Happy Beautiful Weather, UESiders!

Making tending to plantings and our street trees (in extreme heat or 7 days without a rain, newly planted trees like those on bike islands need 20 gallons a week) a pleasure  again!

Back on the subject of that Hell’s Kitchen Meeting, come this fall when, hopefully, the balance of trees in First Avenue’s bike islands will be planted, we’ll be inviting the all-volunteer AND prize-winning Chelsea Garden Club to venture up our way and share the experience they’ve gained making their – much bigger than ours – bike islands so beautiful.

Sure, there’re a myriad of things all New Yorkers have on our plates, but if Chelsea can pull it together…

Forget beautification, we have an investment to protect…  Each one of those little trees costs at least $1,500 of our tax dollars to get in the ground!

And good to remember that the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law 23 years ago today!  

carex-macrocephala

On to the fine week ahead:

 

Saturday, July 27th:   82nd Street Greenmarket 

82nd Street between First and York, 9am –2pm

Compost & Clothing Collection – 9am – lpm 

At their tables you’ll find American Seafood, Bread Alone,  Samascott, Gajeski, Cherry Lane, Feather Ridge, Rising Sun Beef and Rabbits’ Run Farms.

Yes, and look for the Opera Collective to be back and making their beautiful music!

And we’ve lucked out for yet another week with our  Master Knife Sharpener in place under Tree #1 in the churchyard and ready to get those dull edges of yours up to snuff.

Last week’s recycling totals:  61 lbs batteries;  10 lbs Britta fillters, cords, corks, CD/DVDs/jewel cases/cellphones and ink cartridges; 5 pairs glasses;  15 bags of clothes;   8 compost bins.

YTD (from 1/5/13):  1,239 lbs batteries; 857 lbs #5, Britta filters, corks, cords/CDs/DVDs/jewel cases/cellphones and ink cartridges; 121 pairs of eye glasses; 405 bags of clothes; 168 compost bins.

Can’t say it enough…  8 recording-breaking compost bins!!

Saturday, July 27th:  Annual Evening of Folk Dancing at Stuyvesant Cove

Stuyvesant Cove Park, Avenue C at 20th Street, 7pm

Expert Evelyn Diamond makes it simple with a series of easy-to-learn dance steps that’re perfect for a whole range of  classic ethnic and pop music.  Free.  Sponsored by the Stuyvesant Cove Park Association which says, “Every one welcome!  No experience necessary!”)

Sunday, July 28th:  92nd Street Greenmarket

 92nd Street and First Avenue, 9am-3pm                                           

                           Compost Collection 9am-1pm

With us will be Atlantic Seafood, Gonzales, Stannart, Glebocki and Norwich Meadows Farms, Bread Alone and Meredith’s Bakery.

Did you get your hands on some of Gonzales’ beautiful basil?  And Glebocki’s delicious peaches and nectarines?

Great to see that big crowd non-stop at the Stellar Cooks’ table!   

Last week’s recycling totals:  31 lbs batteries;  8 lbs Britta fillters, cords, corks, CD/DVDs/jewel cases/cellphones and ink cartridges;  1 1/2 compost bins. 

YTD (from 6/23/13):  87 lbs batteries;  55 lbs Britta fillters, cords, corks, CD/DVDs/jewel cases/cellphones and ink cartridges;  2 pairs eye glasses; 9 compost bins; 16,530 lbs of shredded paper.

Not bad for a viciously hot day!

Monday, July 29th:  “Finding Nemo” Screening

Hockey/Basketball Court, Carl Schurz Park, 8:30pm

The premier film Schurz Park’s annual summer Sunset Film Series.  So fun to sit and watch under a night sky with Esplanade a stone’s throw away!  Free with free popcorn while it lasts!   

