Volunteer Sat June 11th, 2011

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ProspectFarm2010_Premises02
Please come to Prospect Farm on Saturday June 11th from 10 am – 2 pm to help clear the top of Prospect Farm for our Phtyoremediating ornamental plant garden. Bring gloves, drinking water, and any tools you may have. Adults only please.

AND!

From 1-4 pm we will begin to level a flat area for our 3-bin composting system. Prospect Farm has been successful collecting food scraps. Help us turn your scraps into rich fertilizer for our crops. Bring gloves, drinking water, and shovels. Adults only please.

Volunteer Sat June 11th, 2011
@Prospect Farm
1194 Prospect Ave, Brooklyn
10am – 4pm

Dirt Talk Five: Permaculture

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DirtTalk_2011_06FT
Prospect Farm and Sustainable Flatbush are proud to present Brooklyn Dirt: Monthly Talks on Urban Farming and Gardening.

Dirt Talk Five: Permaculture
With Speakers Dan Miner and Olga Kuchukov

June 15th, 2011
7 – 9:30 pm
Downstairs @ Sycamore Bar and Flowershop, 21+
1118 Cortelyou RD, BK (Q train to Cortelyou)
$5 suggested donation (proceeds benefit Sustainable Flatbush & Prospect Farm)

Tell your friends you’re going on Facebook.
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Dan Miner has been involved with a variety of urban sustainability projects as a volunteer organizer with Post Carbon Institute and the Peak Oil NYC Meetup, and as past Chair of Sierra Club NYC. He wrote a 2008 report about how NYC can expand support for its climate change initiatives by preparing for higher and more volatile energy prices, and recently promoted the City’s white roof painting project in western Queens, referring 15 buildings to the program. At his day job, he assists Queens businesses as SVP of Long Island City Partnership. Dan completed a Permaculture Design Certificate program at Hancock Permaculture Center. He will discuss how the Transition movement’s organizing model and permaculture can be applied to NYC, and next steps in urban agriculture.
www.beyondoilnyc.org.

Olga Kuchukov has lived 34 plus years in NYC wondering why things are the way they are and how can they be better. As a massage therapist and solo sustainability warrior, she understands that change will come with a deep integration of thoughtful intention and habit, along with a healthy dose of practical new skills. After tuning in to the reality of our oil-dependent life, she traveled to Australia to help her friends who are building a transition town situation on their 6-acre property an hour north of Melbourne. She also visited the 2.5 acre food forest home of the co-originator of permaculture, David Holgrem. She will present her impressions along with viewings from the instructional DVD, Establishing a Food Forest with Geoff Lawton.

Sustainable Flatbush brings neighbors together to mobilize, educate, and advocate for sustainable living in their Brooklyn neighborhood and beyond.
www.sustainableflatbush.org/

Prospect Farm is a community group in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn that is working together to grow food in a formerly vacant lot, with the mission toward creating a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Farm that can feed and serve our community.
www. prospectfarm.org

June Events Around the Neighborhood

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compost for brooklyn block party

Prospect Farm will continue to plan volunteer events but there is plenty to help with around the neighborhood too.

Benefit House Party for the Brooklyn Food Coalition & The Indypendent Thursday June 2nd fantastic Indian dinner cooked by professional chef and Indy editor Arun Gupta, dancing under the stars, surprise announcements, and special guests including Jeremy Scahill (investigative reporter & author of Blackwater). Eat, drink, and chat with other activists and celebrate the coming summer.
445 6th Street (upstairs, between 6th & 7th Avenues, Park Slope, $20 advance/$25 door. Tickets online: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/176136. Details: http://brooklynfoodcoalition.ning.com/events/bfc-the-indypendent-hosting-a

Proud Gardeners Church ave garden

BIG Native Planting Day, at the Church Avenue Communal Garden, June 4th This Saturday, June 4th, from 11am-4pm, Sustainable Flatbush will greatly expand the native plant gardens already underway at the Church Not only is this a rare chance to break ground on a native plant garden that will benefit the Flatbush community for decades to come (learn why here), it’s an opportunity to learn about plants native to our area, the many benefits they provide, and how they can be used in gardens. Avenue Communal Garden at the Flatbush Reformed Church.
Saturday, June 4th, 11am-4pm at Church Avenue Communal Garden at the Flatbush Reformed Church
 890 Flatbush Avenue (enter at East 21st Street and Kenmore Terrace). Details: http://sustainableflatbush.org/2011/05/30/big-native-planting-day-june-4th/

