Updated 2011-11-20
My photo of Patrick Dougherty’s “Natural History” blanketed in January’s snow opens Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s 2012 calendar.

Earlier this year, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden solicited submissions for a visitor-sourced calendar:

Among the Garden’s most passionate visitors are photographers, who capture the beauty each season brings to the Garden’s 52 acres. Their images, taken from unique vantage points, offer perspectives that are at once stunning and unexpected. The 2012 calendar celebrates BBG through their eyes, with a selection of the best visitor-contributed photos from an online competition hosted last year.

Today, the winners met for a reception and guided tour of the Garden.

After coffee and munchies, following a brief welcome and introduction from BBG’s Claire Hansen, we set out on our own guided tour of the “Your Take” trail, a temporary exhibit on the grounds of the Garden, highlighting each of the photos in the calendar, and its photographer, at the location the photo was taken. Here I am posing with my sign.

Photo: John Magisano

The signs will be up through January. Here’s the complete list of all photos in the calendar.

• January: Chris Kreussling, Patrick Dougherty’s “Natural History”
• February: David Finkelstein, Desert House
• March: Margaret Halligan, Beech Grove
• April: Maria Buck, Cherry Esplanade from the Cranford Overlook
• May: Marie Viljoen, Bluebell Wood
• June: Maxim Pierre, Cranford Rose Garden
• July: Vivek Bharathan, Lily Pool Terrace
• August: Marc Dalio, Podophyllum peltatum in the Native Flora Garden
• September: Tara Schmitt, Herb Garden
• October: Jackie Weisberg, the Japanese Garden
• November: Paul Grebanier, Ginkgo stream bank
• December: Leah Hansen, Bonsai Museum

Slideshow

Related Content

Flickr photo set

Links

BBG’s Flickr set of copies of the photos used in the calendar
BBG 2012 Calendar, 66 Square Feet (Marie Viljoen)

East New York Farms, one of Brooklyn’s handful of urban farms, is seeking an Urban Agriculture Coordinator. The position will start part-time February 1, 2008 (for training) and become full-time with full benefits March 1, 2008.

Deadline for applications is December 14. See their blog for details.

Responsibilities:
* Recruit and train new and experienced gardeners from East New York and surrounding communities in urban production for market (primarily vegetable production, possibility of chicken raising and bee-keeping)
* Lead and coordinate trainings for gardeners, as well as provide individual technical assistance
* Organize local gardeners and develop their capacity to support each other, sell at the farmers market, and oversee a micro-loan fund
* Provide group development assistance to 20-30 members of new 1/2 acre urban farm, and assist them in further developing the farm
* Supervise and support Urban Farm Manager in cultivating and maintaining a half-acre urban farm
* Co-supervise and train teens (ages 13-16) to grow vegetables, serve other neighborhood gardeners, and help run the farmers’ market
* Assist with designing and leading lessons to build skills and help youth understand the social context of their work
* Track and assist with reporting activities to funders
* Support farmers’ market operations
* Support outreach/promotion efforts of project

Qualifications:
* At least one full season of growing experience, primarily in small fruit and vegetable production
* Experience facilitating trainings for both youth and adults
* Experience working with diverse communities and individuals
* Responsible and able to work independently
* Drivers’ license a must
* Ability to work weekends (work week is Tuesday – Saturday from March through November) and occasional evenings
* Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience
* Spanish language skills a plus

This is a full-time position with full benefits

Position will start part-time February 1, 2008 (for training) and become full-time March 1, 2008.

Please send resume and cover letter by December 14, 2007 to:

Sarita Daftary
East New York Farms! Project Director
info@eastnewyorkfarms.org

I’ve been out of town for a week. I more than made up for it yesterday, with a trip to and from Bay Ridge using two different subways and buses. It was my first visit to Bay Ridge. I went for the Bay Ridge Blogade. I also visited the Narrows Botanical Gardens. I had to leave the Blogade early to return for the inaugural event of Victorian Place Cultural Center.

I took about 600 photos over the course of the day. These are getting seriously whittled down. Even so, it’s going to take me a couple of days to get to each set. So watch this space!

On their blog, Bootstrap Analysis, Nuthatch describes a problem which would never occur to me. The common landscaping practice of enclosing the trunks of newly planted trees with plastic tubes to protect them from browse damage can trap and kill birds looking for nesting sites:

It’s a good time to warn all bird lovers about tree tubes. These are used to protect saplings from deer. Usually consisting of a plastic tube about 4′ high held up by plastic ties and wooden stakes, these tubes are attractive nuisances for bluebirds: the male bluebird wants to explore all possible nesting cavities, so he will go into the tube and fall to the bottom and not be able to get out.

The post goes on the describe two possible solutions: exclude birds from the top of the tube with a physical barrier, or lift or open the bottom of the tube to provide an escape hatch:

The tree tube manufacturers sell (or include) woven plastic tops, or “socks” to go over the tops of the tubes. These will effectively prevent male bluebirds from going into the tubes. If not, you can use some means to create a small exit slot or hole at the bottom of the tube, such as pulling the stake out of the ground 1.5 inches.

I imagine that panty-hose or other stretchy fabric across the top of the tube would also serve well as a barrier.

Nuthatch cites an original source for this, but doesn’t provide a link.

