Vamos A Sembrar Community Garden
10/26/2019
New members must volunteer for at least 30 hours to satisfy part of their membership requirements. The 30 hours can be completed by doing one or more of the following activities.
Hours should be recorded in the Hours Log Sheets (kept in the garden [in the gray bin(?)]).
If you do not have a garden key, yet, coordinate with another garden member who does, especially during the winter (Nov 1 - Mar 31). Or, you can do your volunteer hours during Open Hours (Apr 1 - Oct 31).
Open Hours — Basically staying in the garden during open hours. During your open hours watch, you can do garden activities or personal stuff or just hang out and enjoy the garden. Other garden members may also do their hours at the same time.
Litter picking and disposal — Use litter picker tool and trash bag (or a plastic bag). Pick up litter from the tree pit, sidewalk, and within the garden. Take the trash to the corner public trash bin. If large trash bag, put next to the public trash bin. If small bag of trash and corner trash bin is full, put in one of the other 3 public trash bins across the streets. Do not leave bag of trash in the garden since rats may go through it for food bits (candy wrappers) or use the trash for their bedding.
Rat checking — Look for rat burrows/holes. Either destroy them or fill them with gravel or rocks to make it hard for them to re-dig in the same spot. The more you harass the rats by destroying their burrows, the more likely they'll stay away and look for easier places to hide.
Leaves and branches — Fall leaves on the sidewalk should be swept into the garden. Occasionally, people may put branches (broken tree limbs from nearby trees) in front of the garden or nearby tree pit; bring those branches into the garden and hand-mulch (cut into small pieces) using a hand pruner or loper; spread the cut branches and plant matter over the soil as mulch.
Snow and ice — Use the snow shovel and the ice breaker tool. We are required to remove snow and ice from the sidewalk as follows: NYC regulations require sidewalk to be cleared of snow and ice within 4 hours if snow stops before 5 pm, or within 14 hours if snow stops before 9 pm.
Garden work days — Every now and then, a garden work day will be scheduled for certain garden activities where several people may be needed to get the work done more quickly, including constructing or repairing something (e.g., raised bed, a large trellis, etc.) for the garden; preparing for an event; cleaning after the event; etc.
On-going garden projects/programs — These may include maintaining a seed library, tools maintenance (cleaning, sharpening), maintaining a composting bin(s), maintaining a watering schedule of the common areas and tree pit(s) in front of the garden, keeping on top of the fruit bearing trees (tree caring, when to harvest the fruits), as well as, getting involved with steering committee work either as a steering committee member or as just a helper (administrative tasks, such as, grant applications, grant reports, managing the Hours Log Sheets, posting notices on the gate, removing old notices cleanly off the gate, assisting with the website and the garden's social media presence).