good evening everyone um this is a regular monthly meeting of the Southwick agricultural commission it is March 13th 2024 um we have a quorum tonight with myself Bert Hansen um Tom jados uh Sage fury on Zoom Zack Barnett Ron Chini lenita bober Jessica Whitmore Parker and Angie um Simone on Zoom too so we're we're [Music] good let's see I didn't have any general mail there's no of Inga representing the public do you have any comments at this [Laughter] point um okay so our succession planning workshop on the 28th I think I sent you guys an email about that saying that we were uh Tiny But Mighty as Lyn Blair at the library likes to say there were there were 10 people there um four of us were the Adcom lenita myself Marissa and Jen and ber so but there but there was uh Donna calri was there and Dwight Arnold and a guy named uh Larry was it Larry banish Larry ban yeah's the one he's right over the line in West and he's the one I get my eggs oh he has all the chickens oh okay yeah he has 800 chickens and he said he can collect the eggs every day in an hour and a half that's a lot of eggs hired an octopus right really um so it was really good uh the person Diana Levante um it's very good there was a I sent you guys this um this handout it's kind of an overview hey Dan okay okay now it's a [Music] party there we go is it because it's 702 no handshakes after 702 no handshakes after 702 um so anyway so the farm transfer plan I don't know if I can get this if anybody needs to see this but just kind of an overview of all the uh the steps and um you know it was a lot of information about succession planning so I I wondered about that but as it turns out um I got an email from Donna calary saying that she was going to contact L for good and and use some of their services and um and then through Lyn Blair found out that the West Hampton Library wanted to do a similar uh Workshop so those are two successes I would say was it recorded um no for whatever reason I don't like to record the meetings at the library um so uh that was I did see on the link of your email B that they did have four YouTube entries going deep into whatever topics they covered I don't know if you have to pay for the subscription but they said that they do have videos that we can watch yeah I don't think you have to pay for it um they do um a series of succession planning workshops at the beginning of each year I think there's four or five of them and they're a couple hours each um and that's what a lot of the YouTube is and then they also do uh succession planning um days you know they had do a whole day on it like two or three days so I mean it's pretty I mean there's a lot to it barely FOC yeah right right right so a question yes in regarding fession planning piece since there wasn't say the the brasas or the cowards or the solat at that event are you folks going to contact them directly to let them know about something that they missed and they would want to have interest since they do own quite a bit of land here in town um yeah great idea actually John coward was there I forgot to mention him but he was there [Music] um this information we can put on the website too yeah certainly we can link link to their website and have all that information um tog website that would be like a really good Outreach right um let's see so our expension and budget I you know we still have the we're getting pretty much the same report every time where we haven't spent any of our 950 yet uh we spent some of our um open Farm day money and our farm parade money so we need to I think we we've said this a couple of times start start spending some money do this do the stuff we want to do you know before before June um we had talked about that some of the 175 gon water totes for the garden right you want me to grab those and just turn in the seats if I can yeah what we should actually do is is get a PO first I think it's kind of from a private seller though okay they're on Facebook Marketplace so oh okay um and how many do you think start two two yeah I it's not really hard to make a purchase order they could just make it special just download a form and you know fill it up yeah you can do the end it's just a bill of sale that's all it is right you can you can do a um uh an estimate for the PO um I don't think they're much it's not gonna do much to our budget but yeah I wonder could you it's on Facebook um have one so yeah why don't we just talk you and I could even talk to whoever the accountant is or whatever and see hey what if we want to move forward with this we don't want to take weeks to get it through could I buy them buys them off the well if Bert is you know the chair of the Agricultural commission and responsible for the budget ultimately does that give you approval for funds under that or is there some other approval process yeah if that's the case and it's aligned with some of our goals and strategies pretty much got to have the paperwork um so I'm wondering if we went to Facebook Marketplace and go to whoever's offering those even even like print out do like a screenshot or something and we could say you know times two and that could be our estimated um so we have to get approval for every purchase through the town they were taking receipts from yes it's yeah they're really uh they don't really like reimbursements they were doing them pretty well but that now I mean poor Sage is still waiting for his money yep Cindy's uh we put in the PO request for that for the website hosting uh and haven't heard anything so I did get the Halloween stuff few months sorry go ahead Sage yeah say it again Sage I I got the Halloween one I just didn't get the town one or the uh oh you got okay that's good um can you move the tots I might need your truck I know but when we get them oh yeah you would know aluminum frame yeah yeah so you can't get under them with forks oh that's they're Prett yeah just checking what's what they've had in them yeah I want something yeah clean is yeah yeah oh so they're used they're used they've had like you know food grade stuff in it f yeah yeah last ones I got like sitting there for years Tes Inga yeah you want me to get from in hotel in 45 clle Road do you want me to get from Marie Reagan who made our open farm base science last year a quote from her for the larger ones that we all talked about to put in key areas of town which would be like double the size uh yes let's do that um help