conference guide - greenthumb · 34. th. annual greenthumb growtogether conference. borough of...

34th Annual GreenThumb GrowTogether ConferenceBorough of Manhattan Community CollegeMarch 31, 2018

Conference GuideGreenThumb GrowTogether en Español, p. 3 & 17

2 GreenThumb GrowTogether Conference

PROGRAMRegistration 8:30 a.m. - 9:15 a.m. 2nd Floor LobbyBreakfast 8:30 a.m. - 9:15 a.m. 2nd Floor LobbyOpening Ceremony 9:15 a.m. - 10:45 a.m. Auditorium

Welcome from Bill LoSasso, Director of GreenThumb, NYC Parks

Gale Brewer, Manhattan Borough President

Mitchell J. Silver, FAICP, NYC Parks Commissioner

Keynote Address by Karen Washington

Performance by Raízes do Brazil – Capoeira is a Brazilian martial art as well as a cultural experience. Capoeira was created by African slaves in Brazil as a form of self-defense and cultural preservation against the oppressive slave owners. It is played in circle by two capoeiristas who exchange a spontaneous combination of kicks, offensive moves, acrobatics, and floor movements.

Workshop Session 1 11:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. 4th & 7th FloorsExhibits / Networking 11:00 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. Gym (2nd Floor)T-Shirt Pick Up 11:00 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. Gym (2nd Floor)Lunch Session A 12:25 p.m. - 1:25 p.m. Cafeteria (2nd Floor Lobby) Workshop Session 2A 12:25 p.m. - 1:25 p.m. 4th & 5th FloorsLunch Session B 1:35 p.m. - 2:35 p.m. Cafeteria (2nd Floor Lobby)Workshop Session 2B 1:35 p.m. - 2:35 p.m. 4th & 5th FloorsWorkshop Session 3 2:45 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. 4th & 7th Floors

Throughout the day, there will be a play area in the gym for children ages 3 and up; children 13 and under must be accompanied by an adult. There will be fun, garden-themed activities for kids of all ages throughout the event, including arts and crafts. Burn off some energy and join us for a fitness workout, such as yoga and aerobics, courtesy of Shape Up NYC, which offers free fitness classes weekly at more than 150 locations across the five boroughs.

Noon - 12:30 p.m. Linda - Cardio Blast!12:45 p.m. - 1:15 p.m. Lynn - Kettlebell Kickstart1:20 p.m. - 1:50 p.m. Paul - Move It!1:55 p.m. - 2:25 p.m. Edgar - Bootcamp 2:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Debra - Stretch, Strengthen, and Relax

Special thanks to our sponsors: Whole Foods, Cabot Cheese, Purity, That’s it., and Utz Snacks and to our partner Earth Matter

Are you or your Community Garden on social media? Follow @greenthumbgrows on Instagram and Twitter, and @GreenThumbNYC on Facebook, to find out about the latest workshops, events, and news at GreenThumb.

Share your day at the 34th Annual GrowTogether Conference on social media and use #GTGT2018. We will share some of your posts on our accounts in the coming weeks.

Get your community garden on social media! Stop by the GreenThumb table and GreenThumb staff or a volunteer can help you set up an account today.

If you have GreenThumb related photos or print material that you would like to share for our archive, please contact: [email protected] or (212) 602-5300.

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3GreenThumb GrowTogether Conference

ABOUT OUR KEYNOTE SPEAKER: KAREN WASHINGTONKaren has lived in New York City all her life, and has spent decades promoting urban farming as a way for all New Yorkers to access fresh, locally grown food. Since 1985 Karen has been a community activist, striving to make New York City a better place to live. As a community gardener at the Garden of Happiness and as a board member of the New York Botanical Garden, Karen worked with Bronx neighborhoods to turn empty lots into community gardens. As an advocate, she has stood up and spoken out for garden protection and preservation. As a member of La Familia Verde Community Garden Coalition, she helped launch a City Farms Market, bringing garden-fresh vegetables to her neighbors. Karen is a Just Food board member and Just Food Trainer, leading workshops on food growing and food justice for community gardeners all over the city. Karen is a former board member and former president of the New York City Community Garden Coalition, a group that was founded to preserve community gardens. She also co-founded Black Urban Growers (BUGS), an organization of volunteers committed to building networks and community support for growers in both urban and rural settings. In 2012 Ebony magazine voted her one of their 100 most influential African Americans in the country, and in 2014 she was awarded with the James Beard Leadership Award. Today Karen is a farmer and co-owner of Rise & Root Farm.

