Fall Back, 2010

Posted on 2010-09-22 by admin

Persephone with her pomegranate. Dante Gabriel Rossetti – Proserpine (Oil on canvas, 1874) – Tate Gallery, London

This year’s autumnal or September equinox occurs at 03:09 Universal Time (UTC) on September 23. In my local time, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), it’s 23:09, 11:09 PM, on September 22.

The Earth’s seasons are caused by the rotation axis of the Earth not being perpendicular to its orbital plane. The Earth’s axis is tilted at an angle of approximately 23.44° from the orbital plane; this tilt is called the axial tilt. As a consequence, for half of the year (i.e. from around March 20 to around September 22), the northern hemisphere tips toward the Sun, with the maximum around June 21, while for the other half of the year, the southern hemisphere has this honor, with the maximum around December 21. The two instants when the Sun is directly overhead at the Equator are the equinoxes.
– Wikipedia: Equinox

This image shows the orientation of the Earth from the perspective of the Sun at the March/Vernal Equinox: North is to the upper right, and Earth orbits to the left. At the September/Autumnal Equinox, the only difference is that North would appear to the upper left from the same perspective. Illustration: Dennis Nilsson

Bas-relief in Takht-e Jamshid (Throne of Jamshid), Parseh, also known as Persepolis. On the day of an equinox, the power of an eternally fighting bull (personifying the Earth) and that of a lion (personifying the Sun) are equal. The September equinox marks the first day of Mehr or Libra in the Persian calendar. Photo: Anatoly Terentiev

So, what’s with the chick with the fruit at the top of this post? Persephone/Proserpina was the daughter of Demeter/Ceres and Zeus/Jupiter. Demeter hid her daughter from the other gods, but Hades/Pluto abducted her:

She was innocently picking flowers with some nymphs — Athena, and Artemis, the Homeric hymn says — or Leucippe, or Oceanids — in a field in Enna when Hades came to abduct her, bursting through a cleft in the earth. Later, the nymphs were changed by Demeter into the Sirens for not having interfered. Life came to a standstill as the devastated Demeter, goddess of the Earth, searched everywhere for her lost daughter. Helios, the sun, who sees everything, eventually told Demeter what had happened.

Finally, Zeus, pressed by the cries of the hungry people and by the other deities who also heard their anguish, forced Hades to return Persephone. However, it was a rule of the Fates that whoever consumed food or drink in the Underworld was doomed to spend eternity there. Before Persephone was released to Hermes, who had been sent to retrieve her, Hades tricked her into eating pomegranate seeds, which forced her to return to the underworld for the winter each year.
– Wikipedia: Persephone

But it’s not Persephone’s return to the underworld that brings on Winter. Demeter was the goddess of the harvest, agriculture, forests, and the earth. It’s Demeter’s grief for her daughter that that cools the nights, shortens the days, triggers the harvest, and brings on the “sleep” of the earth.

Links

U.S. Naval Observatory: The Seasons and Earth’s Orbit
Wikipedia: Equinox, Persephone

Daffodil Project 2010

Posted on 2010-09-21 by admin

Update 2010-10-22: Manhattan distribution date changed.
Updated 2010-10-09: Bronx distribution date and location changed.
Updated 2010-09-23: Added distribution dates and sites.

Daffodil bulbs just planted in place in a tree bed on Cortelyou Road in November 2007.

Today and tomorrow are the last two days to request Daffodil bulbs from New Yorkers for Parks for this year’s Daffodil Project. Bulbs will be distributed in October. In Brooklyn, bulbs will be available for pick up on Saturday, October 23, from 8am-11am, at Grand Army Plaza at the Greenmarket Manager’s tent near the white flagpole.

For nearly a decade the Daffodil Project, a living memorial to 9/11, has been a citywide effort to beautify every neighborhood by planting daffodils. Led by New Yorkers for Parks in cooperation with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, this annual volunteer effort serves as a living memorial for the victims, a symbol of remembrance, and an act of rebirth that involves citizens in the revitalization of their communities.

