The day began with thunder and lightening, campers had opening circle and breakfast in the Peter Jay boathouse. During opening circle, the group decorated visors with their names and figured out the answers to 2 brain busters. After the storms passed, the group split into three teams. One group went to work in the garden to harvest potatoes and another group discovered the carbon footprint left by different foods and what the effect is when one buys fruit grown locally or across the world. The third group headed to the kitchen to prepare today's wonderful, colorful Texan meal.

The students regrouped together for lunch. After a moment of silence -- taken to appreciate the time and effort that went into the meal, they dug in. At the table, the campers spoke about where they wanted to travel and their favorite day from this past school year. The staff let the campers play while they did a speedy cleanup.

After playing an intense game of “Seaweed,” a camp favorite, the campers broke into their three teams – the Kungfoo Gardeners, the Red Angels and the Heartbreakers – to participate in camp Olympics. The campers raced one another for points. They passed a hoop around a circle without breaking hold of one another’s hands. Overall, a gloomy day turned quite sunny!

A flock of children and their parents joined farmer, Bee Ayer, for a Fun with Chickens workshop at the largest chicken coop in Brooklyn! The workshop began with chicken bingo - everyone traipsed about the garden searching for chickens dusting themselves, black chickens, molting chickens, chickens eating compost, etc. W...e then brainstormed what these chicks need in order to live happy lives - food, shelter, love, and friends (chickens are very social animals)!

The next activity was learning the difference between factory farmed animals and free range animals. Two brave volunteers took on the arduous task of acting out the day and the life of each type of chicken. Needless to say, it became very obvious that spending all day in a box that is your one and only place to play, eat (corn only), sleep, and poop is very unappealing. Then we went out on an egg hunt, collecting over a dozen eggs in all different colors.

The workshop finished up with chicken catching- every child had a chance to hold a chicken or try to catch one on their own. There were 4 successful captures! Click here to see more photos!

This morning the campers got to decorate their recipe books with markers and crayons. Inspired, apparently, by the camp programming, one camper wrote on their binder, “Peace, Love, and Cooking”. Looks like they’re starting to get it! The campers then broke up into two groups – one that cooked with the Sylvia Center until lunchtime and one that rotated through two stations, both focusing on this week’s theme of Food and the Community.

One of the stations had the campers working to sift compost in order to put fill up one of the empty beds in the Children’s Garden. Lifting heavy shovels and emptying them onto the grate, they encouraged each other to use their muscles to lift more shovels worth of compost and push the heavy wheelbarrows up the hill towards the garden. Exhausted on the way up, the kids somehow had the energy to race back towards the compost pile, eager and ready for the next load.

The second station worked at the garden beds adding in the loads of compost coming from the other campers while also adding in peet moss in order to balance out the nutrients. Using shovels and rakes, all of the campers got to get their hands dirty, use their strong muscles, and learn all about how the community compost contributes to the health of the plants in the garden.



The other half of the campers worked with Holly from the Sylvia Center making lunch for the whole camp. The meal was also oriented around the Food and the Community theme as the campers cooked dishes inspired by typical Italian, Colombian, and Vietnamese food. Cutting vegetables and fruits as well as learning other food preparation techniques, the campers proudly carried over the platters of food to the impeccably set tables. One camper gloated, as he was carrying over the food, “They’re going to love it!” At each table during lunch, campers and counselors went through different prepared discussion cards, happily discussing what super power they would have, what their favorite movies and colors are, and what three people in the world they would invite to dinner. We’re all getting to know each other better and better each day!

Testing out their knowledge from the week, all of the campers then played a game of Thursday Jeopardy, with questions about all parts of camp, from the lesson plans earlier in the week to lessons from today that they learned from the Sylvia Center. The campers left full, happy, exhausted, and soaking wet from the slip-n-slide we played at the end of the day. A perfect way to end the week!

On Tuesday, July 6th, New York Restoration Project (NYRP) welcomed 30 New York City youth to the first day of our third annual Summer Camp program. Taking place in NYRP’s Swindler Cove Park, this year’s camp will connect participating students – ages 8 to 12 – to the process of how food travels from garden plot to family table.