Tuesday, July 30th:   Know Your Tools – Women & Trans DIY Workshop

Build It Green Gowanus, 69 9th Street, Brooklyn, 6:30-8:30pm

BIG’s new series  where the ladies can and do get down and dirty learning about tools…  Rumor has it this month  the July edition will include some plumbing fun!  Suggeted donation $5-$10.  For details and directions…

Tuesday, August 6th:  Minetta Brook Walk

Meet at First Presbyterian Church, 12 West 12th Street, 6:30-8:30pm

This NYCH2O walk in July was such a success and so well-attended they’re kindly giving us another chance to travel the brook’s buried 1.5 mile bed and absorb the history that goes with it.   Urban explorer Steve Duncan leads the way.  $25.  For more and tickets… 

Wednesday, August 7th:   Evening Wolf Howl

Details with Ticket Purchase

Only…   And we mean only the Obscura Society could have cooked up an upclose and personal visit to the denizens of the Wolf Conservation of South Salem New York!  $65.  For complete info… 

cardiocrinum-giganteum

Miscellany…  First and again, from atop our soapbox:

EeeeK!   Turns out  the Chobani yogurt people are feeding their cattle GMO grain!   Should you object… 

While we dither about getting high speed rail in our northeastern corridor, Hewlett-Packard’s reinvented the ancient Silk Road with trains carrying new-made electronics from China, across the vastness of Central Asia and Eastern Europe to – 7,000 miles later – Holland!! 

Interesting listening to WNYC’s Leonard Lopate’s interviewing NYPL chief Anthony Marx on the contraversy he got rolling with the plan to sell off Mid-Manhattan and refashion the unequaled 42nd Street building.

We already on top of much of NYMagazine‘s recent “Trash” article,  but we can always up our recycling game…  (Some interesting stats, too… Like we’ve paid 6 Carolinians $2.3 million for enduring the smell of the landfill we sent down to them! )

Going to reserve judgment till we pay a visit ourselves, but we’re certainly curious about the new Second Ave Subway Info Center on Second between 84th & 85th…

On to all the good news:

Believe it or not, it could well be that chickpeas will  become erstwhile Virginia tobacco farmers’ new cash crop!

Yet another innovation in getting fresh, local produce to the underserved…  The Bronx Mobile Market!

In case you missed the lovely Times piece on families that’ve lived in NYC for four/five/six generations…

Inevitable but good it’s happening sooner rather than later that Citi Bike will soon be offering helmet rental!

Of course,  our NY Botanical Garden made the list, but most of these 13 must-see garden wonders were new to us…

(FYI, the Botanical Garden and Whole Foods have partnered in a contest for the best fresh cherry recipe!  For details…)

Seems we don’t often have the opportunity to sing the praises of a landlord…  But check out the terms of the leases this gentleman is offering! 

So happy to note that the interior of the Steinway Building on West 57th is landmarking consideration and is, in part, described thus:

“Murals, crystal chandeliers, marble columns and other opulent details abound in these rooms.  The word ‘showroom’ is rather an understatement.  Besides the undeniable architectural merits, the interiors are also culturally important.  As The New Yorker once put it, ‘almost every twentieth-century virtuoso has passed through.'”

Further on last week’s Ultimate Container Gardening in shopping bags, a short course on interior hi-tech container gardening, complete with a list of most air purifying plants!

At last, a really workable solution to organizing the tangled spaghetti that can be one’s many electronics cords…

Even better, a foolproof locator for the things like that wandering TV remote… 

And for us flea market/tag sale junkies, a dedicated website, Tag Sale Style!

Then there’s this useful guide to best bug repellents!

As for the critters we don’t mind having close to us:

They’re not furry…  They don’t have feathers or down…  But they’re great at cleaning water and, thanks to Solar One,  Stuyvesant Cove’s now home to several hundred  baby…  Oysters!

Remember how surprised we all were at the ever increasing UES places populated by fireflies/lightning bugs last year?  Well, they’re back!  And The NYTimes has the lowdown…  (Like they’re beetles not flies!)