Each fall, New Yorkers for Parks distributes hundreds of thousands of daffodil bulbs to New Yorkers in all five boroughs. The bulbs are free to anyone who commits to planting them in a park or public space.

Dutch bulb supplier Hans van Waardenburg of B&K Flowerbulbs has pledged to donate 500,000 daffodil bulbs to the project each year as long as there are volunteers willing to plant them. Over 20,000 New Yorkers have responded to this challenge, making the Daffodil Project one of the largest citywide volunteer efforts.

Since the project’s inception, nearly 4 million daffodils have been planted throughout New York City.
– The Daffodil Project, New Yorkers for Parks

Distribution Dates and Sites

Thank you to all the community groups who signed up for bulbs for partnering with us to make this living 9/11 memorial possible. Bulbs will be distributed to those who registered at the five sites across the city (one in each borough). Please try to arrive earlier rather than later.

Staten Island, Silver Lake Tennis House: Sunday, October 17th, 10am-12pm
On the Forest Avenue side of Silver Lake Park near the intersection of Hart Boulevard and Forest Avenue.

Brooklyn, Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket: Saturday, October 23rd, 8am-11am
At the manager’s tent near the white flag pole.

Manhattan – Date changed – Union Square Greenmarket: Sunday, October 24th, 10am-1pm
At the manager’s tent near the corner of East 15th Street and Union Square West.

The Bronx – Date and location changed – Bronx Borough Hall Greenmarket: Tuesday, October 26, 10am-12pm
at the manager’s tent, Grand Concourse between 161st and 162nd streets

Queens, The Overlook in Forest Park: Saturday, October 30th, 10am-1pm
At 80-30 Park Lane, Kew Gardens NY 11415. Enter through the service road.

We are asking groups who requested over 300 bulbs to bring their own bags or boxes to take the bulbs away on the day of the distribution. Tote bags will not be handed out this year. Thank you for your assistance with this!

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Links

The Daffodil Project, New Yorkers for Parks

City Announces Revised Rules for Community Gardens

Posted on 2010-09-13 by admin

Updated 2010-09-14: Added links to news reports.

Note: The full press release claims that “there are more than 600 gardens across New York City.” This in incorrect. The latest census lists only 482 gardens, 20% fewer than claimed in Parks’ press release.

Parks Press Release

Monday, September 13, 2010

Parks Commissioner Announces Final Community Garden Rules Strengthening Protections For Gardens

Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe today announced the Parks Department has finalized its Community Garden Rules, which incorporate significant changes based on public comments made on the draft rules. The Notice of Adoption, including the full rules, will be published in the City Record on Monday, September 13, 2010 and take effect 30 days later.

Key changes to the proposed rules, led by Commissioner Benepe in concert with elected officials, community boards, and community garden organizations, were made in response to testimony from the community at a public hearing on August 10th, 2010 which was hosted by the Parks Department. They include:

Active gardens under the Parks Department’s jurisdiction are preserved as gardens as long as they are registered and licensed by the Department.
Licenses will be renewed as long as the garden satisfies the registration criteria.
Parks must attempt to identify successor gardening groups for failing gardens and has nine months from time of default to return the garden to active status.
New gardens may be created and will have the same protections as existing gardens.
A party licensed by the City to perform work that results in damage to a garden will be required to return the garden to its preexisting condition.
The Department will attempt to provide notices required under the Current Rules to gardeners in other languages.
The Statement of Basis and Purpose states that gardens will be preserved and explains that the transfer and development provisions apply to abandoned and persistently non-compliant gardens under the Department’s jurisdiction.

…

Links

Parks Press Release, 2010-09-13

Time’s Up! Statement on New Garden Rules, Time’s Up, 2010-09-14

Community Gardens Get More Protection, Brooklyn Eagle, 2010-09-13
Community-Garden Rules Receive a Mixed Reaction, Javier C. Hernandez, NY Times, 2010-09-13
City Adopts New Rules For Community Gardens, Erica Ferrari, NY1 News (Video)
NYC Adopts New Rules For Community Gardens, Monica Morales, WPIX (Video)

Grief & Gardening: Nine Years

Posted on 2010-09-11 by admin

Let’s get the usual question out of the way. This is where I was the morning of September 11, 2001.

