Root for Trees is gearing up to kick off their Chelsea Street Tree Signage Exhibit. As part of this exhibition, Chelsea artists and galleries will create beautiful and educational signs to protect street trees within the neighborhood. Volunteers are needed during the week of July 19th – 25th to help mulch, water, and de-litter participating tree beds, while also helping to install the artist-designed signs and tree guards.

Please help spread the word. If you, your neighbors or friends would like to help with this new neighborhood exhibit, please contact Jessica Schweifel at schweifel@mac.com.

Yesterday was a spectacular day in the Schenectady Avenue Community Garden. The much-anticipated City Chicken Institute kicked off with more than 40 aspiring chicken keepers gathering together for an engaging and informative introductory workshop. Led by bk farmyards farmer-in-chief and Just Food trainer, Bee Ayer, the workshop covered the basics of chicken keeping – including shelter, food, habits, health, costs, etc.! The sun was out and the chickens were out and about, pecking around our feet. We even had some nice samba music wafting over from a party next door.

We compared yolks of store bought eggs to fresh eggs and sampled some hardboiled straight from the garden. All participants meandered through the garden and chicken coop on a scavenger hunt to identify some of the key components necessary for happy hens and even had a chance to chase one down for a brief lesson on handling.

The chickens are happier than ever and the coop is beautiful. If you have a chance, try to make it out to one of the workshops. They are all listed on the NYRP calendar. Check out more photos from the workshop on our facebook fan page!

Yesterday, we celebrated the re-opening of NYRP's Hull Street Playground in Brooklyn. Around 30+ neighborhood kids and parents came by to enjoy the playground, as well as an animal show provided by NYRP Environmental Educator Dennis Rosario. NYRP's community outreach team showed off their face painting abilities as community members enjoyed hot dogs and with all the fixings. Yum yum. What a perfect day to have fun and play in the sun!

View more pictures on our Facebook Fan Page!

The Down and Dirty Horticulture Society, comprised of around thirty-five 5th and 6th graders from PS 140, hosted the first annual Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson Community Garden party! Led by Vice Principal and garden member, Hope Dorsey, the event brought together garden members, neighborhood officials and NYRP staff to enjoy a day in the sun, while playing games, gardening and filling up on treats generously provided by the school. It was such a joy to see the garden being used and enjoyed by the community at large.

NYRP’s Schenectady Avenue Community Garden is now home to New York City’s largest community-run chicken coop. Beginning in April, NYRP staff – with the help of 15 community volunteers – built the 120-square-foot coop that includes a 200-square-foot run in just under a week. The Brooklyn garden now houses more than 40 hens, including a mixture of Leghorns, Rhode Island Reds, Red Stars, Americanas and much more! Created to serve as an affordable source of protein for the local community, the coop provides roughly three dozen eggs per day for sale through the BK Farmyards low-income Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. Local Crown Heights residents are able to buy a share in the program to receive eggs weekly.

NYRP has partnered with BK Farmyards – a Brooklyn-based, decentralized farming network that provides locally grown and affordable food to Brooklyn residents through increasing urban food production and providing employment for local farmers – to bring more community members into two of NYRP’s gardens, while also continuing our mission of promoting healthy eating and sustainable living.

Throughout the summer, BK Farmyards will hold several educational workshops in which families and neighborhood residents can gain the tools necessary to raise and maintain chickens in an urban environment. The workshops are scheduled to take place at the Schenectady Avenue Community Garden throughout the summer. To learn more, click here.

On April 16th, NYRP Chief of Education Akiima Price joined some of the nation’s most prominent green leaders and environmental activists for The White House Conference on America’s Great Outdoors. Organized by the Obama Administration, the conference addressed the challenges, opportunities and innovations surrounding modern-day land conservation and the importance of connecting Americans and their families to their outdoor environments.

Price received a special invitation to attend the event as a result of all of her recognized work re-introducing New York City’s residents of all ages to nature through such innovative programs as NYRP’s Nature in My Neighborhood and NatureMania.

“The conference was confirmation of what I have always believed… that the conservation of land is important but the connection to land is imperative,” said Price. “At NYRP, we understand the vital importance of re-connecting all people – both young and old – to the greater outdoors. I’m pleased that the Obama Administration shares NYRP’s goals and initiatives and understands the crucial impact that nature has on all things living.”

To learn more about the conference, click here. To learn more about how to get involved in NYRP’s environmental education programming offered year-round, click here.

On May 27th, nineteen gardeners from all over Brooklyn joined NYRP staff in our Bedford-Stuyvesant Community Garden for our third installment of NYRP's Neighborhood Gardening Institute. Launched in April, this series was created to serve as a resource for neighborhood gardeners to learn best practices for maximizing the planting and maintenance of their community gardens.

The event began with Just Food instructor, Solita Stephens, leading the group as they created a to-do list of all the different methods used to garner the largest harvest possible from both vegetable beds and container plantings. Some of the techniques discussed included how to identify which weeds are edible and which need to be pulled; how to use organic fertilizer; the importance of mulching and watering; how to safely prune plants and much, much more!

Each garden workshop participant took home a spray bottle full of Neptune’s organic fish fertilizer. Join us for our next Neighborhood Gardening Institute on Tuesday, June 15th at  the Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson Community Garden in Queens.

On June 2nd, the New Leaf Restaurant & Bar’s renowned Executive Chef Scott Campbell dished out his fresh take on modern American cuisine at Central Park Conservancy’s Taste of Summer. The annual event featured the culinary delights of more than 40 of New York City’s most acclaimed chefs. Tantalizing the taste buds of more than 1,000 New Yorkers, Chef Campbell prepared his signature curry spiced filet of duck, with a side of vegetable salad and blackberry ginger compote. Created using only locally grown, all-natural produce, Chef Campbell’s American dishes demonstrate both a flair for the original and an appreciation of cultural diversity, much like the city of Manhattan itself.

Couldn’t make it to the event? Join family and friends on the New Leaf’s beautiful outdoor garden patio for lunch, dinner or the restaurant’s popular weekend brunch. Click here for more information.

NYRP kicked off the first of three workshops focused on Healthy Eating and Wellness presented by Coca-Cola in our El Cataño Community Garden on May 22nd in East Harlem. The workshop, led by Noah Goldstein, former NYRP educator, covered the importance of incorporating movement and a seasonal diet into daily lifestyles. Twenty community members and folks from NYRP's meet-up.com group joined NYRP staff for this informative event. The workshop began with participants performing simple stretch exercises to get their bodies moving, followed by a holistic discussion about seasonal food and nutrition.



Attendees then broke up into two groups and prepared two delicious salads, using all parts of each plant (including the roots, stems, leaves, flowers and seeds). Participants even handpicked some extra special ingredients that were growing in the garden that day! They laughed and swapped recipes throughout day, and at the end of the event, each participant went home with a new sprouting jar and a variety of seeds to begin making their own sprouts at home.



“The presentor did a great job of combining all the essential elements of wellness into an easily digestible format in a fabulous venue. From the beginning stretches to the hands-on salad prep with edible flowers to the parting gifts of sprout seeds, the workshop was very well orchestrated. I look forward to the next one! ” - Kathy Andino