you absorb some of that $950 MH and I recently put through a purchase order through the um through accounting for $600 and I itemized three different things that I was going to want to have that $600 for and they approved it yeah so there's a way to expedite the process detailed line information yeah so it could sitting there waiting for you to draw right so um just a curiosity question those three items were they three different line items in your budget no okay well I inherited a budget that had website and supplies oh yeah so um so we're feeding off of the supplies right to absorb the cost of the expenses so just something think about but for the signs with Maria or with Marie rather I know you had we had talked about quite a few meetings ago going with double the signs for port of entry going into South vion College Port of Entry on 57 P2 coming south and coming into from Lumis lunus and 57 out of grand so those are what you want me to I I'll contact Marie tonight and ask her for an estimate I'll send it to you then you can present it to your board if you all approve it I can get you an invoice within a yeah okay great uh yeah so I mean you can get things improved but you you gotta have the paper you gota have a paper trail so because we wanted a pump too right yeah pum up yeah we don't want to do buckets no and the the pump was even a a little decent pump is at least $1 $1150 yeah have to track Supply from have Tractor Supply I think uh Harbor Freight fre look pretty good heavy duty for 50 bucks is this um gas operated or yeah um there's no electricity there no what we could potentially do is just say hey related to the community garden these initiatives you know to to your point are support that you know support Improvement Etc of that and have those two line items whatever the or should the community garden get taken out of the gift account is that where the community go funds go into that's where the the plot rentals go right that money and um but we've used like our supplies line item in the past you know for stuff [Music] there does that have the same restrictions if we use the gift account no yeah because that's not taxpayer money yeah um for something more significant yeah down the road you know I think they were 50 or 75 bucks a piece but I've also had a lot of problems getting hold the people on Facebook Marketplace lately scams so careful all there are now yeah um okay that's good and we want to get um I think previous meeting we passed around the stationary that EDC is now using so we W to and we thought we want to get that you know business cards and all that so we'll do that I I'll do that um and then the fence posts Dan you uh found some at Home Depot where you you drive the metal post into the ground point on them like this and then it's squared off for a 4x4 oh cool with a bolt like you you put it in there and then bolt it down to thei that's I bet you those are on their website yeah you twisted it in and you have to hammer it in like a four point yeah I know what you're talking about they're probably about this tall do they say how long they're like guaranteed for no but guaranteed they're a lot longer yeah we're doing I mean technically you can also buy galvanizer and galvaniz him before you put him in the ground and that'll even give it more life H yeah spray cans it's I can't to do anything fancy with them they spray can they spray Galvanize galvanizing y yeah yeah rust proof Rustoleum oh okay yeah in rubber we can do something doesn't last a long time c yeah Creo right what the telephone poles yeah I think it's cive on metal and uh okay and then uh we talked about some banners you might you know um maybe for either side of the the float in the parade or you know General multipurpose yeah yeah use on Farm day I wonder Tom could you look into um some banners the South Lake agricultural Community yeah pretty pretty general you know website um you know nothing's nothing we want to be able to use them for a while over and over right yeah Inga yeah interrup um I'm working with Spotlight Graphics which is down off the Industrial Road and I'm partnering with the 338 this year and with rck Johnson and I'm creating three four by8 double-sided corrugated signs with the with four grommets on them so they're going to really stay strong throughout the whole season over at the wick and they're charging me only 200 bucks a sign wow I would be more than welcome to introduce you to them Tom sure to see if about keeping that same T point in place yeah awesome so just give you my card contact me when you want me to reach out to Callie great than because that is a price and it's doublesided you might not need it doublesided if you're going to put it on a float but if it's a big size what size was it four fo by8 foot 4 by huge yeah that might almost be too big for a Flo yeah but you might be you'll be able to scale it down but at least you know for a 4 by8 200 bucks get two of them you'll protect the float from the rain see it in the a right okay good I think that particular uh item you know the banners or these signs if that's spilled over into next year's budget since Farm day won't be until uh August anyway if we can pay for him this year you know less we need to use up our budget right we don't want to get it reduced right we always have that bad habit of always having lingering funds yeah we don't want that um we we can figure out more expenses for the uh Garden if we have to yeah okay uh and speaking of budget so um every year there's a hearing for each commission and board with the finance committee and the select board uh ours this year is March Saturday March 23rd at 8:35 in the morning um if anybody can can come uh I I kind of get a kick out of it every year because Mar this is um shoot talking current year or for next year for for next year yeah here we go uh we get 10 minutes I mean some these days are pretty not carv and stone by any means we get 10 minutes the Conservation Commission only gets [Laughter] five um [Laughter] took so [Music] um uh so anyway I'll I'll send an email just to remind you and if anybody's free that morning it' be great if you could don't I mean there's donuts and stuff you know um and uh you know we said as we've talked about we they want everybody to submit a a flat budget so that's what we did so we'll see I'm not sure what kind of questions they might have it's been the same budget for you know since I've