Green in the City

May your garden grow green, and local, New York!

  
So we missed the NYC Wildflower Week (May1-9). Did you?  

But we felt it was still worth mentioning so we can properly prepare for next year's events.

In any case, the NYC Wildflower Week organization works to protect indigenous plant species  in NYC. According to their website, "Indigenous plants--including wildflowers--play a critical role in promoting local biodiversity, supplying food and habitat for native wildlife, and creating a sense of place. NYC has already lost more than 40% of our native flora." A humbling statistic.

Run by New Yorker, Marielle Anzelone, NYCWW is a cool example of implementing the obvious - even though for decades we ignored this wisdom. As she says in a video interview on the website, she wants "New York to look like New York".

And a very inspiring, if not fascinating, organization. Check it out!

http://www.nycwildflowerweek.org

Trash, worms and dirt, oh my!

The Lower East Side Ecology Center has long been promoting such wise measures as community gardening and recycling.

But their most public face remains as the people at the Union Square Green Market who collect your stinky organic trash (veggie and fruit peels, egg shells, coffee grounds, etc.). They then compost it, turning it into robust, fertile dirt that nourishes old, tired out dirt ultimately helping you grow your garden beautiful.

Even better? 

You can compost at home with your very own worm bin! Yes you too can be the proud owner a whole colony of eisenia fetida (red wiggler worms) to compost your food scraps. According to their website, "you can add up to 3 pounds of food scraps per week to the bin and in 3 months you will have your own homemade compost".

For more info on the Lower East Side Ecology Center and worm composting, visit them here: http://www.lesecologycenter.org/