GreenThumb’s monthly newsletter of workshops and events not to miss in October!
Access all workshop info and more in: GreenThumb’s Fall Program Guide
Berry Street Garden in Brooklyn. Photo by GreenThumb.
Top Stories
GreenThumb Garden Recognition Awards
On Monday, October 1st, we celebrated and honored this year’s GreenThumb Garden Recognition Awards. Please join us in recognizing this year’s winners below.
Greening Partner Award Winner, Manhattan Borough President Gale A. Brewer, standing with Bill LoSasso, Director of GreenThumb and Liam Kavanagh, First Deputy Commissioner, at the Garden Recognition Awards Ceremony. Photo by Elena Dubas, GreenThumb.
Greening Partner Award
Manhattan Borough President
Gale A. Brewer
Community Engagement Award
Hancock Community Backyard Garden (Brooklyn)
Sustainability Award
Smiling Hogshead Ranch (Queens)
Landscape Design Award
Rockwell Place Brooklyn Bear’s Garden (Brooklyn)
Lifetime Achievement Award (Garden)
Joseph Daniel Wilson Memorial Garden (Manhattan)
Youth Programming Award
Rockaway Youth Task Force (Queens)
Urban Agriculture Award
East New York Farms! (Brooklyn)
Rookie of the Year
Green Patch on Walton Community Garden (Bronx)
Public Art Award
LUNGS (Loisaida United Neighborhood Gardens)
Lifetime Achievement Award (Individual)
Bob Humber – M’Finda Kalunga Garden(Manhattan)
Winter Supply Distribution
Pick up basic winter maintenance supplies, including ice breakers, bags of calcium chloride pellets (salt), and snow shovels for your registered GreenThumb garden at the GreenThumb Winter Supply Distribution on October 27th from 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. To RSVP and for location details, please visit: WinterSupplyDistribution.
This distribution is only for registered GreenThumb gardens. Gardens in schools, NYCHA developments, or privately-owned yards are not eligible.
Apply for Uprooting Racism Training
Facilitated by Leah Penniman of Soul Fire Farm, Uprooting Racism will be a practical training for community garden leaders to address racism in our communities. We will delve into the history of our community gardens and look at our personal and collective roles as stewards of the land. We will spend time developing tangible action plans for uprooting these dynamics within our own gardens. All levels of experience welcome to apply.
To apply, please fill out the Uprooting Racism Application by December 16, 2018, at 11:59 p.m..
Art in the Gardens
Each month, we will highlight art found in community gardens throughout the city. For October, we are featuring Howard Garden, a community garden in Brownsville, Brooklyn. This garden has been a place for the residents of Howard Avenue to come together to listen to poetry readings and take in the interesting sights the garden has to offer. From a wooden train that doubles as a playset for children to the drawings and paintings of lighthouses, Howard Garden invites people of all ages to explore its art. To read more, visit the new Art in the Gardens page on our website. If your garden is interested in hosting a public art piece or you would like more information about the Art in the Gardens program, please reach out to GreenThumb’s Project Planner, Ariana Arancibia, at Ariana.Arancibia@parks.nyc.gov.
Wire Sculptures by Horace Young found in Howard Garden. Photo by Ariana Arancibia, GreenThumb.
Did you know?
Dogs are allowed in all community gardens on NYC Parks property. Dogs should have a license tag, be vaccinated against rabies, and remain on a leash or harness. GreenThumb cannot approve any garden bylaws that prohibit dogs. For further information on NYC Parks policies concerning dogs, please consult Dogs in New York City Parks and Section §1-04 (i)(2) of the Rules & Regulations of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.
If you have any questions, please contact: greenthumbinfo@parks.nyc.gov.
More News & Stories
- Deadline extended – Garden Groups there is still time to apply to be a host site for the 2018-2019 GreenThumb Youth Leadership Council program! To apply, fill out the 2018-2019 YLC application by October 15th.
- NYC Parks and the Mayor’s Office of Recovery and Resiliency are leading a neighborhood-wide resiliency study of East Harlem. The goal is to identify how East Harlem can be stronger and safer in the face of a changing climate. Come meet the team, hear our progress, and share your feedback on what a resilient East Harlem should look like at the East Harlem Resiliency Study Community Forum on Wednesday, October 17, from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the DREAM Charter School. Visit their Facebook Event Page to RSVP.
- NYC Urban Agriculture is a portal created by the Department of City Planning, NYC Parks, and the Department of Small Business Services to inform businesses, property owners, and the public at large about agriculture in NYC.
- 2019 Bylaw Re-licensing Requirements Due
- New Safe Soil Gardening Practices Announced
- If your garden is in a neighborhood that receives DSNY Organics Collection, your community garden is eligible to receive this service. To sign up, send a message to on.nyc.gov/email-DSNY and select “Organics/Compost” as your message topic. DSNY will contact you with information on how to participate.
- If you would like to have a GreenThumb workshop translated into another language, please contact: greenthumbinfo@parks.nyc.gov, within three weeksof the workshop date.