been here pretty much so uh well actually no that's not true we did get some more some ex some more money last year because of open Farm day so I take that back [Music] um see okay the chapter 61 protocols I think I said actually y b before we move on um does getting a cop escort for the uh for open Farm day would that cost money or do they do that other kindness to their heart on our events like this because I what I would say is why don't we research and ask them how much would cost because that could could actually use some of the budget right there if we need to rent one for uh you know one of the Farms um parking situation you have a you have a farm in mind any [Laughter] p uh just throwing it out there because we do have money I mean if if it does cost something maybe we should look into that yeah I don't know how that works I don't either um's pretty sure it would cost cops they need a PO I can find out my um brother-in-law is sou the police so I can find out who to talk to oh okay yeah good perfect so I'm guessing that might be like an overtime yeah situation you know so um but it is a public event so I don't know true we just wanted we're looking at one for the whole day or yeah just for the event yeah yeah uh let's ask about one and if we decide you we need one like over at Dwight Arnold's you know because you got the Tobacco on one side of the road and sunflowers on the other side that wasn't too bad yeah there was a lot of volunteers there yeah as long as we had the volunteers we were like esorting them cross at least and we had the cones out but people definitely down there but it wasn't like right life or death so yeah and it was good there were a lot of like traffic we had traffic so few more might actually be good too okay yeah have those do not St signs on Wheels you even want to think about those for Dwight's place I wonder if the town has some we can just part off they do have that yeah that might help us won't thr anything Firefly but I we have speed limit signs too but people don't really read them yeah I asked that I asked the police last last year they would put signs and they said well you know I think we have one I I should have talked to Red banish probably I just walked in and talked to whoever I got um you said well we have one you know we might be able to put it out I said how do we confirm this he said well you really can't you know it'll either be there or W and it wasn't so Personnel safy for community events to get their endorsement yeah we could just have a cop sitting there doing radar it'll pay for itself yeah really right okay that might be an option hey you got guys doing radar today I'm here yeah okay not trying to spare Cal down yeah yeah well we can we can try it um uh so the so the 61 A and B write of first refusals um um I think I S WR this around that um Lisa Anderson on behalf of the select board was asking people when they might be available for a meeting um and it's the agricultural commission Board of assessors Community preservation conservation Historical Park and wreck and the planning board and it seems that seems a tiny bit upside down to me to ask this is probably 40 people okay when are you guys available I'm I'm I'm going to yeah say why don't you pick a few dates and we'll that might be better I mean I'm I'm guessing that folks might be available pretty much anytime with enough notice right um you know maybe not a Saturday [Laughter] afternoon um yes I'll talk to to Lisa I wonder if she's heard from anybody else um I don't know okay so open Farm day 2024 uh we've had some conversations about this already of course um and let's see I think um you know there's some some information about it in the the notes from the Farm Forum this year where we we talked about the open Farm day um I think we decided I think consensus was uh and the farmer said we don't want to go to two days but we'd like longer a longer day um so and Marissa suggested uh 10 to four like um ramby Connecticut does and that's I was wondering a little bit about people going to church but I don't think I don't think that many people go to church actually church is done by noon anyway yeah yeah um so 10 10 to 4 and then at our last meeting Marissa also suggested you know getting more volunteers so they could do three-hour shifts that was one of the comments that um know the volunteers wanted to be want to be able to go to the farms you know and see see what's going on um I would say at least two shs three might be hard but two yeah more feasible um and we said um yeah the could be uh variation from Farm to farm they don't have to do the 10 to four like Roger Bai said he you know they wouldn't be able to do more than four hours [Music] um so so and we'll have to publicize you know and put it on this year's passport and then the advertising we do that you know that way people can plan their day right right right um you know one one thing I'm wondering is if we can possibly offset uh the times between the farmers who are like on the opposite ends of the actual uh map like make have them be early or than the rest so that people can go to them first and they slowly in you know come towards the center of town oh just so that they have a chance of actually being able to see all of the Farms instead of just whatever they're running running and getting to each one yeah so like we have solx and uh kle view Stables on the west side and um you know Cali and the side on the east side that's a sage that's a good idea I know but what if you're coming from Granville well what if you're coming depends where you're coming from well that's true too um It's Tricky too because you wouldn't want all everyone going to probably one of the smaller places at at once it's kind of nice to have a start time for all so that they're all like not showing up by Firefly at the same time if there's not enough parking right that's true you could say 10 to four unless otherwise noted and you know just one statement and you have you know speciic Farm says is 12 to four then it just says 12 to four on that one or else because you know it's we're going to pull in no place it's packed you're like well there's eight other Farms let's go to the other one yeah yeah I mean really that's true to get from say Feeding Hills like Cali to yeah so 10 minutes 10 yeah yeah I think where people spent time was like pony rides and hay rides and you know but it's optional yeah you know