Saturday, October 22nd End of Season Celebration, Carrie McCracken Community Garden, Seeds to Soil

This Saturday, October 22nd from 4-7p.m. join us to celebrate the end of the harvest season in your local community garden.

Creatively Green event by Seeds to Soil in the Carrie McCracken TRUCE Community Garden at West 117th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue.

Download and share the flyer announcement
Participate in envisioning plans for the future:
Bring a picture, drawing or writing of what it means to be creatively green in Harlem.
Have your portrait taken as part of a crowdsourced Inside Out Art Action project supporting urban environmental sustainability.
View images and interviews of your neighbors showcasing how both small and large gestures can have a positive impact on our neighborhood.
Share your vision of the sustainable future of our neighborhood.
Exchange ideas with your neighbors over some food.
Celebrate the first full year of the New York City Parks designation of the Carrie McCracken TRUCE Community Garden!

2011 Harlem Community Gardens Tour Saturday, July 30 from 10a.m. to 4p.m.

 Harlem Community Gardens are pleased to announce that “HARLEM GREEN,” the  6^th Annual  Harlem Community Gardens Tour, will  take  place on Saturday, July 30^th  (raindate, Sunday, July 31st^st)2011, from 10:00 am until 4:00 pm.  The Tour will begin with a breakfast in the Joseph Daniel Wilson Community Garden at 219 West 122^nd Street, and the last stop will be at the William A. Harris Garden on 153rd Street and St. Nicholas Avenue, where Tourists will experience a traditional, home-style Harlem Barbecue.

The Harlem gardens, all managed by community volunteers, are among New York City’s  most extraordinary  and best–kept secrets. Tourists will discover an amazing variety of trees, vegetables, herbs and f lowers as well as ponds, gazebos, rain-water harvesting systems, and more.  The gardens are host to people of all ages.  Some are shade gardens where folks can come to relax or cook a meal.  The gardens run programs for toddlers, young mothers, youths and seniors; some have tutoring programs and environmental studies workshops for teens and other community folks.  There are canning and preserving workshops.  Some gardens host Community Supported Agriculture programs,  “CSA’s”.

“Harlem Green” has been made possible with assistance from the following agencies and  organizations:  the Green Guerillas of NYC;Greenthumb; The NYC Community Garden Coalition (NYCCGC); the Parks and Recreation Department of NYC ; Project Harmony, Inc., and the William A. Harris Garden.

For more information call 212.662. 2878 or 917.288.8053.

July 4 Garden Picnic Photos

This gallery contains 23 photos.

Garden Table at West 118th Street Block Party: CORRECTION: Saturday, July 16

Join us at the West 118th Street block party! Meet your neighbors! Visit our garden’s table from 12-4p.m. for planting by Seeds to Soil and other projects and garden information.

The West 118th Street Block Party is: Saturday, July 16th, 2011, 12-7 p.m.

West 118th Street between Saint Nicholas Avenue and 8th Ave/Frederick Douglass Boulevard

Our Spring-Summer 2011 Newsletter

Please enjoy the latest edition of the Stone Soup Garden News and be sure to share, respond and send your items!

Spring Summer 2011 Newsletter

American Community Gardening Association Annual National Conference

Registration open for the American Community Gardening Association 32nd Annual National Conference “Community Gardening Works!”

August 18-21, 2011, Columbia University

The conference includes, Keynote Speakers, Workshops, Garden Tours, Networking Events, Film Festival, Gala Dinner & Silent Auction, Garden Bookshop

$300 Early Bird Registration until July 15th, 2011, (includes ACGA membership). Limited scholarships are available.

Please register at:

www.communitygarden.org

 

May garden babies

Little Miss L. tells the tulip hello

babt lettuces

dark tulips

more green each day

bean stalks start

baby brocoli

baby grapes

Carrots appear

April seed planting and branches to protect from animals

row of carrots appearing in early May

Congratulations Eren!

Fig tree thrives

May 8, 2011

end of April

late April

We are very proud of our fig tree for surviving a very harsh winter with no trouble. We didn’t even have to wrap it. Matt picked the perfect variety for this spot, very hardy. It is late to open its leaves but first to start producing fruit this year!

What Can you Do for our Garden by Steve Kidd

Everyone doesn’t have to tend a plot or box, to be a valued part of this team. There are always auxiliary roles to get involved with. Take, for instance, those apple trees in the front yard. There are two, which haven’t flowered and haven’t had much attention: other than people wondering whether they would block out valuable sunlight to a plot beyond them.

There’s a Plum tree sitting in a tote and an Apricot tree: it’s just starting to put out pretty pink flowers.

It would be great if some one or a team of garden members volunteered to be the “orchard keepers” of our fruit resources.

Just learning how to care for these trees and how to improve their potential for production would be an amazing contribution: a craft to share with others; and take the garden to a higher level.

There are a lot of online resources and workshops going on where one could meet technical assistance providers and fellow caretakers. So don’t think growing in a little box or plot is all of gardening.

Especially if your time is limited during planting season, consider being a Tree Steward for your  Community garden. Help to aquire knowledge to be taught to others for the future and on a larger scale.

Some think that Harlem neighbors are only fit to stand in lines for donated food. But, our gardens can demonstrate that even the poorest, youngest, and even; the disabled can be food producers.

There’s no shame in accepting charity; sometimes, its the best gift one can give another: (to let them be blessed for giving). But when one is able to acquire a productive capacity for our food needs:  then one is able to give a gift for all the generations.