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, !. � `// . ' i, ^ . . ';4 °� , The ty,pical garden group has a shared email and phone list of inembers, and at least two officers: a president and a treasurer; although your gazden group may have more positions. Before the first meeting, each member should try to do some piece of homework, whether it is identifying possible properties, possible partners, or people or organizations interested in being part of the community garden. Befare the end of the meeting, members should have held the elactions, started tne phonelemail contact list, scheduled the second meeting, and identif'ied a task for each member to accomp.lish before the second meeting. � Use the first meeting to draw out people's interest in the garden and what they would like to see from the garden. The worksheet, Developing a Vision for Your Garden (page 11), can guide the discussion, record the outcomes of the meecing, and be shared with people who join the garden project later. To insure that everyone feels like they were heard during this process, go round the group and ask for people's thoughts and input, and then write it down on a lazge pad of paper for everyone to see. Many problems and headaches can be avoided in the future by developing a vision of the garden at the very start, and can be reviewed when decisions are being made. 3. Find Land for the Garden Look around your neighborhood for a vacant lot that gets plenty of sun--at least six to eight hours each day. A garden site should be relatively flat (although slight slopes can be terraceci). It should be relatively free of lazge pieces of concrete left behind from demolition of structures. Any rubble or debris should be manageable --that is, volunteers clearing the lot with trash bags, wheelbarrows, and pick up trucks can remove it. Ideaily, it should have a fence around it with a gate wide enough for a vehicle to enter. It is possible to work with a site that is paved with concrete or asphalt by building raised beds that sit on the surface or using containers. You can also remove the asphalt or concrete to create areas for gardens, but such a garden will be much more diff'icult, expensive, and time-consuming to start. A site without paving, and soil relatively free of trash and debris is best. The potential garden site should be within walking, or no more than a short drive from you and the neighbors who have expressed interest in participating. If the lot is not already being used, make sure the community supports establishing a garden there. It's best to select three potential sites in your neighborhood and write down their address and nearest cross streets. If you don't know the address of a vacant lot, get the addresses of the properties on both sides of the lot--this will give you the ability to make an educated guess on the address of the site. We suggest you identify at least three potential sites because one or more might not be available for you to use for various reasons, and you want to end up with at least one that works out. Use the Garden Site Evaluation Checklist (page 13) to help assess potential sites. 4. Find out Who Owns the Land It is illegal to use land without obtaining the owners permission. In order to obtain permission, you must First find out who owns the land. Take the infarmation you have written down about the location of the siles in step 3 io your county's tax assessor's office. The county or city tax assessor's office can tell you who owns the property, as this is public knowledge. Increasingly, counties and cities are making this information available online, but you may need a street address. For properties within Hennepin County, call the Public Records Division at 612-348-5139. For properties in Ramsey County, call Property Records at 651-266-2000. , ;ne1�,i��,rr,(�l'��,u'�l�p� �i�i��:�,�:�'�t�i�; www.eardeningm�tte[ti.org. 224