ACERCA DE NUESTRA ORADORA PRINCIPAL: KAREN WASHINGTONKaren ha vivido en la ciudad de Nueva York toda su vida, y ha pasado décadas promoviendo la agricultura urbana como una manera para que los neoyorquinos tengan acceso a alimentos frescos cosechados localmente. Desde 1985, Karen ha sido una activista comunitaria, esforzándose para hacer de la ciudad de Nueva York un mejor lugar para vivir. Como jardinera comunitaria en el Jardín de la Felicidad y como miembro de la junta directiva del Jardín Botánico de Nueva York, Karen trabajó con vecindarios de Bronx para convertir terrenos baldíos en jardines comunitarios. Como defensora de su causa, se mantuvo firme y habló en nombre de la protección y preservación de los jardines. Como miembro de la Coalición de Jardines Comunitarios La Familia Verde, ayudó a lanzar un Mercado de Granjas Urbanas para llevar verduras frescas del jardín a sus vecinos. Karen es miembro de la junta directiva de Just Food y capacitadora de la misma organización, dicta talleres sobre el cultivo de alimentos y la justicia alimentaria para jardineros comunitarios de toda la ciudad. Karen es miembro y expresidente de la Coalición de Jardines Comunitarios de la Ciudad de Nueva York, un grupo que se fundó para preservar los jardines comunitarios. También ayudó a fundar Black Urban Growers (BUGS), una organización de voluntarios comprometidos con la construcción de redes y apoyo comunitario para agricultores en entornos urbanos y rurales. En 2012, la revista Ebony votó por Karen como una de sus 100 afroamericanos con mayor influencia en el país, y en 2014 obtuvo el Premio al Liderazgo James Beard. Hoy Karen es agricultora y copropietaria de Rise & Root Farm.

Photo courtesy of Rise and Root Farm


Featured Panels p. 6-7 Cultivating Community Engagement p. 7-9

Financial and Political Support p. 9 Food Justice p. 10

Workshop Session 1 11:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

Floods, Bugs, and Dog Days: Gardening in the Age of Climate Change Room: N452

Growing Healing Spaces in Community Gardens with Medicinal Plants Room: N451

Building a Foundation Room: N490

Film Screening: City Farmers Room: N795

Inevitable Cat Populations in Gardens Room: N486

Know your NYC Wildlife Room: N470

Make it Rain - Three Ways to Fund your Community Garden ProjectRoom: S341

Creative Writing as Propagation: Stirring the Storyteller Within Room: Hudson Room

Sweet Potato in the Past, Now, and the Future Room: N489

Workshop Session 2A 12:25 p.m. - 1:25 p.m.

Workshop Session 2B 1:35 p.m.- 2:35 p.m.

NYC EcoFlora Project Room: N489

Organizing and Activating your Community Garden Room: N580

Tracking Butterflies in New York City Room: N582

State and Federal Resources to Support your Farm or Garden Room: N487

20 Years of East New York Farms! Room: N452

Workshop Session 32:45 p.m.- 4:00 p.m.

Garden Legends: Get into the Weeds with Community Gardeners who Helped Shape the Movement Room: N451

Seed Keeping: Storytelling and the Importance of Saving Seeds Room: N452

Film Screening: “Green Streets” on Community Gardens This screening starts at 2:15 and ends at 4pm. Room: N795

Building a Foundation Room: N490

Community Land Access Story Circle Room: N783

Earth and Human Stewardship Room: N466

Hosting Summer Youth Employees in the Garden Room: Hudson Room

Make it Rain - Three Ways to Fund your Community Garden Project Room: S341

Foraging and Food Sovereignty Room: N489

Rooting History: Digging Deeper into Food Crop Origins Room: N488


For Teachers and Garden Educators p. 10-11

Gardening and Horticulture p. 12-14 Health and Well-Being p. 14 Making Things with