Despite the sizzling summer heat, an array of smiling faces excitedly began six weeks of exploring and interacting with New York City’s great outdoors. Focused on teaching kids how to make informed, healthy food choices, this year’s Summer Camp is engaging each students’ inner green thumb by first teaching them how to care for and grow the food they eat every day.
By the end of this years camp, students will have gained the necessary skills and awareness to make nutritious decisions and meals for themselves and their families that contribute to an overall improved lifestyle.

Throughout the summer, campers will work together to harvest a variety of vegetables from NYRP’s very own Riley-Levin Children’s Garden, which they will then use to cook healthy, organic meals for lunch each day. Eggplant, squash, green beans, lettuce and cucumbers are just a few of the tasty treats that these budding gardeners are going to learn how to grow, cook and enjoy – many of which these students are experiencing for the first time.

Along the way, the campers will take field trips; conduct experiments; go camping; eat delicious food; welcome guest chefs, nutritionists, and farmers; and have a whole lot of fun!

Follow NYRP on Facebook  and Twitter to get daily updates on all of our Summer Camp adventures!

This summer, NYRP is piloting a Community Garden Docent Program – an initiative to promote expanded public access to our community gardens and increase neighborhood participation in all of our green spaces. Launching in four gardens this summer, this program will take root in our Bedford-Stuyvesant, The Home Depot and 103rd Street community gardens and Creston Jungle Playground before branching out to other NYRP gardens in 2011.

Serving as NYRP ambassadors at all four sites, our docents will assist our Community Development team in fulfilling several garden responsibilities, including opening garden gates, answering community members questions, and coordinating volunteer events. Each week, docents will provide orientation information to prospective garden members and supply membership agreements and garden guidelines. Additionally, these garden representatives will act as the eyes and ears of the organization’s community outreach efforts by interacting with community members during public open hours, at monthly garden meetings and at events located throughout each neighborhood.

Every week, they will be responsible for nominating a local resident or business for NYRP’s Random Acts of Greenness Award. For those gardeners interested in learning about tree care, docents will also be on site to both care for existing trees and provide residents with information on how to adopt trees on their own.

Follow the daily experiences of our docents by joining us on Facebook and Twitter today!

On June 12th, more than 125 New York City families came together to experience NYC’s great outdoors at NYRP’s 4th Annual Family Day celebration. Held in Swindler Cove Park, this daylong event focused on the value of families and the incredible opportunity nature provides for fun time together.

Families spent the day enjoying music and freshly made vegetable salsas, while they hiked through the park and participated in a series of hands-on activities geared toward learning how to be green together. Additionally, NYRP’s staff led attendies in a variety of educational games and programs, including a live raptor show from Talons! Bird of Prey, gardening demonstrations and free family nature portraits.

The event culminated with an environmentally themed spelling competition in which one lucky nature-maniac proved she was the queen green bee and won two round trip tickets from JetBlue Airlines.

NYRP was proud to be a part of this year’s National Conference on Volunteering and Service that took place June 28th to 30th in New York City. Bringing together more than 5,000 leaders across the nation who are responsible for managing volunteer programs and networks, the conference focused on best practices for garnering community-based participation. As part of our involvement, NYRP was invited to host an immersion learning session in which our staff led more than 100 conference attendees on an interactive walking tour through four of our East Harlem community gardens.

NYRP engaged participants in discussions that focused on how we use our spaces to both increase volunteerism and grow city neighborhoods through innovative programming and educational workshops. The tour began with NYRP’s Vice President of Horticulture and Construction, Barrett Robinson, leading a tree-planting demonstration at the Lott Senior Center, where he discussed tree giveaways and the tools NYRP uses to inspire thousands of volunteers each year to plant trees across the five boroughs.

The next stop in the tour took the group to NYRP’s Target East Harlem Garden, where NYRP’s Development Department spoke about the important role corporate partnerships play in our restoration efforts. Additionally, Glyn Northington, senior manager of community relations from Target, spoke about Target’s influential partnership with NYRP, which has led to three very distinct community gardens being uniquely re-designed and revitalized throughout the city’s five boroughs. The next leg of the tour took the participants to NYRP’s Home Depot Community Garden in which our education staff provided a glimpse into the breadth of our environmental education programming and the role our successful partnership with P.S. 115 plays in garnering community participation.

