|
Home Page |
 |
|
 |
Our Info
Contact Us Join Us Our Newsletter Hit Report |
|
|
|
|
|
Interactive Areas
Calendar Discussion Area Member Pages |
|
|
|
|
|
Our PDFs
Dunton & Back to Eden 2008 Summer Calendar BQLT News Winter 2005[1].pdf Queens Land Trust Garden Color Maps Brooklyn Land Trust Gardens Color Maps |
|
|
|
|
|
Find Answers in Our FAQ |
|
|
 |
Metro New York Clubs & Organizations |
Brooklyn Queens Land Trust
Hollenback Community Garden
Invitation to Hollenback Community Garden, May 10, 2:00 p.m.
Hello Friends of the Hollenback Community Garden,
Please join us in the garden for a party on Sat May 10th @ 2:00 pm to celebrate our recently completed composting toilet.
Host: Hollenback Community Garden
Location: 460 Washington Avenue (btwn Greene and Gates Aves), Brooklyn, NY 11238 US
View Map |
When: Saturday, May 10, 2:00PM to 5:00PM
After nearly 18 months of hard work put in by garden volunteers, the Hollenback Community Garden is proud to unveil its Clivus Multrum M54 Trailhead Composting Toilet. We are so excited!
This toilet will replace the costly, smelly and chemical filled port-o-potty we used to rent for the summer months. This composting toilet is chemical free, flushless and sustainable. With only basic maintenance of occasionally adding woodshavings and a sprinkling of water, this system will turn our human waste into harmless, nutrient rich compost that is safe to use on our trees and flowers.
The process has been reflected in numerous photos, publicized in the press, there is even a youtube video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAbO_saqEpE. To add to excitement, the UN Commission on Sustainable Development is bringing 60 international guests to visit the garden earlier on the same day of this momentous unveiling!
Please join us to celebrate!
2:00 Gates open
2:30 Special Ribbon Cutting
3:00 Ceremonial First Flush
('cause it doesn't actually flush!)
Free Community Potluck and Grill-fest to follow.
(AND Rumor has it, there might be a raffle for the right to be "first", so get there early :)
We hope to see you in the garden!!
Directions: We are 1 1/2 blocks north of the Clinton-Washington stop on the "C" train and 1 1/2 blocks south of the Clinton-Washington stop on the "G" train. for both train, make sure to take Washington Ave exit.
Come See the Fruits of Our Labor
Drop In Tuesday, Composting Workshops
If you're interested in learning about composting and have kitchen scraps (vegetable and fruit peelings), please drop in. This is an ongoing event held every Tuesday evening until October...weather permitting.
Hollenback Community Garden, is one of twelve community gardens serving as Rainwater Harvesting demonstration sites. The rainwater harvesting system was recently built by the garden members with a coalition of greening groups. Afterwards, a vegetarian friendly celebration barbecue was held to unveil the new system and show how it will contribute to sustainable ecological practices. Members of the public were welcomed. (See related article below.)
We welcome well-mannered guests and we'd love to show off the benefits of our new system. You can look, learn and eat for free as our honored guests.
What is rainwater harvesting?
There are two classes of rainwater harvesting systems:
*Systems which collect roof runoff for household or garden use.
*Systems which use in field or adjoining catchment to provide supplemental irrigation for agriculture.
Why harvest rainwater?
It's a shame to let runoff go to waste when it can be used indoors and/or for irrigation. The benefits of rainwater harvesting can include:
- Relief of strain on other water supply
- Ability to build, garden or farm in areas with no other water supply
- Cleaner water
- Increased independence and water security
- Lower water supply cost
- Reduced flood flows
- Reduced topsoil loss
- Improved plant growth
- Greater sensitivity to and connection with natural cycles
- Drought relief when water use is restricted
- source of pure, soft, low sodium water
If you remember the recent drought and the difficulties involved in getting enough water to keep your plants green (as in alive), it's worth a look-see. The Hollenbeck Garden is located at 460 Washington Avenue between Gates and Green Avenues.
Directions: C or G train to Clinton-Washington stop; take Washington Ave exit. The garden is next to PS 11.
Reprint of article telling of composting toilet to come:
http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/30/40/30_40greentoilet.html
Tree-huggers are green with envy over this toilet
By Trevor Soponis
for The Brooklyn Paper
Mark Trushkowsky and Cara Perkins helped get the Hollenback Community Garden an eco-toilet.
The Hollenback Community Garden on Washington Avenue is about to become even more eco-friendly: it just installed a waterless composting toilet, one of the first of its kind in Brooklyn.
First flush will be later this month, after the installation of the solar panel, which powers the aeration bin.
The whosawhatsit? More on that later. The most important thing is that the waterless toilet will replace the garden’s chemical-filled port-a-john, which not only was environmentally unsound, but also cost $200 a month in rental and cleaning fees.
“Having this composting toilet will make everyone’s life better,” garden Co-Coordinator Cara Perkins explained. “We wanted the toilet to make the garden more user-friendly and so that people could really hang out and relax there.”
