Category Archives: 2008

Green With Envy Tour of Brooklyn Community Gardens, July 12 and 26

Posted on by
2

Map, Green With Envy Tour, July 2008

On Saturday, July 12 and 26, visit Community Gardens in Park Slope, Boerum Hill, Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, and Prospect Heights. On both guided tours, you can join us for a 10am breakfast at the Pacific Street Bear’s Garden on Flatbush Ave, then walk, bike, or drive the routes below. More info: 718-636-4273.

Special thanks to the Brooklyn Community Gardeners’ Coalition, GreenThumb, and Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s GreenBridge.

Tour One, Saturday, July 12

  1. Pacific Street Bear’s Garden at Flatbush Avenue, Park Slope
  2. Hoyt Street Community Garden at Atlantic Avenue, Boerum Hill
  3. Wyckoff-Bond Community Garden, Boerum Hill
  4. David R. Foulke Memorial Garden, Bergen Street between Nevins & Bond Streets, Boerum Hill
  5. Warren St. Marks Community Garden between 4th & 5th Avenues, Park Slope
  6. Baltic Street Community Garden at 4th Avenue, Park Slope
  7. Lincoln-Berkeley Community Garden, Lincoln between 5th & 6th Avenues, Park Slope
  8. Gardens of Union, Union between 4th & 5th Avenues, Park Slope
  9. Gil Hodges Garden, Carroll between 3rd & 4th Avenues, Gowanus
  10. GreenSpace at President Street, corner of 5th Avenue, Park Slope

Tour Two, Saturday, July 26

  1. Pacific Street Brooklyn Bear’s Garden at Flatbush Avenue
  2. St. Marks Avenue Blk. Assn. Community Garden btwn Carlton & Vanderbilt
  3. Prospect Heights Community Farm, St. Marks btwn Vanderbilt & Underhill
  4. Fulton Revival Garden, Vanderbilt at Gates
  5. Hollenback Community Garden, Washington btwn Gates & Greene
  6. Classon Ful-gate Community Garden, Classon btwn Fulton & Gates
  7. Clifton Place Community Garden, Grand btwn Clifton & Greene
  8. Pratt/Clinton Hill Community Garden, Hall St at DeKalb
  9. The Greene Garden, DeKalb at Portland
  10. Carlton Avenue Brooklyn Bear’s Garden between Fulton & Greene

Look for more “GWE” Tours coming up this fall in Bed Stuy and East NY, once again sponsored by the new (and still forming) Brooklyn Community Gardeners’ Coalition. There’ll also be a bike tour in August sponsored by the Brooklyn Queens Land Trust! Lots of opportunities to see Brooklyn’s beautiful gardens!

Related Posts

Brooklyn Bears Community Garden, February 13, 2008

NYC Sewer-Stormwater Settlement

Posted on by
Reply

New York City will pay $5,000,000 to settle violations from delays in upgrades to sewer and stormwater systems. Three of the four sites to benefit directly from the settlement are in or adjacent to Brooklyn: Gowanus Canal, Coney Island Creek, and Jamaica Bay.

New York City has agreed to pay a $1 million fine and fund $4 million worth of environmental-benefit projects to settle violations related to delays in making sewer-system and stormwater-system upgrades to prevent overflows into waterways. The violations stem from the city’s failure to make improvements in accordance with a schedule outlined in a 2005 consent order. Under this settlement, the city has agreed to a new timeline for completing those construction projects and will make further upgrades to both its sewer and stormwater systems.
– Settlement Paves Way for Sewer/Stormwater Upgrades and Green Infrastructure in NYC, July 2008, Environment DEC

The issue centered around New York City’s obligation to improve mechanical structures, foundations, substructures, pumping stations and other infrastructure-related systems. The projects are designed to improve the capacity of the city’s wastewater and stormwater systems. During heavy rainfall in New York City and other municipalities, runoff can exceed the capacity of the sewer system, triggering what’s known as “combined sewer overflows.” [Just as attractive as it sounds.] Infrastructure upgrades can diminish the chances of overflows.

