Spencer Street Community Garden, Bed-Stuy, Green With Envy Tour 2008 III.06

This is the Spencer Street Block Association Community Garden, at 230 Spencer Street, between Willoughby & DeKalb, in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. This was the 6th stop on the third 2008 Green With Envy tour of Brooklyn Community Gardens last October.

Related Content

Tour Bed-Stuy Community Gardens, Saturday, October 4
Flickr photo set
View slideshow

Links

Greene Acres Community Garden, Bed-Stuy, Green With Envy Tour 2008 III.04

One of the paths defined by hexagonal raised beds at the Green Acres Community Garden in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn


Stop #4 of the third 2008 Green With Envy (GWE) tour of Brooklyn community gardens was the Green Acres Community Garden, at the corner of Greene and Franklin Avenues [GMAP] in the neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant.

Related Content

Tour Bed-Stuy Community Gardens, Saturday, October 4
Flickr photo set
View slideshow

Cedar Tree Garden, Bed-Stuy, Green With Envy Tour 2008 III.02

The second of the stops on the third Green With Envy tour of Bed-Stuy community gardens this past October was the Cedar Tree Garden at 305 Greene Avenue.

Related Content

Tour Bed-Stuy Community Gardens, Saturday, October 4
Flickr photo set

Madison Street Garden, Bed-Stuy, Green With Envy Tour 2008 III.01

Winter is a good time to dig into my photo archives. October seems so warm right now.

This is a slideshow from the Madison Street Block Association Garden at 88-90 Madison Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. This was the first stop on the third of the Green With Tours of Brooklyn community gardens I attended during 2008. GWE 2008 III visited gardens in Bed-Stuy.

Related Content

Tour Bed-Stuy Community Gardens, Saturday, October 4
Flickr photo set

Tour Bed-Stuy Community Gardens, Saturday, October 4

Round 3 of the 2008 Green With Envy Tours visits community gardens in Bedford-Stuyvesant on Saturday, October 4, from 10am to 2pm. This tour is organized by the Brooklyn Community Gardens Coalition with support from NYC Dept. of Parks & Recreation, GreenThumb, GreenGuerillas and BBG'S GreenBridge.

Click for map biggeremization


Gardens on the tour:

1. Madison Street Block Association Garden, 88-90 Madison Street, between Bedford Ave & Franklin Ave
2. Cedar Tree Garden, 305 Greene Avenue, between Classon & Franklin
3. Jane Bailey Memorial Garden, 327-329 Greene Avenue, between Classon & Franklin
4. Greene Acres Community Garden, 324 Franklin Avenue, corner of Greene Avenue
   
5. Target Community Garden, 931-933 Bedford Avenue, between Willoughby & DeKalb
   
6. Spencer Street Block Association Community Garden, 230 Spencer Street, between Willoughby & DeKalb
   
7. Hattie Carthan Community Garden, 654 Lafayette Ave, 363-365 Clifton Place, on Marcy Ave between Clifton Place and Lafayette Ave
   
8. NYCHA Garden Womens Mural, Nostrand at Greene
9. Greene Avenue Neighbors Association Garden, 490 Greene Avenue, corner of Nostrand
   
10. Clifton Place Memorial Park and Garden, 1031-1039 Bedford Ave, at Clifton Place

Join us for this guided tour, visiting Community Gardens in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. The tour begins with a 10am breakfast at the Madison Street Block Assn. Garden between Franklin & Bedford, then walk, bike, or ride the bus to visit some AMAZING Brooklyn Gardens.

Special THANKS to the Parks Department for generously providing bus transport for this tour!!! Space is limited... RSVP joncrow [at] earthlink [dot] net.

To get to the start of the tour, take the G to Classon, the C to Franklin, or from Downtown Bklyn, take the B52 or B26 to Franklin and walk to the Madison Garden.

Related Posts

Green With Envy

Links

Green Guerillas
GreenBridge, Brooklyn Botanic Garden
GreenThumb
Bed-Stuy Garden Tour, NYC Department of Parks & Recreation

Riding out the Harvest, BQLT Bike/Van Tour, Saturday, September 27

UPDATE Friday, 2008-09-26: CANCELLED. The announcement came at 10am from the tour's organizers:

Intrepid gardeners,

With a forecast of some serious rain, we've come to a decision to cancel this Saturday's (9/27/08) bqlt "Riding out the Harvest" bike/van tour.

