Notes

Meetings attendees: Shannon, Jenny, Kathy, Jennifer, Gail, Tanzina, Hattie

• Shannon gave an update on the KCC Community Farm and Garden
• Discussed reaching out to the KCC Retiree Association
• Earth-based yoga at the garden event
• Discussed research events at the next meeting and agreed to have Tanzina present
• A general conversation regarding ways to include the Farm and health education

FIG will meet again on Monday, April 11th at 3 pm

Notes

Meetings attendees: Michael, Maureen, Kevicha, Naxielly, Shannon, Mimi, Jennifer

• Shannon gave an update on the KCC Community Farm and Garden. She will serve as a part-time administrator going forward. The new gardener will be hired hopefully by end of June. We need to plan a volunteer day to tackle the weeds. Doodle was sent out to FIG on 5/28 to see if there are any volunteers. Everything is being redeveloped and will take some time to have everything set in place.
• Maureen gave us an update on the Food Studies concentration and was excited to report that there is some positive movement in that direction. She will keep us posted as things progress.
• We discussed ordering an accessibility bed for front of the Farm space as well as different ways to have more accessibility content on the farm. Discussions of creating links between courses brought up some ideas about great collaboration opportunities between different departments and what that might look like.

FIG will convene again in the fall.

Fig was held on Wednesday, April 14th from 3:30-4:30 pm.
Attendance: Shannon, Mimi, Midori, and Kathy.

Agenda:

• Farm Update – we spent a good deal of time discussing the proposed changes to the Farm space. We discussed how changing the name from Urban Farm to KCC Community Farm and Garden can open up opportunities for grants and funding. Re-positioning the space helps meet criteria for very specific grant requirements. Discussion as to what the new roles on the farm would be, how faculty, staff, and the community may be able to interact with the re-imagined space, and ideas on how we could include more learning and research opportunities on the Community Farm and Garden for our students.
• Accessibility – discussion around the need to improve accessibility in the space for our faculty, staff, and students. We discussed potential ways that might happen, shared stories of our students struggles in the space, and discussed how grants may assist in this. We also discussed the Recreational Therapy program’s potential use of the space.
• Interdisciplinary event Ideas – discussed a variety of ideas to enhance the new farm/ garden space including potential contests for students to redesign the logo as well as include photography, artwork on gates, and potentially do some form of a mural project if allowed. Discussion surrounding other events such as yoga activities and other physical activites.

Next meeting scheduled for Wednesday, May 26th at 3:30 pm. Email Shannon for Zoom information.

Fig was held on Tuesday, March 30th from 3:30-4:30 pm.
Attendance: Shannon, Mimi, Tanzina, Michael, Jennifer, Midori, Naxielly, and Mabel.

Agenda:

• Welcome Back! Spring growing update and pics – Tanzina updated us on Food Access Research project and invited everyone to participate in ongoing study for students. Shannon presented a brief presentation of growing images from members, as well as a variety of training and pedagogical resource opportunities available for spring.
• Farm Update – interesting changes are coming to the farm – Shannon gave an update on the results of the Farm re-imagining committee. The proposal is now with President for approval of the new direction of space: Community Farm and Garden. Increased funding opportunities and new ways to use space for all on campus, as well as community.
• DropBox Update – the creation of a more comprehensive repository of pedogeological OER, growing guides, research, etc. – this will happen over time this semester and when complete, members can request access and be able to contribute. This way we have a nice library of OER and research to dip into for our classrooms and research.
• Food Access Syllabus Statement Discussion – what exists now, how can we contribute – We will continue with this task next meeting. Tanzina graciously shared an editable copy of her pamphlet as well as a statement that she currently uses. Will share with members via email, and will all come back to table next meeting with some tweaks. While others on campus may be working on this, we would like to share a statement from the FIG in addition to that.
• Grow Your Spirit Discussion – Gail will present next meeting on how she has been making this work. Members are asked to come up with ideas on how to incorporate this new initiative that will tie in well with the new farm/ community garden space.
• Event Ideas – workshops, movie screenings, come with your thoughts – Midori shared info on a great speaker Tom Angotti, we discussed having some great art projects tied in with the community garden space. Chef Dominguez shared ways to do cooking demos with students as well as with early childhood/ continuing education.

Next meeting scheduled for Wednesday, April 14th at 3:30 pm. Email Shannon for Zoom information.

Attendance: Shannon, Mimi, Robert, Tara, Midori, Patrick, Tommy, Tanzina, Olympia, Jenny, Cris, Maya, Glenda, Gerry

This was a well-attended meeting that started with the Farm folks joining us for our online meeting. They expressed needs as their budget is anticipating unprecedented cuts. They requested assistance with grant writing, testimonials, and volunteer assistance (later when they have a process in place and particularly for those who have experience. We agreed that Wednesday, May 20th meeting would be dedicated to an in-depth discussion on how we can help the farm.

The rest of the meeting consisted of Shannon presenting a “Grow at Home/ seed starting” presentation as requested at prior meeting. There was a lot of interest for this topic and Shannon will host another session on Wednesday, May 20th, at 4pm for those who could not make it or had connectivity issues. This presentation was well received as it was educational and provided faculty and staff with an outlet during these difficult times (social distancing and quarantine due to COVID 19). Faculty and staff shared images and discussed what they were doing at home and shared tips and tricks. Presentation and supporting documentation was provided to all in attendance via email afterward.

Farm FIG Meeting Agenda
Tuesday 3/27/18

Welcome Back and Introductions:
 In attendance: Shannon Caravello, Glenda Ullauri, Mabel Chee, Raogni Malworra, Mary Lou Fierle, Jennifer Mitchel, Bin Chen, Selina Duah, Jenny Radtke

1. Glenda Farm Announcements & Check-in. Continuing Education Class, skill share interest.
   Farm is getting ready by cleaning, propagation, hiring student aides and program planning. Glenda is offering a Gardening for food Justice Continuing Education course. We discussed possibility of skill share/ workshops for upcoming semester to be offered after 5 pm for faculty, staff and students.
2. Jennifer Radtke student Active Learning projects update
   Jenny brought 3 students from her English classes to join us for the Farm Fig and they were very interested in the Fig as they are preparing student active learning projects in the spring. The Fig discussed the possibility of assisting Jenny and her students as they present either at Eco Fest or as a stand alone event. Jenny will keep us posted. Shannon offered to assist students with putting health material together
3. New Urban Ag HS6000 Course Update
   Shannon reported in about the new urban agriculture class, which is a 3 credit Pathways course that she created that is running for the first time this Spring. students are excited, have already visited the farm and will be taking care of there very own class bed. 
   
4. Eco fest: What will our presence be? Can we assist the farm in any way or host a screening?
   Farm will already be hosting a Micro Green tabling for the event and Eco Fest seems to already have a full schedule. We will look into it further, but we need to reach out to Eco Fest earlier in the Fall semester to better plan an event/ activity at Eco Fest. It may make more sense for us to partner with Jenny Radtke and her students and assist them instead of Eco Fest this year.
   
5. Resources: Dropbox Farm Fig Shared curriculum for new members
   Reminder to reach out to Shannon at shannon.caravello@kbcc.cuny.edu with an email adress so that she can grant you access to curriculum and research.
6. Open Member Discussion – ideas for next agenda submitted