Brooklyn Queens Land Trust

Hollenback Community Garden

Brooklyn Community Gardens Inspire Visitors from 4 Continents

Brooklyn Community Gardens Inspire Visitors from 4 Continents
by Brooklyn Eagle (edit@brooklyneagle.net), published online 05-13-2008




‘Brooklyn Farm Tour’ Organized As Part of United Nations Conference
By Kate Daloz
Special to Brooklyn Daily Eagle

BROOKLYN — This past Saturday, U.N. delegates from Kenya, Croatia, Japan, Barbados, Venezuela, France, South Africa, Nigeria and the UK arrived in Brooklyn for a lesson on urban agriculture.

The Brooklyn Farm Tour, organized as part of the U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development held in Manhattan, visited two community gardens and two farms to highlight some of the city’s most innovative food production projects.

Tour organizer Siena Chrisman wanted to “bring conversations about sustainability out of the halls of the U.N.” She hoped that an afternoon spent in reclaimed vacant lots that Brooklynites have converted into green spaces dedicated to raising tomatoes, collards, basil and peppers would allow delegates to “make practical connections about sustainability, environment, health and community on a personal, human level.”

At the Hollenback Community Garden in Clinton Hill, delegates listened closely to explanations of a rainwater-harvesting system, a neighborhood compost program and a new solar-powered composting toilet.

The tour’s next stop, Hattie Carthan Community Garden in Bed-Stuy, featured a local foods-cooking demonstration by Community Food Educator Yannette Fleming; afterward, delegates and community members shared a lunch prepared by the gardeners.

A few blocks later, Reverends Robert and DeVanie Jackson explained the development of Bed-Stuy Farm, which grows fresh vegetables for the Brooklyn Rescue Mission’s emergency food program, and led delegates on a brief tour of the neighborhood. Farmers at East New York Farms!, including members of its youth program, showed off the “fields” where they grow vegetables for sale at a weekly market, along with the two modest beehives that produce 80 pounds of highly-prized local honey.

Not Just Women’s Work

Delegate Harriet Ndirangu had signed up for the tour hoping to get ideas for the urban farming initiatives she’s trying to establish at home in Kenya. She was not disappointed. “The rainwater harvester — I loved that!” she said. “And the composting toilet — we will definitely borrow that.”

She also hopes that youth programs like those at Bed-Stuy and East New York Farms might help solve one of the biggest challenges she faces: convincing young Kenyan men that growing food is not just women’s work. “I can’t wait to start implementing what I learned with the gardens,” she said. South African delegate Harold Liversage saw many similarities between Brooklyn communities and those he visits regularly as part of his work in Africa. “What farmers need” — in East New York as in Swaziland — “is good information, access to markets and dynamic leaders,” he said. He saw those elements at work here and was glad he came on the tour. “Going to other countries, you get to talk to people you don’t normally get to talk to. I didn’t think I’d get to do this in New York — it’s much better than sitting around in a boring UN session.”

Not Like ‘Sex in the City’

Like Liversage, delegate Tomislav Tomasevic experienced a side of New York he’d never seen before. He had hoped that seeing Brooklyn’s approach to urban gardens might give him ideas for how to fend off developers and preserve similar community green space in Croatian cities.

“If people in New York can do it with 10 times more valuable land, it should work in Zagreb,” he said. Standing between the rows of freshly planted collards at East New York Farms, he gazed around at a grape arbor, a bed of bright-green garlic shoots, and a majestically drooping weeping-willow. In the background, the elevated No. 3 train rumbled by.

“It changes your prejudice,” he said. “Just seeing different parts of New York gives you a perspective on the US. How would you ever find out about a Brooklyn community garden [from TV]? This is not the image you get from ‘Sex and the City.’”

For French delegate Fabrice Burger, his conversation with a Bed-Stuy resident at Hattie Carthan Community Garden summed up the importance of local food movements to sustainable development around the world. “She loves Brooklyn,” he said. “If you love a place, you are going to love everything in that place.”


© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2008 All materials posted on BrooklynEagle.com are protected by United States copyright law. Just a reminder, though -- It’s not considered polite to paste the entire story on your blog. Most blogs post a summary or the first paragraph,( 40 words) then post a link to the rest of the story. That helps increase click-throughs for everyone, and minimizes copyright issues. So please keep posting, but not the entire article. arturc at att.net

By Laws and Membership Commitment

By Laws and Membership Commitment



MEMBERSHIP COMMITMENT



All Members Agree to:



1) Sign this contract agreeing to the following guidelines by June 15th.



2) Pay on a sliding scale of $10-50 per person by June 15th of each season. Membership dues are paid within the fee scale at a given member’s discretion.



3) Work one open hour session per month. Members are not allowed to miss more than 4 shifts per season. One shift is a 2 hour session.



Open Hour Shifts will be:



Wednesday 6-8
Sat 4-6
Sun 10-12, 2-4, 4-6


Each Plot Agrees to:



4) Attend at least 4 out of 8 meetings per season.



The first and last meetings of the year will no longer be considered mandatory, but as in the past, much important business is taken care of at these meetings, such as distribution of plots. If you are not in attendance, and there is a quorum, important votes may occur without your presence. The garden will make every attempt through e-mail, phone or mail to inform members of important issues coming up for vote so that they can express their opinion before the meeting if they can not be in attendance.



5) Work at least 4 workdays or events per season (at least a 3 hour shift for each).



If it looks to be a particularly busy season, the garden may vote at the beginning of the season, to increase the minimum number of workdays/events attendance to be required that year.



6) Plant their plot by June 15th



Consequences for not fulfilling Membership Rules & Responsibilities #1-6



1) If any Member with a plot does not adhere to the membership rules, they will lose their plot at the end of the season. Those members will remain members of the garden and keep their key. They will be placed on the waiting list for earning plot eligibility for the next season.



2) If a Member without a plot or an Apprentice does not adhere to the membership guidelines, they will lose their key and be placed at the bottom of the wait list for plot eligibility. They can reapply as Apprentices for the next season.





JOINING THE GARDEN



1) New people can join the garden their first season by attending either a workday or a meeting between March 15th to June 15th. These new members are called Apprentice members.



2) Apprentices will be given a key after paying dues and attending 2 meetings and 1 workday in their first season.



3) If Apprentices fulfill regular member rules #1-5 as an individual they will be eligible for a plot the next season, if there is one available.



4) If a current member with a plot invites a friend to work with them on their plot, that new person must still join as an individual Apprentice. To get a key they personally need to come to 2 meetings and a workday. To qualify for their own plot the next year they must follow member rules #1-6 as individuals. If they do not follow rules #1-6, they loose their key the following year.



5) Apprentices will help tend communal areas, potentially including plots that are not planted by June 15th.



6) New members will not be accepted after June 15th.



7) You must be 18 years old to join the garden.



WAIT LIST



1) There are three tiers of membership used to determine the waitlist.



a. Members with plots.
b. Members without plots.
c. Apprentices.


2) These tiers will remain when determining rank on the wait list for available plots. For example, if a member with a plot, a member without a plot and an apprentice all fail to meet the membership requirements, they will appear at the bottom of the waitlist in the same order (member w/ plot, member w/out, apprentice).



3) Determining order of Apprentices on the wait list:



A. In the week following June 15th, a lottery will be done to determine the rank of Apprentices who have expressed interest in becoming members.
B. It will be a random lottery drawing of names.
C. From this, the master list of apprentices will be made to determine their spot on the wait list.
D. Apprentices who don’t meet the requirements of membership will be removed from the wait list at the end of the season and can reapply the next year.


DISTRIBUTING PLOTS



1) New plots will be distributed at the March First meeting of each season.



2) If there is open space, current members will have the option to expand their plots to reach a total maximum of 4 X 8 Ft per household.

-The proposed maximum space of 4 X 8 square feet per household is to be put into effect for the 2008 season. This proposal is not to be put into effect retroactively.



3) Seniority matters. Senior-most members who wish to change plots within the garden will be able to do so first, before the waiting list is consulted to place a member w/out a plot or an apprentice.



4) When 2 or more people tending a plot decide that they no longer want to share a plot and one of them wants to find their own new space, it is the seniority of the member seeking the new plot that determines their rank in the order that plots are being disbursed.