This is Skytop Tower at Mohonk Mountain House at sunset the previous night. Blog Widow and I had planned a week-long vacation upstate, starting at Mohonk. The morning of September 11, we hiked up to Skytop. A rustic retreat, Mohonk had no televisions or radios in the rooms. As we left the massive wooden structure to go out hiking, I noticed people huddled around the few televisions in some of the common rooms. I thought nothing of it at the time. I later realized we left just after the first attack.
We hiked around the lake, then up to Skytop, and climbed up into the tower. We had the trails almost to ourselves. As we came down the tower, I sang loudly, my voice echoing through the stone structure: “I love to go a-wandering …” Part of the way, we encountered another hiker coming up the stairs. I stopped singing and said, “excuse me.” Only then did he lift his head to us, tears streaming down his face. “Did you hear what happened?” “No.” “They flew a plane into the World Trade Center.”

We hiked back. When we returned to the buildings, the common rooms were packed with people, watching the news on every available television. We went back to our room. Blog Widow went back downstairs to find out what happened. I had brought my laptop with me, so I tried getting online. He returned to tell me the World Trade Center had collapsed. I was incredulous; I couldn’t imagine what that meant. By the time I went downstairs myself, both towers were gone. I sat and watched those horrible images for the first time.

We decided to hold to our vacation plans for the week, somber though it was. There was nothing we could do back home. My workplace downtown, blocks from Ground Zero, would not reopen for two weeks. Reminders met us everywhere we went. And everywhere we went, we were ambassadors for New York City. When we told people where we were from, as often as not, they broke down crying. We were their reminders.

We drove back to my apartment in Brooklyn that Sunday. I was startled when I saw the first airplane flying overhead; with all flights grounded, the skies had been empty since the attacks. I got my first glimpse as we drove along the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway: twin trails of heavy smoke, orange and red from a setting sun. I burst into tears. Somehow, I had expected the fires to have burned out by then.

When we were allowed to return to work, I got my first personal glimpse of Ground Zero.

The fires continued to burn for months, through the winter, into 2002. For weeks, until a few heavy rains washed the city, everything was covered in ash and dust. It collected in drifts along sidewalks and gutters. Every day I went to work, for months, I smelled and breathed the smoke. All of Downtown Manhattan was a crematorium.

Thousands of shrines and memorials appeared and grew throughout the city. The most heart-breaking were those around St. Vincent’s Hospital, which prepped for massive casualties, but received very few. Few who didn’t walk, or run, away survived. Even today, remains have yet to be found for over 1,000 people murdered in the attacks.

The ash washed away, the fires died, the smoke cleared. The candles and posters gradually eroded. A year after the attacks, the memorials which covered the fences around St. Paul’s Chapel were carefully removed and preserved. Eventually, even the basin which held the foundations of the towers and other structures on the site was emptied. As the direct evidence of what happened faded, new symbols emerged. For me, these are far more powerful and meaningful than any flag or banner.

Tonight, the Tribute in Light will shine again.

The Sphere, the sculpture by Fritz Koenig that had held place of prominence in the center of the WTC Plaza, was heavily damaged in the towers’ collapse, but survived. It’s been on display at Battery Park for the past few years. It will be returned to the Memorial for its permanent home.

Another sculpture, Steve Tobin’s “Trinity Root,” was placed in the courtyard of Trinity Church, two blocks from Ground Zero. It was cast from the roots of a Sycamore that stood in the cemetery of St. Paul’s Chapel, a few blocks north, and directly across the street from Ground Zero. The tree was destroyed when the towers fell, but it shielded the church itself from even greater damage.

St. Paul’s Chapel has been a moving memorial all these years. It’s filled with an ever-changing display of artifacts and remembrances from all over the world.

And finally, the official, multi-million dollar memorial will occupy the footprints of the towers and the plaza between them. Here’s a model of the National September 11 Memorial at the Preview Site on Vesey Street, across the street from St. Paul’s near the corner of Church Street at Ground Zero in Downtown Manhattan.

