Skill-sharing in the heart of Brooklyn.
388 Atlantic Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11217
718 345 2367
hello@thecommonsbrooklyn.org
Learn planting tips and techniques to extend your growing season. You could be picking home-grown veggies until Thanksgiving and beyond.
Maureen O’Brien, master composter and food grower, has taught at Just Food, GreenThumb, Brooklyn Botanic Garden and her community garden 6/15 Green.
Pre-registration is required!
YOU MUST EMAIL expeditiongowanus@gmail.com TO PRE-REGISTER FOR THIS EVENT.
The exact location on the Gowanus Canal where we will meet will to disclosed with your pre-registration.
Sliding scale donations accepted at the door, suggested $7.
Expedition Gowanus is a series of workshops focused on DIY sustainability techniques that will culminate in the final design and installation stages for an off-grid, regenerative, floating structure scheduled to set sail on the Gowanus Canal this fall. For more project information, or to be added to the email list of future Expedition Gowanus events, email expeditiongowanus@gmail.com.
Phytoremediation is the use of plants to pull pollutants from the environment and render them harmless. In polluted bodies of water, gardens of water plants can be attached to buoyant structures, thus creating ‘floating restoration devices’. Scott Kellog, co-founder of Albany’s Radix Ecological Sustainability Center (www.radixcenter.org) and co-author of the book Toolbox for Sustainable City Living: A Do-it-Ourselves Guide, will lead the workshop. He will introduce basic concepts in phytoremediation and some of the techniques for applying these concepts to the remediation of polluted water (living machines, constructed wetlands, etc). After an introduction, you will be lead in the construction of a mini ‘floating trash island’. Made out of construction debris and old soda bottles, the island will be planted with wetland plants, and then given the ultimate challenge; an inaugural float on the infamous Lavender Lake (aka Gowanus Canal).
Join Barry Schwartz and Grown in Brooklyn to learn how to make tempeh, an amazing food that is loaded with nutrients. The ingredients are simple, and the process is fascinating. Basically tempeh is made by cracking, dehulling and cooking beans, inoculating them with a Rhizopus spore and leaving them to ferment, during which time a mycelium forms and binds the beans together into a sliceable form. Because soybeans are becoming less popular (perhaps vegetarians just eat too much soy), we have found ways to make tempeh from a variety of beans (split pea, white bean and black beans, sometimes mixed with grains). Unlike commercial tempeh, fresh tempeh soaks up marinade easily and has a smooth and creamy texture. We make our tempeh from beans that are non GMO and grown organically. After class we will have a tasting and offer you some to take home.
Save your own seed to plant next year. Learn the basic principles for success.
Maureen O’Brien, master composter and food grower, has taught at Just Food, GreenThumb, Brooklyn Botanic Garden and her community garden 6/15 Green.
This is the first part of a two part series with Amanda Matles, a Certified Master Composter with The Lower East Side Ecology Center.
These two sessions can be attended as a set or separately. $8 per session or $12 for both. Suggested, pay what you can.
Composting can be described as “human accelerated decomposition of organic matter”. Composting with worms is a fast and clean indoor type of composting that turns your food scraps and junk mail into rich slow release fertilizer for your indoor plants, community gardens, food crops, street trees, or any dirt medium in need of some biological repair. We will cover the basics of decomposition in nature and how you can speed up the process with composting. We will look and learn about the “Red Wiggler” worms used in this kind of composting system. We will set up a demonstration worm bin, discuss how to maintain a productive and odorless system with troubleshooting tips. We will cover many great and important benefits of composting in our urban environment. Information about getting bin materials and worms will be covered too.
Music and books, talk and turnips—all featured at this fundraiser for Farm City, an action-research project aiming to enhance the profile of and prospects for producing more food within the City
Novella Carpenter, author of “Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer,” will be reading and signing books. Communal Table will present “Turnip Fest,” a variety of treats made from the lowly root veggie sourced from Kings County farms. Our favorite neighborhood bookstore, Book Court, will display a special selection of food titles. All accompanied by live music from Brooklyn-based players.
Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door and can be obtained at Brown Paper Bag Tickets. Please help support Brooklyn’s “growing” movement!
We have already reached peak oil and we are approaching peak water. Now is the time to find out how to reuse greywater—the waste water from your washing machine, shower and bathroom sink—to make your flowers bloom. Greywater systems for reusing water in the landscape or in your home can save water and money and provide superior treatment. In this workshop I will outline the various greywater systems and other conservation strategies you can use to cut your water bill and save our lakes, streams and oceans. We’ll cover:
· Benefits of greywater systems
· Getting clear on objectives
· Regulatory considerations
· Site characteristics
· Choosing a greywater system
· Understanding what plants work best for greywater
· Greywater dos and don’ts
· Water conservation and efficiency
It just so happens that much of what we’ll be discussing is illegal under current NY plumbing codes. But codes be damned! This workshop will show you how to be a discreet and responsible greywater outlaw or how to be a more informed and responsible person.
Tyler W.D. Caruso is a student at Pratt’s Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment
Learn the basics of home canning and preserve your harvest. You could be eating your own spicy dilly beans for the winter holidays or to give away as gifts.
Maureen O’Brien, master composter and food grower, has taught at Just Food, GreenThumb, Brooklyn Botanic Garden and her community garden 6/15 Green.
Note: This event will take place at The Commons’ Gowanus location: 108 1/2 Douglass St. (between Smith and Hoyt), at the Bergen St. stop on the F train.
LEAP, a graduate-student advocacy group out of Pratt Institute, presents the first part of a yearlong series of educational panels on current environmental issues that effect the NYC area. The panel will be moderated by Tyler Caruso, and guests will include Gita Nandan and Elliott Maltby of Thread Collective (http://www.threadcollective.com/ and another speaker (TBD). Gita Nandan and Elliott Maltby will present an overview of current agricultural activity in New York City. They are currently working on the Design Trust for Public Space Project, “Five Borough Farm,” and will discuss the process and problems around identifying and classifying ‘different’ types of urban agricultural activity (commercial, educational, advocacy, not-for-profit, etc). They will also talk about their work designing Added Value Farm. Thread Collective recently won first prize from Terreform 1’s contest the “One Prize: From Mowing to Growing” (http://www.oneprize.org/).
More information to come!
This panel is open to the public- $5-10 suggested donation to the Commons- no one turned away for lack of funds.
This is a great opportunity to see where honey comes from (whether or not you are a budding beekeeper). Michael Hegedus is bringing his extractor to The Commons and will show us step-by-step how to get the honey from the hive into little jars.
Session 2: Harvesting Compost from Your Worm Bin / Using Your Compost
This is the second part of a two part series with Amanda Matles, a Certified Master Composter with The Lower East Side Ecology Center.
These two sessions can be attended as a set or separately. $8 per session or $12 for both. Suggested, pay what you can.
This class will focus on various methods of harvesting the compost from your bin and specific ways to use this valuable material. This class is great if you have a full worm bin but don’t know how to remove the compost yet and/ or you want more information on making your own healthy inexpensive potting mix, foliar sprays, mulch, fertilizer, or compost tea.
For low-cost workspace or to rent space for an event or to offer a class, please email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
We will send you regular updates on upcoming events.