they they know what their end goal is right it's going be a 30 minute round trip on a pony ride or a hay ride or whatever they probably didn't know a lot of people didn't know what to expect either so now maybe that they have a little bit better idea right you know some people were just kind of like going through town and realizing this was happening and like oh let's go to a few places but it was already you know one o'clock at that point so maybe now there'll be a little bit more understanding what what we're all going on maybe hopefully hopefully yeah and although we may get more people this year so um we're out of ters too yeah out of out of sters what are we planning on the date again late August again yeah um I wanted yeah I wanted to be sure we decide on that we've talked about um August 20th last year was the third Sunday of August so the third Sunday this year is the 18th so i' like you know I thought it worked well yeah yeah what do you think Sunday is definitely the day according to yes well I'd say offset it if we can offset it from the the the other fair that happens on the same same day as Farm day yeah I don't know we could we got see if we can offset it from them because otherwise we're you know fighting for traffic or we could just put a sign up there right come to ours better after the fair come to South uh what's the it's Westfield um what do it Sage it's the westfi Westfield fair right yeah yeah it's the westfields fair it's the one that they've been having forever the 16th through the 18th of this year oh it is um we only have one yeah I mean that's a I mean it is a three day yeah I I what I saw it was kind of big so I mean it's more attractive yeah I mean we had 300 people last year so you know uh and I don't really know about moving the the date at this point if we went earlier it would be the 11th later would be the the week the week before would be the 11th week after would be the 25th um that might be that's pushing it because of school I'm not sure schol start but Labor Day is not until Labor Day is earlish this year the second September 2nd is it we can tell them to push their Fair a different day all right [Music] I guess we're kind of stuck with that we just steal their business I'd like to go with the 18th you know that even though it's the last day of the West heel Fair that's what worked for the farmers and the Farms last year too so I mean right that's what works best and I mean right and that's my husband was helping Dwight quite a bit last year but that's only because we lost our tobacco or at that point and Dwight's Dwight had a little bit less than normal so um they might even be busier but I think like that weekend still is like the best yeah option and you know we want to do what the farmers want what works for the farmers you know um okay so yeah we got another additional Farmers interested based on the feedback from last year's uh not yet um but we we'll we'll try you know um there's uh like yeah we we'll have to reach out and see um and I know on the sponsor side everyone who I got to sponsor it last year all want to do it again this year yeah that's awesome MoneyWise I got already like 1,400 bucks that I can turn right over to you folks yeah awesome awesome that's great um yeah maybe some of the Farms would um you know kind of expand what they did too um It's Tricky it I mean I think what people want is a kind of behind the scenes kind of thing you know the hay rides or looking at the cowards uh automated Greenhouse you know and that kind of stuff um just have your retail shop be open yeah like it is all the time um yeah because it's it's also seeing like kind of educational you're you're getting to see things that you don't normally get to see supposed to be in you know an experience so we need to make sure that we give that experience with whoever does participate as well right otherwise it kind of shoots the day dead and people start complaining more like they've said it themselves a lot of people are like oh we went to this farm and we kind of wish we didn't because there's more going on at these Farms that we missed out on yeah okay let's see what else do we need anything else we need to think about for that um let's see there was something in the the minutes about open F Le [Music] Garden yeah oh yeah 10 to4 like ramby hour shifts after Sunday okay I think we covered all this stuff [Music] and I think we decided at the Farm Forum in January that we would not have prizes this year that uh I think it was my wife Juliet who said The Farms are the prize so um that'll be a little less work and I think it'll be a little less logistically to handle that day so um oops Yeah I I don't think we really got much out of the the whole thing people went there for the for the Farms they didn't really care you know care about the prizes yeah well people who [Laughter] wondered yeah everybody yeah oh there a couple people didn't come right you had a call them they didn't come to pick up the prize or maybe I'm not remembering that one woman who got the prize when she opened it it was empty there was nothing in it yeah didn't we talk about that yeah was like a um it was the the charger for the cell phone yeah and there was supposed to be a gift card I think in there too yeah and the person opened it and where did they go somebody need a cell phone charger they won be back next year you um we got L got another gift donated uh a a Yankee Candle and we gave that to the to the person well that's awesome you had that otherwise hey sorry bye hey Di hello just here give the Box you only want a box yeah well when I told the person who donated that well it's kind of a friend of her friends so the person who donated it got this box from a friend of hers who is a manager for Verizon and when the manager person found out there was nothing in the box she was not too happy thinking that maybe her employees were you know stealing the stuff out of the boxes I don't know where where that ever went [Laughter] but people definitely retail a long time it's stuff happens people return empty yeah yeah uh and you're saying stickers the passport St the pass yeah passport sticker I think we definitely everybody likes stickers that that was a huge hit kids kids that's the priz people really wanted like theme stickers for the farm that they were at I don't know that we can make that happen but I mean we can cool donkeys was a big [Laughter] demanding