The tour concluded with a visit to NYRP’s Rodale Pleasant Park Community Garden. NYRP’s Community Development team was on-site to discuss the importance of community partnerships. Local garden members introduced attendees to the space and all of their great work they have accomplished utilizing its various amenities. Afterwards, the group participated in a sample workshop activity from NYRP’s popular Garden Workshop Series.

To learn more about how you can get involved in one of NYRP’s community gardens, click here. To participate in one of our garden workshops, click here.

The day began with campers eating breakfast as a group. At 9, we gathered for opening circle and challenged the campers to unscramble words to create common phrases.

The group was then split in two groups of fifteen - one group heading to the kitchen with our Sylvia Center staff and the other heading out to Dyckman Street. The Sylvia Center group chopped and formed delicious quesadillas packed with beans, spinach and cheese. They then made homemade salsa and guacamole and a fresh salad with cilantro and lime dressing to accompany the dishes.

The second group walked towards Dyckman street to survey the surrounding restaurants and grocery stores. The campers questioned store owners as to where their food comes from and what type of food is offered. This activity was a wonderful way for our campers to interactively explore their neighborhood. Hopefully, the campers will learn to make more educated decisions about the types of food they buy and consume after learning about the source of these products.



Afterward the groups joined together for a colorful and festive meal. However, our eating was cut short due to rain. The campers were rushed to the boathouse to watch a movie and do some arts and crafts. The staff stayed out in the rain to clean up and do some serious rain dancing.

Today's camp began with the campers performing a series of yoga stretches to get their bodies ready for a day’s worth of fun-filled activities. The exercises were a bit more strenuous than the first week, but nonetheless, the smiles were still bright and wide as usual. Next, campers had their names pulled from a bag and were selected for their weekly team assignment selections. They were placed into three groups: The Warriors, Airbornes, and Bomb Squad 6.0. At the end of each week, students compete against one another in Environmental Jeopardy to test their newly acquired knowledge.

The day consisted of three stations: What is food to me, Family Restaurant, and Garden + Cooking. The first station began with a Food Footprint survey, which assessed eating behavior. They were asked questions such as: How often do you buy food from local farmers markets? Do you try to eat food that is in season? How often do you eat fast food?

The second activity assigned for this station was a Family Food Habits Survey/Family Menu. Once campers opened up their booklets, they selected from a wide variety of options offered. There was a meat section, a vegetable section, a fruit section, a spices/herbs section, etc. Campers then checked off what is typically prepared at home and the source where it was purchased from. The subsequent portion entailed their cooking habits, eating habits and family traditions.

The second station had campers prepare their lunch for the day. They enjoyed penne and rotini pasta with a lovely tomato sauce (celery, carrots, red onions, and basil were added), lettuce with balsamic vinaigrette, grated parmesan cheese, and watermelon slices. Ingredients were harvested from the Riley-Levin Children's Garden. Shortly after, they diced, grated and prepared lunch with tons of love. Before lunch was served, tables were meticulously set with tablecloths, silverware, napkins, plates and cups. The third and final station had many educational tools to identify herbs and plants that provide medicinal properties. Different photographs were placed throughout the ground, and campers had to match the following cards with facts with the correct photograph. It was a pleasant game altogether.

Our third day of Summer Camp started off with each of the campers receiving their very own recipe binder. Every time students cook together, they will add each new recipe to their binder, so that by the end of camp students will have their own cookbooks full of healthy recipes to take home and share with their families.

We then broke the campers up into two groups, with half of the campers working together to prepare a delicious lunch consisting of Veggie Mac and Cheese and a salad made fresh from NYRP’s Riley-Levin Children’s Garden. Our little culinary masters honed their chopping skills after harvesting herbs and greens from the very vegetable beds that they tend to on a daily basis. The second group of campers divided their time between a Swindler Cove Habitat Rove and garden work. While on the rove, campers learned about food chains in our ecosystem. After which, they headed over to the garden to sift through compost before later harvesting garlic, green beans, and the first cucumbers of the season.

After all this hard work, the entire group sat down to enjoy a beautiful meal together. The Veggie Mac and Cheese was a big hit amongst the hardworking campers. One smiling face exclaimed “I’m surprised. I think I like the salad even more!” One of the chefs responded by saying, “Thank you! And you know there’s honey in the dressing.