Four Corners Cooperative Board of Directors’ Meeting
February 19, 2020
The Garden Room
Attending:
Directors: Brian Drayton (president), Lincoln Geiger, Anthony Graham, Barbara Johnson
(treasurer), Donna Riley (secretary), Alice Groh, Jamie Jones
Farmers: Benjamin Meier, Elad Sadeh; Apprentice: Alayna Samsal
Visitors: Barb Healey
6:02pm Opening: Alayna read a Dali Llama quote.
Approval of Minutes: Minutes of the January 28, 2020 were approved with amendments.
Study: Chapter 3 of School of the Elemental Beings (Massei, Karsten) was discussed and we will continue discussion with Chapter 3 next meeting.
Announcements/Updates:
Hilltop Café: Alice described the expertise of Farm Aid's culinary director Sonya Dagovitz and aggregator/distributor Kirsten White. Alice will introduce them to the Hilltop Café owners (the Zielies) to discuss alternative food sourcing options on Mar 21st. They could also meet with Board members after that initial meeting (this will be discussed at our next meeting). Benjamin had contacted the Three River Farmers Alliance as another sourcing option for the Café.
Staffing: Elad noted that Trey will soon start working at the farm and that he has 3 applicants for vegetable apprenticeships.
High Mowing: Brian announced that the first High Mowing meeting will be on Mar 6th with Brian, Anthony, Lincoln and Geraldine.
2020/2021 Budget: The Board and Farmers reviewed the latest draft of the budget. Some minor adjustments were made (e.g. a consolidation of the “Projects” and “Contingency” lines) and Barbara will distribute the updates. There was further discussion about the target number of total adults of our membership for the season and the resulting average pledge required.
Elad noted that 7 or 8 Bee Fields CSA members will join the FCC.
Benjamin presented an idea that Silvano presented to him, to create two farm budgets. The additional “premium” budget would include additional expenses and recommend a higher membership pledge. After discussion, it was generally agreed that the current budget will already be able to cover a significant number of projects for this year.
The Board voted to approved the budget (as amended) and to set a target of 160 adults in the membership with a pledge of $150/month.
Brian suggested that farmers start now to flesh-out the equipment and project expenses (e.g. milk pipeline completion).
Benjamin and Elad led further discussion regarding the benefits of more detailed expense and income tracking so that we can better understand the financial aspects by farm product (e.g. are we losing money on egg sales?). Benjamin already has a fairly detailed view of the creamery costs and income.
“Budget Meeting” Planning: It was agreed that we will first describe to members how the budget was developed and then explain budget items that are significantly different than the previous year.
“Pledge Meeting” Planning: Benjamin collected additional feedback on his proposed meeting agenda. He also wondered what people thought of having a short break-out discussion between members as a community building exercise. He was also reminded about the option we discussed last meeting to invite the membership to stand and speak only when and if they want to, without going around the whole circle.
FoTFA Update: “The Friends” name has reverted back to “FoTFA”. Barb has started working on information that might help educate the membership about benefits of biodynamically-grown food and other benefits in supporting our farm through their pledges and donations. Some content was distributed and discussed. It was agreed that we continue to develop content and to consider which channels we can use to reach our membership. Lincoln volunteered to partner with Barb and FoTFA in this effort.
Milk Customer Contact Info: Alayna has updated the contact list with all active non-member milk customers. Jamie mentioned that he tried to find the regulation to make sure we are meeting this requirement properly but could not find anything on the Internet. Lincoln explained that it may be a procedural requirement and not a documented regulation and that Jamie could call our HHSD contact, Chuck Metcalf for this information.
Next Meeting: Tuesday, March 10th at 6pm in the café.
8:35pm Closing: Alayna read a lyric by Jimi Hendrix.
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