the stickers um I just got a an alert from Amazon where I had ordered the Orin was from last year I just got a thousand of them for $5.7 they were on sale to go farm day file wow perfect we must have had some left over right to yeah there's some um yeah because soul soul actx Farm they wanted a cow see they there you go beans oh we need more candy for the float too right TW about twice as much more than that yeah candy corn like crazy we could do like Marty be with like animal hanging on them plus we were just gone yeah yeah should have slowed down a little bit you're excited that's right were it was fun though then we ran out saying sorry no more candy and the people were saying we got plenty the kids have these like piles of candy on the curb but yeah know that's that's good um okay where did my agenda go here we go SE packets yeah we I think we talked about that but they're not very heavy you know they can't oh yeah they can't we were we were like going you know we we were going long catch this is mar gr necklaces and staple it around it so when you throw the necklace the thing just flutters on the back of it you get to start spreading seed you know because everyone loves for whatever reason they love the necklaces yeah yeah kids will go grab every single one of them and wear like 60 of them Dollar Dollar Tree I want to say like 10 or eight in a packet or the 25 that's another good way to spend some money yeah I wonder well if we want to put little animals on the uh on the beads we probably have to do that ourselves they might sell something yeah I don't know yeah Amazon's got everything right okay I think we're good for the good start on uh open Farm day um we had the Historical Society presentation on uh Thursday I believe April 25th and I actually got an email today from Pat odor who's you know member of the historical soci saying okay by our next meeting March 28th we'd like to know you know what you're gonna talk about so I can make a pamphlet so um I'm thinking I mean it's a historical society but I don't know if we want to go with you know the history of farming in Southwick I would be excuse me um I mean that's a pretty broad topic for farming at Southern I mean um but I'm thinking we could show we could show the same uh photos like like we did at the Farm Forum most of those folks wouldn't have seen those um um and then I think I think we kind of give an update again like we did at the Farm Forum uh about the Adcom and the fact that we're you know 12 members and yeah talk about where we started and where we yeah the history of US yeah that would be good how old is this commission anyways 2006 was the first year we had an agricultural commission yep yep so 18 years we're bigger and better than ever yeah who the first Commissioners were can we figure that out that'd be a story to tell these are the first ones oh okay yeah um just second Dan uh be able to figure that out the to I think I think the chair Le one for a while the chair was a woman named Joselyn linin actually used to yeah I'm not sure if she was the first chair or not Dennis Clark used to be on it um so yeah uh let's see first commissioner now okay oh yeah Diane um it's for the Historical Society just thinking family trees of the existing Farms real quick and dirty uh Generations how many transfers to other families pull that together real quick we got some of that information we do our surveys yeah um and yeah that and that aome yeah that's yeah sounds good yeah Inga 45 planing Road and then that would be another tool that would' be able to use at those Farms that are participating also for Farm day another visual for them and I think our our whole what looking at you [Laughter] oh uh and I think the whole thing is 25 minutes something like that I believe they said I'll confirm that but um and there's I'm not sure if it's their annual meeting or something but there's dinner at 6 and then the you know our presentation at s so um get the details on all all that um the more of us who could come the better where is it at the Congregational Church I believe hold on the Adcom is presenting at this or the historical society is presenting the farming itself no we're it's a Historical Society meeting and they asked us to present about farming [Music] yeah okay anything I wonder anything about it's the Historical Society but still where farming is going you know you know it's getting more automated yeah and how Farms are responding to climate change um or getting ready to respond uh I don't know what do you think Bennie I I think you can pull that together in time for a presentation that's a lot of asking them how information yeah right um that's got us an idea as well s within the past year the agricultural commission has really made some really good strides so you might want to do a recap of what you've all been able to accomplish as the largest pcom in the Comm in the Commonwealth you had very first successful open Farm day you had two Farm forums you just had a succession plan for them for the local farmers and You' got some positive response from it already and you want to now they're going to do an Outreach to at those Farms that didn't come to it so I would Bo about your timeline of what you've been able to accomplish so far and and also maybe leave into the the history of the Farms too that you could then utilize for the open Farm day okay yeah yeah good with with a focus on how you are extending the history of right yeah yep um I think I mentioned there was on the fabulous 413 a couple months ago there was a that somebody from the um I never can remember this Farm it's in Hadley bar Barstow maybe anyway they yeah and um they were interviewing the person and talking about how many generations and she said oh it's four generations uh the fourth generation is around here now running around getting in trouble you know they were little kids so that you know that um made me think of that but uh yeah preserving and extending the history we still have to get them to do the registrations too because that information will help in the long run especially for the Historical Society if we have all that information we can also pin that up as a presentation Point as well you can just look up and say oh look at this farm and it has all these Generations what they were doing throughout the entire time that also a great addition for the website yeah well that's what we're waiting on I I still