No kidding, the Audubon Society wants to hear from you…  Its Dr. Steve Kress is waiting to answer your most insanely difficult questions about puffins, Ospreys and/or terns!

You do know that any number of Manhattan spots are annual stops on the Monarch butterfly migration route, right?  And that Monarch Watch’s there to keep us all current on this amazing insect’s travels, science and lore? 

Okay, who would have thought we had a sufficient number of falconers to warrant official NYState Falconry Regulations?  We do and we have! 

We end in an entirely different vein than our usual with this lovely daughter’s memory of her father from StoryCorps…

Greenest wishes,

UGS

 

Happy Air Quality Index Level 101, UESiders…

Yikes!

A state of air affairs in which, “Active children and adults and people with lung disease (like asthma) should reduce prolonged or heavy exertion outdoors”.

Yes, and that index’s  going up – as in getting worse – to 108 tomorrow.

Stay in and cool, folks, and keep yourself hydrated please!

Relief’s promised in the coming week:

Now – Wednesday, August 21st:  The Art of Hair Work: Love & Memory in the 19th Century

Mount Vernon Hotel Museum, 421 East 61st Street, 11am-4pm

Admittedly, does sound a tad strange, but those Victorians just did make beauty out virtually everything…  In this instance, exquisite jewelry.   Free to members and children under 12.  $8 for non-member adults and  $7 for non-member students.  

Saturday, July 20th:   82nd Street Greenmarket & Mini City of Water Festival 

82nd Street between First and York, 9am –2pm

Compost & Clothing Collection – 9am – lpm 

All the usual, mighty-fine suspects will be at the tables gathered around our ceremonial City of Water Festival Wading Pool…  American Seafood, Bread Alone,  Samascott, Gajeski, Cherry Lane, Feather Ridge, Rising Sun Beef and Rabbits’ Run Farms.

Local folk musicians Lily and David will be providing sthis week’s (occasionally water-related) music.

Right on theme, look for Market Manager Sara to be concocting a refreshing cooler – the kind of thing one’d enjoy imbibing on one’s yacht –  for this week’s demo!

Pretty sure, Sara’s devising a contest too…  Likely involving some yellow duckies you’ll spot in the wading pool.

AND, of course, water’s vital to the magic  Master Knife Sharpener Barbara Hess will be available to work on your cutlery.

Last week’s recycling totals:  49 lbs batteries;  12 lbs Britta fillters, cords, corks, CD/DVDs/jewel cases/cellphones and ink cartridges; 4 pairs glasses;  18 bags of clothes;   6 1/2 compost bins.

YTD (from 1/5/13):  1,178 lbs batteries; 847 lbs #5, Britta filters, corks, cords/CDs/DVDs/jewel cases/cellphones and ink cartridges; 116 pairs of eye glasses; 390 bags of clothes; 160 compost bins.

You have noticed how big those clothes bags are, right?

Saturday, July 20th:  6th Annual City of Water Day Festival

All Around Town, 10am-5pm

Boating of all kinds (cruises, rowing yourself), music, food, a green roof,  a ton of other exhibits and activities, especially on Governor’s Island…  Check it out!  

And look for our own East River Crew to be doing something special on our stretch of the East River at 96th Street!

Saturday, July 20th:  The Second Annual Great Hudson Estuary Fish Count on City of Water Day

Join naturalists at the 3 sites noted below while they – via seine nets, minnow traps, and rods and reels –  capture fish from the Hudson and share amazing details of these river creatures’ hidden, under-the-water existences.  (Fish will then be released to resume their happy lives!)

Catch & Release Fishing Clinic,  East River Park at South  Montgomery Streets,  2:00-4:00pm

Bait and tackle be provided (or bring your own) while you learn fishing basics and explore the estuary.  Free but registration required.

