Greening Flatbush a success!

Update 2008.02.25: News12 has an extended segment on Greening Flatbush in this morning’s lineup. Catch it now before more important news pushes it off their schedule! I didn’t get to see the whole thing, myself.

Also, see the Links section at the end of this post to follow up on yesterday’s event, learn how to stay informed of future events, or get involved to help us plan them.


Greening Flatbush 2008
Greening Flatbush 2008

We had about 50 people attend Greening Flatbush this afternoon. This was the inaugural event for the Gardening Committee of Sustainable Flatbush, and we’re all pretty pleased with ourselves.

Na’eem Douglas of News12 Brooklyn, our local cable news channel, covered the event. They started airing the segment around 5:45 this evening.

Greening Flatbush 2008

Greening Flatbush 2008

We got underway later than we wanted, around 1:50, but everything went smoothly after that. We started with a panel of speakers with quick introductions of themselves, their experiences, and the resources they had to offer. We held question until after the break, and kept most of the time available for unstructured and joyfully chaotic milling around, meeting neighbors, questions and answers, and so on.

We had presentations and experts on hand for container gardening, composting with worms, tree identification, Asian Longhorned Beetle/Anoplophora glabripennis, and GreenBridge, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s community horticulture program.

Container Gardening

Container Gardening

Container Gardening

Container Gardening

Container Gardening

Trees NY

Asian Longhorned Beetle

Talking Trees

Talking Trees

Talking Trees

Tree ID

Tree ID

Talking Trees

Asian Longhorned Beetle

Brooklyn Compost Project

Talking Worms

We Like Worms!

Thar Be Worms!

Fun With Worms!

BBG Greenbridge

BBG Greenbridge Table

BBG Greenbridge Table

BBG Greenbridge Table

BBG Greenbridge Table

Related content

Flickr photo set

Links

Brooklyn Compost Project, one of the programs of BBG’s GreenBridge
Flatbush CSA
Gardening Committee (Note: This is our Google Group for planning our events. If you want to help us plan, great! Just request to join through the link on the group page, or send an email to greeningflatbush [at] gmail (dot) com and let us know you want to join. If you just want to be informed of future events, join the Sustainable Flatbush mailing list.)
GreenBridge, Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Sustainable Flatbush
Trees NY

Snow!

This is why I don’t cut everything to the ground in the fall. This is a non-heirloom grass in my front yard garden.
Snow!

Update 09:00: My waking estimate of 3″ was conservative. After shoveling my steps, walkway and 250 square feet of sidewalk, I think we already have 5 inches on the ground.


More of the front yard:

Snow!

Snow!

Snow!

And the backyard:

Snow!

This is the Gardener’s Nook in the corner. You can see the Winterberry in the container still has lots of berries on it.

Snow!

Snow!

This is the view from the second floor tree fort. This is a lot more open than in past years. Over the winter, our next-door neighbor had to take down their old maple in the middle of their backyard, and the apple tree which reached over the fence. Sad, but necessary.

Snow!


Woke up this morning to find everything covered with a couple inches of snow.

And it’s still falling. I’ll try to get some pictures.

The National Weather Service is calling for 1-3 inches for my area. Yet they also have a winter storm warning in effect predicting 5-7 inches. Local news services are estimating 5 inches total, which seems more likely. It looks like we already have 3 inches on the ground.

Related posts

My Flickr photo set of this morning’s snow

Reminder: Greening Flatbush this Sunday

Update 2008.02.25: Read about this event.


Just a reminder that this Sunday, February 24, from 1:30 to 4:30pm, the Gardening Committee of Sustainable Flatbush is hosting Greening Flatbush: Garden Where You Are at the Flatbush Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library at 22 Linden Boulevard [GMAP]. We’ve got a great lineup of speakers, demonstrations and workshops on a range of topics, including community gardens, gardening in containers, composting, street trees and community-supported agriculture.

The event is free, but space is limited. There are still openings available. To register, email greeningflatbush@gmail.com.

Here’s the press release we put together for this event:


Brooklyn, NY — Sustainable Flatbush sponsors “Greening Flatbush”
Sunday, February 24

On Sunday, February 24, residents and other members of the greater
Flatbush community can learn what they can do to beautify and improve
the environment of their neighborhood.

“Greening Flatbush: Garden Where You Are” is an afternoon of short
lectures, demonstrations, and workshops on topics ranging from
planting and caring for street trees to composting with worms in your
kitchen.

