This Was Last Week and Today

There are mums in a little bottle that were harvested last week at the community garden. In the wake that follows Hurricane Sandy, there are no worries about my own garden because it is a thing that can always be rebuilt, just as it builds itself anew every year. After the storm there is only the searching for news about what has been destroyed elsewhere and what survives, the finding out how family and friends are doing, who has power and who doesn't.

 Last week there were many moments of incredible beauty and warmth. The loveliness of this sweet marigold in the last light of the day in Martha's garden and Amsonia up in the skyline of midtown Manhattan.

Today in the aftermath of this insane storm it is gray, our street quiet and unscathed, but inside on the computer screen in the news the images are entirely the opposite.

Postcards on HR2606 versus PR on Floyd Bennett Field

The postcards to President Obama to Veto HR2606 stand by themselves. They are simple messages written in objection to a bill. They represent people's attempt to participate in the decision making process despite a very clear message being sent down from those in power up above that the people do not deserve a voice.

At the same time that these messages are being written and people are asking NPS and politicians to protect our park, those people who have already made the decision to run a pipeline right of way through Jacob Riis beach and alienate a piece of Floyd Bennett Field, historic hangars in order to allow a metering and regulating facility to support that pipeline, are doing a little PR by planting trees in Floyd Bennett Field. Do you think they took the opportunity to talk to the public about how they think industrial use of Floyd Bennett Field by Williams Transco and National Grid is an appropriate introduction into the park as they dug holes to plant 5000 trees?

Tree planting is an appropriate thing to do in a park. Building industrial infrastructure that is wholly outside of the park's purpose and introducing pollution is not. Back in 2009 Williams Transco admitted there were land use issues that would challenge them in finding an appropriate site for their metering and regulating facility. HR2606 removes that challenge by allowing them to build this facility right in the park. It's quite the coup for the natural gas companies considering there is only public talk by officials about making this park an example nationally of what a great urban national park should be.

At October's End

 Martha harvests some flowers to take home and pumpkin and loofah grown in the pumpkin patch get laid out for the annual Halloween party at the community garden. Before this blog became focused on the pipeline and the appropriation of a piece of  Floyd Bennett Field, our park, for industrial use, it was focused on small moments in the lives of plants and the joy of little discoveries made when immersed in that world. I still have those moments all the time at work on green roofs and in the garden or now in fall when there is much to observe, enjoy and learn as the leaves are starting to turn and fall on the city streets. The skies have been gray now for days as a storm makes it way toward us, but the brilliance of the colors of this season is undeniable in any light.

Margarets Mums This Year

 were more pink than white but no Margaret at the garden this year. She lives though and just a bit of her mums too do also in my garden, but I haven't had the pleasure of seeing her this year. I just have these mums to remind me of those minutes shared with her in the community garden.

It's Just A Little Thing at The Coffee Shop Around the Corner

Not a raisin dried in the sun, but a reminder of last year's dream deferred. Still it's important to dream and to work slowly towards something. I haven't been thinking about growing flowers a lot lately, but it's really hard not to think about bulbs this time of year. To begin the dream for a new season.

Brooklyn Grown for 596Acres

 The kids over at 596Acres had their first benefit event and we had a little fun making some small bouquets to add a little color to their tables. I hope they made some dough.

Up In The SkyLine as The Season Gives Way

 What I've found this year is that the green roofs aren't so unlike any other garden in that there is the enjoyment of the subtle shifts from day to day or week to week and the slow slipping between the seasons.

It's autumn up in the sky, or on the living roofs as Brooklyn Botonic calls them quite aptly and autumn is always a good time to pay attention to plants wherever you find them.