Big City Fishing, Hudson River Park, Pier 25 at North Moore Street,  10:00 a.m.-4:00pm

Catch and release fishing with rods & reels and river education.  Look for the striped bass windsock on pier’s north side.   Free.  For more info email education@hrpt.ny.gov or call 212-627-2020 and ask for the Environment and Education Department.

Seining the Wild, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Main Street under the Manhattan Bridge, 12:00-1:30 pm.  Free but registration required. 

Sunday, July 20th:  92nd Street Greenmarket

92nd Street and First Avenue, 9am-4pm                                                        Compost Collection 9am-1pm

At their tables will be Atlantic Seafood, Gonzales, Stannart, Glebocki and Norwich Meadows Farms, Bread Alone and Meredith’s Bakery.

 The Stellar Cooks’ carrot salad of last week was so delicious…  No telling what tasty thing they’ll be whipping up this Sunday!   

Last week’s recycling totals:  25 lbs batteries;  19 lbs Britta fillters, cords, corks, CD/DVDs/jewel cases/cellphones and ink cartridges;  3 compost bins; 11,200 lbs of paper.

Another 1/2 compost bin increase!

Then there’s the shredding…  All 11,200 pounds of it!

And then:

Thursday, August 1st:  Sasaki Garden Tour

Meeting place provided with reservation, 6:30-8pm

Lovely, mature, the sole surviving mid-Century garden and now under threat of demolition by the ever-rapacious NYU.    There’s much more to learn from garden expert Barbara Jouret- Epstein.  Free but you must reserve (scroll down).

cryptantha-flava

Pretty darned upbeat miscellany this time out:

Great to open with a lovely bit of news:  Though not yet entirely out of the woods (but we can help it emerge), the wonderful South Street Seaport is alive and functioning!

Wonderfulness #2:   Kickstarter crowd-sourcing donations surpassed the goal needed to finance a floating pool off Brooklyn Bridge Park!

Good Thing #3:  Tappan Zee Bridge builders now have a sturgeon-protecting strategy!

#4:  This short interview with GrowNYC’s recycling maven Christina Salvi!

One more cause and we’ll move on:  Should you like to add your good energy to the latest push for genetically enginnered food labeling…

Oops!  One more…  This to reduce the allowable radiactivity (Yup!  We got it!) in our food…

Been making the rounds on the web and it’d be so great if it’s for real…   A machine that converts plastic back into oil…  Fingers crossed, yes? 

Just in case any of you community gardeners out there are feeling weighed down by the emphasis on data, be re-inspired by this video made by fellow NYC gardeners… 

Truly no reason one can’t be growing things virtually anywhere now that we have Ultimate Container Gardening!

There’re buildings with green roofs and/or walls and then there’re buildings like Singapore’s Park Royal Hotel with waterfalls, reflecting pools and 160,000 square feet of plantings and gardens!

As for NYC architecture, yet again as so often in the past, real estate interests are complaining that landmarking is making our real estate too pricey.  (Yes, guys, people really do like old, beautiful buildings.)  

Meanwhile, post-Sandy restoration of dunes has resulted in a…  Believe it…  Beach-grass shortage! 

Remaining in the great out-of-doors, there’re the World’s Best Hikes! 

Last summer Asphalt Green gave us an Olympic champion…  This year, they’ve produced an All-American! 

(Making the proposed MTS all the the more ridiculous.)

Really like this idea that turns a tree injury into street art…

Somewhat off-the-wall, but these great looking tea towels are sooooo easy to make…

Protea cynaroides

Bring on the animals:

Prepare yourselves…  They couldn’t be more than a few hours old…  Newborn, twin baby pandas!

Definitely ducks on the brain this week…  Cutest of all this loyal, persistent, little feathered friend…

Really, how the heck did this Houdini octopus escape through such an amazingly small aperture?

Dreaming of cool green breezes,

UGS

Shred-A-Thon’s just 2 days away, UESiders!

This Sunday’s your last chance to divest yourself of all that annoying paper clutter till fall!

