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Love Your Block - Recap & Thanks!
Thank you, residents and fans of Woodbine Street for your awesome efforts on May 16 - and thanks to Citizens Committee for New York City and the Mayor's Office for the opportunity to participate in Love Your (NYC) Block! Our project - the cleanup and planting of 30 planters and 40 tree pits in a one-day event disguised as a block party - was a huge success and a lot of fun to boot, with great retro music, and a delicious cookout. The plantings have grown lush and beautiful, and if there was ever any question, Woodbine Street's positive vibe is definitely back!
Perhaps the most exciting result of the big event is that it sparked an epiphany in Councilmember Diana Reyna's mind when she stopped by and saw all the community spirit - and now Woodbine St. has overwhelmingly agreed to become a kid-friendly, car-free, Police Athletic League "Play Street" for the summer! Fantastic!
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Summer Solstice Music Celebration – Sunday June 21st
2:00pm - 8:00pm
Part of Make Music New York! – it's a day of music, food, and fun
in our little green slice of heaven - the only MMNY event
featuring a pedal-powered sound system (by Artistic Evolution)!
Seabeast 3pm
Lina Villegas 4pm
Rev. Goddess Charmaine 5pm (garden blessing)
Music by DJ Poncho
...plus special guests TBA
Gates open 2pm
Admission is FREE
BBQ 4/S or BYO
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–– SPRING 2009 ––
NEWS FLASH! Our stretch of Woodbine Street is now an official Love Your (NYC) Block! finalist! Chosen as one of twelve projects citywide by the Citizens Committee for New York City and the Office of the Mayor, our block cleanup this year will be taken to the next level as the garden leads the charge to refurbish the block's signature yard signs (see pic) and planters, and create new plantings around the streets many trees. During the event, a panel of judges will be stopping by to evaluate the progress - but what they're really looking for is community participation - so come on out and show your love for this great block! It will be a fun day of painting and planting (and music and food!) Saturday May 16th, 9am! Interested in helping devise a plan of attack? Contact us!
ON THE HORIZON: Our Make Music New York Summer Solstice Celebration returns! Mark your calendars: Sunday June 21, Noon - 8pm. A day of music in our little slice of the great outdoors!
2009 is Flying By...
UPDATE • SPRING 2009: It's only March and the garden is already abuzz with activity! Thanks to a grant from Con Ed last year, construction on a new seating area is well underway, making great use of the shadier side of the garden. Horticulture Society of New York's Green Team, under the direction of John Cannizzo, has been working since January on this Very Large Structure - designed by our own Mr.Kendall. When finished, there will be a rustic pergola roof (halfway up) made from the limbs of a felled tree. Then come the vines, which will emanate from the two built-in planters...
If all goes as planned (!), the next project will be a stone pathway leading from the front gate into the garden. That project, also being done with the Green Team, is being made possible by a generous grant from the Office of Councilmember Diana Reyna. Unsurprisingly (it being city money) the project is currently tied up in red tape - but we hope to get it unstuck and moving again shortly.
JOIN US: April 22 is Earth Day - and Earth Day is Opening Day at the Garden! The garden is happy to welcome Open Space Gallery's photo exhibit, Unseen Friends in the Garden during our open house (noon - 7pm), which marks the debut of our new pergola-trellis-seating area. Stop by and see what's growing on!Stop
Across the street at Hope Gardens Community Center, EcoStation:Bushwick and New York City Housing Authority's Gardening & Greening Program will be presenting an "afterschool Earth jam" (3:30 - 6:30pm), with participants from PS 377, PS 291's Beacon Program, Ridgewood-Bushwick Youth Center, Bushwick Campus, Saratoga Square, and Hope Gardens Tenants Association. Participants will be touring our garden, making "reusical" instruments, building a butterfly garden, and preparing healthy homemade pizza for all! Eco-rapper Presice will also be on hand to keep it real - with a live performance at the day's finalé! (scroll over image for Hope Gardens poster)
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About the Woodbine Street Block Association Garden
We are a Brooklyn-Queens Land Trust Garden, with assistance provided by GreenThumb, Green Guerillas, Brooklyn Botanic Garden's GreenBridge, the Trust For Public Land, Council on the Environment of New York City, the Office of Councilmember Diana Reyna, and Consolidated Edison. Additionally, the programs of EcoStation:Bushwick are supported by the Independence Community Foundation.
The garden is maintained by the Woodbine Street Block Association and its volunteers. For more information about the garden, contact Sean-Michael Fleming, Garden Steward, at sean @ woodbinegarden.org or 646-393-9305.
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–– 2008 Recap ––
Wow 2008 was a very busy year in the garden indeed! The garden was bursting with color and life from April to October, with a growing membership and circle of friends, delicious crops, construction projects, and a slew of public events, including our Eath Day opening, Mother's Day Weekend Plant & Flower Sale, ART CIRCUS, Make Music New York Summer Solstice Celebration, Celebrate Urban Birds Day with EcoStation:Bushwick!, the unveiling of a drip irrigation system installed by BASE students and Brooklyn Botanic Garder's GreenBridge, and the Autumnal Equinox/Virgo Power/Fall Harvest Potluck! Whew!