I wasn’t sure exactly why I started this blog. I’ve kind of continued on faith that the reasons for it would make themselves known to me. Three encounters in the past month have encouraged me that I’m doing the right thing.

At our neighborhood association meeting at the beginning of February, I spoke with one of my neighbors who’s also working on our landmarking effort. He mentioned his garden, so I told him about this blog. Turns out he’s already a reader. This was the first time I’ve met a reader in real life.

Last Wednesday my partner and I shared the special Valentine’s Day dinner at a local restaurant. The other couples sitting around us turned out to all be neighbors. And again, during introductions, I learned that one of the neighbors already knew about this blog.

Last Friday I stopped into the storefront office of a business owner I know from the neighborhood. When I walked in, she said “We were just talking about you!” She had just learned about the possible creation of a community garden in our neighborhood, an area with little public open space. She knew of my interest in gradening, even though she didn’t know about this blog until that meeting.

I think of serendipity as kind of a cosmic wink. I am grateful that this blog brings me in contact with folks from all over the world. It is a gift that it also brings me into contact with my neighbors. Since we bought our home two years ago, I have increasingly found a sense of place here that I’ve never felt anywhere else. It feels like more than home. It feels like I belong to a community, and that’s a sign of some deep healing for me.

NYC observed Valentine’s Day – which is also not so coincidentally National Condom (Awareness) Day – earlier this week by releasing its own brand of condoms:

… The [NYC] Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) also announced that it has been distributing 1 million condoms per month (more than 9 million condoms in total) to community and social service organizations through a web-based Free Condom Initiative [Requires Flash] that began in June 2005. The DOHMH is currently developing a condom with unique packaging, to be released in coming months.
– “Bring Your Own Condom“, Press Release

If only they were available in my neighborhood.

The NYC Condom Web site includes a link for “Individuals Get Some.” Yes, I are an individual, and yes, I too want to “get some,” as the kids say. The link provides a complete list of all of the locations where DOHMH is distributing these condoms, which can also be filtered by Borough and/or Zip Code. However, there are no locations for either of the Zip Codes – neither 11218 nor 11226 – which service my neighborhood.

Lest you think it’s just the luck of the draw, there are several Zip Codes in Brooklyn with multiple locations. 11211, for example, has 13 locations, every one of which is a bar or a “lounge,” including Pete’s Candy Store, where Jay Bakker‘s Revolution Church NYC meets. (On my wish list for my birthday, one of their “Religion Kills” t-shirts.) Other Brooklyn locations include parlors, hair salons, clothing stores, pizzerias, restaurants, dry cleaners, and, oh yeah, Department of Health offices.

I’m feeling dissed.

We’ve got all those and more on the commercial strip of Courtelyou Road, serving both Zip Codes 11218 and 11226. So, come on, business owners, step up and demand to “get some” from DOHMH. Your neighbors and community will thank you. And it couldn’t hurt business, neither.

Links:

• American Social Health Association (ASHA)
• NYC Condom [requires Flash]

This lecture by Dr. David Bonter of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology is hosted by Martin Viette Nurseries in East Norwich, Long Island, New York.

Drawing up on the knowledge of 14,000 people participating in Project Feeder Watch, this presentation will help you understand the biology and survival strategies of our favorite birds of winter. Learn how to attract colorful birds to your yard and discover the food and feeder preferences of New York’s Top 20 most common feeder birds. Finally, learn how you can contribute to science by watching the birds in your own backyard.

Project FeederWatch is a winter-long survey of birds that visit feeders at backyards, nature centers, community areas, and other locales in North America. FeederWatchers periodically count the highest numbers of each species they see at their feeders from November through early April. FeederWatch helps scientists track broadscale movements of winter bird populations and long-term trends in bird distribution and abundance.

Project FeederWatch is operated by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in partnership with the National Audubon Society, Bird Studies Canada, and Canadian Nature Federation.

via Birding News Feed.

My parents walking towards the Japanese Garden at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in November of 2005.

At the 1964 World’s Fair in Queens, New York. From left to right: Dad, little Xris, my maternal grandmother, and Mom.

Doesn’t my Dad look like one of the Men in Black? Were neckties ever really that skinny?!

Just wanted to thank all of you who’ve been concerned about my absence from the blogosphere. This is a quick note to let you all know I am fine, and hope to resume again soon.

This week, I’m experiencing technical difficulties due to my fumbled attempt to add a new computer to our home network. When I have the time to resolve that, I should be again swamping all of you with voluminous posts and numerous photos.

Peace – Xris

• December 5, Experts Worry Warmer Earth Will Slash Farm Yields
• December 2, Organic Dairying Is on Upswing, But No Panacea
• November 30, Supreme Court Hears First Global Warming Case
• November 30, Humans’ love for rare objects could cause conservation efforts to backfire and force species disappearance
• November 24, Taking Wheat to its Wild Side Boosts Nutrients
• November 21, Earthwatch: Business Must Adapt to Realities of Earth’s Ecosystems
• November 18, Cow Power
• November 16, Rare Indian Bamboo Bloom Brings Rats, Threatens Crops
• November 14, Climate Change Pushing Bird Species to Oblivion
• November 14, World’s Forests are Making a Comeback, via PlanetArk
• November 10, Making Growth Greener a Tall Task for Economists