The first of 400 trees for the grove were planted just two weeks ago, in time for today’s observations. These are Quercus bicolor, Swamp White Oaks. The other species will be Liquidambar styraciflua, Sweet Gum. A forest and waterfalls will take the place of devastation, natural elements no less powerful and evocative for being constrained to an urban grid. They will also remind me of where I was when I first heard of the attacks. A garden as the ultimate embodiment of reflection and recovery.

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Citizen Pruner Training Fall Schedule

Posted on 2010-09-10 by admin

The London Plane Tree in front of my house.

TreesNY’s Citizen Pruner Tree Care Course is being offered in Brooklyn and Manhattan this season, covering basic tree biology, street tree identification and care. Upon successful completion of the final exam, participants receive a license that certifies them to legally prune trees owned by the City of New York. In New York City where there is limited money for tree maintenance but significant need, Citizen Pruners provide a tremendous benefit to our urban environment.

The twelve hour course consists of four weekly two-hour classes and four hours of hands-on experience in the field. Participants may miss up to one classroom session. The weekend field outing is mandatory. Specific dates vary by location. Locations and Dates for classes in the Bronx, Queens and Staten Island are still to be determined.

The course fee is $100 and includes a comprehensive manual and other materials. Course fee is non-refundable.You can register and pay online with Visa, Mastercard or Discover. To pay by check, make your check payable to Trees New York, and indicate the course location on the check

Brooklyn

Brooklyn Borough Hall
Borough President’s Conference Room
209 Joralemon Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
Wednesdays, 6-8pm, Sep 15, 22, 29 and October 6, 6 – 8 PM
Saturday, October 2, 10 AM – 2 PM

Downtown Manhattan

51 Chambers Street, Room #501
New York, NY 10007
Thursday, September 23 & 30, and October 7 & 14, 6-8pm
Saturday, October 9, 10am-2pm

Uptown Manhattan

The Arsenal in Central Park, Third Floor
830 Fifth Avenue, at 64th Street
New York, NY 10065
Mondays, Oct 18 & 25, and November 1 & 8, 6-8pm
Saturday, November 6, 10am-2pm
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About Trees NY

Trees New York is an environmental and urban forestry nonprofit organization. Our mission is to plant, preserve and protect New York City’s urban forest through education, active citizen participation and advocacy.

Trees New York • 51 Chambers Street, Suite 1412A • New York, NY 10007 • (212) 227-1887 • www.treesny.org • info@treesny.org

Boardwalk Community Garden, Coney Island, Brooklyn

Posted on 2010-09-06 by admin

Slideshow

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Links

OASIS Map

Community Gardens Guest Post in Garden Rant

Posted on 2010-09-06 by admin

See Community Gardens: Where “Garden” Becomes the Verb on Garden Rant.

Links

New York City Community Garden Coalition
Open Space Index Report (PDF), New Yorkers for Parks
American Community Gardening Association

Histories of NYC Community Gardens

New York’s Community Gardens (1970s-2002), TreeBranch Network, Neighborhood Open Space Coalition
Community Gardens in New York City: the Lower East Side of Manhattan (1960s-2002), Not Bored

Contemporary reports from the 2002 Settlement Agreement

Bringing Peace to the Garden of Tranquility, Richard Stapleton, Land&People, Fall 1999, Trust for Public Land
Community Gardens Endangered Still, Anne Schwartz, Gotham Gazette, May 2001
Community Garden Negotiations, Anne Schwartz, Gotham Gazette, May 2002

The 2010 Settlement Expiration and Proposed New Rules

Keeping the Gardens Green, NY Times editorial, 8/2/10
Green groups fear new community garden rules, Heather Haddon, AM New York, 8/4/10
Coalition Seeks More Protection For Community Gardens, Raanan Geberer, Brooklyn Eagle, 8/6/10
Time’s Up Response To Benepe’s Embarrassing NY Post Community Garden Op-Ed, A Walk in the Park, 8/12/10

Fall Approaches, 2009

Posted on 2009-09-26 by admin

September Dogwood, Beverly Road, Flatbush, Brooklyn, 2009

My clear signal for the onset of Spring is the blooming of Snowdrops, Galanthus species. The reddening leaves of Dogwoods, Cornus species, tell me that Fall has really begun in my neighborhood of Flatbush, Brooklyn. Soon to come are the yellows of the Locust trees, Gleditsia and Robinia species, and the psychedelic rainbows of White Ash, Fraxinus americana. The big show is put on by the Maples and Oaks.