The environmental benefit projects will be concentrated in the Bronx River, Flushing Bay, Coney Island Creek and Gowanus Canal watersheds and will assess the use of various green infrastructure to be installed for sewer-overflow and stormwater abatement. Some of the types of projects that will be considered include enhanced tree pits with underground water storage, rain gardens, green roofs, bio-retention basins and swales, porous pavement and blue roofs. Collectively, these projects are intended to reduce the volume of stormwater that enters the sewer system, thereby limiting overflows. These projects, administered through the state Environmental Facilities Corp., will include extensive community input and involvement.

Brooklyn Parks’ Events, July 4th Weekend

Posted on by
Reply

Lots of activities in Parks all over Brooklyn this weekend:

Weeding Cortelyou, Saturday, July 5, 2008

Posted on by
6

Update 7/7: See Cortelyou Weeded (Partly)Update 7/1: Please fill out the survey at the top of the sidebar to let us know if you’re able to help weed this Saturday. Several folks have indicated that Saturday’s not good for them, so if another date would work, please let us know that, too.

A tree pit on Cortelyou Road needin’ weedin’. Note that the weeds are as high as the parking meter.Major WeedsNext Saturday morning, July 5th, starting at 9am, join Flatbush residents, gardening and non-gardening alike, to help weed and clean up the tree pits along Cortelyou Road between Coney Island Avenue and East 16th Street.

Tired of looking at all the weeds in our beautiful new tree pits? Come and help us weed Cortelyou! Meet at the Cortelyou Library at the corner of Argyle Road on Cortelyou, on Saturday, July 5th at 9am. We will be there all morning. No gardening experience necessary! We will show you what to do.Bring your own drinking water, sunscreen, and gloves and be ready to get dirty.

Thanks to Flatbush Development Corporation for buying mulch for the tree pits! And many thanks to my neighbor, Tracey Hohman, for jump-starting this cleanup!Neighbor Stacey Bell planting Daffodils in Fall of 2007.Tree Pit PlantingIf you have any questions, you can contact Tracey by email at thohman [at] verizon {dot} net, or contact me through the email in my profile, available in the sidebar.

Related Posts

Cortelyou Weeded, July 6, 2008Cortelyou Road

Links

Flatbush Development CorporationInvasive and Noxious Weeds of the Northeast, USDA PLANTS Database

Summer Nights

Posted on by
11

Update 2010.01.03: Corrected all links to the old Gowanus Lounge domain to the new memorial domain.

Flatbush Raccoon

I know it’s summer when the fireflies are out in force. As are the raccoons (Procyon lotor).

Both made their first appearance in the backyard about two weeks ago: just two fireflies, and just one raccoon. Tonight, multiple fireflies in everyone’s yards, front and back. And a family of raccoons, as we get every year. I saw three little ones at once. I saw the adult separately.

Here are, I think, two of the young’uns, one in a tree, and one on the ground. It could also be the same young raccoon. The one in the tree climbed down, shortly after which the “other” appeared on the ground.

Flatbush RaccoonFlatbush Raccoon

The groundling was very curious about my camera, and came within four feet of me before it realized the camera was attached to a person.

Flatbush Raccoon

Gowanus Lounge recently reported on raccoons sighted in Carroll Gardens. Some folks raised concerns about rabies. I left the following comment:

We love our Brooklyn raccoons!

They are annual visitors to our backyard. And our kitchen on the second floor. They climbed my neighbor’s apple tree to get there. They don’t scale building walls, they climb trees and other structures.

They’re scavengers, looking for easy grub. Don’t leave pet food outside. Don’t feed stray and feral cats and dogs. Keep garbage cans and compost bins and piles covered.

As for rabies, Brooklyn is the best off of all the five boroughs, with only 5 animal cases detected in the past 15 years; the most recent, in 2005, was a bat. Rabies is endemic in the Bronx and Staten Island.

Related Posts

Links

Old news

Brooklyn Blogade, June 2008

Posted on by
1

The Brooklyn Blogade at Root Hill Cafe
Brooklyn Blogade

The June 2008 Brooklyn Blogade was hosted by Adrian Kinloch, Brit in Brooklyn, at Root Hill Cafe on 4th Avenue. The theme was photo-blogging, and several Brooklyn photo-bloggers – including myself I suppose! – turned out for the afternoon. About 20 people attended, most of whom of visible in the photo above.

