Beekeepers in the News
Monday, February 21
(Courtesy of Andrew Coté)Andrew Coté, who was at the Hort this past Thursday for a talk on beekeeping, has a great write-up on the Epoch Times. Read an excerpt below:
As new beekeepers pop up around the five boroughs two years after a city law was amended, taking introductory classes can help newcomers avoid mistakes and learn what beekeeping entails.
“Once urban beekeeping became legal [in New York City] … a lot of people just got the bees and they were very, very excited about it,” said Andrew Coté, founder of two groups dealing with bees, including the New York City Beekeepers Association. “And two weeks later they forgot that they had bees on the roof.”
During a talk at the Horticultural Society of New York, Coté described the classes the association offers.
“[You] learn about how to be safe and responsible for the bees and the neighbors and yourself,” said Coté.
Read the full article at the Epoch Times.
Homegrown at The Hort
Friday, February 17
This past fall we kicked off our new Homegrown Series at the Hort. Our idea was to host workshops that served as an exploration of the things we can create in our own homes with botanically-derived materials. We were pleased to host Beth Linskey of Beth’s Farm Kitchen, a long-time presence at the New York City Greenmarkets; Beth gave a hands-on lecture on how to make jams and preserves from Greenmarket produce. Robert Schaeffer of Divine Brine taught a course on home pickling and canning, Claire Briguglio and Sam Adels gave a lecture, demonstration and tasting on home-brewed beer, and we ended the series with Tara Pelletier and Jeff Kurosaki of Meow Meow Tweet giving us a new appreciation of botanical soap-making.
Fortunately, the series was such a success that we’ve decided to continue it into the winter and spring of 2012. We’re hosting a series of five workshops, using popular themes from last season as well as brand-new topics.
On February 22, you will have the opportunity to build a soda bottle planter, creating your very own passive hydroponic system made out of a reused plastic bottle. This is your chance to become acquainted with hydroponics by the experts at Boswyck Farms. Boswyck Farms was founded in 2008 by Lee Mandell with the idea of growing fresh food for the surrounding community. Lee is an urban farmer specializing in hydroponics with over 20 years of experience in the field.
Next, on March 22, is a course and hands-on workshop on making botanical hand salves and lip balms. This is a great way to turn some of the plants we know so well into cosmetics that heal, particularly during the cold, winter months. This class will be hosted by our own Hilda Krus, Director of the Greenhouse Program, who’s been making her own salves and balms for years, and teaches her students on Rikers Island to do the same.
Then, on April 26th, is something exciting for all you mycophiles: an intro to mushroom foraging with Ari Rockland-Miller, who ran mushroom research at Cornell University and hosts a popular blog on foraging. After a crash course on identifying safe culinary and medicinal mushrooms of our region, Ari will teach everyone to inoculate logs with shiitake spores, letting everyone bring the foraging harvest into their own kitchens.
On May 24th we’re hosting a pickling workshop (back by popular demand), with Bob McClure of McClure’s Pickles. Based in Brooklyn and Detroit, McClure’s is a popular staple at farmers markets throughout the city. Everyone in attendance will learn the craft of pickling and leave with their own jar of pickles to enjoy at home. Join us for one, two or all of these enlightening courses, and help us make this spring just as successful as the fall!
On top of all these interesting DIY topics, we’re hosting lectures on everything from keeping bees (on February 16th) to keeping chickens (March 7th), and the implications that they have on agriculture and horticulture on all scales. We hope to see you at the Hort soon!
Important Books & Authors: Jack deLashmet's Hamptons Gardens
Tuesday, February 7
Jack deLashmet signing copies of Hamptons Gardens (above) and presenting (side)
Important Books & Authors Series: On Tuesday, January 31st, over 80 guests attended an exclusive evening with Landscape Designer Jack deLashmet at Asprey to support the social service programs at The Horticultural Society of New York. Guests enjoyed cocktails and hors d'oeuvres in an elegant setting, and a talk by deLashmet on his recent book, Hamptons Gardens. The hosts of the evening were Bruce Addison, CeCe Black, Ben Bradlee, Ellen Niven Deery, Andrea H. Fahnestock, Mark Gilbertson, Jamee Gregory, Nina Griscom, Eric Groft, Tony Ingrao, Randy Kemper, Bill Manger, Kitty McKnight, Mario Nievera, Sally Quinn, Alexia Hamm Ryan, Frances Schultz, Barbara Slifka, and Mary Van Pelt.
To view more photos from the event, please visit our Flickr page.
Important Books & Authors attendees watch Jack deLashmet present his talk on Hamptons GardensThe Gift of Time
Wednesday, January 25
This holiday season, Hort Board Member Jessica Tcherepnine gave one of the greatest gifts one can give—the gift of time. In December, during rainy and cold weather, Jessica trekked out to Rikers Island (via two subway trains and a bus) at the break of dawn, to offer our GreenHouse participants a workshop in the art of botanical drawing. She brought with her a bag filled with pomegranates, persimmons, a purple cabbage, bright orange and yellow peppers, papery tomatillos, gnarly hands of ginger, along with some examples of her work (her watercolor of Quince, Cydonia Oblonga, is pictured above).
The students were thrilled to have such a renowned botanical artist in their midst. As always, untapped skills and abilities of the participants quickly became apparent, with masterly sketches of peppers and onions. Others fearlessly tackled complicated subject matter like ruby red seeds spilling out of opened pomegranates, and the inner layers of a sliced purple cabbage. Some examples of the students' work can be seen here to the right and below. As a learning experience, the workshop introduced the students to some unfamiliar fruits such as the persimmon. Some of these unexplored fruits were eaten at the end of the day, with yet another lesson, this one in “eating your colors.” In the days following the workshop, students were eager to try their newfound skills and drew some wonderful studies of some of our houseplants.
We find these workshops not only educational and instructional, but also extremely therapeutic. Working with color, along with intense concentration on and studying of one object, allows the students to experience calm and quiet, to tap into creative reservoirs and to sharpen and improve powers of observation.
Thank you, Jessica, for making this experience possible. It was a highlight of our holiday season.
Need Another Goal for 2012? Explore Vertical Space!
Thursday, January 12
New York City Public School teachers defied gravity in our Greenwall and Greenroof Technology course. Using Apple Seed Program techniques, we investigated the relationship between science and technology in the context of tools, processes, designs and products. The course culminated with the creation of two cooperative greenwalls.
The first greenwall was a free-standing or wall-mounted mini-vertical garden kit by Vertiscape. Four inch plants were transplanted into the framed unit and watered from above. The beauty of this unique kit is that its movable, self-contained, and has a built in water tray. It brightened every corner that it was moved to.
We also created an eight foot greenwall through the use of gorgeously planted Woolly pockets. We love woolly pockets as a sustainable, movable and practical solution for urban spaces. They boast internal moisture control and are made from recycled plastic bottles here in the USA. The teachers created their own unique blend of colors and textures, selecting from lush, hardy plants like pothos, arrowheads, dracaenas, peace lilies, and peperomias supported by our newest board member Teresa Carleo of Plant Fantasies.
To connect with our supporters, please visit:
livingholmesdesign.com
woollypocket.com
woollyschoolgarden.org
plantfantasies.com
Our spring training will take teachers Beyond the Lima Bean: Incorporating Plant Science with Math, Art & Literacy to delve into plant parts with an innovative, interdisciplinary and sensory focus. Participants will uncover botanical myths while sketching hairy roots, creating playful plant chants, designing floral arrangements and making chocolate from cacao seeds. To register, visit the ASPDP website at: http://schools.nyc.gov/Teachers/aspdp
GreenHouse Speaks in North Carolina
Tuesday, December 6
“Egyptian Garden 1”, Quilt by Ann Fahl; www.annfahl.comHorticultural therapy is an ancient practice but a fairly new profession. Court physicians in ancient Egypt prescribed walks in palace gardens for royalty who were mentally disturbed, Roman doctors understood the quieting effect that the peaceful, non-threatening garden environment had, and in the early 1800s Dr. Benjamin Rush, a professor at the Institute of Medicine and Clinical Practice in Philadelphia, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and considered the first psychiatrist, published findings that field labor in a farm setting had curative effects on people who were mentally ill. A rush of further testing ensued in hospitals around the world.
