Meeting with Gateway Greening

As you can see by the title, I met with Gateway Greening today, and we discussed Motor Lofts getting involved with the garden across the street. Here's the details of that discussion.

1. If you would like to have your own section, we need a few volunteers. Bethany has already expressed her willingness to participate, and Leslie and I would also help out. In order to get a grant and be given our own section, we will need a few more people dedicated to this project. If enough people do not volunteer, then our participation would probably be limited to helping out with the existing gardens already in place. Basically, they're not going to put a bunch of resources into a project that might fall apart if those few people stop participating.
2. If you'd like to participate, you will need to sign a waiver to work on the land. Gateway Greening is leasing the land from a private owner, and he wants to be free from liability on his land.
3. If we do get enough volunteers for a project, those people would need to fill out some paperwork in order to get a grant. Apparently, the paperwork takes a little time to fill out. They want you to make a plan for what you are doing, who will be helping, what days they will be working, etc. They want to see that your commitment is thought out, and put on a calendar.
4. If you would like to see all of this happen, the deadline for applying for the grant is November. Once the grant is approved, resources (dirt, lumber, seeds) would be given to us in the spring.
5. If you'd like to help now, contact me, and I'll put you in touch with Alicia, who is in charge of this garden. She needs people to help water and weed. Alicia also said that she will be clearing out some beds soon, and she could probably get us started on something for fall if we wanted.
6. One final thing - Gateway Greening asked me to ask you to please respect their gardens. Apparently people are letting their dogs poop in that area, and it creates difficulties for them since it's a place where children are present, food is growing, and they have to work and walk.

If you'd like to have more space to grow more than what's on your balcony, contact me, and I'll get you in touch with Alicia.

Motor Lofts Garage Sale

We're starting to get together ideas for a Motor Lofts garage sale. Dianne will be in charge of it. There is a discussion board on the Motor Lofts Facebook page if you're interested.

Four Bins for the Recycling

Once again, I'd like to thank Wendy and Krista for their time with this project. It looks like we're getting a decent level of participation, and that's great. There have been a few changes, and we have a few requests.

As you can see in the picture, there are now four bins. This will save us a lot of time separating the four items we are collecting.

In the picture, you can also see some signs requesting that the items be rinsed out, and that no trash is included. The last batch was a little better, but there were still some trash included (napkins, plastic wrappers, hot pockets boxes, plastic packaging) which we had to separate from the recyclable items, and throw away. Also, a lot of the beer bottles and cans are not getting rinsed out which attracts a lot of bugs and causes everything to stick together. Please remember us when you deposit your recycling. It's not pleasant to spend a lot of time pulling trash out, getting sticky from old beer, and having fruit flies flying all in your face.

Thanks again for your participation.

Rules for the Basement

It seems that the majority of people want rules for the basement now. Jenni and I have worked on a set that - hopefully - will make everyone happy. We'll present our proposal at the next association meeting.

Some Do's and Don'ts for Recycling

I've just returned from the recycling center, and I have a few requests for those of you participating in the recycling program.

• Clean the food out of the containers - Leaving old food in cans and plastic containers; jars with food inside and the lid on; beer cans with beer in the bottom; etc. smells really bad and attracts bugs to the building. Not to mention it's nasty for us to handle.

• Only include plastic that can be recycled - Plastic must have a triangle with a number on it in order to be recycled. (link to previous post) Do not include things like plastic wrappers, cheese wrappers, flavor pouches, milk cartons, old pens, etc. All this is trash, and we have to take it out and throw it away.

• Do not put steel cans in with the aluminum - Cans for beans, tomato sauce, corn, chili, etc. are made of steel and go in the other bin. Only beer and soda cans, and foil should go in the aluminum bin.

• Get rid of the lids - Do not put lids back on glass jars and do not include bottle caps from beer bottles

I took back our aluminum today, and got $3 for our 9 lbs. of recycling. Not much, but it's a start. Krista is treasurer for the recycling fund, and will hold the money until the residents decide how to spend it.

If You'd Like to Help in the Garden Next Door...

I contacted Gateway Greening and they put me in touch with the Garden Leader for the shared garden with DCC and Imagine Prep. Her name is Alicia and she and her father generally are there once a week to work on the garden on Wednesdays between 9:00-11:00 AM. She says you are more than welcome to come down and talk with her, and they could always use volunteers.

I know a few people were interested in perhaps planting in that area on their own, so I replied and asked her if that might be possible in the future. She said that she would like to meet and discuss this possibility, so let me know if you are interested in this.

If you'd like to contact her, either go see her on Wednesday or I can forward you her contact information if you'd like to email her any questions.

Big Response to the Recycling Program

Wow! Good job Motor residents. It has only been about a week, and the recycling bins are overflowing. We'll empty them this weekend, so keep on recycling.

I'd like to clarify a bit on what can be recycled. Most plastics with a number surrounded by a triangle can be recycled, however, things like plastic wrappers (for example the plastic that comes around your case of bottled water or cookie wrappers) cannot be recycled. Some parts attached to the plastic bottle cannot be recycled either. One example of this would be the pump-spray mechanism on something like a detergent bottle. If it doesn't have a recycle number on it, discard it. Also, #6 plastic cannot be recycled. I think this is styrofoam, but I just thought I'd mention it.

Grocery bags can be recycled, however, we are not taking those at this time. If you want to recycle those on your own, a lot of stores have collection bins for them, so you can save them up by putting them inside one bag, and taking them to the store when you go.

We did get some grocery bags in the last batch, and we're going to leave them next to the blue bin in case you want to use them to separate some of your recyling when you get down there.

Please, no milk cartons, they are made of paper.

We can still use volunteers to help take back the recycling if anyone is interested.