave the garden some free compost; the SPEA students continue their work on the garden and will install the compost bins on Saturday, April 17; the first GANG workshop of 2010 will be Sunday, April 18; the GANG got free woods chips from a company cutting trees in the neighborhood and they are being used to create better aisles between the beds in the garden; lots of wonderful collaborations happening because of the garden

Quick reminders:
* Vote for Bloomington's Community Orchard Project
* Join the Bypass Email list to get involved in bypass action

Upcoming Events:
* Jelene's band, The David Gohn Band, CD release party - Friday, April 23
* GANA 6th Annual Plant Share and Neighborhood Clean Up - Saturday, May 22nd
* Blooming Neighborhoods Celebration - Saturday, June 5th

The May meeting will be Tuesday, May 11 and will be kindly hosted by Ann, 134 N Overhill. Potluck begins at 6:30 with meeting to follow.

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Green Acres Real Estate Update - 4.11.10

Green Acres is a great place to live; convenient to IU, downtown, and eastside ammenities. Check out the latest listings of homes for sale in our neighborhood.

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GANG Updates - 4.10.10

Lots of exciting things happening in the garden and tons of collaboration and neigbhorhood invovlement. Read on for details!

Current news on the GANG:

• Lots of seedlings growing inside, and more to be planted soon.

Lots of stuff coming to us for free!

• We got three white barrels from Coca Cola, free, thanks to Ria's advocacy (160 barrels are coming in over the next few months for sustainability projects). Coke has committed to do two projects of this kind per year.

• Dave Parsons, who has a compost business, and a member of the Transition team, had a truck load of gorgeous compost in his truck that he dropped off after the last meeting here, five of us shoveling it out. We'll put it at under the roots of every seedling when it goes in the garden.

• Thanks to Nathan and Colin's persistent efforts, we got several loads of wood chips from the company that was chopping down the trees at the corner of 5th and Overhill, and are spreading it over the ugly carpets between the garden beds.

• Jean has agreed to use his sit-down mower to mow the outside of the garden.

Also:

• Due to his other commitments, Nathan is now more consultant and advisor to the GANG, with Colin doing the work Nathan would have been doing. Colin has dug the hold for the picnic table, filled it with gravel, and put the picnic table back in. Still to be done, tiling the top of the table. Colin and Nathan have prepared the bottom underneath three sides of the fence for plants that we will put there to begin our living fence.

* SPEA workshop on for 2 p.m. next Saturday. Design for three-barrel compost system is in hand, materials to be picked up probably Tuesday. 35 undergraduates plus their teacher will be crawling over the garden, and we'll put them to work in a number of ways. Colin will direct the construction process. I'll direct and the rest of their activities (weeding, chopping up branches, etc.)

Also, in other garden-related news, Jami Scholl will be the person who creates a garden for Doug Hanvey's folks, with a permie from the permie guild as her apprentice.

Over and out!

Ann

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GANG and IU SPEA Project - Weekly Blog Update

This spring semester 2010, an Indiana University undergraduate class of 35 students is learning how to design and construct a state-of-the-art compost system for the GANA garden. This class, “E400 Environmental Sustainability,” has been created by Melissa Clark, a lecturer at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Various members of this class have been assigned to write a blog. This week's post(s) follow.

From: Brodie Burgess
Subject: Weekly Blog Entry

Hello and welcome to the Blog Group’s update on the Green Acres Neighborhood Association Garden project for Indiana University’s Environmental Sustainability course. As the report draws near, each group is working hard to complete their chapter of the report.

The Bloomington Neighborhoods and Initiatives group has made some progress in finding city community gardens that are involved in composting. The Renaissance Farm and Permaculture Center uses compost and grows and sells organic products to educate people on the importance of sustainability and encourages them to buy these organic products to reduce waste and save natural resources. SPROUTS (Students Producing Organics Under the Sun) garden, a student organic group at Indiana University is trying to educate people about environmental sustainability through gardening by minimizing and reusing wastes. The Strangers Hill Organic Farm is a farm business specializing in Certified Organic products. They use a lot of compost and donate plant beds to other places- Farmer's market, Bloomingfoods, Hoosier Hills Food Bank etc. The Hoosier Hills Food Bank has a plot which was donated by the Strangers Hill Organic Farm. Hoosier Hills Food Bank gets compost from waste materials that they do not need and also passes crates to farmers at the Farmers Market for farmers to dispose any wastes, unused and unwanted products. In addition, the Bloomington Community Orchard will be planted in Winslow Woods Park. The community is very interested in growing organic fruits and using compost. They haven’t started planting yet and will be having their first meeting on April 12th. It aims at getting people to work together to grow food and the harvest will be available to the whole community.

The budget group is revisiting the groups they have asked support from and are in the process of nailing down the exact amount they need donated. In addition to that, Bloomingfoods has offered some physical donations, such as supplies.