“Garden is a verb,” says Chris Kreussling, co-chair of the Gardening
Committee of Sustainable Flatbush, which is sponsoring the event.
“It’s not just a place you visit. It’s something you do.”

“Hearing about what others are already doing can inspire people to
work with their neighbors to take
action,” says Kreussling, who also authors a local gardening blog,
Flatbush Gardener. “We want to build community through gardening.”

Greening Flatbush is Sunday, February 24, from 1:30 to 4:30pm at the
Flatbush Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library at 22 Linden Boulevard.
The event is free, but space is limited. To register, or if you have
questions about this event, please email greeningflatbush@gmail.com.
For directions, see the Flatbush branch web page on the Brooklyn
Public Library Web site, http://www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/.

Sustainable Flatbush provides a neighborhood-based forum to discuss,
promote and implement sustainability concepts in Brooklyn and beyond.
For more information, visit http://sustainableflatbush.org/.


It felt weird to quote myself, but hey, a girl’s gotta do and all that. I don’t know to whom “Garden is a verb” can be first attributed, but I’ll acknowledge here that I cribbed it from the sidebar of those rockin’ gals at Garden Rant.

Japanese Garden, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, February 16, 2008

On Saturday, I visited the Rock Garden on my way to the second meeting of the newly forming Brooklyn Community Gardens Coalition. I visited the Japanese Garden after the meeting.

Japanese Garden, BBG

The Japanese Garden seemed even emptier than a month ago. There was more color on Saturday. Despite the frozen water, hints of Spring, or at least the end of Winter, were there for the eyes hungry to see them. It was lovely.

Soon, soon.
Pieris japonica "Dorothy Wyckoff", Japanese Garden, BBG
False Cypress? Japanese Garden, BBG

This is one of a handful of entrances to the Japanese Garden. This is the view on the approach from Magnolia Plaza.
Entrance, Japanese Garden, BBG
Bamboos at entrance to Japanese Garden

The pond was really, really frozen. Here are several views from different vantage points as I walked around.
Frozen Pond, Japanese Garden, BBG
Frozen Pond, Japanese Garden, BBG
Japanese Garden, BBG
Japanese Garden, BBG
Japanese Garden, BBG

The red arch in the pond is called a Torii. It signifies that a shrine is nearby. It’s surrounded by evergreens; even at this time of year, it can’t be seen unless you ascend the hill path and turn onto a short path leading to it.
Shrine, Japanese Garden, BBG

Several lengths of the hill paths are lined with these beautiful stone gutters.
Gutter, Japanese Garden, BBG

Beneath the ice, the Koi and carp moved slowly, like dreamy ghosts. This one was big enough, colorful enough, and close enough to the surface to get a shot of it. He’s at least a foot long.
Ice Koi, Japanese Garden, BBG
Ice Koi, Japanese Garden, BBG

Related posts

First Crocus
Flickr photo set
Brooklyn Botanic Garden, January 2008.

New York invests in California’s carbon

US carbon asset manager Natsource LLC said on Monday it has invested in the first forest-based greenhouse gas emissions reductions under California rules. Natsource paid a private owner of a redwood forest in Humboldt County represented by nonprofit group the Pacific Forest Trust for credits representing 60,000 tonnes of carbon emissions. – NY Company Buys First Californian Forest Carbon Credits, PlanetArk

The emissions reductions were created through sustainable forestry on a permanently conserved property in California. This deal illustrates the significant role that management of existing forests can play in addressing climate change. The transaction is the first commercial delivery of certified emissions reductions under the Forest Protocols adopted last fall by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). The Protocols are the first rigorous governmental accounting standards in the U.S. for climate projects embracing forest management and avoided deforestation, while ensuring emissions reductions are real, permanent, additional and verifiable. – Joint Press Release (PDF), NatSource and Pacific Forest trust

Links

California Air Resources Board (CARB) NatSource Asset Management LLC (NatSource) The Pacific Forest Trust

Sunday March 9: The Kensington Blogade

On Sunday, March 9, the Brooklyn Blogade visits Kensington, courtesy of Bad Girl Blog:

Time for “Show & Tell”: Bloggers are encouraged to be brave and give a reading from one of their best blog posts. Or bring along your laptop and a screen and show us your best pics. Or just tell us about your best post. Please plan to limit your presentation to about five minutes so everybody can have a turn.

WHEN: Sunday, March 9, 2008 at 12noon

WHERE:
Old Brick Cafe
507 Church Avenue, between Ocean Parkway and E. 5th Street
Kensington, Brooklyn

RSVP REQUIRED. See Bad Girl Blog for details.

