Meeting 1- October 3, 2007

Present: Gillian, Caytee, Maddie, Alex, Luba, Grace, Anna, Avery, Juliana, April, Rotem, Rafe, Curtis, DAVID, emma, sara todd, et. al.
1. EDIBLE CAMPUS GARDEN on Stairs to Nowhere (run by Rotem et. al.) Rooftop Gardens Project – collaboration between Alternatives (NGO) and Santropol.

• NOT a McGill organization, but uses space on campus and they want to make it permanent and increase student involvement.
• All the food grown goes to santropol roulant.

• Volunteer hours: Tuesday and Saturdays 9 30 - 12, Thursdays 4 - 7. (between two and fifteen people, between one and three hours, three days a week = 18-45 worker/hours per week to maintain edible campus garden)

• All plants are started at makeshift greenhouse at santropol roulant.

• They need help closing the garden, date is not yet clear but it will be to end of October (good opportunity for student involvement, we’ll send info on the listserv).

-Other Rooftop Garden Project gardens: senior homes, with a communal design, one on UQAM design building, Hotel School above Sherbrooke Metro, etc.

2. GOAL - start process of getting space for campus crops, options, delegating who is going to pursue those options, financing those options.

• Alternatives already has an in, and wants to extend that to students. Other places they considered using for the Edible Campus Garden included paved area by chem. Building, other staircase by Sherbrooke. (i.e., There are a lot of potential spots for more container gardening)

• Professor Vikram Bhatt, Mcgill School of Architecture, directs the Minimum Cost Housing Group and collaborated with Rooftop Gardens to obtain space for Edible Campus.

• Another potential staff collaborator: Julia Bourke, Sustainable Design Prof in MSA

3. GOAT (Green On A Top) is a working group of the Sustainable McGill Project. One recommendation of SMP’s Sustainability Assessment was that there should be more greenspace on campus and that students should be involved in creating it (GOAT represented by Gillian, David et al)
• Fire escape box plan. Shannon Scott, building manager of MSE said MSE building could be used as a test ground, but it had to look really nice, and be maintained. Problems encountered:
• difficulty of meeting aesthetic standards (wood boxes filled with soil were heavy for fire escape, and were difficult to construct)
• students leave (exchange/graduation) and interest wanes when only one or two people are left carrying on work of a larger group.

4. Greenhouses? Possibility of renting space in StewartBio greenhouse. Concordia rents greenhouse space as well.
5. Possibility of using plot behind MSE for Shannon Scott would need a proposal: why we want to use the space, who we are, where the produce would go, what resources we have, and what we need.
• Tim Murphy from Santropol wanted to use this space for non-profit LocoLocal
• problem: he wasn’t a current student. we don’t have this problem, and we can utilize his help/experience in developing the proposal.
6. Questions of summer? Need someone to facilitate it, perhaps a paid job.
7. Soil testing class. Could be used.
8. Possibility of working with Hillel (3490 Stanley)
• People: Emily Litvek, Dove, Sarah.
• Desire for concrete projects, want to partner with organization at mcgill for projects.
9. Avenues of Collaboration:
• Gorilla composting (will be setting up giant vermicomposter in Shatner Basement
• Midnight Kitchen – if we could provide them with produce in the fall, could create a true local food system
• HAVE A FUNDRAISING/INTEREST-RAISING EVENT IN THE WINTER – ENVIRONMENT/ECO PARTY! (Plant sale?)
10. TASKS
• Proposal for Shannon Scott – who we are, why we want to use it, where the produce is going, what we resources we have, and what we need, any non students involved, liability – maddie and emma, rafe
• Looking into Hillel
• Joining GOAT to get working group status DONE
• Talking to professor Bhatt, and the architecture studio class. (perhaps leave this for a little while) - Curtis
• Stewart bio- contact info from Gillian - April
• Funding