But there’s a heck of a lot more going on:

 

Friday, July 12th:  Happy 114th Birthday to New Yorker Susannah Mushatt Jones!

Being celebrated a few days late as The Times points out, but still…  Incredible!  We send best wishes/thoughts to the third oldest human on earth!

Saturday, July 13th:   82nd Street Greenmarket 

82nd Street between First and York, 9am –2pm

Compost & Clothing Collection – 9am – lpm 

We’re back with a full house this week…  American Seafood, Bread Alone,  Samascott, Gajeski, Cherry Lane, Feather Ridge, Rising Sun Beef and Rabbits’ Run Farms.

And there’ll be live, elegant jazz to soak up.

Gajeski had its first corn last Saturday…  Lovely, tender, small ears!

And, happily, Master Knife Sharpener Barbara Hess will be with us as well!

Last week’s recycling totals:  62 lbs batteries;  15 lbs Britta fillters, cords, corks, CD/DVDs/jewel cases/cellphones and ink cartridges; 2 pairs glasses;  12 bags of clothes;   5 1/2 compost bins.

YTD (from 1/5/13):  1,136 lbs batteries; 847 lbs #5, Britta filters, corks, cords/CDs/DVDs/jewel cases/cellphones and ink cartridges; 112 pairs of eye glasses; 372 bags of clothes; 153 1/2 compost bins.

Impressive for a holiday weekend!

Saturday, July 13th:  Holmes Towers Family Day

Plaza, 1780 First Avenue at 92nd Street, 12-4pm

Get out, share and enjoy great food and fun activities for kids with our great neighbors at Holmes!   (We’re praying Sandra makes her classic pork and rice!)

Saturday, July 13th: Free Roosevelt Island Mammogram Screenings

591 Main Street Plaza, Roosevelt Island, 9am-12pm

The Project Renewal Scan Van Program will offering screening to women age 40 and older who haven’t had a mammogram in the past year.   RSVP at 800-564-6868 for an appointment.  (Sponsored by State Senator Jose Serrano.) 

Saturday, July 13th:  Electronics Recycling at Tekserve

119 West 23rd Street between Sixth & Seventh, 10am-4pm

Of couse, the easiest electronics recycling for us UESiders with electronics headed to the happy hunting ground is good old, free Best Buy.  But good there are alternatives.  Tekserve will be taking – and we quote – “pretty much anything that turns on or plugs in.  But NO household appliances (small ones can go in your building’s recycling), NO microwaves, airconditioners, ionazation smoke or carbon monoxide detectors.  

Saturday, July 13th & Sunday, July 14th:  The Solar Impulse at JFK

Saturday – 3:30-7:30pm; Sunday – 11am-7:30pm

The pioneering first solar-powered plane able to fly both day and night has landed at JFK and is on display.   Maybe you can even meet the crew!   Free but  reservations a must for directions and entrance. 

Sunday, July 13th:  92nd Street Greenmarket

92nd Street and First Avenue, 9am-4pm                                                        Compost Collection 9am-1pm

Lots of truck trouble kept Atlantic, Gonzales and Stannart at home last weekend, but they’ll be back in place this Sunday, along with Bread Alone and Meredith’s Bakery.

Plus Norwich Meadows has returned for the season!

As have the Stellar Cooks with their fabulous demos!   

Troncillito and Glebocki Farms should be rejoining us any time now.

Last week’s recycling totals:  10 lbs batteries;  22 lbs Britta fillters, cords, corks, CD/DVDs/jewel cases/cellphones and ink cartridges; 1 pair glasses;  2  1/2 compost bins.

A 1/2 coompost bin increase!

Sunday, July 14th:  Shred-A-Thon – Semi Instant Replay Edition

First Avenue between 92nd and 93rd Streets, 10am-2pm

And we’ll be shredding:

Paper of any and every kind!

But, as you know only too well, NO cardboard or handled shopping bags.