Save your energy for next week's (10/4/08) "Green(e) with Envy," another great opportunity to explore the world of community gardening.

I'm disappointed, but I'll admit I wasn't looking forward to slogging through the rain with my camera. I am looking forward to the Green With Envy Tour of Bed-Stuy Community Gardens next Saturday, October 4.

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Classon Ful-Gate Block Association Community Garden, one of nine Brooklyn community gardens on this Saturday's tour.


The Brooklyn-Queens Land Trust (BQLT) is hosting its Second Annual Bike and Van Tour this Saturday, September 27th:

Jump in the van or hop on a bike - we're visiting a sampling of BQLT gardens - saying hello, having some snacks along the way. It all begins at 9:30am with a coffee reception at Hollenback Community Garden (Washington Ave between Gates and Green Avenue ). The harvest ride will culminate in a cookout beginning at 3:00pm at Euclid / Pine Street Block Association.

MEETING TIME/COFFEE: 9:30am @ Hollenback Garden
DEPARTURE TIME: 10:00am Sharp!
TOUR’S END/COOKOUT: 3:00pm @ Euclid-Pine Garden

This is a BIKE & VAN TOUR:
Bicyclists will be led by Isak Mendes - RSVP/Info: eaglemendes [at] yahoo [dot]com
Seats in the Van are limited! Reserve yours by contacting Brothel Dean: strechdean [at] msn [dot] com

Suggested donation: $5/person

The gardens on the tour are:

• Hollenback Community Garden, Washington Ave. between Gates & Greene Aves.
• Classon/Ful-Gate Block Association, Classon Ave. between Putnam & Madison Aves.
• St. Mark’s Ave./Prospect Heights, St. Marks between Vanderbilt & Carlton Aves.
• Mama Dee’s Garden, St. Mark’s Avenue between Bedford and Rogers Aves.
• Westbrook Memorial Garden, Pacific St. between Bedford & Nostrand Aves.
• United Herkimer Garden Club, Herkimer St. between Bedfor & Nostrand Aves.
• Rogers/Tilden/Veronica Place Garden, Corner of Tilden Ave. and Veronica Place
• Sheffield Garden, Sheffield Ave between New Lots and Hegeman Aves.
• Euclid-Pine Block Association Garden, Corner of Dumont Ave. & Pine St.

View Larger Map

Related Posts

Classon FulGate Block Association Garden, Green With Envy Tour, II.6, August 10, 2008
Hollenback Community Garden, Clinton Hill, Green With Envy Tour, II.5, August 8, 2008
St. Mark's Avenue Community Garden, Prospect Heights, Green With Envy Tour, II.2, August 2, 2008

Links

Riding out the Harvest, BQLT Bike/Van Tour
Google map

When you gotta go ...

... in Brooklyn, go to the 69th Street Pier in Bay Ridge, or the corner of Marcus Garvey Boulevard and Broadway in Bed-Stuy. These are two of the next four locations announced by the Department of Transportation today for the latest APTs: Automated Public Toilets.

Like all of the new street furniture, the APT's have a simple, contemporary design, created for the City by Grimshaw Architects, incorporating stainless steel and tempered glass. The APT's clean themselves after each use, and tamper-proof automatic doors that open from the inside will ensure security.
- Press Release

The APT's cost 25 cents to operate, with a time limit of 15 minutes and will be open from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm. Each APT is climate-controlled and includes a toilet, a wash basin with running warm water, and a mirror. An automated system controls the door and prevents unauthorized entrance, and the APT's are fully compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

After 12 minutes of use, an acoustic alarm and red flashing lights go off for three minutes before the door opens. Once a user has exited, the APT doors will close and the 90-second automatic cleaning cycle will begin. During the cleaning cycle the interior surfaces of the APT are cleaned and dried. Once the self-cleaning process is complete, a new user can access the APT.