The Compost Design group has received the official pick for the composting bins, the three-barrel system. In addition to this, the group has made some final adjustments for their portion of the final report.

The Newsletter Group is working hard to complete the newsletter, which is nearing completion, they are finishing up sections on GANA, general permaculture, urban gardening techniques, and composting. They will be finishing up the section on the three-barrel system of composting soon.

This concludes the Blog Groups update on the GANA Report progress. You can look forward to another update next week, and pretty soon after we will have the final report edited and done for your reading pleasure.

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GANG and IU SPEA Project - Weekly Blog Update

This spring semester 2010, an Indiana University undergraduate class of 35 students is learning how to design and construct a state-of-the-art compost system for the GANA garden. This class, “E400 Environmental Sustainability,” has been created by Melissa Clark, a lecturer at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Various members of this class have been assigned to write a blog. This week's post(s) follow.

From: Scott Byrne
Date: Fri, Apr 2, 2010 at 12:51 PM
Subject: Weekly Blog Entry

Not to much to report this week. A lot of groups are wrapping up their projects so we should see a lot more happening in the coming weeks. I've copied our blog entry as well as attached it in a word document.

The weathers warming up and a lot of groups are looking forward to seeing the garden in action. With only 5 weeks left in the semester our project and our groups are heating up too. Many of the groups have reported that they are wrapping up their portions of the project and we are looking forward to seeing it come together.

As for some specifics, the budget group has recently been in contact with Bloomingfoods and a lot of environmentally active campus groups to find a source of funding either for this spring or next academic year in the fall. A lot of campus groups have allotted their funding for the year, but would like to help in the future.

In other news, students have been working on contacting other Bloomington neighborhood presidents in order to find out if they have any plans in the works for a community garden. What they’ve found is GANA is a very ambitious and unique project and is something the other groups are now considering if they can find the space and community initiative to pull it off. The closest thing to an additional active garden is McDoel Gardens in the southwest quadrant of Bloomington, which is in the beginning phases of organizing a community garden.

We are also happy to announce that we should have a newsletter soon. It is currently an active rough draft and is being cleaned up before it is released next week. The newsletter will focus on composting methods, benefits and techniques and the GANA garden and the benefits it brings to the community.

-Blog Group

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GANG Workshops - Year 2

GANA and ARC are pleased to announce the 2010 GANG Workshop Series. Details of the workshops follow. See you there!

GANG WORKSHOPS 2010
A Project of the Green Acres Neighborhood Association
And an educational project of the Association of Regnerative Culture
At the Green Acres Neighborhood Garden (GANG), 2601 DeKist St.

Workshop space is limited. To pre-register, please contact Ann Kreilkamp 812-334-1987 or arkcrone@gmail.com. Suggested donation per class: $5 to $15.

[April 17: Compost design system Construction: Melissa Clark’s SPEA class: others are welcome to observe and/or participate.]

Less is More: Pruning For Fruit
Sunday, April 18, 2-4 p.m.
This workshop, led by Nathan Harman, will be a strolling explanation and demonstration of techniques for keeping backyard fruit trees healthy and productive. We will work on assorted ages, sizes, and types of fruit trees within a one block walk of the GANG site, including apples, peaches and pears as well as bush and cane fruit. Pruning is by far the most important factor in the health and production of a fruit tree, after soil and climate, and is an essential task every year. We will not prune in the rain, so the rain date is Sunday the 25th.

Get Growing, GANG: Start The Garden
Sunday, May 15, 1-5 p.m.
Led by Rhonda Baird and Nathan Harman, this workshop will provide an overview of spring garden tasks. The first half of the workshop will be indoors and the second half, hands on in the garden. Let's see how those raised, heavily mulched, lasagna beds we built last year are coming along and build a few more, too. We will cover starting seeds in flats and direct seeding, transplanting starts, using the cold frame, checking for weeds, damage and problems, as well as soil analysis and amendment. Snacks and beverages provided.

How's It Going? Problem Solving and Re-design
Saturday, June 26, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
This workshop, led by Rhonda Baird, will ask the all-important questions "Is this working?" and "How can it work better?" We will use permaculture thinking to re-evaluate the design and function of various elements of the GANG site. We may make small physical changes and work in the garden, but this design workshop is intended as a thought pattern exercise that can be applied to any landscape. This is an all-day workshop so BYO lunch. Snacks and beverages provided.

Summer Begets Fall: Planting the Fall Garden
Sunday, August 1, 1-5 p.m.
Just as summer crops are planted in spring, fall crops are planted in summer. This workshop will focus both on caring for the garden in the high heat of summer and on planting the foods that will be harvested through the coming cool. This is the hay-day of the garden and we will hopefully have yields galore. But, the weeds and insects and drying sun are also trying to make their way, so mulch, shade cloth, row cover and other techniques will be employed as we keep the summer crops vibrant and give our fall crops a running start. Snacks and beverages provided.

