Maple Street Community Garden

The Maple Street Community Garden is hosting the 2nd Annual Stories In our Soil: Our Community Observance for a Just Future event on Sat. November 7 2:30-4:30pm. Due to Covid, we can only accommodate 25 people. RSVP is required, click below link: https://docs.google.com//1FAIpQLSfZy6TbnzZxG2Lkj9/viewform... Social distancing protocols will be followed & everyone will be required to wear a mask. In case it gets cold, we ask attendees to dress warm. Thank you & we look forward to seeing you on the 7th! MSCG

This Saturday, 10/31, between 11am-1pm, the Gardening Committee is going to find out what, if anything, has been going on underground in the potato bed! Back in the spring we planted a bag of sprouting russet organic potatoes. Now it is time to dig down and find out what's been going on under the surface. If, like us, you've never had a chance to see how potatoes grow, come to the Garden on Saturday from 11am-1pm and join us in the adventure we are calling the Great Potato Reveal. Bring a paper bag to take home a few potatoes (assuming we find some!). Garden members will be on hand to show you how to sustainably harvest peppers, herbs and some greens to take home as well. And there are still a few green tomatoes to sample.

Join us tomorrow (Sunday 10/25) 9-11AM for a green tomato harvest at the garden!

Please NO YARD WASTE (grass clippings, old plants)! You will be adding to our garbage collection. Thank you!

Our garden is officially open for compost drop-off on: Wednesdays 10:30am-12:30pm and Saturdays 10:30am-12:30pm ONLY... We ask that you chop your scraps at home and remove stickers and rubber bands so we can process everything faster. We will also GLADLY take your clean, dry leaves as they are an important ingredient in our compost. Please NO YARD WASTE (grass clippings, old plants)! Email [email protected] with questions.

Join our compost team to and help the Earth!

PLEASE #SaveOurCompost! It will take you less than a minute to sign this letter to Mayor Blasio and ask him to keep the three main compost site to continue operating.

Help us create a new logo for the garden! Submit to our call to artist starting on September 1. For submission guidelines, go to https://maplestreetcommunitygarden.org/call-to-artists Submissions are due by October 1. Winner will be featured and credited on the garden website and social media platforms.

With the help of generous individual donors, Domestic Workers United and Breaking Bread NYC, the Fresh Food Box program has provided 449 free Fresh Food Boxes to our neighbors this summer! Can you help us round that number up to a solid 500? Each box feeds a 1-2 person household with 6-8 different fruits and veggies per week. Donate via PayPal ([email protected]) and please indicate that it’s a donation in the payment notes. Donation levels are:... $14 for one box $56 for one month of boxes $196 for one box per week for the rest of the season Thank you!!

Maple Street looking good! Photos by Diane Greene Lent Photography of the beds and flowers

Even though the garden is closed due to Covid-19 and compost is unlikely to reopen anytime soon, here is a list of alternatives in NYC to drop off your food scraps.

A bag of fresh fruits and veggies from local farms available for $14 every Saturday! Pre-signup is required. Email the Fresh Food Box at [email protected] to sign up or learn more!

Maple Street Community Garden stands in solidarity and support of the movement for Black Liberation. Freedom, justice and safety from state sanctioned violence are human rights that should be afforded to ALL people living in this country. As a public institution, we recognize our responsibility to dismantle systems of oppression within us, this organization and our beloved community. One way we can educate ourselves on making positive change is through MSCG’s Uprooting Racism... Task Force that initiates discussion and actions that we can take to fight racism. We welcome all community members to join us in this important work. Please reach out to [email protected] to receive emails of upcoming meetings. There are additional things that we, especially white people, can do to help at this time. Support Black voices by buying their book and programs, educate yourself on anti-racism, and donate to Black and POC-led organizations. The George Floyd Memorial Fund on http://GoFundMe.com/F/GeorgeFloyd is a good option, as is supporting frontline organizers in Minneapolis, Louisville, New York and other cities hosting protests. You can also sign petitions and follow these organizations: www.blacklivesmatter.com www.colorofchange.org To help on a local-level, please support these organizations: Donate to the Brooklyn Community Bail Fund, and Reform from Within Call your state legislators to urge them to support the repeal of 50-A Learn ways to support neighbors through Mutual Aid NYC

Hello Friends & Supporters! All the compost sites are at risk. Brown bins, drop off sites from the NYC Compost Project, BBG, Master Compost training, Earth Matter on Governor’s Island, Red Hook’s big compost facility. These are amazing creations by great people and we need to help fight to keep them alive. We have until tomorrow, so please take a few minutes to speak up! Thanks. Submit written testimony THIS THURSDAY 5/21 at the Executive Budget Hearing to #saveourcompost:... Email: [email protected] Council's website: council.nyc.gov/testify (attach a PDF & submit within 72 hours after the meeting at 9:30am on 5/21) Office of Management & Budget: https://www1.nyc.gov//send-a-message-to-budget-director.pa TEMPLATE HERE: chng.it/jFzQWcL9 You can also sign both of these petitions: https://bigreuse.nationbuilder.com/ https://www.change.org/p/mayor-bill-de-blasio-nyc-needs-to-

Please take a moment to sign this pledge to save community composting in NYC. In soil-darity! MSCG