Corporate Records
Meeting Minutes: December 2013
Following is the report of the Executive Director to the Board from December 10, 2013. After discussion, the ED requested a vote, and, there being no objection to the electronic meeting by December 26, and the majority of the directors voting in favor;
the executive director is authorized to continue the work as described, provided that a further update and a description of additions and changes will be provided the board no later than January 31st.
1. We are gearing up for the 2014 schedule of events. Don and I have changed the Bee Hive build to be 15 modified Langstroth's following Michael Bush's designs. The event is scheduled January 25. We will be funding it by selling 8 of the hives at $150.00, or $1,200. Material costs will run +/- $750.00. I am thinking of using the additional funds to print promotional materials for the Bee Safe Neighborhood Program. The remaining 7 hives will be "team hives" managed by Honeybee Keep. This is consistent with our mission to research, design, and test ways of integrating production systems. The big challenge is how to engage the gardening team and fairly share the production. It is also a conflict of interest between Don, the garden team and LSI.
I want to do an additional ten events. The first, in February, will be an introduction to integrated closed loop production systems. We will then do the regular 4 gardening programs, develop one for greenhouse maintenance, acquaponics, chicken butchering, and principles of community design, I still need to figure out 2 more.
2. We want to plan some sort of kick off for the Bee Safe Neighborhood Program. Nancy Griffith has been refining our materials and filling out the web site pages. Would one of your pot lucks be a good place Michael? We have 12 swarm traps ready to be mounted in trees as soon as we find people willing to take on the role of neighborhood coordinator and knock on some doors. We are offering the traps at $100.00 each and think we can find people to mount them for you for another $50.00. At that price, we can build new ones as the old ones are mounted.
3. I am meeting with Oz Osborn, who wants to learn grant writing, and team member Mary Mitchell, who is a consultant to non-profit organizations, on December 21. I am hoping to get a feel for raising funds to build food cells. I have been corresponding with Aleece Raw about the Sunshine food project and how a food cell might fit with their program. We have to do a materials list, and document how to build them, and figure out how much we will need to supervise projects. I have a list of people I want to contact when that is done. If you know of someone who might want one, have them get in touch.
4. I am working on how we describe what we do. We have talked before about the difference between charity and teaching fishing. I think that will be particularly useful when looking for grant funding. But, for our effectiveness as an organization, I think we need a more direct personal appeal to people. It goes something like this:
In a sustainable world human beings will be integrated into systems that sustainably produce the food, clothing, shelter, education and health care they need to thrive. If you are not working toward integrating yourself into such a system, you are not working for sustainability. It will not be decreed by any government and it will not derive from corporate research and development. Individual humans will have to do it.
It may not be trendy, or sexy, or as exciting as a protest rally, but you, and your neighbors, have discretionary time and/or money to invest in building sustainable systems of production. We call them integrated closed loop production systems. In a closed loop production system, costs are reduced toward zero as we produce production inputs as a part of the system. In an integrated production system, waste is reduced toward zero as we use the by products of production in other production processes. That is what sustainable means.
Just sayin . . .
Submitted December 28, 2013
David Braden, Secretary