Today, the American Horticultural Therapy Association (AHTA) counts 800+ members from the U.S., Canada, Japan and beyond, and over 200 of them gathered on a recent fall weekend in Asheville, NC to attend the 39th annual AHTA conference. This year’s theme, Recovery and Rehabilitation: The Role of Horticultural Therapy in the Therapeutic Community, drew a record-breaking crowd of horticultural therapists, psychologists, social workers, landscape architects and master gardeners. The conference’s keynote speaker, Sharon Leigh Young, PhD and Chief Recovery Officer, Clinical Psychologist at CooperRiis Healing Farm opened up the conference with How to Become a Recovery Revolutionary, and described her work in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains with individuals suffering from emotional distress. Other notable talks included What Gives a Garden Its Healing Power, The Impact of Horticultural Therapy on Adolescent Recovery, The Psychotherapeutic Application for Horticultural Therapy, and Nutrition Basics for Horticultural Therapists.
Hort staff members, Hilda Krus and Laurie Sexton, both registered horticultural therapists, attended, and presented “Horticultural Therapy in Corrections: You Have the Right to Remain Planted!”, a description and discussion of our GreenHouse program on Rikers Island. GreenHouse combines vocational training, education and horticultural therapy to help provide participants with the tools they need to redirect their lives in a positive manner. Aside from the vocational and educational benefits of the program, the setting itself, lush gardens that offer space for reflection, plenty of sensory stimulation and year round beauty, serves to quiet the mind and uplift the spirit, something the ancient Egyptians and Romans would understand very well.
Laurie and Hilda left for North Carolina with best wishes from colleagues and all their students. The presentation sparked a lively conversation among the conference attendees about benefits and possible limitations of HT in corrections, a field where HT is still under-represented. As a further gratifying result of the talk, The Hort received many requests from within the US as well as from abroad to visit the program, do internships with our programs and serve as a source of information for professionals aiming to set up HT programs within jails.
We will continue spreading the word about the powerful healing potential of Horticultural Therapy.
Green Roof Professional Training at The Hort
Thursday, November 17
The Hort recently hosted the Green Roof for Healthy Cities: Green Roof Professional Training series, also known colloquially as the “Green Roof Boot Camp” and the “Green Infrastructure: Policies, Performance and Projects” half-day seminar. The Green Roof Boot Camp series are four all-day courses designed to prepare candidates for the Green Roof Professional exam—the most notable professional designation for professionals involved with Green Roof design, installation, policy and advocacy. This training course covers topics ranging from basic Greenroof science to waterproofing to Greenroof project management.
The audience of landscape architects, non-profit program officers, municipal and state project managers and coordinators were treated to a comprehensive four-day intensive. These courses included engaging tours of New York’s High Line linear park and a personal tour by Amy Nordquist and Christian Toebe from Greensulate, of a recent residential green roof installation in the East Village.
There was a great deal of excitement and interest among the audience members attending.
The Green Infrastructure seminar was lead by Sara Loveland GRP—formerly of DC Greenworks, where she was a pioneer in the Greenroof industry as well as a Green Infrastructure professional and entrepreneur.
The seminar audience was guided through a primer on the breadth and scope of Green Infrastructure installations and given a comprehensive toolkit of policy and advocacy strategies for facilitating the growth of these sectors regionally.
Opportunities for high-quality training in Greenroofing and Green Infrastructure techniques are in high demand across the country, as they are emphasized in the infrastructural and development goals for many major cities. Green Roofs for Healthy Cities has developed a comprehensive curriculum that emphasizes goals shared by the Hort: a commitment to best practices and a commitment to rigorous professional standards.
Education and Autumn Color on the Highline
Monday, November 7
Fifteen New York City public school teachers were treated to a guided, fall tour of the wonderful gardens of the High Line. This signature landscape was designed by James Corner Field Operations, with the consultation of planting designer Piet Oudolf. The High Line’s plantings are inspired by the self-seeded landscape that grew on the out-of-use elevated rail tracks during the 25 years after the train stopped running. Netherlands-based Piet Oudolf chose perennials, bulbs, grasses, shrubs and trees for their hardiness, sustainability, and unique color and texture. With a focus on native species, many of the plants that originally grew on the rail beds have been incorporated into the park landscape.
Despite what some might think, fall is actually a beautiful time to visit the High Line or any of the city’s botanical gardens. This is the time of year that, in addition to fall foliage on trees and shrubs, grasses and perennials show a whole new set of colors and textures through their seed heads. On this particular day, grasses like Calamagrostis species (feather reed grass) and Panicum species (switchgrass) were prominent in planting beds throughout the park with their soft seed heads on golden, upright stalks. Even Festuca glauca (blue fescue) retained its silvery-blue color, which stands out even brighter against now-faded summer perennials. There were, however, some perennials still in full-display: late-summer and fall bloomers like Helianthus angustifolius (swamp sunflower), with its small, numerous yellow blooms stood above shorter stands of Aster laevis (smooth aster), with its purple, daisy-like blossoms. Other asters had already gone to seed, but were still interesting in their own right, with small tufts of feathery-seeds at the end of each stalk. Fortunately the teachers were very interested in the plant palette on display, enough to brave the cold and wind.
In addition to the gorgeous botany of the High Line, teachers in our P-course on green roof and green wall technology explored its history and infrastructural challenges. Throughout the course, they will focus on how our urban environment necessitates innovative thinking about growing plants in unusual spaces. In the coming weeks, the course will research the functions of various soil substrates, then explore the properties of materials and design the ideal substrate for a green roof like the High Line.
Annual Fall Luncheon 2011
Tuesday, November 1
Dr. Elizabeth Barlow Rogers, Barbara A. Margolis Award recipient
The Horticultural Society of New York’s 18th annual Fall Luncheon was held last Tuesday at the Metropolitan Club. More than 300 friends, supporters, and horticultural enthusiasts were in attendance.
The event, which features the prestigious Barbara A. Margolis Award, welcomed this year’s recipient, Elizabeth Barlow Rogers, President of the Foundation for Landscape Studies. Betsy was on hand to sign copies of her recent book, Writing the Garden: A Literary Conversation Across Two Centuries. This year, two recipients, Ethne Clarke and Thomas Woltz, received The Hort’s Award of Excellence (all three award recipients are pictured to the right). Ethne Clarke, the Editor in Chief of Organic Gardening, is an internationally recognized garden journalist, lecturer and author of a number of best-selling books on practical gardening design and landscape history. Thomas Woltzis the principal and co-owner of Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects. Thomas has led designs of a wide range of public and private projects in the United States and abroad, including The Peggy Guggenheim Sculpture Garden in Venice, Italy.
Our Fall Luncheon attendees were presented with a video short (pictured below) entitled Changing Lives, which documents how the Horticultural Society of New York's social service programs impact the lives of those it trains in horticulture and transitional work.
To view more photos of our annual Fall Luncheon, click here and check out our Flickr page of the event.
OpenHouseNewYork Weekend at The Hort
Monday, October 17
This past weekend The Hort participated in the 19th annual OpenHouseNY Weekend. This is a city-wide celebration of New York City’s extraordinary architecture and design. OHNY gives the residents of NYC and visitors a wonderful chance to encounter our city’s architecture with a fresh perspective. The weekend’s activities included talks, tours, workshops for all those you enjoy thought-provoking design—all free of charge.
The Hort offered a rare look at our spectacular multi-functional space with a tour given by Linda Pollak, principal of Marpillero & Pollak, the architecture firm who designed our midtown headquarters. Our 12,000 volume Library was open for visitors to peruse through our collection of horticulture and landscape design books.
Another treat was a tour given by the Hort’s curator, Chris Murtha, of the 14th Annual International Juried Botanical Art Exhibition, which runs through November 16th. This show highlights works from the top botanical artists around the world.
The festivities of the day drew an enthusiastic crowd of over 200 guests all looking for exciting things to experience on a beautiful fall day in NYC. Our workshops included pumpkin decorating, making your own organic tea, and a beer tasting of selected seasonal ales handcrafted by local award-winning Brooklyn home brewers.
Celebrate Our New Look!
