Green Sanctuary Committee Meeting May 2nd, 2006 Attendance: Tom Swigart, Sandra Smith-Gill, Marney Bruce, Marie Sauter Opening ------- Sandi brought a candle holder (Fair Trade of course) and candle to light. She read an Earth blessing by Jack Manno that Carol Antoniewicz sent us. Tom's going to look for a book of readings for the future. Earth Day and Earth Month ------------------------- We survived Earth month without major mishap. Pshew!! It was a great month, but probably too much for the number of active committe members we have. Next year we will just concentrate on Earth Day itself, which will be on a Sunday. Hopefully, we can attend Earth Day festivities in town after services and do some P.R. This year's services were a big hit. We received kudos for getting Kathy Moser to perform and do the sermons. GS certification ---------------- We spent most of the meeting discussing the rough draft of the Action Plan that Tom put together. We moved around some of the actions, merged two categories together, and renamed some of the categories. We added some leaders and changed the wording of some of the descriptions. We agreed that it would be a good idea to color-code the actions as to whether they were completed, on-going, or to be done in the future. Tom will update the draft and send it out again for review. We hope to have an Action Plan leadership meeting the second half of July. We are shooting for congregational buy-in to the Plan in the September/October timeframe. Wildflower Garden ----------------- The areas with cardboard and newspaper under the dirt are doing fairly well at holding back the weeds. The burlap and naked dirt areas are lost causes. Marney believes the areas need more water. [the May rains may have helped that] We will not be putting any more dirt down this year. We hope to prepare beds this Fall for next year. This way we can better kill the grass and weeds before laying down the dirt. The areas should have twice the thickness of dirt next time. Marie (our new grass expert!) suggested planting some wild grasses such as Little Blue Stem or Broom Sedge. These would cost only 7 to 10 dollars per pound. Fair Trade Sales ---------------- Sandi's special Earth Month sales went well. She went over the budget for the year so far. We essentially have a $1000 "profit". Way to go! There will probably be fewer special sales this coming year (we don't want Sandi to collapse!) The infrastructure is mostly in place, so the future looks good. Budget ------ The Treasurer, Dave Wilson, asked for early bugdet requests for next year. Sandi is the POC for our committee. We discussed some items we will need for next year, especially wildflower garden related - prep materials, seeds, plugs, and erosion mats. Hopefully, we can use most of the money generated from our F.T. sales. Adopt-a-road trash pick-up -------------------------- The next pick-up will be June 10th, from 9:30 to 11:30. Chris will ask his Chalice Circle to participate. Tom will be away! Chris may not be there. Hopefully Dave H. can be in charge. Tom still needs to make up a new roadside safety plan. Table-top --------- May - farmers markets (All) June/July - sustainable transportation and car pooling (Marney) Aug/Sep - certification process (Tom) Compost ------- The kitchen still needs a compost bin and signs. Tom reported that there is manure in the right side bin. This was supposed to be left clear for turnover purposes. Bird Boxes ---------- Marney says the boxes are full o' birds, or nearly so. Woohoo! The boxes don't appear to have easy access for cleaning. Marney will ask the Menkes about this. It was suggested that the boxes should be turned over for the Winter to give better shelter for the birds. Insects ------- We discussed the wasp problem from a few months ago and the latest ant problem. Marie suggested that we need to seal cracks to keep the critters out. We also need to maintain better food storage discipline. We will look for "green" methods to keep insects away and to eliminate them, if they find their way into the church. We need to work with the new admin, Barbara Mentzer, on establishing a plan. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The next meeting will be June 6th, 2006 at 7 p.m.