want that information but I I haven't heard a peep yeah the I swear if I get down there for a week I'm gonna go door too and ask hey so how's your registration being filled out probably need to go there and fill it out for him yeah almost willing to to be honest actually it was gonna we we talked last time about a uh an article in Southwoods you know seeking Farm you know Farm input uh it's so it's going to be in the March issue which should be you know coming to our mailboxes any minute I was hoping it was going to be here today so we could take a look at it tonight but um didn't get it yet oh not to be off subject but did you uh manage to get them the article I wrote uh unfortunately no Sage because we didn't have time to get two articles in why we try for um for April it's actually kind of good to do because it's basically un funing showers showers there you go yeah what do we Spotlight the farms in Southwoods I know they ask for that like articles and stories regularly if they could provide some structure maybe you know they'd be proud to share something like that and you know local publication yeah I can't get them to do a simple registration you want them to do a Spotlight less is a requirement versus something to share their history that they have in their head that they may want to get on paper you know there's also I was thinking I have both of the books but like U what is it Southwick Revisited and there's another book so I have both of those so I was thinking about looking through those to see if there's anything specific around farming and farms and stuff I know there's a lot about businesses there's a whole chapter one of them Farms yeah maybe we could leverage that somehow yeah yeah some of them like my host is an old picture of my house is that and I forget well I'm not sure which other hes but there are different roomes in it I think it was in the original on okay might be helpful if we wanted to cover 25 minutes like what what we want the agenda to look like and then how would we build to meet each of those like charts like how do you how do we want to hold that together versus someone standing up there and talking to it versus some visual aid is always helpful you know and I'm hoping to have some folks other than me do some of the talking uh just to break it up you know um but we'll have to figure that out or maybe invite invite some other other Farmers I'm saying other in addition to Lita that late in April's G to be rough yeah well we got another meeting I don't even know that I'll make it with all the green houses and planting it's warm enough we're already start I don't think L put peie and spinach and stuff like that yeah things are coming fast so know it's two Li coming yeah lips in everything's early yeah it's in the right spot coming up no I'm gonna plant spinach and carrots and I can get on the ground late this week yeah so it's it's getting warm enough but is and the soils okay you got a Sandy piece you can plant carrots at 50 deach but this is in the greenhouse no I wouldn't be surpris if we're getting close in the field the peas and stuff wow the Garlic's up and growing like fast [Music] doesn't rain yeah I know or Worse the s word we just don't need any flooding no flooding the s word freeze or snow you're asking for Snow when you take your plow off that's I didn't pull out my driveway markers yet I was thinking that so we have [Music] um uh two weeks from now March 27th our second meeting in the month is usually a a working session so let's kind of wrap wrap up whatever this presentation is going to look like that day and talk some more Farm day of course um when is it March 22nd 27th so yeah as far as the history do they want to hear about history of it bing that's I think Historical Society members kind of know all that no Dairy BS left but there were Dairy BS and that's kind of signicant yeah there used to be way back right across the street over here there was a huge specialty plant place and I don't remember who the man what the man's name was but that's in that book that you were talking about okay I mean they they shipped plants all over this is back in the 1800s that was um I think the big not the big gry house but on maybe one or two down they almost hm Victorian shaped it's white I think it's white now interesting to see if we satellite view the town the or like a some aerial view and then what do it look like today and kind of put where Farms are and were you know yeah yeah I'm Tocco is I'm very good with Photoshop is but you know how sometimes they do the just like the drawing they highlight that maybe they do it today in the past I mean I'm I don't know if this is you know for the Historical Society but I'm personally curious about tobacco and where that market is going and what could you do with tobacco fields and tobacco barns that are you know no longer in use I mean that's um I'm wondering again this is off topic but uh you know it seems like there's a growing number of hydroponic uh I guess you call those Farms um and because you convert a Tobacco Barn into a hydroponic operation I don't know I me there's still a good market for tobacco too it's just and I mean it just it adds and flows and changes a little bit but like even when we started six or seven years that's why we started the shade and then the market kind of went to Broad Loa so now we're doing the broad Loa so things like change but there defin still aren't they doing it in the Dominican now they learned how to do it yeah they do some in the Dominican as well so um but there's still good market for it you selling it to if I can ask yeah so there's like different co-ops and everything now um but if you go through like a co-op then there's a few different places it could go to um but it does end up in the in the Dominican I remember um when I worked for the Arnolds back in the day they were telling me they were selling to England yeah it's going yeah it's going to Domin dght was saying a lot of his goes down there Dominican yeah that's where withes eventually so you can see it's still I wouldn't say lucrative but they're it's enough where they're making Investments repairing repairing the barns of them instead of letting fix the end of his one Barn right and I mean we you know potentially would grow more and actually the problem is that there isn't enough Barn space believe it or not so that's part of the reason that Dwight wanted you you