Tuesday, October 4
For over 100 years, The Hort has ensured that people living in urban environments remain connected to plants. From our beginnings as a meeting place for horticulturists and landscape architects to our recent work developing green infrastructure projects throughout the city, The Hort has inspired and installed everything from large scale urban farms and public school learning gardens to private backyard and windowsill gardens. We are pleased to present a mission statement that fully represents this scope:
The mission of the Horticultural Society of New York is to sustain the vital connection between people and plants. Our social service and public programs educate and inspire, growing a broad community that values horticulture for the many benefits it brings to our environment, our neighborhoods, and our lives.
We want you to be a part of this growing community. To celebrate, we’re offering a special discount for new members: join before November 4th and receive a $25 discount on an Individual or Family Membership. Please enter 25OFF in the Discount Code text box when checking out at our Membership page.
To accompany and complement this mission, we are also launching a new logo (you may have already noticed a fresh, new look to the website). Our new logo is an elegant and contemporary typographic mark designed by Henk van Assen at HvADesign, a firm that has worked with several prominent local arts and cultural institutions, including the Guggenheim, Museum of Arts & Design, and the Museum of the City of New York.
The design of the logo resembles plots in an urban landscape—or even a community garden—with the letters being formed by the spaces between blocks of color. The design reflects The Hort’s increasing involvement in landscape and garden design, green infrastructure, and urban agriculture, as well as our range of programming and the diversity of our constituents and members.
The new logo also embraces the colloquial name of our organization, “The Hort,” which we are also pleased to announce is reflected in our new website address, www.thehort.org. We hope that you have noticed the continued work in the past few years to improve our website and email newsletters, developing new ways for our members and followers to engage with horticulture. With the addition of our new logo, you will continue to see some changes to the design and look of our website. We hope you enjoy!
The 14th Annual International Juried Botanical Art Exhibition
Monday, September 26
Last Wednesday, we celebrated the opening of the 14th Annual International Juried Botanical Art Exhibition with a reception for the artists. We were excited to have many of the 38 artists in attendance—some coming from as far as Japan and the United Kingdom—as well as notable botanical art collectors Dr. Shirley Sherwood and Isaac Sutton.
Artist Kathy Folino, Mr. McCauley, Dr. Shirley Sherwood, Isaac Sutton, & artist Dorothy Gardner McCauleyEach year, this exhibition is presented with the American Society of Botanical Artists (ASBA). The forty-one paintings, drawings and prints in this year's show were selected from a field of 200 submissions by jurors Patricia Jonas, Kathie Miranda, and Derek Norman. This year's awards were selected by Patricia Jonas, Barbara Macklowe, and Jessica Tcherepine. To take a virtual tour of the exhibition, click and drag the 3D panorama below (you may be asked to download Microsoft Silverlight, which is a safe software equivalent to Adobe Flash).
Lizzie Sanders, Nepenthes, Nepenthes sp., watercolor on paper; milly acharya, Sour Cherry, Prunus cerasus, watercolor on paper; and Bobbi Angell, Apple, Malus domestica, copper etching and watercolorThe award for Best in Show, presented by The Horticultural Society of New York, was given to Lizzie Sanders for her impressive painting of a dried Nepenthes flower. Sanders bravely tackles the difficult subject of the tropical pitcher plant, which is seldom painted, especially in its dried form. For the risk, she has achieved a stunning image, the heft of the trap borne by the spring-like tendril of the leaf.
Milly Acharya's intensely detailed painting of Prunus cerasus (Sour Cherry) won ASBA's Award for Excellence. The Brooklyn Botanic Garden Award for a Drawing or Print went to Bobbi Angell for her elegantly hand-colored copperplate etching of Malus domestica (Apple). Other award-winners include Karen Kluglein's (New York Central Art Supply Award); Margaret Farr (Ursus Award); and Heeyoung Kim (Talas Award). Christine Battle, Jean Emmons, and John Pastoriza-Piñol received Honorable Mentions.
Artist Monika E. de Vries GohlkeThe exhibition will be on view at The Hort through November 23. In conjunction with the show, three featured artists will be offering botanical art classes in the gallery. This is an amazing opportunity to learn from such talented artists while surrounded by their inspiring examples. The first class is Monday, October 17 with instructor Dick Rauh, President of ASBA. For more information, please click here.
Award Presentation with Chris Murtha, Curator of Exhibitions at The Hort, and Carol Woodin, ASBA’s Director of Exhibitions; Opening ReceptionRibbon-Cutting Ceremony at PS 84
Wednesday, September 14
Thanks to the generous support of the Greening Western Queens Fund of the North Star Fund, The Horticultural Society of New York celebrated the birth of another school garden with a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the inauguration of PS 84's new Learning Garden in Astoria, Queens. This garden is much more that what meets the eye, its unique, underground water storage holds rainwater on site for its students to pump and deliver by hand. For more information about this green infrastructure project, please check the previous Recent News update.
This event was graced with the presence of parents, community members and local merchants as well as 60 middle schoolers who will maintain the garden. Sal Bacarella, President of Garden Works, who funded the garden's design and construction and New York State Senator Michael Gianaris, an alumni of PS 84 himself, were just two of the community members present. To see more great photos of yesterday's event, please view our Flickr. Click the image below to see the students in action in a video on NY1's site.
PS 84's New Outdoor Classroom
Wednesday, September 7
The Hort and Garden Works broke ground on the first of August to create a green infrastructure project. This exciting new project is located on a grassy slope at PS 84, The Steinway School, in Astoria, Queens. The school administration asked our team to transform their slope into an outdoor classroom for living exploration. The school's 5th graders wanted a beautiful outdoor space that felt like "camp". The Hort hoped to build a living stormwater management system—able to collect rainwater and store it underground. These photos show the harmonious blend of those needs in an innovative, child-centered garden design, by Garden Works, an Astoria-based design/build firm.
The unique garden is equipped with a hand-pump, which the students will use for hand-watering the garden themselves. Rainwater collection and harvesting allows for re-use and storage of rainwater, as well as reduces storm run-off, which can flood sidewalks and nearby waterways. The garden has two levels—one with rustic Oak seating for outdoor exploration and the other for the underground water storage. Our Director of Children's Education, Pam Ito, provided training for PS 84's teachers on September 6 and workshops for the 6th and 7th graders will begin in late September.
This project was made possible by a generous contribution from the Western Queens Fund of the North Star Fund and Mr. Sal Bacarella at Garden Works.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony will take place on Tuesday, September 13, at 10am.
Photographing The Hort
By Bridget Collins, Photography Intern
Tuesday, August 30
Interning at The Hort this summer has been an incredible experience. I've been to all corners of the city, camera in hand, documenting the work The Hort is doing to make New York a greener place. While following the GreenTeam to their different job sites, I have discovered some amazing places I never could have imagined existed in the city. For example, the beautiful rooftop garden of Common Ground, a housing facility for the recently homeless, which just happens to be steps away from Times Square. I've also had the pleasure of discovering a rooftop farm in the heart of Bushwick, tomato plants ready to harvest in what was once Duke Ellington's backyard, and a garden overlooking the George Washington Bridge.
The greatest discovery I've made while interning here, however, is what a positive impact gardening can make on a community. The rooftop gardens at Common Ground and Georgia's Place are planted and maintained by the residents, and you can tell how excited gardening makes them just by chatting with them for a few minutes. Joyce Flowers, a resident of Common Ground, took the time to show me her tomato plants and identify many of the flowers in the garden for me, and that sort of openness has been common during my time working with The Hort. The members of the GreenTeam are so knowledgeable about their work and eager to share, I feel like I'm learning a million new things every day. This has only been the start of my work with The Hort, I'm so excited to see what I discover next.
