August 2023 Meeting (Sat 5th Aug @ 10:30am)

Meeting: Saturday 5th August 2023 @ 10:30am
Join Zoom Meeting: - Link to Zoom meeting

Tentative agenda:

  • Community
  • Future goals? What do we view our time in the WCMNCN as? Why do we keep coming back? What do we value from this and would we/how would we like to see that grow?
  • Calendar updates

Notes:

  • Community Check In
    • Syd: excited about the thunderstorms, thinking about the community center as a place with potential
    • Sue: things are on fire!, lots of tax incentives coming out (they aren’t fully accessible, but they could be helpful)
    • Nic: garden is plentiful!, thinking lots about rainfall and adapting to a new kind of MN summer
    • Mary: thinking about their native planting, participating in Ida Valley Farm CSA!
    • Vern: Bernie Sanders letter was impactful, thinking about Food Emergency Preparedness Plan, thinking about Green Burial in MN
  • Future goals? What do we view our time in the WCMNCN as? Why do we keep coming back? What do we value from this and would we/how would we like to see that grow?
    • We continue to meet because it refills our batteries, brings us motivation and optimism, and is valuable as a form of connection and conversation no matter how many of us there are
    • The Waste Meeting was a grand success in terms of taking a train that was already moving and helping it along. We strive to do more work like this, but struggle to find trains that are already moving
    • Mary: Thinking about No Mow May, Natural Landscapes, Native Gardens, etc. with Griffin!
      • Great idea! This is a train that is moving!
      • How can we start to move the city/community conversation/education forward regarding action on lawn regulations, native plants, and non-standard lawns? WCMNCN Site Topic Page - Local Lawns
      • Impacts lots of current conversations: drought/watering, no-mowing because of hot dry summers, brown lawns, amount of work it takes to upkeep turf grass (UMM/City Properties).
      • There are lots of local folks thinking about these things, how can we bring them together to make meaningful conversation that can translate into action?
      • How does the city keep the park green space so green??
      • We could host a tour of the folks in town who have these spaces already curated! Who might we invite to be on this list?
        • Nic & Sue!
        • South Oregon Avenue garden, im not sure the name of the folks who live there
        • SWCD list of folks with rain gardens?

Next Meeting:
Saturday September 9th @ 10:30AM on Zoom
Folks attending the meeting are to bring (1) thoughts they have had over the last month surrounding the native plants/non-turf lawn concept and (2) a friend to add to the conversation!
Mary will bring some research surrounding what other MN communities have been doing.
Local Lawns - Collecting Conversation