Plants and Herbs p. 14-16

Garlic the Wonder Bulb: Engaging Youth Year-Round Room: N783

Polycultures in Urban Gardens and their Educational Connections Room: N466

Teaching the Garden: A Workshop for Teachers Room: N793

Toys from Twigs Room: N467

Youth in Gardens Room: N487

A Rainbow of Native Flora for your Garden Room: N465

Cultivating Mushrooms, for Food and Medicine, Indoors & Outdoors Room: N491

Garden and Design with Perennial Edibles Room: N780

More Plants for Free (or Cheap) Room: N781

¡Paraíso de Tomates! Room: N790

Pest-Free Plants in our Urban Gardens Room: N469

Sifting for Black and Gold Room: N455

Tracing and Reclaiming Southern Crops Room: N468

Breath and Meditation in the Community Garden Room: N450

Healing with Garden Art Room: N485

Sugar! Sugar! Room: N488

How to be a Microbe Farmer: Various Forms of Home Fermentation Room: N472

Natural Stress Relievers that Pamper Room: N786

Soap Making 101 Room: N792

Urban Soaping Room: N794

Agriculture in the K-12 Classroom: Teach through a Lens of Food Room: N587

Compost in the Sky Room: N486

Healthy Soils, Healthy Gardens: Research Update Room: N465

Making More Plants! Room: N485

Preventing Rats in your Community Garden Room: N585

Shape Up Classes Noon-12:30 p.m.: Linda - Cardio Blast

12:45 p.m.-1:15 p.m.: Lynn - Kettlebell Kickstart

1:20 p.m.-1:50 p.m.: Paul - Move It!

1:55 p.m.-2:25p.m.: Edgar - Bootcamp

2:30 p.m.-3:00 p.m.: Debra - Stretch, Strengthen and Relax

Teaching Culturally Relevant STEAM in the Garden Room: N781

DIY Potting Soil Mix Using Finished Compost Room: N793

Garden and Design with Perennial Edibles Room: N780

Seeds of Change: A Botany of Colonization Room: N470

Tomato Heaven Room: N790

Urban Aquaculture via Aquaponics Room: N778

The Fermenters Room: N491

Ay Sí, Alcoholado Room: N469

Blossoming Before Burnout: Herbs for Adrenal Resilience Room: N468

Making Sun Prints Room: Richard Harris Terrace Breakfast Room

Healing with Ancestral Medicines Room: N450

Heart-Centered Healing from the Root Room: N467

How to be a Microbe Farmer: Various Forms of Home Fermentation Room: N472

Get Ahead: Herbal Practices to Prepare for Allergy Season Room: N455

Natural Stress Relievers that Pamper Room: N786

Soap Making 101 Room: N792

Urban Soaping Room: N794


FEATURED PANELSMorning Panels: 11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.

Floods, Bugs, and Dog Days: Gardening in the Age of Climate Change / Room N452Mild winters, summer droughts, and heavy storms are impacting growers throughout the region. More garden pests and diseases are surviving the winter and weed issues are changing. As many gardeners know all too well, Superstorm Sandy damaged community gardens and wreaked havoc on our city. Come share what you’ve been experiencing with the changing climate in your garden and discuss what to do about it with representatives of community gardens and grassroots organizations on the front lines of fighting climate change.

• MODERATOR: Aziz Dehkan, NYC Community Garden Coalition and Gardens Rising

• Annel Hernandez, NYC Environmental Justice Alliance

• Ceci Pineda, GOLES and BK Rot

• Genea Foster, UPROSE

• Shephali Patel, The Youth Farm

Growing Healing Spaces in Community Gardens with Medicinal Plants / Room N451Gardeners and urban farmers across the city are extending community healing spaces into their gardens. They have been growing and using plant medicines to strengthen the community, reimagine care, reconnect to their ancestors, and reclaim agency of their self-care. Join Karen Rose, founder of Sacred Vibes Apothecary, for an in-depth panel discussion with growers of herbal medicine from the Bronx to Brooklyn.