Related Posts

Blogade

Links

Bad Girl Blog

Atlantic Yards Camera Club

Update 2008.02.12: Since the original post, I’ve added several more links to posts and photos from the other photographers who were present.


Photographers in a flurry
Photographers in a Flurry

Amid snow flurries and near-zero windchills, a stalwart group of about two dozen Brooklyn photographers, bloggers, citizen journalists, community activists, media and supporters gathered for a “photographers’ rights free expression mobilization.” We stood around in the freezing cold to talk and take pictures.
DSC_8189

DSC_8190

DSC_8191

Storm Approaching

Bloggerazzi (Dave Kenny)

DSC_8217

Party City

Fence as Art

Related Posts

My Flickr set

Links

Atlantic Yards (Flickr photo pool)
Brit in Brooklyn
Dope on the Slope
Fading Ad Blog
featherrock’s Picasa Web Album
No Land Grab
not another f*cking blog! (threecee)
Picture New York

The February 2008 Brooklyn Blogade

Blogade at Faan

Eleanor Traubman of Creative Times and her partner, Michael Sorgatz, hosted the February 2008 Brooklyn Blogade at Faan, a Chinese restaurant at 209 Smith Street.

Blogade at Faan

Eleanor Traubman and Michael Sorgatz
Eleanor Traubman and Michael Sorgatz

Eleanor Traubman
Eleanor Traubman, Creative Times

Adrian Kinloch, Brit in Brookyln
Adrian Kinloch, Brit in Brooklyn

Morgan Pehme, Brooklyn Optimist
Morgan Pehme, Brooklyn Optimist

Frank Jump, Fading Ad Blog
Frank Jump, Fading Ad Blog

Katia Kelly, Pardon Me For Asking
Katia Kelly, Pardon Me For Asking

Joyce Hanson, Bad Girl Blog
Joyce Hanson, Bad Girl Blog

Rob Lenihan, Luna Park Gazette
Rob Lenihan, Luna Park Gazette

Petra, Bed-Stuy Blog
Petra, Bed-Stuy Blog

Chandru Murthi, I’m Seeing Green
Chandru Murthi, I'm Seeing Green

Faan

The Table is Set
The Table is Set

Place Setting
Place Setting

Iced Tea
Iced tea

Abacus Wall Divider
Abacus Wall Divider

Detail, Abacus Wall Divider
Detail, Abacus Wall Divider

Black & White Mosaic Mao
Black & White Mosaic Mao

Curious
Curious

Related Posts

Blogade

Links

Brooklyn Optimist
Creative Times
Fading Ad Blog
Luna Park Gazette

Call for Volunteers for 2008 Victorian Flatbush House Tour

Wraparound porch at 1306 Albemarle Road in Prospect Park South, one of the homes on last year’s tour.
1306 Albemarle Road, Prospect Park South

Via Flatbush Family Network


It is that time again!! Time for the annual Victorian Flatbush House Tour. I am writing to ask for your help in promoting this year’s event and in getting HOMES and VOLUNTEERS.

The Victorian Flatbush House Tour will take place this year on Sunday, June 8. It will start at 1pm and will run until 6pm. Each year, the tour features about 11 homes from the various neighborhoods that are open for visitation. More than 600 people attend the tour, with participants coming from all 5 boroughs, the greater metro area and beyond!

We are in need of lots of volunteers to help with the house tour. It takes over 100 volunteers to put on a successful tour each year. That includes the 80+ volunteers that are needed the day of the tour to meet and guide guests through the homes AND it includes the volunteers that are needed to plan and organize the tour over the several months preceding the actual tour.

If you, anyone in your association, or anyone you know, are interested in helping with planning or volunteering for this year’s tour, please contact Robin Redmond at Flatbush Development Corporation at (718) 859-3800. Come get involved and help us showcase our beautiful neighborhoods.

We are also in need of homes to be on the tour this year. We have already had a couple of neighbors offer to have their homes be on this year’s tour so we have a start but, there is still a need for more. If you would like to suggest your home, or a neighbor’s home for being included in the tour then please, call Sidney Wormsby at (718) 791-8707.

Thanks for your help and support.


Related Posts

Victorian Flatbush at risk from inappropriate zoning, October 23, 2007
2007 Victorian Flatbush House Tour, June 10, 2007

Links

Victorian Flatbush House Tour, Flatbush Development Corporation (FDC)