Compost for Brooklyn Block Party June 5th Music, raffle, bake sale, and lots of great workshops including: Composting with Brooklyn Master Composters; Recycled Bottle Terrariums with Rani August and Jennifer Dorman; Planting Herbs and Herbal Remedies with Kristy Bredin; Recycling with Sustainable Flatbush; Bokashi with Vandra Thorburn; Make Your own Necklace with Rebutton Studios; Citizen science with Farming Concrete; Green City Challenge; Bring your broken stuff to be fixed by the Fixer’s Collective; Cooking with Miriam Garron; Trench composting with the Prospect Farm; Compost Tea with Jenny Blackwell and Luke Halligan from the NYC Compost Project in Brooklyn; Pin the pollen on the pistil with the Flatbush Farm Share; and so much more.
Sunday June 5th at Compost for Brooklyn; Newkirk Avenue and East 8th Street Details: http://compostforbrooklyn.org/events/

Volunteer Sat. May 21st: Clearing for Compost Bins

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Its time to get our new 3 bin compost system up and running. Join Matt and Oren on Saturday morning to clear and level an area before we begin building. All volunteers and members are invited.

Volunteer: Clearing for Compost Bins
Saturday May 21st (canceled for heavy rain)
10 am to 3 pm (or until finished)
at Prospect Farm

Bring gloves, drinking water, and tools if you have them. Children are welcome, but must be supervised by an adult. Email prospectfarmbk@gmail.com with your questions. Directions to the farm are here.

Dirt Talk Four: Native Plants

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Prospect Farm and Sustainable Flatbush are proud to present
Brooklyn Dirt: Monthly Talks on Urban Farming and Gardening.

Talk Four: Native Plants
With Speakers Mariellé Anzelone (Executive Director, Founder, NYC Wildflower Week) and Chris Kreussling (aka Flatbush Gardener)

May 18th, 2011
7 – 9:30 pm
Downstairs @ Sycamore Bar and Flowershop, 21+
1118 Cortelyou RD, BK (Q train to Cortelyou)
$5 suggested donation (proceeds benefit Sustainable Flatbush & Prospect Farm)

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Mariellé Anzelone, Executive Director, Founder of NYC Wildflower Week
Marielle Anzelone is a botanist, urban conservation biologist and native plant landscape designer. The idea for NYC Wildflower Week was born of her desire to share her love of flora and create an posse of passionate plant people.  Prior to this, she was the Plant Ecologist for NYC Department of Parks’ Natural Resources Group for nearly 7 years. Her op-ed on the extinct flora of New York City was recently featured in The New York Times.
http://nycwildflowerweek.org/about.html

Chris Kreussling (aka Flatbush Gardner)
Chris Kreussling is a garden coach with more than 30 years gardening experience in NYC. Chris is also the Director of the Urban Gardens and Farms initiative of Sustainable Flatbush and a community member of the Healthy Soils, Healthy Communities advisory board, a project of the Cornell Waste Management Institute.

Over the past 6 years, Chris has transformed a dusty, weedy backyard into a garden oasis of over 60 species of native trees, shrubs, ferns, grasses and wildflowers. He’s documented the process on his gardening blog, Flatbush Gardener.
http://flatbushgardener.blogspot.com/)

Sustainable Flatbush brings neighbors together to mobilize, educate, and advocate for sustainable living in their Brooklyn neighborhood and beyond.
http://sustainableflatbush.org/
Prospect Farm is a community group in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn that is working together to grow food in a formerly vacant lot, with the mission toward creating a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Farm that can serve our community. Prospect Farm is the community leader for the Kensington/Windsor Terrace neighborhood group for the Brooklyn Food Coalition.

Digging and Sifting Saturday May 14th, 2011

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Oren, our master composter will be conducting another round of digging and sifting soil for trench composting. Learn how we remediate the soil and make it better for our plants. Please bring gloves and water. Shovels provided, but please bring more if you have them.
No need to sign up, just drop by. All volunteers and members are welcome. Feel free to bring people out, but please do not bring children.