Tomorrow, May 31: Extra-Crunchy Brooklyn Compost Bike Tour

"Compost Happy"


This just in. This is also listed in the Flatbush Gardener Google Calendar in the sidebar.

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Bike Tour to Explore Brooklyn's Composting Sites, Saturday May 31

Come one, come all to the Compost Tour de Brooklyn. It's free, fun and good for you.
You're welcome to meet at the market [Fort Greene Greenmarket], too, to see us off on this maiden (for maids and gents) two-wheeled journey of evolution (of carbon cycle) and revolution (of bike wheels).

Take a two-wheeled tour of Brooklyn compost sites on Saturday, May 31 and learn how to reduce household waste and convert food scraps into fodder for new plant life.

Licensed New York City sightseeing guide and newly minted Master Composter Laura Silver will don a worm costume to show off some of the "greatest local innovations in eco-consciousness" and the people who make it happen.

Brooklyn Compost Project table at Making Brooklyn Bloom 2008


Tour goers will have a chance to meet local heroes who turn castoff food stuff into "black gold." They'll escort the vegicycle, a trike made to transport food scraps, from the Fort Greene market to local community gardens.

Detail of convection composting aeration tube used at a Brooklyn community composting site


Day: Saturday, May 31, 2008
Time: 10:30 am (until about 3pm, stay as long as you'd like)
Place: Meet at Fort Greene Park Greenmarket near trash cans used to collect food scraps. Corner of DeKalb Avenue and Cumberland Street

Tour stops include:

• Composting toilet at Hollenback Garden in Clinton Hill
  
• Compost piles at Bed-Stuy?s Greene Acres garden
  
• A worm bin in a private home in Midwood
  
• Tour concludes at Floyd Bennett Field Garden with a demonstration of lasagna (layered) gardening
  
• Demonstration begins at 2pm. Barbeque to follow
  

Details

• Spots are limited. Please RSVP to compost.cycle@mac.com by May 30.
  
• Participation is free.
  
• Helmets preferred.
  
• Cyclists are requested to bring fruit or vegetable scraps to compost (apple cores, lettuce leaves and coffee grounds encouraged) and full-figured food to grill at the end of the tour.
  

Two Flatbush Churches Receive Grants

Flatbush-Tompkins Congregational Church, Dorchester Road between East 18th and East 19th Street, Ditmas Park Historic District

Four Brooklyn churches are among the 66 religious properties statewide that received preservation funding from the New York Landmarks Conservancy.
- Four Brooklyn Churches Receive ‘Sacred Sites’ Grants From Landmarks Conservancy, Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Two of the four in Brooklyn are in Flatbush.

Holy Innocents Roman Catholic Church, on Beverly Road between East 17th and East 18th Streets in Beverly Square East, was awarded a Robert W. Wilson Sacred Sites Challenge Grant Pledge of $40,000 for the restoration of its copper roof.




Flatbush-Tompkins Congregational Church in the Ditmas Park Historic District was awarded a grant of $10,000 for window restoration. FTC has got a hell of a lot of windows. I'm sure that $10K doesn't begin to scratch the surface. I suppose it's probably for their stained glass, rather than these.


Here's a view from the inside.


The other two are St. George’s Episcopal Church of Bedford-Stuyvesant, which received $6,000 for stained glass restoration, and St. Philip’s Episcopal Church at 334 MacDonough Street in Stuyvesant Heights/Bedford-Stuyvesant, which received $10,000 for the restoration of its tower, masonry and roof drainage.

Links

New York Landmarks Conservancy
Holy Innocents Roman Catholic Church
Flatbush-Tompkins Congregational Church

The Brooklyn Blogade in Bed-Stuy

The Bed-Stuy Blogade


This afternoon I attended the Bed-Stuy meetup of the Brooklyn Blogade. Today's event was organized and hosted by Petra of Bed-Stuy Blog, Eleanor Traubman of Creative Times, and Joanna Wissinger (Alexa11221 on Bed-Stuy Blog).










Bloggers seemed almost to be in the minority at today's event, which drew neighbors, journalists, and other blog-readers, as much as bloggers.

