[Mark Cowdrey]

Blogs?? (Oops, need 10 characters.)

[Mark Cowdrey]

Thanks All.
Well I am going to stand pat for now, I just ordered ticking covered deer hair pads the other day. My plan is to have 2 sets and rotate them as needed. That way I hopefully will not be putting on damp pads.
How does anyone clean the ticking on the deer hair pads, if at all.
Thanks,
Mark

[Mark Cowdrey]

Grey,
Yeah I got to thinking about the “toothiness” of canvas as not the best. I need some new pads, have always used the ticking over deerhair ones and will probably just stick with them. I would try the foam but can not get my head around putting vinyl against the horse where the work is getting done (shoulders).
Thanks,
Mark

[Mark Cowdrey]

Ed & Erika,
Sorry I missed it. It was on my calendar but I was unexpectedly helping a neighbor with broke down equipment.Hopefully the repair wil last through next Monday!
Talk to you then.
Mark

[Mark Cowdrey]

Daniel,
Thanks for the reply. Glad to hear that a means to take it out of gear quickly and easily is a design consideration. I will be interested to hear the follow through on resolving that difficulty.
Again, nice job.
Mark

[Mark Cowdrey]

I use whatever blend I have in the shop for my modern truck/auto, e.g. 10w-40.
Mark

[Mark Cowdrey]

Nice looking job. I will be interested to hear how it works for you and your own critique.
How is the drive clutch engaged? Looks like a foot pedal.
Thanks,
Mark

[Mark Cowdrey]

BoD Agenda 4/8/12

1. Appt time keeper
2. Review and approve minutes from 3/11/12 – Mark -10 min
3. Questions regarding committee reports (????) – Mark – 15 min
4. Review of Summer BoD meeting schedule & times, currently 05-13-2012, 06-10-2012, 07-08-2012, 08-12-2012, 09-09-2012 – Mark – 10 min
5. retreat – Reva – 10 min
6. insurance – Reva/Jean – 5 min
7. new BOD meeting protocols – Reva – 5 min
8. the Jason situation – Erika – 5 min
9. Logo; where are we at;

[Mark Cowdrey]

For archiving purposes and one-stop shopping I am posting hte minutes of todays Fin Comm meeting here. As Reva posted, it is also in your emails.

Fin Comm 4/4/12 – Minutes

Grants
Brad continues to work on a grant application to be done by the end of April. As it is our first grant application, it takes a lot longer to assemble all the data, some of which Mark can also use with the 501(c)3. (Jeffrey’s Trust)
As assisting grant writer, Kenneth needs more info on events that we can claim some credit for other than the field days (such as the two events and the Annual Meeting in 2011) and BoD members’ experience in running outside draft animal events. We need to show our experience and track record. Brad will send the info he has on 2011. Kenneth will email the BoD for more info. Brad agreed to share with the rest of the FC any info from the CD from Jean that might be useful.
Kenneth will apply for a smaller grant with a monthly turn around, right after Brad has his application done in early May.(Organic Valley and perhaps J S Noyes)
Reva went over the Grant List from Lisa, the RuralVT-not-apply list, and the RuralVT-can-apply list. In late May when we have a better idea of our immediate need,we will focus on which ones to ask RuralVT to let us apply for.
NE SARE Tim and Carl
Kenneth will stay on top of this and mentioned that it can add to our grant applications to have members involved in other Farmer Partnership Grants.
Survey
We discussed that the data collected will be very important to our grant writing and the pros and cons of hard copy at the event vs email afterwards. It would be up to P&E as to what works best. If we go with an after-the-event email survey, we need to be sure we have everyone’s email addresses and have multilpe asks. If we go with Survey Monkey, Kenneth will work towards user-friendliness. Kenneth will follow up with P&E.
501(c)3
We discussed when we started as an organization: first board meeting, RVT as fiscal sponsor, VT incorporation, or final draft by-laws? Mark will ask the lawyer. His deadline for finishing the application is the end of April.
Retreat
Reva has sent a proposal request to Amy with Tim’s questions included. We don’t have to make a full commitment until we are sure on the money. Mark will begin the Doodle process for the BOD for weekends in October and November. We will give the date(s) to the BoD nominees in the summer and adjust as needed.
Sponsorship
Reva has not finished the process of getting everything you need to ask for money on one spot on the BoD website. She needs to follow up some more with ComCom and P&E. With support from the FC, she has decided to focus on getting lots of ads for the summer issue of the newsletter with the BoD members who are interested, support the BoD members who are in the process of asking for financial support, and mainly, see what she can do to do some fundraising herself. We decided that to bring along all the board members as fundraisers would be better done at a retreat and next year. (decrease the guilt factor)
Date to visit income flows
We agreed that if we don’t have a new source of secure funding for 2012 by the end of May, we need to revisit our 2012 Budget.
Next Meeting – Wed, April 18th 9-9:30 am (focusing only on the grant apps and 501(c)3)

