I posted this in my local garden club group (Oak Park Area Garden Club (Illinois)), so if you’re local and interested in being part of this, head over there to discuss further. (But general comments are welcome here, even if you’re not local.)
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Hi, folks. I have two little brainstorming questions for you all, but they need a little explanation first. Ready?
There are three (3) background points:
1) So, I formed this group as an offshoot of the Oak Park Garden Club when I was on the board, many moons ago. I’d joined the board to help them with their website, and created the FB group as part of that.
We ended up splitting off, because the groups ended up very different in feel — I love the Garden Club, and encourage y’all to join if it appeals to you, but it’s more a traditional club. They meet once a month on Wednesday afternoons currently, organize the OP Garden Walk (which is terrific, recommended! great way to get inspiration for your garden! tickets on sale now for next Sat, June 27), have a tea party in May, with a decorated hat parade (fun!), and offer various talks and activities throughout the year (teapot topiary workshop! learn about trees from an arborist! intro to flower arranging!). More details on them here: https://gcoprf.org
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2) This FB group has grown mightily since its founding — we’re now at close to 13K members, and I think most of them are actually from the area. Woot! We’ve only had one mini flamewar (over dandelions!), quickly resolved. Overall, I think it’s doing a great job of what I wanted to be its primary function, sharing information and resources, much like a public library, but focused on gardening. I hope you’re all enjoying it!
At this point, I’d love to see this doing just a little more.
I have dreams of various kinds of things, from more organized meet-ups with garden exchanges, to a garden apprentice program (where people could volunteer in exchange for learning more about gardening), to putting together resource lists specific to our area (what vegetables to plant and when? when to start seeds? how to start with bulbs, and why daffodils are a better investment than tulips here, do you really need to dig up your dahlias?, etc.).
I’m trying to keep it reasonable, though.
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3) There are two things in the way of our doing more. First, capacity. We’d need some people (beyond our lovely moderators, who help to keep the spam out) willing and able to help organize the ‘more’. Between my various commitments, I’m pretty close to my cap on executive function. (Some might argue that I’m well past my cap, but that’s a problem for me and my therapist.)
And secondly, we’re not an official org; we’re not a nonprofit, and definitively not a 501(c)3, so if we wanted to do things like have board members and raise funds and such, we’d either need to become a nonprofit (which seems kind of goofy, since there’s already a Garden Club of Oak Park – River Forest nonprofit), or we’d need to partner with one.
Which is possible, but I think not necessary, at least not yet? I’d ideally like to just take a few little steps, see what we can do without taking on the whole nonprofit umbrella issue…
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Okay, so that’s the overall situation. Here’s the ask:
a) I’d love to just discuss all this, so please drop your brainstorming in the comments. Can we do more, should we do more, what would you like us to do, what would be helpful to you as a gardener (beginner, experienced, or somewhere in between), is this group perfect as it is and I should just leave it alone, etc. and so on?
b) Are you interested in joining an informal ‘board’? I’m thinking it’d be me, the current volunteer moderators (we could probably use a few more of those, as I think we’re falling behind on approving requests), and then some more people, ideally ones who would be willing to take on actual organizational tasks.
Initial tasks could look like:
– posting a once a week ‘what’s blooming?’ post, to encourage people to share what’s happening in their gardens (including indoor gardens) — I think those can be really helpful to let people envision new possibilities for their gardens
– helping me with the monthly meet-up and perennial / seed / tool exchange — currently the 4th Sunday of the month, 3-4, at my studio in the OP Arts District. (I won’t be at Sunday 6/28, traveling, but Jennifer Bolino will be there and hosting for me.)
– I’d personally love to have a edible gardener posting a weekly ‘what’s happening in the veggie garden’ post — this can be them talking about their own garden, or just starting the thread each week, and encouraging people to post — I feel very ignorant about edible gardening, and would love a lot more guidance on what people are doing here week to week
– And similarly, a ‘what’s happening in the native garden’ thread weekly — flowers, shrubs, trees, grasses, etc., but also moths and butterflies, frogs, bees, other animals…?
– it’d be super helpful to have a ‘let’s share’ thread periodically, when it’s the right time for dividing hostas and irises, for example. You (with a new or underdeveloped garden) come dig, and I (with a mature garden) get someone digging out my overgrown but desirable plants. Win-win.
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If you’re interested in being one of the ‘board’ people (we should come up with a better term for that — OPAGC Mods and Volunteers?) — especially if there’s a specific task out of the list above that you’d be comfortable taking on, please comment below and let me know.
I’d love to get that mod and volunteer group together for a meet-up sometime soon, so we can have an in-person conversation about what we might feasibly do.
I guess I should also note that I’m something of a control freak, with very firm vision of what this group should and shouldn’t be, and as group owner, I’m reserving the right to make final decisions. At some point, I’d love to pass that ownership on to someone else, but succession planning is a process, and it won’t happen anytime soon. So if you want something radically different in feel and/or purpose, you might be better off starting your own group!
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Okay, that’s what I’ve got so far. Discuss!
(Pictures of my native purple poppy mallow from this morning for FB tax.)