know that North longard to to have that Barn because the the barn space is actually limited around here for so I I almost don't think that there's like a you know we don't have like barns sitting around that aren't is that the one um well it went to that uh federal government bought it the barn are they going to they proba take it down you know I think that's what they're going to do I'm not positive but that's that's why Dwight wanted it hisorical come in and move it well they can't now because it's gone uh we grow on North on northard and we're right it's Dy Arnold's property um that that we rent from so um there's actually us and another upand cominging tobacco farmer that's actually a a kid that used to work with my husband and wife so now he's coming up they just last year unfortunately um so it's us two now on that property we're next to top of off where are you on North Long a near Laro yeah so well before this not at the split of L we uh before that yeah just before the it's like one it's one big piece but there's actually three or four people growing on it it's hogin going on like on this half he owns that half and then the other half Dwight owns but Dwight's actually not growing over there he rents it to us and now this other is he still too over in in Westfield yeah yeah yeah they still D grows onfield as well Dwight S grows in Westfield as well he's got some property L to yeah goosepond Che P of course okay good uh well not any interest of time let's um want to move along here um I don't know that we have any updates on our various well we talked about Signs and Banners and stationary and all that sort of thing um anything going on Sage not to put you on the spot but anything going on with the Instagram account I put it on hold because there's the Facebook I still have to figure out how I'm gonna make a new account when uh the name's already taken by the other account so I'm trying to figure that situation out but unfortunately I haven't had time to look into it right so uh it's on hold at the moment um I'll get there eventually but right now it's it's just with all the uh media also now going after Tik Tok and stuff like this I I don't even know where the heck our social media is going I me pretty soon we probably have Instagram or anything else at this rate so it's like you know kind of wait until things simmer down also so we're not wasting our time okay um let's see well the database again we're gonna uh Jen couldn't be here and Angie um I think I don't think there's been much going on with the database we were looking forward to the Southwoods article to to drive some uh hopefully interest and response there we we'll kind of see what happens um in the community garden several of us visited a little while ago um Zach and Dan and were you there around the visit we visited the community garden a little while ago yeah so uh we want to have a work day there specifically to start getting rid of the invasives that are that are there um and then we have had work work days in conjunction with conservation over on the sanowski property you a lot of you guys were there that has to be after we till the G yeah I got the tiller on attractive okay okay have to switch it over brush up right yep uh so what do you I mean it's hard to tell really when we'll be able to till um probably it's real wet it's pretty wet um let's see everything's dry everything out I have to wait for a couple weeks of dry weather to even think think about it yeah yeah that definitely kill first it's up higher okay well I guess we'll just have that on on hold for when will people start wanting a plant uh well some of the you know as you know there's several no till Lots I don't know if anybody's in there yet uh yeah right right we do have yeah I'm sure April yeah April yeah so maybe toward the end of April we could whatever middle middle to end of April maybe do the tilling and then do the work day then we'll have a work day early early May or miday yeah yeah okay um let see um just we do have two um two reservations for community garden plots already uh two new people so I'm H nice yeah reing in the money yeah we know when when people sign up for that do we know like how they hear about it these two people right now I have no idea curious about that you know just because I didn't know about it personally I was we have in the past uh put stuff on our Facebook page and on the sign at Gill Plaza one of the Facebook one of the Facebook page posts that we did uh I actually had like so like 20 or 30 people share which went around the community and there's a lot of people showing interest in actually doing it so I mean within this year and next year we should be seeing a lot of more activity uh yeah hotel5 Plane Road um last Wednesday at the EDC meeting Mr Deb came to my meeting uh to talk about the budget um process I had that night um the first evening with my admin support Julie Mii I believe that's how the last name and it was her and her mother who signed up for those two class oh okay Joe also shared with us about the you know trying to promote the community planting in the road uh to be able to get to the food pantry right and it really resonated with Julie and she went back home talked to her mother about it and let's just get two plots and give all that food to the food pan so I think it'd be a fun thing for you all to try and promote on the Facebook on your website yeah because that's what motivated them they don't have the land to do it but they can do it to the community garden and get back to the community yeah novel concept yeah okay yeah that's great let yeah let's promote promote that as food pantry accepts random people's qus yeah y need this year has gone up I believe the stat was 4 that was shared at the meeting from Sally runs that's a huge 48% is a huge increase it's not just Southwest it's surrounding yeah it's Granville right and yeah yep wow um that keeps ungiven sorry Sage what' you say to the community that keeps ungiven yeah yeah um let's see nothing further on any uh further workshops So lenita based on what you're saying about you're G to start planting any minute I'm guessing far it's probably getting to be too late in the year for any for further workshops and should we you know wait till next you know have a hard time get to something depends on what what you're growing but I've got all those green houses that's the big thing we now right right yeah