[Mark Cowdrey]

updated Agenda 4/8/12

Meeting time 7:00 -8:30 PM

1. Appt time keeper
3. Review and approve minutes from 3/11/12 – Mark -10 min
5. Questions regarding committee reports (????) – Mark – 15 min
7. Logo; where are we at; how do we proceed; when will it be done – Mark & ? – 15 min
9. Review of Summer BoD meeting schedule & times, currently 05-13-2012, 06-10-2012, 07-08-2012, 08-12-2012, 09-09-2012 – Mark – 10 min
11. retreat – Reva – 10 min
12. insurance – Reva/Jean – 5 min
13. new BOD meeting protocols – Reva – 5 min
14. the Jason situation – Erika – 5 min
16. Other business

[Mark Cowdrey]

I don’t generally buy seed but count on the seed left in the horse manure and, primarily, getting the soil chemistry right (manure, wood ash, lime; all harrowed in) for the seed that is already in the ground to grow & thrive. If annual weeds (milkweed) are very competitive, I mow them off early and let them mulch the grass/legumes. Perennial weeds blueberry, buck brush, golden rod (?)) I mow hard (more mulch) as often as necessary until, with the soil chemistry changes, they quit. This has worked fairly well for me on a 3.5 acre hayfield up the road that was badly run down. On smaller areas at home, I circulate my winter turnout areas for the horses annually. I might give 3 horses 100×300 feet per year. I feed all around the area, on the ground (hopefully, snow). This distributes seed from the hay. The manure load on that size area is heavy enough to compensate for pH deficiencies and I usually get good grass for several years. It does best the first year if I spread the manure pile around somehow & mow off the annuals (esp. pigweed) probably late June-ish.

See Bill Murphy, Greener Pasture on Your side of the Fence

Paperback, 390 pages
Published May 1st 1998 by Arriba Publishing (first published 1998)
ISBN
0961780738 (ISBN13: 9780961780739)
edition language
English
original title
Greener Pasture on Your Side of the Fence: Better Farming Voisin Management-Intensive Grazing (4th Edition)

This book convinced me not to spend money on seed.
Mark

[Mark Cowdrey]

updated Agenda 4/8/12

Meeting time 7:00 -8:30 PM

1.Appt time keeper

2. Review and approve minutes from 3/11/12 – Mark -10 min

3. Questions regarding committee reports (????) – Mark – 15 min

4. Logo; where are we at; how do we proceed; when will it be done – Mark & ? – 15 min

5. Review of Summer BoD meeting schedule & times, currently 05-13-2012, 06-10-2012, 07-08-2012, 08-12-2012, 09-09-2012 – Mark – 10 min

6. Other business

[Mark Cowdrey]

Ed,
I think it is “Chuck” Cox, not “Richard” at Tuckaway Farm. I may be wrong.
Mark

[Mark Cowdrey]

Assume that is Brad Teeter? Should be spelled out to avoid confusion w Brad Johnson.
Mark

[Mark Cowdrey]

A couple of general notes:
I don’t know how others feel about ths but my preference is that minutes be added to the thread already started so that there is one thread for an entire meeting; comm reports, agenda, minutes.
Also. if the items in the minutes are numbered it will be easier to refer to them when making corrections, comments, additions.

Please add under 501(c)3 section:” the Conflict of interest form was emailed to BoD members 3/9/12. As no one had comments or questions regarding it the use of that form for the DAPNet Board was adopted by consensus. The text is below:

Draft Animal Power Network, Inc.
Conflict of Interest Statement
It is the duty of a DAPNet, Inc. board member to act in the best interest of the organization. In the event that there is a conflict of interest between the best interests of the organization and the board member, then the board member shall recuse himself or herself from the deliberation and/or vote, as the case may be. If the board member does not take individual responsibility and/or action, the Board shall take responsible action, including removal of said board member as it is the organization’s policy that no board member or officer serving for any other expressed or intended reasons than for the benefit of the organization shall serve on the governing body.

No member will be admitted to the Board who may have a conflict with the Association’s Mission Statement. If an existing conflict is not disclosed, they can be voted off by a vote of three-quarters of the Board.

____________________________________
Name (printed)

____________________________________
Signature

______________________________
Date

Thanks,
Mark

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