And please do remove paper clips and spiral bindings. 

NO HARDCOVER BOOKS.   (Take them to Goodwill.)

But we will shred paperbacks.

(Thank you for your generous grant, Council Member Lappin!)

Tuesdays, July 16th, 23rd & 30th, August 6th & 13th:  Schurz Park Sandbox Series

Carl Schurz Playground at 84th Street, 4-4:30pm

Music and fun for the younger set!  (Weather permitting.)  Free, of course.

Coming up fast:

Saturday, July 20th:  6th Annual City of Water Day Festival

All Around Town, 10am-5pm

Boating of all kinds (cruises, rowing yourself), music, food, a green roof,  a ton of other exhibits and activities, especially on Governor’s Island…  Check it out!  

And look for our own East River Crew to be doing something special on our stretch of the East River at 96th Street!

Saturday, July 20th:  The Second Annual Great Hudson Estuary Fish Count on City of Water Day

Join naturalists at the 3 sites noted below while they – via seine nets, minnow traps, and rods and reels –  capture fish from the Hudson and share amazing details of these river creatures’ hidden, under-the-water existences.  (Fish will then be released to resume their happy lives!)

Catch & Release Fishing Clinic,  East River Park at South  Montgomery Streets,  2:00-4:00pm

Bait and tackle be provided (or bring your own) while you learn fishing basics and explore the estuary.  Free but registration required.

Big City Fishing, Hudson River Park, Pier 25 at North Moore Street,  10:00 a.m.-4:00pm

Catch and release fishing with rods & reels and river education.  Look for the striped bass windsock on pier’s north side.   Free.  For more info email education@hrpt.ny.gov or call 212-627-2020 and ask for the Environment and Education Department.

Seining the Wild, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Main Street under the Manhattan Bridge, 12:00-1:30 pm.  Free but registration required. 

Waaaaay out there:

Saturday, August 24th:  8th Annual Shore Bird Festival

Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, 8am-5pm

For those who’ve never been, the refuge’s pretty much the definition of natural wonder.   And this is your chance to take the first steps in mastering shorebird biology, behavior and identification. Free for members and therefore a good reason to join Audubon!  For details, directions and more…

Miscellany to chew on first:

Not easy viewing but really important, folks:  This week’s “Two American Families” on PBS.

Uh-oh.  While we’ve been sweltering in this humid hellscape, an iceberg the size of Chicago’s broken off Antarctica’s Pine Island Glacier!

The bad news is that to near universal wonderment, the USDOT’s delayed car backup cameras a 4th time and  another two years till 2015.  The good news is that – in anticipation of the mandate – they’ve become all-but standard equipment on new cars.

As if we needed another reason to question biotech seed:  Corn plants that require even more pesticide use to control root worms. 

For a short course on rising opposition to the proposed Central Library Plan…

Really never thought to be including heat stroke prevention advice even once…  But it’s summer 2013 and Consumer’s Reports wisdom on the subject merits Mention #2,

Striking a lighter note:

Info coming out of our NYS DEC is getting ever more lively, to the point and well-written…  This week offering up 10 solid tips for environmentally sound living. 

And yet another reason to be proud of our ever more environmentally progressive state:   Governor Cuomo’s awarded a cool $54 million to 79 large-scale solar power projects!

Here’s a question:  Are you as smart as an 8th grader in 1912?  Take the test those living in Kentucky’s Bullitt County did and see!

Always great when an artist shows you another side…  In this case, Tom Waits moving from the musical to the visual!

Bring on those animals:

Promising experiment going on up in Croton-on-Hudson:  Control of the town’s burgoning deer population via immunocontraception!

Who says cats can’t learn to do tricks?

Okay, it’s well off our beaten path, but for those who haven’t sampled the SyFy Channel’s Saturday movies…  Genius programmer Karen O’Hara’s knows how to endlessly mix up her fun shark stories…  As such gems as “Jersey Shark Attack” attest.   This Saturday night at 9’s entry:  “Sharknado!”