Keets and Carrots at GreenHouse
By Hilda Krus
Thursday, August 18
As of Thursday, August 11, all the gardeners at the GreenHouse became aunts and uncles—of twenty-nine Guinea fowl keets! This year, our Guinea hens took longer than ever to hatch their babies, leading us to wonder whether or not we would have young ones in 2011. Maybe none of the adults were male? Unlike previous years, we did not find nests with the hens breeding. However, when we entered the garden last Thursday morning, we found nine babies! They must have hatched in weedy areas of the garden. These fluffy, tiny, eager miniature fowls were already up and running and pecking their siblings. Since then, two more nests must have hatched, and we now count twenty-nine keets running after their mothers. Eight of them are white with brown wings and heads, twenty-one are light brown all over. Monday morning during a slight drizzle we found the entire batch of young ones under one of the mothers. Only the tiny feet peeked out under the old hen. These young birds are a joy for all of us, and not one student, instructor, or officer is unaffected when looking at our little flock. Nature does its magic!
Part of our curriculum at the GreenHouse is growing food and then eating it. Yesterday we went on a tour through the vegetable garden with two of our male students, young men who grew up in the city and have never before eaten self-grown food. At the beginning of their stay with us, they viewed soil as filthy and self-grown food as something unthinkable, alarming. Since then, they went through the try this dandelion phase, the eat this leaf and tell us if you like it (arugula) phase, as well as you have the honor of eating the first sungold-hybrid tomato of 2011 (“But it's YELLOW! That's not a tomato!”—“Yes, it is!”). They seem to have resigned to the fact that at the GreenHouse, we encourage them to eat things they would never have considered edible. This time, we were heading towards the carrot patch. We showed them how to determine if a carrot is ready (see the top of the carrot peeking out the soil), and then simply to pull it. Complete wonder came from the faces of the students! The carrots were perfect, but DARK RED! We had planted different varieties, and these ones were purple dragons. These are not carrots! Yes, they are! Smell them, look at the leaves, wash them and let's eat them. I am very proud to report that both of our students washed the carrots under the garden hose, and after a last weak voicing of doubts about the color as well as the fact that the peel was still on, took hearty bites! There's no closer and more empowering way to experience gardening than ingesting our own produce. These young men will soon return to the community with a whole set of experiences they might share with their own young children.
The Hort at Columbia University
By Nathan Lamb
Thursday, August 11
This summer, the Public Programming department at The Hort has finally been able to get out of the office and get their hands dirty in gardens around the city. One of the highlights from this season's long list of projects was the kitchen garden that we designed and installed at the house of the President of Columbia University. Working directly with the head chef, Leslie Woodward, we turned a formerly unused space into a raised bed herb and vegetable garden that will be used and tended by the kitchen staff for years to come.
After cleaning up the space and removing the existing containers, we designed a chest-high white cedar platform to run the entire length of the patio space (23 feet), with six four-foot by two-foot planters on top. Raising the beds optimizes sunlight exposure and allows the staff to access the beds and care for the plants more easily. Because there was no drainage in the polyester planters, we drilled eight holes in the bottom of each, and filled them with approximately two inches of river stones for drainage. After adding a mixture of equal parts compost and soil, they were ready to be planted.
The first bed (my favorite) was planted with seven delicious varieties of basil selected by Chef Leslie Woodward from the Union Square Greenmarket: Boxwood, Spicy Globe, Cinnamon, Thai, Golden and Greek. We added a small verbena plant in the hope of minimizing pest damage. The pepper bed, not to be outdone, was equally diverse, with spicy and sweet peppers all from the same market: Hungarian wax, Hot Sweet, Chocolate, Lemon Drop, Thai and habanero. The finished garden was truly a celebration of the diversity that our local farmers bring to the city's Greenmarkets every day, featuring companion plantings of flowers in each bed (to reduce pests), chives, pineapple sage, rue, fennel, Italian parsley, thyme, oregano, the aforementioned basils and peppers, many cultivars of mint, and a three-foot tall grape tomato that is already producing ripe clusters of beautiful tomatoes.
The Hort Welcomes Dwaine Lee
Wednesday, August 3
The Hort would like to welcome Dwaine Lee as the newest member of our team! Dwaine comes from Sustainable South Bronx where for 4 years he successfully ran the BEST Academy Ecology training program and managed numerous green infrastructure and ecological restoration projects for the organization. He is an Accredited Greenroof Professional with certifications in Urban Stormwater Management from Rutgers University, extensive training in Permaculture Design as well as a number of other related disciplines. Dwaine is also an avid Yogi, a certified Yoga teacher and a beekeeper of three years.
Dwaine will be working on a variety of special projects and as well as workforce development, to support continuing The Hort's mission of training the green workforce of tomorrow, today. He says, “I have dedicated most of my career to personal and global sustainability and social justice, and I am excited about continuing to do this work with an organization as venerable and dedicated as The Hort and its staff.”
P-Courses 2011
Monday, July 25
This July, The Hort's own AppleSeed program is holding two professional development courses for elementary-through-high-school teachers. The courses, taught by Pamela Ito, offer pedagogues' high-quality, convenient, low-cost alternatives to college courses in the areas of plant science and nutrition.
Recently, The Joy of Vegetables: Where Science Meets Nutrition class took a field trip to the Union Square Greenmarket for a VEGGIE CHALLENGE! This class assignment required teachers to come up with their very own vegetable recipe on a $10 budget. What resulted were a variety of nutritional, affordable vegetable dishes that looked as good as they tasted. To see photos and recipes of these culinary creations (that you can make at home!), click here.
The current course, Beyond the Lima Bean: Incorporating Plant Science with Math, Art and Literacy taught teachers to create “Leaf Land Art” by using leaves, bark and stones to construct elaborate scenes such as the one featured below, “Land River.”
Stay tuned for more photos and updates about HSNY's professional development courses!
From Farm to Gallery
By Chris Murtha
Monday, July 18
The gallery is asleep right now because of intensive, all-day education classes throughout the month of July. If you still need your plant art fix, head down to Gavin Brown's Enterprise to see First Mark, an exhibition of Peter Nadin's eclectic, multi-disciplinary work that fuses art and agriculture.
Born in England, Nadin moved to New York in 1976 and has worked in New York City and Old Field Farm in the Catskills since then. After relocating his studio to the 150-acre farm, his art practice began to incorporate his agricultural interests. The farm's products, including honey, wax, eggs, ham, black walnut, and cashmere wool, frequently turn up as materials in his art. All the works in First Mark, which was originally shown at the Wilfredo Lam Center in Havana, Cuba, include materials from the farm.
The first of three galleries (and distinct works) features large-scale paintings on linen, with gestural applications of honey, wax and black walnut. As Randy Kennedy writes in his recent feature in the New York Times, “The bees themselves are also allowed to work on the surfaces of some of the paintings, leaving behind crusty patches when they congregate on the honey and wax that Nadin applies to the linen canvas.” The middle room is filled with fifty-seven hemlock logs adorned with terracotta sculptures, many of them noses – which is fitting for this very olfactory exhibition (the gallery is filled with the earthy scent of honey and wax). The final piece in the exhibition, and the one that ties the other two together, is Raft, a large wood-framed pool filled with 6,000 pounds of dark honey that curiously looks both liquid and solid. The centerpiece of the sculpture is a raft made of branches and twigs, which is surrounded by islands of rocky soil that are stacked with honey-glazed terracotta vases and wooden structures that resemble beehive houses.
Nadin is reluctant to call farming art but understands how each influences the other; that the impulses guiding both practices can be equally creative. “A carrot is not a work of art. I'm not proposing that anyone think of a carrot as a work of art. But what I am saying is that a carrot and the art I make here are both results of the same process.” To sample produce from Old Field Farm (including the amazing honey), don't forget to check out the Bootleg Buying Club, a farm stand set up in the back of the gallery throughout the course of the exhibition. On view through July 30, this is Nadin's first exhibition in the United States since 1992. And hopefully not the last.
Images (top to bottom): The Bo'sun's Chair (two details), 2011, 57 Hemlock logs, terracotta, wood, string, nutria fur, wax, fabric, indigo pigment, bronze and galvanized nails, ranging from 60 - 122 inches high; Raft (two details), 2011, honey, terracotta, wood, twine, bank run, wax and ham, 288 x 288 x 9 1/2 inches.
Class of 2011: High School Graduation at Rikers Island Jail
Thursday, June 30
In the past week, East River Academy on Rikers Island celebrated the 2011 graduation for students who received their high school diploma or GED. The students of our horticulture class within the male detention facility as well as male and female participants of the GreenHouse created gorgeous flower arrangements for the ceremonies. The accompanying photographs and following article are by Stephen Nessen of WNYC.