Conditions are ideal for spectacular foliage this year. We’ve had ample rains over the summer following near-record Spring rains. The NY State Foliage Forecast predicts that peak foliage will reach New York City around the last week of October. This timing couldn’t be more perfect. On Saturday, October 24, fellow gardener Tracey Hohman and I will be guiding the first Fall Foliage Street Tree Walking Tour for Sustainable Flatbush. We’ll be walking the same route we’ve visited the past two Springs, so participants can see the same trees this Fall that they’ve seen in the Spring.

Sustainable Flatbush Street Tree Walking Tour, Arbor Day 2009. That’s me in the middle, next to the tree. Photo by Keka

Brilliant, near-peak foliage will make its first appearance in New York State this weekend in parts of the Adirondacks, while rapidly changing colors in the Catskills will bring most of the region to around the midpoint of change …
– I Love NY Fall Foliage Report, week of September 23-29

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Links

I Love NY Foliage Forecast

Sustainable Flatbush

Happy September Equinox 2009

Posted on 2009-09-22 by admin

Bas-relief in Persepolis. On the day of an equinox, the power of an eternally fighting bull (personifying the Earth) and that of a lion (personifying the Sun) are equal. The September equinox marks the first day of Mehr or Libra in the Persian calendar. Photo: Anatoly Terentiev

The September equinox (autumnal in the northern hemisphere, vernal in the southern) occurs today, September 22, at 21:18 UTC. Daylight Savings Time puts me at UTC-4, so 17:18, or 5:18pm, local time.

Illumination of the Earth by the Sun on the day of an equinox

Persephone with her pomegranate. Dante Gabriel Rossetti – Proserpine (Oil on canvas, 1874) – Tate Gallery, London

Equinox
Solstice

Persephone Rises, 2009-03-19

Links

Wikipedia:Equinox

Cortelyou Road Park, Park(ing) Day NYC

Posted on 2009-09-18 by admin

Park(ing) Gnome, Cortelyou Road Park, Flatbush, Brooklyn, 16:42 (4:42 pm)

Worms!, 16:26 (4:26 pm)

Bulldog Puppy, 15:27 (3:27 pm)

Solar-powered Boom-box Experiment, 13:24 (1:24 pm)

Ronny Wasserstrom and his amazing egg-juggling egg puppet, 12:54

Biophilia in action, 11:29

Cortelyou Road Park, Flatbush, Brooklyn, 11:09

An international event, with 55 sites this year in NYC, Park(ing) Day highlights the public space that is devoted to streets and parking. For one day only, groups transform a parking space into a public park. These creative and active sites suggest alternative purposes for such space that can benefit more people in a wider range of uses than storing an empty personal transportation vehicle.

Cortelyou Road Park is a project of the Livable Streets initiative of Sustainable Flatbush. As the Director of the Urban Gardens & Farms initiative of Sustainable Flatbush, I loaned much of my garden furniture and container plants to help transform a parking space on busy Cortelyou Road into a garden room.

We’re having a great time, and the day is not quite half over as I write this first post of the day. I’ll be trying to update during the day. You can also follow me today on Twitter.

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Slideshow

Links

Cortelyou Road Park
Park(ing) Day this Friday, September 18th!, Sustainable Flatbush
Cortelyou Road gets a new park–for the 3rd year in a row!, Park(ing) Day NYC

Park(ing) Day NYC: A Garden Grows in Flatbush, Brit in Brooklyn, 2009-09-18

Park(ing) Day (International)

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