Thank you to all who came out to rake, leap and stomp in the Great Leaf Pile of 2009. The pile created a lovely temporary habitat for kids of all ages, and is currently breaking down into available nutrients for the Geraldo Tree (our crooked white spruce/winter tree), the native shadbush, golden rod, milkweed, wild bergamont and overall soil ecology of McCarren Meadow. Enjoy the video below:
First of all, big, big, big thank you for a great composting season. And thanks for supporting the end-of-the-season fundraiser – all of you big bidders and raffle buyers helped us raise $1,200 over the last two weekends. More on that soon…
RIGHT NOW, we are taking part in NYCLeaves: Project Leaf Drop – a rocking effort to collect leaves from residential properties and turn them into valuable mulch. This weekend we raked up 25 bags of leaves just from our triangle alone! For two more Saturdays, we are going to be accepting leaf donations from your yards and raking up more leaves in McCarren Park. Read the fine print for details:
WHAT: Bring leaves – no twigs, branches or other yard debris
HOW: Bagged – in paper bags (preferred), or clear/black trash bags
WHERE: At NBCP (McCarren Park at North 12th and Driggs)
WHEN: Saturday 11/14 and 11/21, from 11am to 1pm.
WHAT ELSE: Volunteers! Come out to help rake, bag, collect and have fun in with the rest of the crew.
If you are planning to join us this Saturday, let us know at northbrooklyncompost@gmail.com
OK, we’ve actually been kicking this around for awhile, I am just a fan of alliteration. Download! Print! Repost! Reblog! Forward! Then…show up on October 24, willya?
le click, très chic
Thank you Jenn Steffey, for the fab fab flier.
Welcome to Fall, composters! Two important dates are on the horizon:
October 24, 2009 – The NBCP celebrates another successful compost season with an end-of-season FUNraiser. From 9am till 1pm come swing by the pile to bid on our silent auction items and participate in bulb planting and street tree stewardship/stormwater management activities around the triangle. This day neatly coincides with the biannual Its My Park Day, and the relocation of the Greenmarket to our neck of the woods on Union. Its gonna to be a party, yall.
October 31, 2009 – BOO! Its Halloween! aka our last drop off day of 2009. Come in costume, come with candy, come as you are and drop off your last load of pumpkin guts. If you win a silent auction item, this will be your day to pick it up and pay out! This is also your day to learn about what do do without us…Master Composters Kelly and Tiffany will be on hand to demonstrate indoor vermicomposting and distribute all the news thats fit to print on composting locally over the winter.
Kelly showing off our trailer for towing out grounds from area coffee shops.
Filed under: housekeeping
Please join us tomorrow night for a general meeting. We’ll be admiring our construction and maintenance accomplishments, floating more stormwater management plans, tossing around fundraising ideas (yeay, parties!) and cranking up our coffee grounds bike pick-up project. Meet us tomorrow night at 6:30 pm (that’s Tuesday, August 11) at the pile.
This is your chance to learn more, get involved, get your hands dirty, meet new interesting people, and yes, to bring your comments, complaints and gripes. We ain’t perfect, we know. So help us get better, k?
NBCP
Well things are heating up around the old compost pile! Thank you to everyone who has been tumbling, turning, tiding and training…things are looking ship shape. A few reminders:
1. Make sure you are signed up for a volunteer shift or two. Check the calendar here and email us your shift requests at northbrooklyncompost@gmail.com
2. If you are not totally trained up in the compost arts, street tree stewardship and expert weed removal…you need a Volunteer Orientation. Lucky for you! the next one will be August 1, 11am at the pile.
3. Our stewardship efforts will be featured at the 2009 New York ReLeaf Conference this week…check back here for an online version of our presentation. We’ll get it posted ASAP.
Its an important week at the pile, people!
Tomorrow, Tuesday June 16, NBCP founder Kate Zidar will be working with eDesign Dynamics and NYC Soil and Water Conservation District to finalize our stormwater management projects in the area near our site. From 10am till 5pm you can find them surveying, sketching and generally pondering the streetscape in a future that turns waste into abundance!
This Wednesday, June 17, at 7 pm, Master Composter Kelly Morrison will introduce you to the basics of composting and everything you need to know for your upcoming volunteer shift. Everyone who signed up for a shift in June should attend this Wednesday’s session.
You can’t remember what day you signed up for? The volunteer calendar is available right here. If you haven’t signed up to volunteer, there are plenty of open slots available. We need two people each Wednesday (6 to 8pm) and four people each Saturday (9 to 11 and 11 to 1). Sign up sheets are available during our open hours, or if you’d like to reserve your spot right now, send an email to: northbrooklyncompost@gmail.com
Finally, notice anything different about the lawn near us in the park? Parks staff hasn’t mowed our area all spring, so we have designated the area “McCarren Meadows”, and are tending it ourselves. Thanks to Brooke Lovell and Greenpoint Reformed Church for the loan and donation, respectively, of rotary mowers used to tend the edges of our new sanctuary. Waste into abundance, people, it works on so many levels.
Filed under: housekeeping
We are open! Come drop off during our standard hours, 9am to 1pm on Saturdays, or….drumroll…wait for iiiiit…DURING OUR BRAND NEW EVENING HOURS ON WEDNSDAYS FROM 6-8PM.
Also, please sign up for your volunteer shift. This means YOU. Thank you
Mngmt.
Hello Composters! We are a week away from opening day, May 16! The pile will open with a flourish this year as part of the biannual stewardship day, “It’s My Park Day”. There will be a lot of fun activities in our neck of the park that day from 10am to 3pm. So come on down, bring your veggie scraps, and check out the scene. We will be using our freshly harvested compost to spruce up the trees around the triangle. BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY, sign up for your volunteer shift while you are at it! This project doesn’t work unless we all pitch in.