Nearly a year ago, 20-year-old high school dropout Benjamin was arrested in a gang-related slaying. Today, he is an award-winning student who was selected to speak before his peers at the first high school graduation for inmates at Rikers Island Correctional Facility.
"When I got locked up and got arrested, I felt that my whole dignity. My whole everything got taken away from me, like my whole life," said Benjamin, who has spent the last 11 months at Rikers, and whose full name is being withheld upon request. "As I was graduating I felt like my whole self value rose up, spiked, went to its peak."
[Read the full article at WNYC.org]
"City Farmers, Urban Agriculture"
By Keith Stewart, The Valley Table, Number 54
Friday, June 10
IN MARCH OF THIS YEAR, I was invited to be a speaker and panelist at an Urban Agriculture Conference hosted by the Horticultural Society of New York. At first, I was hesitant to accept the invitation because I know very little about urban farming, and, to be honest, have never given it much thought. I've always thought of farming as something that goes on in the open fields and pastureland of the countryside, not in backyards behind Manhattan brownstones or on vacant lots in the Bronx.
At the same time, I'm not unaware that there is a very real urban farming movement in progress and that it has gained a fair amount of traction over the past several years. It would have been hard not to notice some of the substantial attention it has received in the media. I'd read articles on urban farms and food production in The New York Times, the New Yorker and the Atlantic. Some of these articles were written both by and about Annie Novak, who had worked on our farm in 2005 (ours was the first farm she worked on). I knew Annie as a strong, smart, high energy, delightful person and I was alwa---ys pleased and a little proud to see the attention and recognition she was receiving with her Eagle Street Rooftop Farm in Brooklyn.
Still, I've had my doubts about the long-term viability and potential for “urban farms” to produce significant amounts of food. The conference organizer, George Pisegna, was highly persuasive and insisted that voices from beyond the urban farming community were also needed. And, of course, a day in New York City, if somewhat daunting to a country fellow, is always stimulating.
The first thing that struck me when I arrived at the New York Horticultural Society's offices on West 37th Street in Manhattan, was my minority status: Almost all the attendees and presenters were a lot younger than me and a majority of them were women—not something I would generally shy away from, but I expected a more staid and middle-aged crowd. What I discovered instead was a very large quotient of youthful energy, knowledge and enthusiasm. As the first presentation of the day got underway—it was given by Severine von Tscharner Fleming, director of the Greenhorns—I realized that I was in for an education.
The Greenhorns are a national, grassroots group of young farmer and gardener activists. Their members are well educated and largely, though not exclusively, female. Their goal is to recruit, promote and support young farmers, and work toward building sustainable, accountable, and local food systems.
The Greenhorns have a weekly radio show on the Heritage Radio Network, a wiki-based resource guide for beginning farmers, and their own popular blog. They've already produced a documentary film and have a guidebook for beginning farmers in the works. Severine noted that in 2010 alone, her group hosted 37 events in 20 states, focusing on education and empowerment and finding ways to overcome the barriers that young farmers face, such as learning the trade, and gaining access to land and capital. The Greenhorns don't shy away from the nitty gritty of smallscale, diversified farming—they've offered workshops on such subjects as knife sharpening and butchering.
We heard from Jane Hodge, who works for Just Food, a New York City-based organization that since 1995 has grappled with issues pertaining to hunger, nutrition, food justice and the survival of small, regional farms. Just Food works on several fronts developing and supporting community gardens and urban farming, promoting community supported agriculture ventures in underserved neighborhoods, and linking rural farmers to new urban marketing opportunities. They also work to bring fresh, locally grown food to soup kitchens and food pantries throughout the city.
As director of Just Food's new Farm School program, Hodge oversees an ambitious effort to teach young city residents of all economic, social and racial backgrounds how to produce at least some of their own food. The school offers several short courses, ranging from one to six weeks in length, and a full 2-year certificate program. The program seeks to foster greater self reliance and community values and encourage better eating habits.
Another speaker was Jeremy Smith, author of Growing a Garden City [Skyhorse, 2010; $24.95], who gave compelling accounts of how urban and local food initiatives can transform peoples' lives. While photographs from his book displayed on a screen behind him, Smith told about a drug-addicted teenage girl, a single mother and a homeless shelter chef who found community, meaning, and a kind of redemption when they rolled up their sleeves and started growing food. The smiles on the faces of these individuals, and others, told the story as well as Smith's words. Getting one's hands in the soil and helping things grow can offer a reprieve to those in need, and have highly therapeutic results.
As the day unfolded, I began to get the message, loud and clear.
Karen Washington, of the New York City Community Garden Coalition, reminded us that community gardens existed in her neighborhood, the Bronx, long before the current urban agriculture phenomenon began to occur. She talked about how earlier generations of black residents gardened more out of necessity than out of any desire to reform the nation's agricultural system. (When you live in a part of town ill-served by grocery stores and supermarkets, tending your own garden is one of the few ways to get decent, fresh food—still the case for many people throughout America today.)
As manager of the Urban Food Systems Program for New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, Christina Grace coordinates efforts among various agencies to promote community gardens and urban farms throughout New York City. The Farm to School Program, which works to bring fresh, locally grown food into schools, and the Garden to Cafeteria Program, which teaches students to grow food in school gardens for use in their own cafeterias, provide a great opportunity to involve and inform students about where food comes from and the role it plays in their health and wellbeing. For example, John Bowne High School in Flushing, Queens, operates a four-acre farm complete with field crops, an orchard, its own green house and an assortment of livestock, including chickens, goats, rabbits and even alpacas. Apparently, many students from this unique New York City school go on to pursue careers in agriculture.
Jack Algiere is the vegetable farm manager at the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in Pocantico Hills. He traced the various agricultural paths he has journeyed down, from his parents' farm in Rhode Island, to his present position at Stone Barns, and how they have shaped his philosophy of farming. He emphasized the importance of diversity and an ecological approach to farming that seeks to balance the needs of land, plants, animals and humans.
When my turn to speak came, I told the audience that most of the members of my generation (that is, already collecting Social Security), at some point along the way bought into the myth that the industrial food system in America had reached such a state of excellence and efficiency that it was almost another wonder of the world, and that there was no valid reason to question it. At least that's what we were told by the big agribusinesses and their government underwriters. To question the myth seemed silly, almost unpatriotic, especially in a world with so many other pressing issues—wars, over-population, the communist menace, loss of species, nuclear weapons, TV sitcoms. After all, for most of our lives, the food we'd been consuming was plentiful and relatively inexpensive, and it looked good, especially in its glossy packaging. What more did we need to know? What more could we ask for?
Today, of course, many young people want to know more about how their food is produced, and, at the same time, want something better. They want food that is not only plentiful and looks good, but also tastes good and is good for our bodies and our planet.
I lamented that, despite Michelle Obama's healthy food initiative and her organic garden on the White House lawn, our government has failed to work in any significant way toward bringing us more healthful food. The forces that influence and largely control Washington, it would seem, are so persuasive that they are able to overcome the popular interest and the popular will. My arguments? First, one need only cite the USDA's recent approval of Monsanto's Roundup-Ready alfalfa, a techno-crop that no one really wants, except Monsanto. For them, it's a good thing—they'll sell more of their herbicide, Roundup, and tighten their control and owner ship of the nation's food supply. But it's not good for farm ers, consumers or the environment, and it will almost cer tainly lead to the (possibly irreversible) contamination of non-GMO and organic hay crops, no small thing if you want to continue eating the meat of animals that consume hay.
Second, recent federal budget-cutting proposals would drastically slash funding for sustainable agricul ture programs and research, as well as programs that reward farmers for environmental stewardship, while leaving intact $5 billion per year in subsidies to the growers of commodity crops like corn, soy and wheat—payments that go out year after year, regardless of need. The commodity crops are mostly used in processed foods and animal feed and, because they are subsidized, they are cheap. In the marketplace, this gives them (and the big companies that use them) an unfair advantage over growers of fresh fruits and vegetables.
