Minutes of the FCC board meeting 6/2/20
Present:
Trustees: Lincoln Geiger, Anthony Graham, Brian Drayton, Donna Riley, Alice Groh
Visitors: Barbara Healy, Ashley Renwick.
1. Alice Groh gave us the opening reading.
2. The minutes of the last meeting were approved by email, according to our new procedure, on 5/13/20.
3. Study: We continued our study of Massei's School of the Elemental Beings, with the chapter on House spirits, with which we will continue next month.
4. Updates.
Lincoln reported on the beginning of haying season. Brian reported on his conversations with Walt Zuber, president of the ECF board. One project we all agree should move to higher priority is the installation of solar power on the farm. This has been discussed, with some preliminary planning, off and on for several years. We will try to move this ahead towards conclusion in 2020. Brian, Anthony, and Lincoln will spearhead this work, in collaboration with the ECF. Lincoln will check with Carl and Chris Anderson, who in the past have been willing to do the installation on favorable terms, to see if they are still willing to do so; he will also find earlier planning documents that we could work from.
5. Appointing officers for 2020
We appointed the following officers for the coming year:
Treasurer: Barbara Johnson
President: Brian Drayton
Secretary: no name has come forward yet. Brian will take minutes until a new Secretary is appointed.
6. New board member. Since Jamie Jones has resigned, effective as soon as we could find a replacement, we have been looking for candidates. At this meeting, Ashley Renwick joined us to discuss her possibly joining the board. Ashley is well-acquainted with the farm, the farmers, and the community, and we agreed that she would be a strong addition to the board. Ashley Renwick was appointed to a three-year term, as Jamie had been appointed to fill Drew Arthur's term, ending this year (annual meeting 2020). Brian will write to thank Jamie for his very helpful tenure on the board, and to let him know that a replacement has been found.
During the conversation, our attention was drawn to the longing for more community activities, and we reflected on the role of festivals in the life of the farm, over the years. In the early years, when the farm was a smaller community, with a higher proportion of young families, the festivals were beloved and important and many of the members took part. It helped that Trauger Groh had a strong gift for nurturing social life, and his deep grounding in Anthroposophy enabled him to help name and explain the meaning of community activities, which was educative as well as enriching to the gatherings.
The same elements that people valued then are still important now, but our calling is not to recreate a kind of being that is no longer suited to the farm as it now is, but rather to use our reflections about past practices and insights to seek new insights, and develop new, living practices that nourish us in these times, and as we now are.
7. Building an agenda for 2020. At our next meeting in July, we will spend time planning the board's work for 2020-21.
8. Closing. Next Meeting July 7, at 7 pm, in the Garden Room at Alice Groh's.