The Woodbine St. Block Association Garden also received grants from some very thoughtful supporters: Independence Community Foundation, Consolidated Edison, and the Office of Councilmember Diana Reyna. We thank them all for their support!
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–– 2008 Archives ––
September 27, 2008 - Autumnal Equinox/Virgo Power/Fall Harvest Potluck
Back by popular demand, it's our Autumnal Equinox/Virgo Power/Fall Harvest Potluck! This season-ending event brings together the gardeners and the neighborhood, with everyone gathering to enjoy the garden and its bounty and each other's company.
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WSG Chosen as Drip Irrigation Site!
The Woodbine Street Garden was proud to be selected as a site for a eco-friendly, water-saving drip irrigation system, installed this summer by Brooklyn Botanic Garden's GreenBridge community garden outreach program and it's crew of three bright students from BASE (Brooklyn Academy of Science and the Environment). Read all about it!
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EcoStation: Bushwick - Celebrate Urban Birds!
On August 22, Garden Steward Sean-Michael Fleming led a day of bird-centric activities - Celebrate Urban Birds! - with youth from Hope Gardens' Summer Camp; kids built birdhouses in the garden while learning about bird behaviors, enjoyed a cookout, then took a short field trip to the Linden-Bushwick Community Garden, where they planted "native" plants (kindly donated by the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's GreenBridge program) in the Secret Garden Urban Wildlife Sanctuary. When mature, these plants will provide food and shelter for birds.
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June 21: Make Music New York!
The garden joined about 600 fellow outdoor locations on Saturday, June 21st for the city-wide festival of music, Make Music New York! The garden gates opened at 4pm for an evening of eclectic music from Jei Fong, Michael Mirlas Collective, and newcomer Azalee Dan. Reverend Goddess Charmaine, in-tune interfaith minister and spiritual adviser to the hip, was be on hand to offer a solstice benediction as the sun set on a beautiful day. Our thanks go to the friendly, warm, and very talented performers that day.
Scenes from our Make Music New York Summer Solstice Music Celebration.
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May 6 - 11 (Tue -Sun): Mother's Day Plant Flower Sale!
Surprise Your Mom! Support Your Local Gardens!
This year we teamed up with the Linden-Bushwick Block Association Garden and hosted this second-annual fundraiser in both gardens! The previous year's sale was successful, but many people asked for flowering, "Mom-friendly" plants - so that's exactly what we delivered: scaveola. verbena, impatiens, gazania, geraniums, dracaena, angelonia, begonias, zinnias...
Unfortunately, we kinda over-ordered to avoid delivery costs, so ended up not making much money. We did, however, make some new friends and have lots of flowers to add to the garden!
April 22: Earth Day with EcoStation:Bushwick at Hope Gardens and "Season Opener" for the Woodbine St. Garden!
In the garden, we welcomed neighbors to our Houseplant Clinic and did our best to treat and cure "houselpants behaving badly;" plants were repotted (BYOP) while-you-wait! Meanwhile, EcoStation:Bushwick hosted a very well-attended day of fun activities at Hope Gardens Community Center, including an introduction to worm composting, world music, crafts, and a "slow food" cooking demonstration. After lunch, the kids marched all the biodegradable leftovers and kitchen scraps from lunch over to the garden for composting, then we planted a row of close to 40 sunflowers alongside the building! Special thanks to Bushwick garden buddies Mihail Kossev and Marisa Day!
April 12: Secret Garden Cleanup
This garden, where several of our gardeners have been volunteering and helping this massive garden shake off its sleepy shackles and realize its potential - is definitely taking shape. The cleanup was a big success, and the garden now boasts new flower beds, new gardeners, new energy. Invaluable assistance from GreenThumb's Land Restoration Project, Green Guerillas (thanks, Hannah!), New York Cares (thanks, Jacquie!), and folks from all over our fair city. Click here for more information.
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–– 2007 Archives ––
P.S. 377 Pre-K kids stop by for a butterfly release event...then returned the next week with
some new inhabitants for the garden - crickets!
 
Before the crickets' release, we introduced the kids to some current residents
of the garden, including a centipede, a millipede, a grub, ants, and even a firefly!
The first graduates of EcoStation: Bushwick,
attendees of Hope Gardens Community Center's Summer Camp.
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| Take Action! The Woodbine Street Block Association Garden supports the efforts of the NYC Farm Bill Workgroup, and you should, too! Read more about needed revisions to the 2007 Farm Bill, which will ensure (among other things) improved access to healthy food through stronger food stamp and school lunch programs, support of New York farmers, and environmental sustainability. Read "A 2007 Farm Bill that Meets the Needs of New York City." |
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Mother's Day Weekend Plant Sale, May 12-13, 2007
Thanks to all those who stopped by and made our first annual Mother's Day Weekend Plant Sale a big success!
Special thanks go to CENYC, the Council on the Environment of New York City, who provided the plants, some of which are now flourishing in our garden.
Special thanks also to some very generous local merchants, namely, Associated Supermarket on Broadway, People's Department Store, and Krown Hardware.
Thanks also to Ben & Jerry's, who supplied ice cream treats for the event - which were extremely popular!
Very special thanks to the garden "old timers" from the block, who stopped by to relax and share stories of days past and hopes for brighter, greener days ahead for the garden.
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