As I walked away from the conference to have dinner with my wife and some friends in their apartment on the 57th floor of a high-rise building on Manhattan's West Side, it was clear to me that urban agriculture is alive and well. Despite doubts I might have had, this endeavor is not likely to go away soon. Yes, it produces nutritious food (more than I had thought) but, perhaps more importantly, urban gardens and agriculture provide an opportunity to engage people of all shades and stripes in the age-old, elemental process of tending plants and animals. Sustainable farming practices, the importance of community, connecting with nature, environmental steward ship, health, nutrition, and food justice, all can take root on a plot of land, whatever its size, when people come together to make things grow.
IT IS NOT ONLY SOVEREIGNS and dictators who can take away our freedoms—an agricultural autocracy can do the job just as well. And that, it seems to me, is the condition we find ourselves in. The dominant food system in America is corporatized, industrialized, and monopolized be yond recognition.
Perhaps even worse, the seeds it sows are increasingly patented and therefore beyond the public domain. This food system is abusive to both land and animals, and ultimately to the people it feeds, for it spews forth an endless stream of over-processed, oversweeten ed, over-hydrogenated products that leave our bodies under-nourished and our appetites barely satisfied. Every day this rapacious corporate machine sends legions more of us down the road to obesity, diabetes, heart disease and general ill health—all in the name of global capitalism, which seeks only to expand its market and amass greater wealth.
We need something better.
Something better is what many people are working to achieve. A quiet and distinctly non-violent revolution is underway, especially among our nation's youth: The resurgence of small farms, local food movements and community gardens all across this land of ours are grass-roots attempts to reclaim some measure of control over the most essential things in our lives—food, health and community. I am now con vinced that urban agriculture, in all its forms, is a vital player in this cause.
[Subscriptions to The Valley Table can be purchased online.]
Apple Seed at PS 166
Wednesday, May 18
This spring, The Hort has been planting tomatoes, squash, peppers, broccoli, lettuce, and fragrant herbs at PS 166 in Manhattan. The 3rd graders used new wooden box planters for the first time in PS 166's newly renovated Reading Garden which has been set up as an outdoor education space. The renovation was made possible by a generous grant from Council member Gale Brewer. Additional support is generously provided by the Lowenstein Foundation, the Greenacres Foundation, and the PS 166 Parents Association. 90 nine-year-olds will use active observation and hands-on skills, both indoors and outdoors, to explore flowers, examine red wiggler worms, study trees and investigate the ecology of the urban environment with a view towards improving their own school environment. In addition to transplanting edibles, they will also germinate plants from seed, investigate photosynthesis, fertilize with kelp meal, and maintain their vegetable plots. These experiences will be reinforced with a trip to Central Park's Conservatory Garden.
Click here to visit PS 166 online
Photographs by Ceci Carmichael
Mark Hill Honored by West Side Community Garden
Friday, May 13
The West Side Community Garden located between 89 and 90 Streets and Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues is honoring Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Mark Hill, GreenTeam Project Manager of the Horticultural Society, and Frederick Bay, The Bay and Paul Foundations, at its annual Benefit Party. The Garden Party will be held in the garden on Wednesday, June 15, 2011 at 6:00 o'clock. The Garden, serving the Upper West Side for the past thirty-six years is one of the prominent gardens in the United States. Winner of the Philip N. Winslow Award, this beautiful public space is host to world-class summer concerts, Shakespeare for Children and Adults, an Arts and Crafts Festival, a spectacular Tulip Festival that has gained encomiums world-wide, an integrative school program and much more. Run entirely by a group of tireless volunteers, the Garden has made it its mission to enhance the quality of life for West Side residents.
For more information, please visit the West Side Community Garden online.
The New York Flower Show
Tuesday, April 12
Public Event
On April 12th, The Horticultural Society of New York reprised The New York Flower Show. Members were admitted for free, and the general public could buy tickets to see amazing floral tablescape displays. Flower aficionados convened at 583 Park to meet some of New York City's top designers and be inspired by their creative and unique floral designs. Attendees watched the blank canvas of the room transform into this year's dramatic theme, Fire & Ice. Our world class authorities on design, led by R. Ellen Avellino, judged the magnificent tablescapes—awarding in a variety of categories such as "Best Contemporary Design", "Provocative Interpretation", and "Blazing Creativity".
Dinner Dance
Our tablescape viewing was followed by
dinner and dancing inside the magical setting. During this time The Hort honored: David Easton, architect and world-renowned interior designer; Stephen Orr, Editorial Director of Gardening at Martha Stewart Living; Frances Tenenbaum, author and former garden editor for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; and Alex Timbers, writer/director and Artistic Director of Les Freres Corbusier company.
Press
NY1The New York Times
Martha Stewart
The Boston Globe
Garden Design
WomenWorking.com
New York Magazine
"One Bright Side of Rikers Island"
By Ralph Gardner Jr.
I wouldn't say it was good to be back on Rikers Island; I don't think it's ever good to be on Rikers Island—whether prisoner or staff. It was never the most attractive place, the demands of prison architecture dissuading the sort of flights of fancy Frank Gehry indulged at Bilbao or Santiago Calatrava plans for his gull-winged World Trade Center area transportation hub.
And it's even less inviting than when I worked there in the late '70s. Actually I worked in the New York City Department of Correction's equally brutalist headquarters, then at 100 Centre St., but as a public-affairs officer made frequent trips to the island to escort dignitaries, or to oversee the publication of the department's monthly newspaper, the Pen, printed on ancient letterpress machines in a low-slung building behind the jails.
Nonetheless, virtually every facility had an expansive front lawn. It wasn't impossible to spy the occasional pheasant—yes, pheasant—scampering across. And there was certainly enough open space that for those of us lucky enough to enjoy freedom of movement (even though you couldn't then and can't now walk from point A to point B; pedestrians would obviously complicate the task of keeping track of prisoners) the experience was one of nature, and even wilds, certainly more so than in the canyons of Manhattan.
But with the prison population boom of the '80s and '90s, seemingly every available space was filled with jails and trailers, all festooned with high fences topped with spools of razor ribbon. Whatever little charm the island once had is long gone, along with the pheasants.
There is one notable exception, however, even if I didn't visit on the most hospitable day—GreenHouse, a program run by the Horticultural Society of New York for sentenced prisoners on a two-and-a-half-acre plot of land that boasts a water feature, a gazebo (it's called the Peace Pagoda) and parading guinea fowl. Indeed, most of the color that morning was provided by the prisoners enrolled in the program. They wear eye-popping orange windbreakers and orange-and-white-striped uniforms, better to locate them should they get lost on the way back to their housing units.
But the risk of escape would seem rather low: They're short-term inmates, sentenced to a year or less (longer than that and they're sent to facilities upstate). And assignment to the GreenHouse program—where they grow plants from seed in its greenhouse and tend its butterfly and bird garden, its medieval-style herb garden and its vegetable patch, and take classroom instruction in horticulture—is considered something of a plum assignment.
"There's a waiting list for this job," explained Wayne Sisman, a 35-year-old former salesman incarcerated for being part of a mortgage-fraud scheme. Mr. Sisman's daily routine—males report to the garden five days a week first thing in the morning, sentenced females arriving soon after they depart—includes feeding ants to the venus flytrap ("We're going to get it to flower before I leave," the inmate vowed, "they've never had it flower.") and doling out bread to the guinea hens.
"It gives you a break from the monotony," Mr. Sisman said. "It's a glimmer of color in the drab world of being in the prison. I enjoy responsibility. Coming here gives me something to be responsible for."
Upon release, inmates can join the GreenTeam, a horticultural society paid-internship program that provides training and job-readiness skills. The society also runs horticultural vocational-training programs in a couple of Rikers's adult- and adolescent-detainee facilities. But the fact is that recidivism is high. Fifty to 60% of the population is back within a year, according to Stephen Morello, the department's deputy commissioner for public information.
"The question we're now asking when they're here with us," said Correction Commissioner Dora Schriro, who dropped by the program and is a gardener herself, "is how do we leverage that time, how do we make them more accountable for the choices they make and move them in a direction over time to make better and better decisions? Should they come back, we're resolved to take up where we left off."
Hilda Krus, who runs the program, is a horticultural therapist, the emphasis almost more on therapy than horticulture. "It's really about cultivating people," she said as several female prisoners, escorted by a female correction officer, arrived and got to work planting seeds and watering the plants in the greenhouse.