Le Toukouleur Restaurant

We met this afternoon at Le Toukouleur, a French-African Restaurant, at 1116 Bedford Avenue, on the corner of Quincy Street in North Bed-Stuy. The space offered lots of art and objects as subjects for photography.

Detail, Wall Mural


Window Painting


Drums


Mask, Percussion, and Lanterns


Detail, Window Painting

Links

My Flickr photo set of the event
Bed-Stuy Blog
Creative Times
Le Toukouleur Restaurant

News: Burglary, Trespass, Theft and Vandalism Mar a Community Garden

Bed-Stuy Blog reports on a recent theft from the Clifton Place Memorial Garden and Park:

This garden, located on the corner of Bedford and Clifton Place, is so enjoyable to me because the members there are friendly and the place is beautiful. I held a special place in my heart for this garden because it has a koi pond visible from the sidewalk. ...
- Vandals Can’t Take Garden Members’ Spirit

I don't know this garden, but it's a lovely place, judging from the photos of it.

Earlier this week I stopped by to do my routine goldfish gazing and I noticed that the pond was no longer set up and the fish were mostly gone. There was only one koi in the pond and he was gulping for air trying to survive. I thought that the members were probably in the process of moving the pond, and that someone had accidentally forgotten this little fish. I immediately emailed Melvin, who heads up their garden club, and he responded promptly. He told me that they weren’t moving the pond; the pond had been vandalized and the person or persons who did it took the pond filter and all of the goldfish except one. He assured me that they had since taken that one abandoned goldfish out of the pond and moved him (or her) to another location.

Unfortunately, theft from urban gardens is an ongoing problem. (I just couldn't bring myself to write "perennial problem ...") I've known gardeners to weave barbed wire through the branches and root balls of shrubs they plant to deter the casual snatch-and-grab. Tactics like these will impede and reduce the risk of theft, but nothing can completely deter the determined criminal.

When we moved to our new neighborhood, we heard stories of containers stolen and plants ripped from the ground. Our next-door neighbors had someone pull up on a bicycle, dig their Japanese Maple out of their front yard, and cart off with it. Stories like these made me reluctant to plant anything, let alone containers, in the front yard. I've been lucky so far.

This episode sounds like someone cased the garden before they hit it. I can imagine a visitor, welcomed into the garden, gave thanks by coming back to break into the garden, trespass, and steal from the community for their private pleasure. The vandalism was inflicted out of rage or spite when they couldn't manage to get everything they wanted, such as the pump.

I hope it's reported as a crime, and that anyone with information comes forward to return to the community what was taken from them. Has anyone noticed any new water gardens make a sudden appearance in the past few days?

Event, Brooklyn, June 27: Owner's Night, HPD Advice for Residential Owners

Homeowners, co-op owners, building owners and landlords from the Brooklyn neighborhoods Clinton Hill, Fort Greene, Crown Heights, Prospect Heights, Bedford Stuyvesant, Sunset Park, Greenwood Heights, Gowanus, Boerum Hill, Downtown Brooklyn, Stuyvesant Heights and Ocean Hill are invited to attend a Wednesday June 27th Owners’ Night at P.S 20 organized by the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD). ...

The event will provide information on the availability of HPD services such as low-interest loans, correction of housing violations correction and assistance with mortgages and refinancing as well as HPD courses including building management and maintenance, expense reduction strategies and owner-tenant relations. A panel introduction will be followed by a Q&A session.

HPD’s Owner Services Program travels from borough to borough, educating residential property owners about the availability of low-interest loans, free educational classes on subjects such as lead paint, energy conservation and fair housing as well as free owner counseling. Launched in February 2001, Owners’ Nights in neighborhoods have drawn more than 10,000 property owners to events across New York City.

WHAT: Owners’ Night, a program by the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development

WHEN: Wednesday June 27th 6:00pm to 7:30pm

WHERE: Auditorium of P.S 20, 225 Adelphi St., Brooklyn, NY 11205 (entrance between Willoughby and Dekalb Ave)

DIRECTIONS: C train to Lafayette Ave. Station.

SEATING IS LIMITED: PLEASE RSVP BY CALLING 212-863-7054 OR 311 BY JUNE 25th