well there's a nice little H video tour of Cal's green houses on on Facebook um I don't know if it was how did I get to that yeah there was a rail there yeah a couple of rails yeah yeah yeah yeah it was good um just on their Facebook page yeah it should be on ours [Music] too oh uh RS or not nothing yet nothing further um for I want to include additional business line item each month because there's always something that comes up or else that I forget um and one of those things is uh Sage's idea about getting um information on all the Commissioners about U you know skills and strengths and interests so we'll know who might be able to do what um Sage would you want that by email rather than having a conversation about it I mean I think people are gonna want to think about it you know first I would I would say email so I have something to at least base on and then you could do one-on ones or group or whatever after that just at least something on paper first just to give an idea this way it's a quick conversation yeah we should put some structure around it yeah yeah these guys are saying we should have a some kind of a form with questions so there's some structure yep that's fine Y and um and just to reassure everyone this is not for publication right we're not gonna hold you to the letter of the law okay we have minutes of February 14th mine here we go thank you Angie for doing these um okay I just had one smaller than tiny thing on the first page under Communications [Music] uh second line end of the second line This falls under the right uh of first refusal instead of two okay [Music] just give a minute for people to look through there he pretty good this yeah yeah I don't know if you heard that angrew but Zach was saying wow you're good at this I'm a teacher I guess I have to be yeah okay um anybody else has any I'll I'll motion it it looks pretty good okay I don't know if we can make a motion though they look pretty good I think uh with with amendments amendments some tiny Amendment yes amend okay so Sage made a motion uh who wants to second okay Zach Let's see we have to roll call vote so Bert Hansen I Tom I Zach Dan I Ron i l hi Jessica you weren okay one exstension um and then Sage I and Angie I okay approved with one one abstention yeah the minutes of everyone so uh now the the agenda that got C there's actually another small section of the agenda on page two that you guys don't have um but just a just a couple of things just a couple of FYI things um uh there's agriculture day at the state house uh I've seen a notice that that that's going to be April third but I've been looking on the mdar website and I haven't been able to find out anything about they have stuff about last year's AG day um so I don't I don't know um field trip field trip field trip it would be great if mission in the that's right yeah all 12 of us you that'd be awesome uh I mean I think it's a little short notice at this at this point since we don't even know what's what um and then tomorrow very important day tomorrow and Len and I should have um I should have brought this up to you earlier tomorrow is Pi Day uh March U 314 is you know the number pie and of of course that's a very good reason to eat pie so order class want to make sure everybody gets some gets some pie tomorrow that could be really a fun thing though if you did some kind of a promotion yeah yeah yeah anyway you get the mees quite often maybe a little a little drawing and to enter you have to Define what the mathematical pie is think that would get a lot of yeah got them athletes yeah so does anybody have anything else for the the good of the order um I just have a information on the uh police detail okay so it sounds like it's a 4H hour minimum um and it would be about $6 an hour um but if I talk to like the chief or banish and find out if some of that could be like Community Police how much per hour 60 60 I thought I was GNA say I thought you said six I I cannot be six will take three officers take the entire force yeah um okay okay thanks for that um well $60 an hour for 6 hours that'd be 360 obviously um many well spent yeah protection of our fair farm yeah um and speaking of firefly Farm actually uh Inga had an idea last year about The Brass Rail parking lot is just around the corner so could we do like a little shuttle type thing you was it too far to walk no not to me um yeah maybe not even have anyone park at the farm C parking at the farm yeah yeah and then everybody else down Bel not a bad idea we'd have to get permission from them right right a problem I would still have the cop by just in case but I mean they can help with the traffic and uh the safety of the people walking from one place to the other Sunday summer we do need to spend the budget so I would say let's not circumvent the budget spending yeah okay good uh thanks and that's good uh anybody I want to bring up one thing sure before before we close at least um the website I am going to not do the magazine I want to I'm going to change it into uh Tribune basically the concept is if you have an article you want to write or whoever wants to write one for our commission um or to give to our commission we can just post it as they come okay instead of trying to try instead of trying to make an alotment or or you know just obligations obviously don't work out in our town so I figure post them as they come and yearly I'll just section them off so you can go back yearly to see what has been posted but in the end I mean we'll have five we'll have 10 each year or whatever but I say post them as they come I think that'll work out better for everybody makes a lot of sense I think what' you say post m agage i I haven't posted it yet because it's supposed to go in the you know the magaz the thing first the uh Southwoods oh mine was your who's talking chicken farming one the chicken farming one I did the flood one the I did your roots one and the flood one I don't think you got a chicken one to me did you I sent it a long time ago yeah check your spam folder yeah I'll I'll check I'll check if I did get it if if uh I can't find it uh hopefully you can possibly send me it again okay thanks by the way I love your suggestions Z they help out a lot you're welcome I I was writing my note to you okay any other anybody else anything further he 22 not too bad yeah so uh I guess I guess I'll make a motion to adjourn okay all those in favor I I any opposed okay