Apparently, one of the perks of the program is that, come summer, even though you're not allowed to bring the garden's bounty of lettuce, tomatoes, apricots, figs, etc., back to your cell or dormitory, you're allowed to indulge on the job. The program's pesto is supposedly excellent, as is the mozzarella and tomato salad (the mozzarella imported from the outside, of course). And the GreenHouse also makes an aromatic chest rub whose ingredients include olive oil, beeswax, lavender and thyme. With the proper marketing, the product could probably become something of a cash cow for the Horticultural Society.
However, Sara Hobel, the society's executive director, acknowledged that its Rikers Island programs are intended less to mint the next Michael Pollan than to help redirect people's lives. "The likelihood anybody is going to raise Angus beef is slim," she said.
Ms. Krus observed that the act of gardening lends itself to contemplation and reflection, the lack of which may have contributed to the prisoners finding themselves in their current predicament. "Often when discharge is coming around, we see so many thoughts come up—worrying about how things will go," the therapist said. "They use this garden for having a couple of minutes to themselves, or a conversation if it's needed. Working in the soil together it just happens naturally that we talk and our students tell us things."
Yolanda Hill, in on a DWI conviction, saw the program's benefits in more focused and immediate terms. "I think this is the best job in the jails," she proclaimed, comparing it to the prison tailor shop, where she worked previously and suffered from swelled feet. "You get to see more out here. I like the birds and stuff. You don't have to wait to go to rec. You already have rec."
[Source: The Wall Street Journal]
2011 NY ASLA Awards Ceremony and Exhibition Opening
Thursday, March 31
On Thursday, March 31, The Hort hosted the 2011 Awards Ceremony and Exhibition Opening for the New York Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA). Merit and Honor awards were given in the following four project categories: Landscape Architecture Design, Small Landscape Projects, Collaborative Design, and Planning, Analysis, Research, and Communications. The Design Trust for Public Space and the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation received an Honor award in Planning for the parks manual, High Performance Landscape Guidelines: 21st Century Parks for NYC.
Introductory remarks were given by our Executive Director Sara Hobel and Denisha Williams, the incoming president of the New York Chapter. The awards were presented by Greg Marett and Sam Lawrence, members of the NY ASLA Awards Committee. The awards ceremony and the reception that followed were attended by over a hundred guests, including principals and representatives from each award-winning firm. We were also honored to have NYC Parks and Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe in attendance. Click here to view additional pictures from the ceremony and reception.
On view through Friday, April 22nd, the exhibition features visuals from each award-winning project, including photographs, plans, drawings, publications and even one sculpture. It is accompanied by an exhibition guide, which can be viewed here.
The gallery at The Hort is free and open to the public Monday through Friday, from 12pm to 6pm.
Opening Reception for Sprout 4: You Art What You Eat
Friday, March 11
On Tuesday, March 8th we opened our annual Sprout exhibition at The Hort with over 150 people in attendance, including our young artists, their families, and supporters. The program this year focused on edible plants. The still life paintings, fabric works created with natural fruit and vegetable dyes, assortment of botanical studies, and leaf and vegetable sculptures were selected from the participating Apple Seed schools. In all we have over 160 spectacular creations on display.
Amongst their work, the students and their families danced to the music of flamenco performer, Barbara Martinez, and munched on healthy snacks and drinks. The award for Best in Show went to Jonathan N., Best Painting went to Ciara R., Best Botanical Illustration went to John E., Best Group Painting went to Egypt M. and Veronica T., and Honorable Mentions went to Ashley G., Kaitlyn D., Kori J., and Pleaides. The winners received family passes to the Museum of Modern Art and the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. Each student in attendance also received a complimentary pass to the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. Special congratulations to all our talented artists and thank you to our generous supporters.
The show will be on view at The Hort through Friday, March 18th. The gallery is open Monday through Friday, 12pm to 6pm.
Check out more photos of the show on Flickr.
Urban Assembly Academy of Civic Engagement at St. Vincent's
Friday, March 4
A group of eight 8th graders from Urban Assembly Academy of Civic Engagement and two chaperones volunteered at St. Vincent's Garden on Friday, March 4th. The day began with a tour of the garden, led by John Cannizzo, the Director of the GreenTeam internship Program. He explained the composting process, as well as the different plants. Under the supervision of volunteer Jenny Gill and Civic Corps member Sean Taylor, the group picked up trash, raked debris, and defined pathways. Everyone seemed to have fun and it was a great start to the spring season!
GreenTeam Professional Development Series: Part V
Tuesday, March 1
Tuesday March 1st was the last installment of the GreenTeam Professional Development Series. The workshop series concluded with a presentation on what to expect after the interview phase. In addition, the interns were able to hear the motivational guest speaker, LaVerna Fountain. Ms. Fountain's talk inspired the interns to reach their goals, in job searching and beyond.
-Sierra Bush, NYC Civic Corp
GreenTeam Professional Development Series: Part III & IV
Tuesday, February 1 & 15
III
The third session of the GreenTeam Professional Development Series focused on interviewing strategies. Seven GreenTeam interns were in attendance, and they learned about appropriate attire as well as several tips for having a great job interview. In addition, the interns were able to participate in mock interviews and receive feedback. Keep checking the Hort website for more updates.
IV
On February 15th the GreenTeam interns learned about budgeting money and finance options such as checking/savings accounts, pre-paid debit cards, and the NYC Safe Start Account. After a discussion on financial basics, the interns looked through several job opportunities from Metrohort.org.
-Sierra Bush, NYC Civic Corp
2011 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service
At PS 57 James Weldon Johnson Leadership Academy
Monday, January 17
We attended the 2011 MLK Day of Service event at PS 57 James Weldon Johnson Leadership Academy. It was a hands-on youth and Family volunteer event. The Hort had a table set up in the cafeteria where we gave out information about water conservation and where New York City gets its water from. In addition to learning about water conservation, young volunteers were able to make herbal tea bags: 1 for themselves and 1 for a senior center located in the neighborhood. Students gave their herbal teas personalized names and wrote a notes to the recipients at the senior center. At this event we helped to educate the youth of East Harlem in important environmental concerns while stressing the importance of serving other people in their neighborhood on this special day of service. This project was made possible with funds from the Catskill Watershed Corporation in partnership with New York City Department of Environmental Protection.
GreenTeam Professional Development Series: Part II
Tuesday, January 18
After its second installment the GreenTeam Professional Development Series is heating up! Tuesday's attendance doubled as the word spread about the value of the Hort's series.
This week's seminar topics included where to find the hottest jobs and how to give a polished presentation at interview time.
More good news! A search is now underway to find people who can mentor our Green Team in finding jobs in the green sector. We commend HSNY's Green Team for their commitment to rebuilding their lives. Stay tuned for more updates.
-Sean Taylor, NYC Civic Corp
GreenTeam Professional Development Series
Tuesday, January 4
Today was the start of the GreenTeam Professional Development Series hosted by NYC Civic Corps members Sean Taylor, Sierra Bush and Lauren Vorhees, Hort intern Jennifer Loftin, and volunteer Makeda Richardson. The series aims to give GreenTeamers the knowledge and inspiration to begin a successful career after their time with the GreenTeam. The first session focused on resume building and cover letter fundamentals. Stay tuned for updates as the series progresses.
Rikers Christmas Cheer
Wednesday, December 8
Part I (Tuesday, December 7)
Together with the women at the GreenHouse, we decorated our outdoor blue spruce into a beautiful Christmas tree. We had plenty of ornaments in hot pink, green, golden and purple, colors picked especially for the women. In icy wind and amazingly cold temperature we transformed the spiky tree into a sparkling, colorful seasons greeting. Our 15 Guinea fowls joined us. They are nosy birds who were hoping for food, now that the ground is frozen. While decorating, they were fed with their favorite, cracked corn, right next to us and cackled happily. Laurie had brought us lovely Christmas Carol booklets, so when the tree was shining in all its colors, we gathered around it and managed to sing “O Christmas Tree” and “Deck the Halls”, before our toes and fingers reminded us to go back inside for a hot chocolate. We will definitely need to practice the Carols, but all of us had tons of fun.