Grants and Opportunities
- NYC Service Neighborhood Volunteer Collaborative – Learn about the free tools and resources that are available to support volunteer engagement while connecting with other community groups. Visit NYC Service’s website, to RSVP for an upcoming neighborhood kickoff. Garden groups welcome. Contact Marcus Johnson at mjohnson1@cityhall.nyc.gov if you have any questions and to see how you can become involved.
- Partnerships for Parks Partnerships Academy is hosting Community Connections 2018: An evening of Networking for Park Group Leaders on October 23rd 6:00 p.m.-8:30 p.m.. Register for this free event, by visiting here.
- Grow to Learn Mini Grant is now open. Apply for funding to grow a sustainable school garden by October 26, 2018 at 11:59 p.m..
- The NYC Parks Stewardship Program is offering a Mini-Grant Program, that provides small grants of up to $1,000 to empower committed community members to organize and strengthen stewardship efforts in their neighborhoods. For application guidelines and to apply, please visit here. Application deadline is October 26, 2018.
- Love Your Block grant is an initiative of NYC Service in partnership with Citizens Committee for New York City that provides a unique opportunity for neighborhood groups to transform and improve their communities. Application deadline is November 7th at 11:59 p.m.. There are two Info Sessions on October 16th and October 23rd in Lower Manhattan. For more information or to RSVP, contact Marina at MGonzalez@citizensnyc.org / 212.822.9579.
- New Yorkers have an opportunity to propose projects for inclusion in the participatory budgeting process by visiting the New York City Council Participatory Budgeting website.
- Citizens Committee for New York City Neighborhood Leadership Instituteis a free participatory workshop series that teaches organizing and advocacy skills. For information on their October workshops, visit their website.
- List your organization with the NYC Food Policy Database
Grants for Artists
These grants are for artists, not for garden groups. These opportunities are to inform gardeners of the ways in which garden groups can support local artists that they may want to collaborate with, in order to bring art into their gardens.
- Bronx Council on the Arts (BCA) Community Engagement Grants are annual grant opportunities offered directly by the BCA. There are three type of grants that fall under this category: New Work grants are for individual Bronx-based artists, Arts Fund grants are for individual artists, artist collectives and 501c3 arts organizations, and Community Arts grants support local arts projects and activities that enable Bronx communities to experience and engage with performing, literary, media, and visual arts. Application Deadline: October 15, 2018 at 11:59 p.m..
- Queens Council on the Arts Queens Arts Fund offers grants to Queens-based individual artists and nonprofit organizations offering distinctive arts and cultural programming that directly serves the citizens of Queens. Application Deadline: October 25, 11:59 p.m..
- Staten Island Arts offers grants for artists, arts and cultural organizations, and arts-in-education programs, like the Department of Cultural Affairs Art Fund Grants and NYSCA Future Culture Creative Place-making Grants (Specific to North Shore). Application Deadline: October 26, 2018, 11:59 p.m..
Workshops and Events
ALL of our workshops are free and open to the public.
Highlight of the Month:
Tuesday, October 9, Queens: Season Extension and Cover Crops
5:30 p.m.–7:00 p.m.
Corona Taxpayers Association
Harvest your greens and root vegetables well into December with low tunnels and row cover. We’ll discuss and build some simple season extension methods. We’ll also discuss and plant a cover crop seed mix. Registered GreenThumb community gardeners will be eligible to receive row cover and cover crop seeds, while supplies last!
RSVP on Eventbrite
- October 11, Brooklyn: Making A-Frame Sandwich Boards
- October 14, Bronx: How do Bees Get Through the Winter?
- October 16, Brooklyn: Soap Making 101
- October 18, Bronx: Organizing for Garden Success: Bylaws (Part 2 of 2)
- October 18, Queens: Organizing for Garden Success: Bylaws (Part 2 of 2)
- October 20, Brooklyn: Pumpkin Painting
- October 20, Bronx: Pumpkin Painting
Grow to Learn Workshops
Grow to Learn is the citywide school gardens initiative for New York City. It provides ongoing resources, technical assistance, and training to get learning gardens growing in every NYC school.
Join the Grow to Learn Network and become eligible to apply for a Grow to Learn Mini-Grant, request soil and lumber deliveries to your school, and more, by registering your school garden!
- October 10: Grant Writing and Garden Design (Morning Session)
- October 10: Grant Writing and Garden Design (Evening Session)
- October 11: Season Extension and Cover Crops
- October 17: Out of the Box Bed Building
GreenThumb Workshop Survey
Do you have ideas for GreenThumb workshops? Would you like to host a workshop in your garden, share your skills by teaching other gardeners, or simply let us know which workshops you’d like us to offer? Let us know in the GreenThumb Workshop Survey.
Follow GreenThumb on Social Media!
If you or your Community Garden are on social media, follow @greenthumbgrows on Instagram and Twitter, and @GreenThumbNYC on Facebook, to find out about the latest workshops, events, and news at GreenThumb.