Digging and Sifting

Saturday May 14th, 2011
10am – 3 pm (or until we finish)
at Prospect Farm: 1194 Prospect Ave, between Seeley and Vanderbilt Sts
F/G Train to Fort Hamilton, exit towards Prospect Ave

May 7th Events + Volunteering

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Friends of Greenwood Playground Spring Flea Market 2011

Saturday May 7th (rain date May 8th) come check out Prospect Farm at the Friends of Greenwood Flea Market from 9 am to 5 pm. There will be family-oriented musical entertainment, as well as food vendors, crafts, and treasures galore from your neighbors. We will be there to answer your questions, discuss our progress at Prospect Farm.

Greenwood Playground is located on the corner of Ft. Hamilton Parkway and East 5th Street in Brooklyn next to the F/G lines. See the Friends of Greenwood Playground website for more info: www.friendsofgreenwoodplayground.bbnow.org/

Volunteer Day Saturday May 7th 10 am to 3 pm

Stop by the farm after the flea market to help with some  clearing. All members and volunteers are welcome to help. Bring gloves, drinking water, and tools if you have them. Children are welcome, but must be supervised by an adult. Email prospectfarmbk@gmail.com with your questions. Directions to the farm are here.

Plot Manager and Planting Meeting Sat. April 23rd

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Planting Crops and Sign Up April 23rd, 10 am
Do you want to help Prospect Farm grow vegetables, herbs, flowers and more? Sign up to be a plot manager for 2011. We will begin planning and planting on Saturday April 23rd (rain date April 24th) at 10 am, and are looking for 12-14 plot manager to dedicate 1-2 hours a week watering, weeding, and tending crops.

We plan to grow together as a group, which means no individual plots. Plot managers will be scheduled a day to water and tend crops. At the end of each week we will harvest together, weigh and record what we got, and divide up the produce to all members. In the future (this is the beginning of our second year) we hope to offer a CSA, and we feel this is a step towards that model.

Currently our steering committee has decided what to grow based on space, amount of members, and quality of soil. In the future we would love input from the dedicated plot managers. Our current list includes multiple varieties of: tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet peppers, hot peppers, lettuce, spinach, herbs, zucchini, beans, eggplant, peas, squash and ornamentals: sunflowers, Seapink thrift, Ornamental Cabbage (Brassica oleracea), Pennycress (Thlaspi rotndifolium), Hemp Dogbane (Apocynum cannabinum).

All plot managers must become members of Prospect Farm, paying a fee of $25 (or $35 with tshirt) paid in cash or check and committing an hour a week to work at Prospect Farm. Details are here: http://prospectfarmbk.wordpress.com/support-us/membership/.

Please respond to this post by email with questions or bring them with you on Saturday the 23rd: prospectfarmbk@gmail.com

If you can not make it there will be opportunites in the future to sign up.

Dirt Talk Three: Composting Indoors and Out

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April 20th Dirt Talk Three: Composting Indoors and Out
With Speakers Jenny Blackwell (NYC Compost Project in Brooklyn) and Pieranna Pieroni (Brooklyn College); Presented by Sustainable Flatbush and Prospect Farm

Wed April 20th, 2011
7 – 9:30 pm
Downstairs @ Sycamore Bar and Flowershop, 21+
1118 Cortelyou RD, BK (Q train to Cortelyou)
$5 suggested donation (proceeds benefit Sustainable Flatbush & Prospect Farm)

Event on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/event.php?eid=214149945262239

Jenny Blackwell is project manager for the NYC Compost Project in Brooklyn. She is a graduate of Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Horticulture Certificate Program. A composting fanatic, she has worked with composting systems at Added Value, the Hollenback Community Garden, BBG, and the Battery Park City Parks Conservancy, as well as the myriad systems that Brooklyn’s backyards and community gardens have to offer.

Pieranna Pieroni is a Brooklyn Botanic Garden-trained Master Composter and educator (with a worm bin in her office at Brooklyn College) who works with New York City public school students around school-community gardening and ecoliteracy.

Sustainable Flatbush brings neighbors together to mobilize, educate, and advocate for sustainable living in their Brooklyn neighborhood and beyond. http://sustainableflatbush.org/

Prospect Farm is a community group in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn that is working together to grow food in a formerly vacant lot, with the mission toward creating a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Farm that can serve our community. Prospect Farm is the community leader for the Kensington/Windsor Terrace neighborhood group for the Brooklyn Food Coalition. https://prospectfarm.org/