5) If there is additional space, Members without plots who are at the top of the waitlist will have the option to claim a plot next.



6) If there is still more space, Apprentices who have met all of the member requirements from the previous summer and are next on the waitlist will have the option to claim a plot.





KEYS



Keys are a precious commodity.



1) Keys and plots are non-transferable.

This means you can not make copies or give your key out to your roommate/friend/neighbor to take over your plot.



2) Current members may LOAN their key to a friend to help maintain their plot if they are out of town etc. but they may not make duplicates of the key. Make sure to contact the coordinator and introduce your friends to garden members. Allowing someone to water your plot or tend to it while you are on vacation is done at the gardener’s discretion, though it is suggested that garden members look to apprentices and other garden members if at all possible.



3) You have to be 18 years old to get a key.



PLOT SABBATICALS



1) After 3 active seasons in the garden each member in good standing who has a plot is entitled to take a one year seasonal sabbatical.



2) Their plot will be tended either by their current plot partners or by gardeners at the top of the plot wait list.



3) Members on sabbatical will have the right to return to their original plot after their year away.



4) Members must inform the garden coordinators of their intent to take a sabbatical by June 15th.



5) Members must inform the garden coordinators of their intent to reclaim their plot by the following March 1st.



6) In the case of an emergency sabbatical from the garden:



a. Members must contact the garden coordinator as soon as possible to turn in their key.
b. The plot will be given to either an interested gardener or an apprentice to tend in their absence, and the member can return to that plot at the end of their sabbatical during the current season or at the beginning of the next season.
c. The member going on sabbatical may also choose to rescind ownership of the plot, in which case it will go to the first person on the waitlist. Their membership will remain intact in the case of a rescinded plot and they will go to the top of the waitlist at the beginning of the next season.
d. It is a member’s responsibility to contact the coordinators if they need an emergency sabbatical.


QUORUM



1) For any expenditure valued at less than $250 or action of the garden that will happen within three months of the meeting, decisions can be made by simple majority among attendees at the meeting.



2) For any expenditure greater than $250 or any decision impacting the Membership Rules, the by-laws or with long-term impact beyond 3 months, a quorum of the garden must be obtained to vote on the proposal.



3) IF Quorum is not reached at the meeting it will be reached through e-mail, phone or mail in a reasonable amount of time.



A) A quorum is 3/4 of the total garden membership determined by the number of members who have been in the garden longer than one year.
B) A 2/3rds majority of the quorum is required to pass a given proposel.
c) Apprentices can not be counted towards a quorum, but they do have the right to vote.
D) Apprentices must be present to vote.
I. Other Guidelines





1) Garden Membership Rules (especially those for becoming a new member) will be publicized at the garden gate and on our website (when we have one) and through the Outreach Coordinator to the community.



2) Open Hour Buddies will increase accountability at Open Hours and make it more fun to show up for your timeslot.



3) A Phone Calling Tree will assign people who do have access to email to act as buddies for people who do not. As we move towards having more information about the garden online, this will ensure that people without access to email are kept in the loop and also build in another buddy system.



4) Leadership Positions will create concrete roles for people who want to be more involved in Hollenback and will provide much needed support to the Garden Coordinators.



II. Additional Leadership Positions to Assist Coordinators



1) Outreach Coordinator – This person will act as a liaison with the community and coordinate groups coming to the garden and other events that Hollenbackers may want to attend.



2) Workday Coordinators – These 1-3 people will work with the Garden Coordinators to make sure that workdays run smoothly, to oversee different workdays, and to help keep track of attendance at workdays.



3) New Member Coordinator – An experienced garden member will act as a liaison with new garden members. This person will make sure new gardeners understand what is expected of them and feel welcome at garden meetings.



4) Food Security Coordinator – This person will coordinate getting leftover food from the garden (especially when people are away) to soup kitchens and shelters.

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

Links

Hollenback Community Garden Sustainable Model
Council of Environment NYC Community Garden Mapping Information
We Have a Wiki
Views of Our Garden from Above
http://hollenback.pbwiki.com/