So... Much... Food! Storing the Harvest
Sunday, August 29, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
In the midst of summer, it's easy to think the zucchini and tomato flow will never quit. But cease they shall, and that's when we turn to the cupboard full of the years stored sunlight in the form of canned, dried, frozen and fermented garden foods. This workshop will teach a variety of preservation methods useful to the home gardener. We will spend an hour with slides and handouts and then harvest, process and sample. Learn how to reduce food costs while increasing nutrition and flavor through the winter. BYO lunch.

Putting the Garden to Bed and Celebration
Sunday, November 7, 2-5 p.m., then celebrate
Though there are still winter-hardy plants in the ground, this is the time to clean up and compost any garden wastes, mulch well, tidy up, and put season-extending hoop-houses and cold frames over more tender greens. Learn what plants require what degree of care in this risky weather and just how far into winter they can go. We will also spend time putting our tools to bed, cleaning, sharpening, oiling and storing to be sure they last as long and work as well as possible. It's difficult to get excited about spending less time in the garden and that's why we'll enjoy our second annual harvest potluck dinner and celebration afterwards!

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GANG and IU SPEA Project - Weekly Blog Update

This spring semester 2010, an Indiana University undergraduate class of 35 students is learning how to design and construct a state-of-the-art compost system for the GANA garden. This class, “E400 Environmental Sustainability,” has been created by Melissa Clark, a lecturer at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Various members of this class have been assigned to write a blog. This week's post(s) follow.

The project is finally starting to get underway with all the groups now that we are back from spring break.

The Design Group has been researching different compost designs and calling local hardware stores to estimate each design's price. They are currently in the process of finishing their official report which will be submitted to the GANA so they can make their final selection for which compost design will be constructed.

The Budget Group is still working on securing funding from local Bloomington businesses and groups. They have also been in contact with a local construction group that will help with possibly donated materials to build the compost bins.

The City Ordinance Group has visited city hall and spoke with Rachel Johnson about city ordinances pertaining to community gardens on private land. Some details include that retail sales shall be prohibited on the community garden site, except for the sale of produce grown in the community garden. Such sales shall be in compliance with Subsection 20.05.109(b), Farm Produce. Hours of operation shall be restricted to between 5am and 11pm daily. Community gardens shall adhere to the noise standards in Title 14 of the Bloomington Municipal Code. Cultivated areas shall not encroach onto adjacent properties. The community garden site shall be maintained free of high grass in compliance with Title 6 of the Bloomington Municipal Code.

The Bloomington Initiatives Group has found other examples of community gardens in the city of Bloomington and has even visited one such as the Willie Streeter Community Garden near the YMCA on the Southside of town. They are also getting information from the Bloomington, IN Neighborhood Association, which will providing them with the contacts for presidents of local neighborhoods to see if they have any neighborhood garden or composting programs. So far, they have not had any luck finding other neighborhood garden and composting programs not operated by the city. The group has also found that most city operated gardens strongly advocate composting as the primary fertilizer.

The Newsletter Group is still developing the content to include in the neighborhood newsletter. They plan on keeping everyone informed of the general overview of the garden and its purpose and objectives. A more detailed description of why it is important and why we want more community involvement is to be included as well.


--
Marguerite Kaye Huber
Indiana University
Alpha Gamma Delta

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Green Acres Real Estate Update - 3.21.10

Green Acres is a great place to live; convenient to IU, downtown, and eastside ammenities. Check out the latest listings of homes for sale in our neighborhood.

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Variance Request

Hello All,

I have just recently purchased the two houses at 2210 & 2214 E. 7th Street. They are currently each a two bedroom rental house. There are four separate city lots.

I have spoke with City Planner Rachel Johnson about the two houses and she has suggested that an email be sent out to the Green Acres Neighborhood Association stating what my plans are and to solicit any comments that the neighborhood has regarding those plans.

Basically the plan is this: There are four individuals lots that run East/West at the SW corner of 7th and Roosevelt. The lots are very small, 25' x 125' each. The two houses, 2210 & 2214 E. 7th Street, straddle the two middle lots(which is an nonconforming use). What I want to do is to reduce the number of lots from four to two by running a new lot line North/South down the middle. This would put each house on its own separate lot and therefore making them more conventional.

They could then be sold separately and have owner occupied potential and prevent other housing from being built on the two lots that are empty. The above picuture illustrates what I hope gives good representation of what I have described.

The reason I have to go to Zoning Variance is because if they are reduced from four to two lots, the square footage of the two lots will be less than the minimum lot size currently allowed under the UDO.

We request that comments be sent by March 26th, 2010 to both Rachel and myself at:

johnson@bloomington.in.gov and tgallagh52@gmail.com


Thank you,

Tom Gallagher


--
Tom Gallagher
812 333-5252
812 333-5228 FAX
tgallagh52@gmail.com

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