And the Hudson River Almanac never fails:

6/30 – Town of Wappinger, HRM 67:  There’s been a profusion of fireflies this month.  Perhaps the incredible rainfall has had a positive effect?  The display this evening was straight out of my childhood, a sight I hadn’t seen in a very long time.  – Tom Lake

Green, greener, greenest,

UGS

Happy 93 degrees Fahrenheit, UESiders!

If ever there was encouragement for us to be busy reducing Manhattan’s  heat island effect with NYC’s great Cool Roofs Program, these last couple of weeks (seems like an eternity) should be  it!

Cool Roofs even offers free white paint to many buildings!

But please, do be drinking plenty of water…  Doing your exercising in the early morning….  Going to a Cooling Center, if need be.  On the UES, those Centers being the Lenox Hill Neighborhood Center and the 96th Street Library.

As we swelter, let’s get down on the hot and humid…

Coming week:

Saturday, July 6th:   82nd Street Greenmarket 

82nd Street between First and York, 9am –2pm

Compost & Clothing Collection – 9am – lpm 

With us will be American Seafood, Bread Alone,  Samascott, Gajeski, Cherry Lane, Feather Ridge, Rising Sun Beef and Rabbits’ Run Farms.

And, yes, our summer live music begins this Saturday with the much-loved Opera Collective!

Sounds that’ll go perfectly with Cherry Lane’s fantastic tomatoes and tiny Kirby cucumbers!

And we’ve got one more holiday weekend treat for you:  Master Knife Sharpener Barbara Hess will be at her table, too!

Last week’s recycling totals:  59 lbs batteries;  13 lbs Britta fillters, cords, corks, CD/DVDs/jewel cases/cellphones and ink cartridges; 5 pairs glasses;  17 bags of clothes;   7 compost bins.

YTD (from 1/5/13):  1,136 lbs batteries; 770 lbs #5, Britta filters, corks, cords/CDs/DVDs/jewel cases/cellphones and ink cartridges; 110 pairs of eye glasses; 360 bags of clothes; 148 compost bins.

Another 7 compost bin week!

Sunday, July 7th:  92nd Street Greenmarket

92nd Street and First Avenue, 9am-4pm                                                        Compost Collection 9am-1pm

With us will be  Atlantic Seafood, Gonzales and Stannart  Farms, Bread Alone and Meredith’s Bakery.   

Happy to say, Norwich Meadows will be back under their tent, too!

PLUS…  The waiting is over!!  The fabulous ladies of the Stellar Cooks Program return with wonderful cooking demos, great new tastes you’ll love and invaluable nutritional info/advice!

Troncillito and Glebocki Farms will join us as their summer produce comes in.

Meanwhile, just love Gonzales’  purslain in salads!

And Stannart’s now got several kinds of squash!

Last week’s recycling totals:  21 lbs batteries;  6 lbs Britta fillters, cords, corks, CD/DVDs/jewel cases/cellphones and ink cartridges; 2 pairs glasses;  2 compost bins.

What a great start to the season!

Tuesdays, July 9th, 16th, 23rd and 30th:  Highlights of the Cannes Film Festival with Gilles Jacob

French Institute/Alliance Francais,  22 East 60th

In celebration of the Cannes’ 65th b’day, FIAF’s screening favorite entries of  the festival’s legendary president, Gilles Jacob.  For films, times and tickets…

And then:

Saturday, July 13th:  Pepacton Resevoir Paddle II

Route 28, near Margretville, New York,   11am-pm

This time NYCH2O’s exploring the resevoir containing the largest amount of NYC water.  Catskill native and adventure guide Carl Apolito will be leading paddlers in 2-person  canoes and single-person kayaks.  For transportation and canoe, $85.   Without transportation but with canoe, $40.   There’s van transportation from Midtown.  For more options, info and tickets

Sunday, July 14th:  Shred-A-Thon – Semi Instant Replay Edition

First Avenue between 92nd and 93rd Streets, 10am-2pm

And we’ll be shredding:

Paper of any and every kind!

