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Bed-Stuy Blog reports that an Urban Farm Tour of community gardens in Brooklyn will be on the itinerary of visitors from the United Nations:

For two weeks in May, delegates from across the world will be visiting NYC as part of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development. This is the first year of a two-year cycle in which the United Nations sets its policies on sustainable development. Agriculture is one of the major themes before the Commission.

New York City is a model for innovative urban food systems and agriculture projects, and the City Farms Tour will highlight several sites in Brooklyn, including sites in [Bed-Stuy]. We invite you to come out and be part of this exciting moment, when community-based food projects in your district are receiving international attention.

Hattie Carthan Community Garden (photo from BedStuy Blog)

The Tour will be held on May 10th (tomorrow!) and is open to the public. The announcement above is from the folks at Hattie Carthan Community Garden, which is part of the Magnolia Tree Earth Center, a cultural and environmental institution founded in 1972 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Other gardens featured on the tour are the Hollenback Community Garden in Clinton Hill, Bed-Stuy Farm/Brooklyn Rescue Mission, and East New York Farms. Cooking, vermicomposting, and urban beekeeping workshops will be held along with tours of the sites.

photo by Flatbush Gardener

When I attended last year’s Brooklyn Blogfest at the Old Stone House in Park Slope, Sustainable Flatbush had been online for only a few weeks. Most of the names and people and language of the blogging world were very new to me, everyone at the event seemed to be from Fort Greene or Prospect Heights, and covering Atlantic Yards was the primary reason for many of the blogs’ existence.

This year’s Blogfest (held at the Brooklyn Lyceum) was much larger and more diverse, and the one topic we could all agree on was that the word “blog” has become inadequate to describe the many different forms an online journal can take. Brooklyn blogs range from highly trafficked sites that specialize in real estate trends to painfully personal virtual diaries, and everything in between. Text, drawings, photos, and video are all part of the expressive palette, and Brooklyn bloggers wield these tools with great expertise, creativity, and humor. It’s a pretty impressive bunch. Did I mention that I had a great time?

Like a true sustainability geek, I was thrilled to meet the Chair of Brooklyn’s Solid Waste Advisory Board and chat briefly about anaerobic digestion. But mostly it was great to get introduced to new people/blogs such as Brooklyn Ron, CyclechicNY, and Gardenfork; to see the faces behind recent favorites like Clinton Hill Chill Blog, BedStuy Banana, and Flatbush Pigeon; and to hang out with the folks from Reclaimed Home, Fading Ad Blog, and those perky youngsters from Supervegan. A lovely evening, and an inspiration to continue with this adventure of blogging.

These photos were taken at Sunday morning’s 14th Annual Ditmas Park West Tree Planting. It was a really nice way to meet neighbors, add some greenery to the landscape, and be part of a longstanding neighborhood tradition. Thanks to David Ford, Dan Shapiro, Ditmas Park West Neighborhood Association, and the whole crew. For more photos and reporting on this event visit Flatbush Gardener, and my Flickr Gallery.

Okay, it’s true: I haven’t been on the blog much these days. The last post was on April 19th; more than a day or two without posting in the blogging world is enough to make one feel like Rip Van Winkle. I could point out that a sudden (and welcome) avalanche of gainful employment took up most of my time; however one need only look at the prolific output of other Brooklyn bloggers (with Gowanus Lounge setting the bar at ridiculous heights for both quality and quantity of posts) to discount THAT excuse. Maybe I’ve been somewhat at a loss for words after Congestion Pricing failed to even get a vote in the state legislature. However, one commenter certainly wasn’t: check out the Longest Blog Comments Ever on Sustainable Flatbush here, from a gentleman who calls himself Mr. Brooklyn. Clearly he and I don’t see eye to eye on this topic, but nonetheless he took the time to stop by and express himself. Thanks, Mr. Brooklyn! No thanks to Silver and the State Assembly, however. To quote a text message I received on that fateful day from neighbor and Sustainable Flatbush stalwart Mark Levy, “F**k! Shelly Silver sux!”

My own relative lack of output here should not be taken as an indication that nothing is going on in the Sustainable Flatbush world, in fact quite the contrary. We’ve got a number of projects brewing behind the scenes, and some right out in public. On Sunday we had our Street-Tree Walking Tour, preceded by a morning of tree planting with the Ditmas Park West Neighborhood Association (photos coming up!). Planning continues for the Newkirk Avenue Block Party, produced in association with Flatbush Development Corporation and NYC Streets Renaissance, which will take place on June 21st. (By happy coincidence, this is the same day as Make Music New York, a citywide festival of live music performances, and it looks like we’ll have a few on Newkirk!) Our monthly meetings happen every second Monday of the month. The next one is May 12th, so if you live in the neighborhood (or not) and would like to get involved, please stop by!