“The [port-a-john] was expensive and smelly and had to be placed right at the front of the garden, and it was very ugly,” Perkins added.
At a meeting last summer, members brainstormed how to improve the garden and someone threw out the idea of a composting toilet, like the kind already in place in Battery Park. In a stroke of serendipity, those same toilets were slated for removal, and were up for auction on eBay.
Despite an initial sticker price of $15,000 each, Perkins submitted a $150 bid, and won five toilets. Keeping just the one for the garden, the remaining four were donated to the Council on the Environment (two will end up in other Brooklyn gardens).
Work on the toilet installation began early in the summer with the excavation of a big hole to house the 800-pound aeration tank, where the water (the smelly part, actually) is removed from the solid waste (that’s a euphemism, people!). Once drained, the solid waste gets fanned (hence the solar power) and then broken down by micro-organisms (that’s the composting part). Solar power is also used for the exhaust fan.
The garden’s toilet has a 60-visit daily capacity.
“To toot our own horn, it’s very cutting-edge, not only in the community garden scene, but also in New York City,” Perkins said. “The Bronx Zoo is just finishing a project to build a facility with 16 units, using the same manufacturer that we have.”
She’s not worried that people may turn up their nose at the green loo, but it’s better than all that chemical green goo at the bottom of a portable toilet.
“Some people might freak out by the prospect of waste that doesn’t get flushed away [but] it’s extremely environmentally friendly,” Perkins said.
©2007 The Brooklyn Paper
Planting the Seeds of Hollenback
Planting the Seeds of Hollenback
The Hollenback Community Garden began in 1980, through the hard work and dedication of community members who saw possibility in a lot rendered empty by the fire that destroyed the Hollenback Mansion.
Brick by brick, and wheel barrow by wheel barrow they cleaned up the site and then seed by seed, they created beauty from destruction.
To learn more garden history, come in and ask to speak to Gertrude. She is one of the concerned citizens who started the garden, and she has been gardening at Hollenback ever since.
Who are we?
We are currently about 40 gardeners, each working in individual plots as well as sharing responsibility for communal areas used by the garden membership and the larger community. Our garden is part of the Brooklyn Queens Land Trust, a coalition of 34 community gardens.
What do we do?
☼ We create a place for garden members from the community to produce locally grown food.
☼ We preserve a flourishing green oasis for the community to visit and enjoy, contributing to overall neighborhood beautification.
☼ We make all garden decisions democratically at monthly meetings.
☼ We offer several community events every season, including live music, movies, BBQs, garden workshops, tours
☼ We share our gardening knowledge and experience with the community
☼ Environmentally speaking, we harvest rainwater from a neighboring rooftop, and store it in a 700 gallon tank, reducing both our use of potable water and the amount of rainwater that goes into the city’s overworked sewer system. You can find more information on rainwater harvesting in the city at waterresourcegroup.org
☼ We are very proud of our compost system. We not only compost garden compostable materials, but we also process the food waste of over 50 community members, as well as for the Fort Greene Farmer’s Market. Compost collection lessens the amount of waste that ends up in landfills, and converts that waste into a valuable fertilizing material. The compost we produce is used in our garden and neighborhood tree pits, as well as by community members. Our compost piles have been used as a learning tool by New York City’s Master Composting Class from the Queens Botanical Garden, as well as by the Lower East Side Ecology Center and the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. It has even been featured on Japanese television. To learn more about our compost, come in and ask for Charlie Bayrer, our head composter.
Where are we going?
☼ We are currently involved in a project to install a composting toilet in our garden. This will allow us to provide restroom facilities for visitors and gardeners, without having to depend on the non-sustainable, chemical, and costly involvement of a rented port-o-potty. We feel that a composting toilet is safer and more environmentally friendly. We also hope that the presence of the composting toilet will serve as a further platform for our garden, and our community, to learn more ways to harness every resource we can when it comes to supporting our planet from the strain we place upon it.
What can you do?
☼ Any time the front gate is open, please come in for a visit. Stop in, smell and admire the flowers, talk to gardeners, sit and read or just relax in the shade. Bring your family and your sketchbook. Share your knowledge and your questions.
☼ Respect the hard work of all the gardeners by not picking any fruits, vegetables or flowers. Also make sure to let them know that their hard work is noticed and appreciated.
☼ To help you plan a visit, we have regular Garden Open Hours, which are:
Wednesdays: 6pm to 8pm
Saturdays: 3pm to 7pm
Sundays: 10am to 12pm
and 3pm to 7pm
☼ To get more information, inquire about membership, join our mailing list, find out how you can help, learn about community events, ask a question, or make a request, you can reach the garden coordinators at hollenbackcommunitygarden@yahoo.com
Cara Perkins at 917-701-2875
Mark Trushkowsky at 917-804-0414
Email Us
hollenbackcommunitygarden@yahoo.com
Favorite Links
Hollenback Community Garden Sustainable Model
Council of Environment NYC Community Garden Mapping Information
Neighborhood Link Terms of Use
© 1997 - 2006 Neighborhood Link, Inc.