But, remember, NO cardboard or handled shopping bags.

And please do remove paper clips and spiral bindings. 

NO HARDCOVER BOOKS.   (Take them to Goodwill.)

But we will shred paperbacks.)

Tuesday, July 16th:  Get Green Meeting

Lenox Hill Neighborhood House, 331 East 70th Street, 6:30-8pm

NYC’s Department of Housing Preservation and and Development will be filling us in on green financing, water and energy conservation, recycling, weatherization and utility incentives.  Organized by City Council Member Jessica Lappin.

Wednesday, July 19th:   Summer Nights at Greenmarkets

Union Square Park, Union Square West at 17th Street, 4-8pm

Celebrate the day 37 years ago when the first NYC Greenmarket ever  opened for business…   Natch, the usual great produce, meats and cheeses, along with live music and offerings from a ”curated roster of restaurants”!   Free but registering gets you $1 off each dish! 

Saturday, July 20th:  6th Annual City of Water Day Festival

All Around Town, 10am-5pm

Boating of all kinds (cruises, rowing yourself), music, food, a green roof,  a ton of other exhibits and activities…  Check it out!  

Friday, July 26th:  Department of Transportation Traffic Management Center Tour

28-11 Queens Plaza North, Long Island City, 2 tours – 12-1pm and 1-2pm

And we quote from Open House:  “Feel the pulse of the city up close at the New York City Department of Transportation’s Traffic Management Center (TMC)! Home to 12,500 traffic signals and 250 real-time traffic cameras!”   Free.  For tickets…

Friday, July 26th through Tuesday, July 30th:  Long Cook – A “Breaking Bad” Marathon 

Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, 144 West 65th Street 

For both fans and those who’ve never sampled the deservedly much-honored series:  Total immersion complete with the show’s creator and many of its stars!!   Free.  First come first get tickets.  For schedule and further details…

tragopogon-dubius

On to miscellany:

Okay, so in case you haven’t heard (and we should be grateful the number isn’t worse)…    BUT one in 9 of our city’s bridges has significant structural problems…

On the upside:

Very happy to pass on the good news that, to date, a whopping 1.5 million pounds of compost have been collected at our Greenmarkets!

Even gladder to note that legislation to restrict the use of antibiotics in livestock has been introduced in the U.S. Senate!

As well as pass on the news that opponents of the $300 million 42nd Library redo/sale of Mid-Manhattan have filed suit.

And that Senator Schummer’s pushing legislation to control pollution of the Great Lakes…

AND that an appellate court’s reversed a lower court’s decision, finding that funding public transportation is a legitimate state fuction!

We’ve kind of had it with visioning, maquettes, etc. that never move off paper, but the Municipal Art Society’s “Call for Proposals: Promoting Resilience of the Region through Innovative Planning and Design” does sound promising…

For some time, yurts pretty much fell off our radar screen…  Now they’re back and with the vengeance they so justly deserve!

Meanwhile, good to have advice on which and how many batteries to have on hand for emergencies…

How’s this for two last bits of post-4th deep Americana:

Holy crow!  The thought never occured that  a recording of Walt Whitman’s voice ever existed to survive to this day…  But there is!!

Then there’s that Story Corps recording…  The recollections of two men who grew up on Liberty Island where their father was caretaker!

As for those animals:

You bet there’s now a Baby Puffin Cam…  (Amazing how perfectly feathered this 3-day old chick is!)

Vital as they are to the marine eco system, horseshoe crabs can be hard to warm to…  Not so the tiny, delicate, gorgeous newly-born/hatched:

Ready or not, we give you the poodle cat…

Every day we’re more green,

UGS