2016-05-31-CFC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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Minutes of the Community Farming Committee, Tuesday May 31, 2016, 7:00pm Hadley DPF Building, Rm 125 Members Present: Alan Wrigley, Raul Marques, Charles Lamb Others: Carolyn Goldstein (LexFam), Allison Guerette (LexFarm), Sue Schiffer (VP, LexFarm) Meeting called to order at 7:09pm by the chair. 1. Approve Minutes from Feb 25, 2016 Motion: Approve minutes of Feb 25, 2016, Pass: 3:0 2. Update from LexFarm They've been having seedling sales all month and it's going really well. Farm stand opens tomorrow and CSA pickup starts (20 weeks). CSA shares are sold out. Offering an every other week pickup (half shares). This has increased the number of families using LexFarm. 200 full shares, some of which are split. They'll have a pick your own option. All produce this week is from LexFarm. They'll occasionally do from Picadilly. Currently they're using about the same footprint as last year (i.e. about half the acreage) and they expect to go to 2/3 to 3A of the acreage this year. They're not growing any of the brassica family this year because of club root problem. New farm manager feels confident expanding the acreage. Perhaps CFO was a bit too conservative. Done a lot of cleanup. Took down the small hoop house. They've moved it so that it will provide shade to the wash stand. Raul: What is the rationale for doing a CSA? Allison: Share the risk /reward, get funding up front, if it's a leaner year, then they already have a market established. People come every week and have to have a membership to the farm, creates community. They have a harvest festival, education programs. SNAP program is ready to go this season (it was not ready last season). Money for that comes from donations to a restricted fund ($1500). They are contributing to the Lexington Food Pantry. Fund raising: they had a successful benefit concert. They've received $5,000 from the Adobe Foundation (employee directed fund). That will be used to start a volunteer program. They received $10,000 from the Community Endowment of Lexington. This is for strategic planning and board development. Benefit concert