Related Posts

Flickr photo set
Kensington Blogade, March 10, 2008

Links

Miconian

[where: Root Hill Cafe, 262 4th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11215]

Brooklyn Blogade this Sunday, June 22

Posted on by
3

The next Brooklyn Blogade is this Sunday, June 22, 12noon at Root Hill Cafe, 262 4th Ave, at the corner of Carroll Street. The closest subway stop is Union Street on the M/R.

JUNE BLOGADE

Adrian, Brit in Brooklyn, is our host this Sunday:

BIB is hosting this month’s blogade so naturally the emphasis will be on photoblogging. Anyone who regularly uses images, photobloggers or bloggers, will find it useful.

If you are thinking of starting a blog you’ll be in great company as there’ll be bloggers around who’ll be happy to chat with you about setting something up. We’ll also talk about copyright, fair use and backing up your work.

There will be the regular ‘shout out’ where eveyone gets to talk a bit about their blog and the chance afterwards to share your blogging experiences, gripes, groans and news. With or without a blog *everyone* is welcome, and we’re especially keen to meet new bloggers in less-blogged turfs!

The Brooklyn Blogades are a monthly meet and greet for bloggers, blog readers, and people who are thinking about becoming bloggers. It’s a great opportunity to network and to learn a thing or two about
blogging. It’s also a great way to learn about new blogs.

Look forward to seeing you there. If you are going to pop in drop me a line so I can get an idea of numbers.

Rosa Redux: BBG’s latest time-lapse video

Posted on by
3


Cranford Rose Garden Timelapse at Brooklyn Botanic Garden from Brooklyn Botanic Garden on Vimeo.

Also check out BBG’s latest Flickr group, June is Rose Month, for hundreds of views of the Cranford Rose Garden from its visitors.

Related Posts

Sakura Matsuri this weekend (includes Cherry time-lapse), May 1, 2008
Members Reception in BBG’s Cranford Rose Garden, June 9, 2007

Links

Cranford Rose Garden Timelapse, Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Vimeo (HD)

A Night at the Opera

Posted on by
Reply

This Friday I’ll be attending the first public concert in Prospect Park: the Metropolitan Opera, Live in Prospect Park:

Two of opera’s biggest stars, soprano Angela Gheorghiu and tenor Roberto Alagna, will perform together on the Long Meadow Ballfields on June 20 at 8 p.m., together with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus. This year’s Prospect Park concert is anticipated to be one of the Metropolitan Opera’s largest outdoor concerts in company history.

The Met’s summertime tradition of free outdoor performances returns with a special one-night only event in Prospect Park. Celebrate the start of summer with two of opera’s biggest stars – Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna- singing popular arias and duets. Ion Marin conducts the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus in the operatic event of the summer
– Met Summer Concert: Live in Prospect Park

They really do mean the start of summer. The Summer Solstice is this Friday, June 20, 23:59 UTC, 7:59pm Eastern Daylight Time, 1 minute before the official start of the concert.

It looks to be an impressive setup. Neighbor and fellow blogger and gardener Brenda caught the construction in progress:

On Monday morning, the Long Meadow was a hive of construction activity. Flat-bed trucks, tractors, and dozens of guys swarmed over the turf for an Opera Barn-Raising of sorts: Turns out this Friday’s concert featuring husband-and-wife team Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna will be a real blowout, with jumbo video screens and a “larger than normal stage.”

The performance will be broadcast live on WQXR-FM (96.3 FM), and streamed live on the Met’s website, www.metopera.org.

The married star couple of Gheorghiu and Alagna will sing popular arias and duets by Verdi, Puccini, Donizetti, Massenet, and others, conducted by Ion Marin. Gheorghiu and Alagna will perform on a larger-than-normal stage, surrounded by six jumbo video screens that will be strategically placed throughout the area to maximize the viewing experience.

Links

Prospect Park
Metropolitan Opera