Several weeks ago I was filmed for an episode of A Walk Around the Blog, a series that profiles Brooklyn bloggers as part of the news magazine program Brooklyn Review that airs on Brooklyn Independent Television. We checked out the neighborhood (by bike, of course!), spoke about some of Sustainable Flatbush’s past, present and future exploits on Cortelyou Road, and visited the Gardening Committee’s planning meeting.

At last week’s Sustainable Flatbush Monthly Meeting, some collective decisions were made to change our organizational structure. Here’s how the change was described to everyone who has signed up for our committees’ listserv groups:

Based on discussion at Monday’s general meeting, we’re going to pilot using a single, unified group to coordinate planning for all Sustainable Flatbush events. The goal is to provide more support for each event across the Sustainable Flatbush membership, and to provide greatest awareness and involvement of all the events being planned. I believe this approach is also more reflective of the synergistic nature of sustainability itself, where one objective supports and enhances another. What I’m saying is, It’s All Good!

For example, the Gardening Committee has already begun planning for a whole weekend of activities on Arbor Day Weekend (April 25-27); yes, it’s about trees, but trees and neighborhood “greening” are also Livable Streets issues, they affect energy use, are proven to be good for business, and are healthy for children and other living things. As well, on behalf of the Livable Streets committee, Stacy has applied (and been approved!) for a Block Party grant (event date TBA), which is a great project that everyone can get involved with. In addition to the traffic-calming and community building aspects of closing the street for a party (complete with NYC street games!), we can also have information tables with literature on Recycling and Composting, we can have CFL bulbs available for sale, local businesses can get involved…. many many possibilities.

If YOU would like to get involved with Sustainable Flatbush events and projects, sign up for the Planning Group HERE.

… and just had to share:

Flatbush Gardener has a piece on Making Brooklyn Bloom, this Saturday at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden…

Streetsblog, Brooklyn Junction and Brooklyn Streets, Carroll Gardens on transit upgrades proposed in the recent State of the MTA address. Of particular interest is the idea of converting a “lightly used Bay Ridge freight line into a subway service that would run in an arc from southern Brooklyn to Queens to the Bronx”… yes locals, those are the tracks down by Avenue H…

This video illustrates why so few plastic beverage bottles get recycled in New York State, and why we need to update the Bottle Bill to change it…

Copenhagen Cycle Chic gives us the lowdown on Everyday Bike Culture…

Reclaimed Home on being Cheap and Green or, How I Learned to Get Past the Green Hype and Love Craigslist…

Streetfilms brings us more Livable Streets lessons from Bogota, Colombia: pedestrian-friendly streets, miles of bicycle paths, and free outdoor recreation for all…

A slice (and a sketch) of NYC subway life from Ami Underground…

Rebecca’s container gardening demonstration

Last Sunday’s event, “Greening Flatbush: Garden Where You Are” was a huge success! The Sustainable Flatbush Gardening Committee assembled a stellar program of speakers and demonstrations on topics including Container Gardening, Urban Composting, Street Trees, Permaculture and more.

Mela and Sandra talk trees

Karla advocates for worm composting

We can’t wait for spring to get our hands dirty and start planting up the neighborhood!

The Sustainable Flatbush Gardening Commitee is spearheading this great free community event:

On Sunday, February 24, residents and other members of the greater Flatbush community can learn what they can do to beautify and improve the environment of their neighborhood.

“Greening Flatbush: Garden Where You Are” is an afternoon of short lectures, demonstrations, and workshops on topics ranging from planting and caring for street trees to composting with worms in your kitchen.

“Garden is a verb,” says Chris Kreussling, co-chair of the Gardening Committee of Sustainable Flatbush, which is sponsoring the event. “It’s not just a place you visit. It’s something you do.”

“Hearing about what others are already doing can inspire people to work with their neighbors to takeaction,” says Kreussling, who also authors a local gardening blog, Flatbush Gardener. “We want to build community through gardening.”

Greening Flatbush is Sunday, February 24, from 1:30 to 4:30pm at the Flatbush Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library at 22 Linden Boulevard.

The event is free, but space is limited. To register, or if you have questions about this event, please email greeningflatbush[at]gmail.com.

For directions, see the Flatbush branch web page on the Brooklyn Public Library Web site.

Have I mentioned that our Gardening Committee is amazing? Check out their mission statement:

We envision a clean, green, and beautiful cityscape for and by the inhabitants of Flatbush.
Our purpose is to empower our community through shared gardening and pro-environment projects.
To achieve this, we will:

• Educate our community to create green, life-promoting spaces indoors and outdoors;
• Support other groups and individuals in their environmentally sound gardening projects;
• Inspire and challenge all members of our community to sustain and respect public gardening and environmental initiatives;
• Green and beautify our neighborhood one flower, one plant, one tree at a time.

Anyone interested in becoming an active member of this committee can request to join their listserv here. Go Gardeners!!