Tomorrow we will decorate a pine with the men, in silver, blue and turquoise. They firmly announced that they will NOT sing carols, but it was obvious how much they look forward to the decorating, followed by hot apple cider.
Part II (Wednesday, December 8)
When we arrived today, the men were sitting in our classroom, busy with making Christmas presents (marigold seed packages…), and had the heating up on full blast. It was much colder today, so they were very reluctant to go out into the cold and made clear to us that the decorating idea was totally “corny”. Well, we managed to coax everyone out into the garden, holding cups of steaming hot apple cider and joined by our hungry Guinea fowls just like the day before. We had a beautiful pine in mind for the men to decorate. They flat refused and insisted on decorating our second blue spruce, right next to the women's tree. Within moments their reluctance was replaced by sheer excitement. Every single ornament was used, and now the tree sparkles in silver, turquoise and blue, which also lets it look like Hanukkah as well as diverse sports teams… The decorating even melted their resolution not to sing: Laurie's Carol books were brought out. We staff had to start the caroling, but at the “Fa la la la la” in “Deck the halls”, one of our students could not hold back any longer and sang his heart out. From the others we were able to hear cheerful humming…
Later in the day, we had a good bye ceremony as one of our women got ready for release. Her wish was – to sing! She asked to take one of the Carol booklets home with her, so she can sing with her three children as they finally get reunited after almost 12 months.
-Hilda Krus, Director of GreenHouse
Rooftop Gardening at WHEDco
Saturday, October 30
On Saturday, October 30 John Canizzo, Director of the GreenTeam, and a group of resident children harvested in the rooftop farm at Intervale Green. Intervale Green is a sustainable "green" building in the Bronx built by the Women's Housing and Economic Development Corporation (WHEDco). This rental building, comprised of 128 units of affordable housing for low-income and formerly homeless families, uses energy-efficient technology and environmentally friendly materials. This year, The Hort's GreenTeam planted the rooftop farm at Intervale Green. Kids are officially allowed on the roof now, just in time to harvest the lettuce and radishes that were planted a few weeks ago. Each Saturday morning, our GreenTeam provides hands-on workshops, cooking classes and exciting art projects.
Celebration at Hope Steven Garden
Friday, October 29
On October 29, Robert Jackson, Member of the City Council of New York, and Colleen Bonnicklewis, CEO/ Executive Director of Heritage Health and Housing, Inc. came to Hope Steven Garden in West Harlem to celebrate the completion of two energy efficiency projects. These projects were the rain water harvesting system at the Hope Steven Garden at Amsterdam and West 142nd Street, and the solar exterior LED path lighting at the courtyard of PS 153 on Amsterdam Avenue at West 146th Street.
The surrounding community and local school administration came out to support the garden and celebrate the new addition of a rain water harvest system and green roof. In addition to installing the rain water system, The Hort's GreenTeam has helped improve the Hope Steven Garden by building a handicapped approved brick pathway, raised beds for growing vegetables, and a gazebo. At PS 153, the GreenTeam installed the solar lighting system.
Five GreenTeam members as well as John Cannizzo, Director of the GreenTeam, and Sara Hobel, Executive Director of The Hort, received awards from Robert Jackson for their hard work and dedication to the greening of Bronx and improving energy efficiency in the city through their work.
Pumpkin Harvest at Rikers
Monday, October 18
We harvested 14 pumpkins in the school garden with the detainees, and they were taken out of our hands as if they were the last pumpkins in the state... Their name is "Cinderella's carriage", and they are huge and beautifully dark orange-red. Four of them are displayed at the entrance of the facility, the rest will have found their way into fall decorations and kitchens of teachers and officers within the facility who support our program. We have 2 left for us, and have to watch them with care... This was the biggest pumpkin crop since we started the garden. -Hilda Krus, Director of GreenHouse
GrowingGreen at Island Academy
Thursday, September 16
During the summers of 2009 and 2010, the Horticultural Society of New York was invited to expand GrowingGreen from Horizon Academy to Island Academy, which serves adolescent inmates educational needs during their incarceration at the Rikers Island within the Robert N. Davoren Complex (RNDC) detention center. Each summer, close to 100 adolescents participated in the program. With direction and support from our horticultural therapists, the students designed and created a magnificent garden, complete with irrigation, in 1,000 square feet of land that was overgrown with weeds. Participants learned basic landscaping skills such as weeding, digging drainage ditches, and planting seeds, which are key skills for entry level jobs in the green sector. At the same time, they had an opportunity to relieve tension through outdoor physical work and to develop a sense of pride in what they accomplished. We received very successful exit interview results from participants; for example, when asked if they would be interested in participating in the program in the future, 100% answered yes and 93% said they would be interested in either joining our GreenTeam program upon release from prison or continuing in horticulture in some other way. GrowingGreen at Phoenix House Academy
Thursday, September 16
GrowingGreen expanded services this summer to include a new program at Phoenix House, which operates adolescent programs that give teens a chance to break with the past and take control of their lives.
In Westchester County, Phoenix House offers a residential high school (Phoenix House Academy) in partnership with the NYC Department of Education that provides comprehensive substance abuse treatment to adolescents while helping them catch up academically. Students can earn high school diplomas at the Academy or return to their home high school after completing the residential phase of treatment. Together with teachers, counselors and Phoenix House chefs, the Horticultural Society staff worked with students to create a 22,000 square foot "kitchen" garden. In this nurturing environment, students learned not only plant science, but also the value of hard work. Students also share the outcomes (corn, tomatoes, lettuces, cucumbers, eggplant, kale, melons and more) at mealtime.
Phoenix House Updates
Tuesday, September 14
The Hort has partnered with Tricia Martin from WE Design and for the past few months she has been working with five students from the Yorktown Heights Phoenix House on the design of their outdoor courtyard. Using a pedagogical method, Ms. Martin and one student from each unit has composed a design for the courtyard that is not only beautiful, but allows for group meetings, solitary reading and studying, and other forms of passive recreation.
The following is a list of activities performed over the last one and a half months:
1. Creative collage exercise
2. Spatial scale exercise and site surveying
3. Site Analysis and site drawing
4. Design Charrette
5. Testing the design in three dimensions
The design ideas will be reviewed Tuesday, August 3rd by all involved in the project and are meant to solicit a preliminary conversation about the potential of the courtyard and its program. The students were guided through the design process and helped with the realization of their own ideas. Included are samples of garden designs.
GrowingGreen Academy
Monday, September 13
GrowingGreen Academy is a school-based career and technical education program that combines academic study with workforce skills in horticultural science and landscape/garden design, construction and maintenance. Students spend time in the classroom and in the garden, learning skills to meet industry-specific competencies. Students receive certificates of completion in horticultural methods and techniques, and go on to receive GED's or high school diplomas, to further their green training, and/or to enter the workforce. Some graduates of the program join the transitional employment program run by the Horticultural Society, the GreenTeam, for additional field experience, career counseling and job placement assistance. Currently, the Horticultural Society of New York offers GrowingGreen at Department of Education District 79 High Schools located at the Rikers Island Correctional Facility and at Phoenix House Academy in Westchester County. The majority of participants in GrowingGreen are minorities, low-income, and in recovery from substance abuse. Fewer than 20 percent are high school graduates or possess a GED. Many have emotional disorders with a history of fractured families and overwhelming poverty. Our constituents are greatly under-represented in horticultural, forestry and environmental fields. From our experience, most young people from urban, underserved communities are largely unaware of the potential opportunities available in these areas and are also often unaware of the impact of the natural world on their immediate environment and day-to-day lives. GrowingGreen Academy prepares participants for careers in New York City's growing greening movement - helping the city to design, plant and care for its increasing parklands, greenstreets, street trees, green plazas, greenways, greenroofs and urban farms. Initiated in 2007, GrowingGreen Academy provides participants with education and skills in botany, horticultural techniques, basic landscape design, soil remediation, tree management, plant identification, integrated pest management, and plant maintenance focused on the special needs of the urban greenscape. Students are also exposed to career options and potential employers in New York City. GrowingGreen is funded through a combination of earned revenue through contracts with the Department of Education for Student Services, and through foundation grants and individual gifts.