Support Friends of Brook Park!

Show your Support for Friends of Brook Park

Dear Friend,

Friends of Brook Park needs your help.Mulchfest 2010

As 2009 comes to a wintry end, we reflect on what a great year it has been here. While we are proud to bring you our environmental programs, we need your support to keep us going. Whether you’ve known us for 2 months or our ten years, now is a great time to help us out with a generous end-of-year donation.

Your contribution is fully tax-deductible and will go directly to offering nature education activities, making New York a greener, healthier place to live.

Donate now and up to $2,500 will be matched! Think about who does more with few resources. Click here to give on-line now.

In the words of a seventh grader:

By doing what you do, you and your team are saving the community and a lot of animals. The tomatoes and the spicy peppers were very good. Also the scented plants smelled really good. It was very interesting because I never thought that plants that don’t have flowers have a nice smell, like the leaves that I ate which was peppermint plant. I also liked the little fire you made for us and all the people that were going in the park. I had so much fun moving the heavy logs around and fixing them so the garden could look prettier. The garden made me feel really relaxed.

Your support has helped us:

* Continue to expand a model of urban farming, with hundreds of youth involved in organic gardening with local and city-wide schools and groups like ASPIRA

* Expand our growing area and move forward on the brook restoration project with Gaia Institute

* Advance a new park on the Harlem River, convening meetings with a Parks Commissioner and two City Council Members

* Restore the shoreline by designing and planting hundreds of native species with NYC Council on the Environment, Sustainable South Bronx and Waste Management

* Jumpstart the Harlem River Working Group, over fifty stakeholders invested in the long-term enhancement of this vital waterway

* Spearheaded challenges to rezoning and inappropriate infrastructures that would block waterfront access and navigation

* Hosting many arts and indigenous cultural gatherings uniting a diverse array of people with groups like Vamos La Pena and United Confederation of Taino People

* Engaging in city and state-wide, regional, national and international efforts about Climate Change

And more!

We know this is a busy time of year, but please take a moment to give right now, knowing that you’ve done your part to support an organization you care about and a cause you believe in.

Click here to support Friends of Brook Park today.

As the year ends, we at FoBP want to thank those of you who have helped us this year with contributions of much-needed funding, volunteer time, and personal support.

You sustain us.

To more!

Harry J. Bubbins
Executive Director

P.S. Friends of Brook Park is a 501(c)(3) organization – your donation is deductible to the fullest extent allowable by law. Please remember to make your contribution by December 31 for a 2009 tax deduction.

P.P.S. Even if you don’t feel like you can give a lot, being part of the behind-the-scenes support system helps us more than you’d imagine. One more person can make a big difference. Please contact me if you can volunteer. Gardeners, proposal researchers and writers, designers, educators and artists, and people with other skills are always needed. You can also pass on this appeal to your networks with a personal note.

P.P.P. S. Keep reviewing our updated blog at: www.friendsofbrookpark.org/blog

Please give at the bottom of this page here: http://www.friendsofbrookpark.org/donations

Or Donate by Mail:

Friends of Brook Park
PO Box 801
The South Bronx, NY 10454

You can also help by by sharing this appeal with your network of friends and family, on Facebook too. If you have used the garden or the rivers, or just appreciate what we do, please email this letter out with a personal note to your friends and colleagues and families.

Some companies have a matching grant fund, please inquire about that at your place of work.

Thanks again for all you do.

Friends of Brook Park

FoBP Harlem River Advocacy in the news…


City Council approves Lower Concourse rezoning

by DANIEL BEEKMAN
“When Department of City Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden looks at the Lower Concourse, she pictures a Harlem River promenade. She pictures skyscraping condos, corner stores, lofts and a waterfront park. Burden pictures a rusty neighborhood remade for residential and commercial development.

When Friends of Brook Park director Harry Bubbins looks at the Lower Concourse, he pictures…” something different.

Read the rest if the article at:
Click here for the full article.

FoBP hosts MillionTreesNYC



MillionTreesNYC, one of the 127 PlaNYC initiatives, is a citywide, public-private program with an ambitious goal: to plant and care for one million new trees across the City’s five boroughs over the next decade. By planting one million trees, New York City can increase its urban forest—our most valuable environmental asset made up of street trees, park trees, and trees on public, private and commercial land—by an astounding 20%, while achieving the many quality-of-life benefits that come with planting trees.

The City of New York will plant 60% of trees in parks and other public spaces. The other 40% will come from private organizations, homeowners, and community organizations. Friends of Brook park is a vital part of this effort.

Today we partnered with the MillionTreesNYC Apprenticeship program, which connects City youth to the numerous “green collar” jobs that are being planned nation-wide. Jobs related to tree planting and care are currently in high demand as a result of MillionTreesNYC, and the Apprenticeship Program aims to provide the skills that youth need to capitalize on well-paying career opportunities. The target population for the program, disconnected youth aged 18-24, has been identified by the Center for Economic Opportunity (CEO) as particularly in need of marketable employment skills. The program will include NYCHA residents within the target population for training in jobs that involve the planting, pruning and stewardship of the trees. The MillionTreesNYC Apprenticeship will be administered by the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, in conjunction with other City agencies and nonprofit and community partners.

As a local community partner, Friends of Brook park fills a vital need in the overall initiative. Yet, we do not have the millions of dollars in resources that larger, worthy, groups and projects are allocated. Please make a contribution to Friends of Brook Park today so that we can ensure the long term success of tree planting projects.

(Photos by Gustavo Vilchis)

Garlic Planting!



Growing Garlic in The Bronx

Garlic Planting Workshop with Friends of Brook Park and NY Botanical Garden

http://www.friendsofbrookpark.org

Join El Girasol Community Garden’s Vincent Russo in learning the basics of planting garlic. Help prepare the planting bed and plant garlic cloves for next summer’s harvest. Bronx Green-Up community gardeners who participate will receive a head of garlic per garden.
Saturday, November 22 · 2–3:30 p.m. · Brook Park · Brook Park Avenue and East 141st Street

1. Late October – Early December: Planting
➢Choose a well drained garden bed, amended with compost.
➢Separate each garlic bulb in to individual cloves.
➢Plant each clove pointed side up, covered by approximately one inch of soil, 4-6 inches apart.
➢Mulch well.

2. Early June: Cut Scapes
➢Remove scapes (flower stalks) as they begin to curl

3. Early – Mid July: Harvest
➢When half of the garlic leaves have turned brown, pull a plant to check for maturity.
➢Bulbs are ready for harvest when they have reached full size, but before the outer skin begins to loosen and the cloves begin to separate.

4. Mid July – August: Curing
➢Allow garlic to dry in a cool, dark place with good air circulation.
➢When garlic is fully dry, the leaves may be removed, and the garlic is ready to use!