• MODERATOR: Karen Rose, Founder of Sacred Vibes Apothecary, (Brooklyn)

• Eric-Michael Rodriguez, Horticulture Coordinator at the High Line, Herbalist and Gardener (Manhattan)

• Glenda Ullauri, Farm Educator at KCC Urban Farm (Brooklyn)

• Jean Lewis-Maldee, Community Gardener in Canarsie (Brooklyn)

• Lucia Hernandez, Community Gardener at Bryant Hill Community Garden (Bronx)

• Nayda Maymi, Community Gardener at Ashford Street Learning Garden (Brooklyn)

• Sheryll Durrant, Farm Manager at New Roots Community Farm and Kelly Street Garden (Bronx)

Afternoon Panels: 2:45 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Garden Legends: Get into the Weeds with the Community Gardeners who Helped Shape the Movement / Room N451Hear from the community gardeners who were there from the beginning, cleaning up vacant lots and turning them into the community spaces we know and love today. GreenThumb invites longtime gardeners to share their stories, histories, and what keeps them going.

• MODERATOR: Gerard Lordahl, GrowNYC

• Abu Talib, Taqwa Community Farm (Bronx)

• Eliza Butler, New Vision Community Garden (Brooklyn)

• Haja Worley, Joseph Daniel Wilson Memorial Garden (Manhattan)

• Jenny Benitez, Jenny’s Garden (Manhattan)

• Jon Crow, Brooklyn Bears Pacific Street (Brooklyn)

• Karen Washington, Garden of Happiness (Bronx)

Seed Keeping: Storytelling and the Importance of Saving Seeds / Room N452Through storytelling, learn how our community farms lift up the importance of our cultural seeds, just as people who move around the world honor and continue their traditions through seed keeping. Gardeners who attend this workshop will receive heirloom seeds grown by community farms for Truelove Seeds to plant in their own community gardens.

• Owen Taylor, Truelove Seeds (Philadelphia, PA)

• Kendra Ellis, East New York Farms! (Brooklyn)

• Rose Nzapa Ayeke, New Roots Community Farm (Bronx)

• Sheryll Durrant, International Rescue Committee and New Roots Community Farm (Bronx)

• Yiyi Tin, New Roots Community Farm (Bronx)

• Youth members, East New York Farms! (Brooklyn)


WORKSHOPSCultivating Community Engagement

Workshop Session 1: 11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.

Building a Foundation / Room N490Janice Hawkins-Flood – The Bainbridge Ave. Garden

Creating a foundation for your garden can resolve many recurring issues that crop up year after year. Issues are unavoidable when people gather, but some issues can be resolved by creating a consistent democratic process that people rely on.

This workshop is offered in both the morning and afternoon workshop sessions.

Film Screening: City Farmers / Room N795Meryl Joseph – Producer and Director, City Farmers

City Farmers (1996) takes a deep and startling look at the community gardening movement in the city. In this collective narrative, the gardeners share stories about life on both sides of the garden fence; from the struggle to remove drug dealers and gangs, to the success of the gardens providing food for the community, as well as empowering and educating neighborhood children. As the gardeners tend their rows, they remember childhood days on farms down South, in Italy or Puerto Rico, while others, who’ve known only pavement under their feet, find new directions for their futures. City Farmers pays tribute to New York City’s pioneering, intrepid gardeners of the 20th century, whose gentle, green revolution ignited the city’s landscape and brought about major healing and much needed change. For more information about the film visit chefsconsortium.com/city-farmers.

http://www.chefsconsortium.com/city-farmers


Inevitable Cat Populations in Gardens / Room N486Anja Krause – Mayor’s Alliance

The feral and stray cat population in many city community gardens is still problematic, despite being better controlled through the free Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) program. This workshop will address the question of how to successfully reduce the abundant cat population in our community gardens, as well as the benefit of an open dialogue between community members, green organizations and animal-related agencies.

Este taller se ofrece con traducción al español.

Know your NYC Wildlife / Room N470Sunny Corrao – NYC Parks Wildlife Unit

There is abundant wildlife in our city – from raccoons to white-tailed deer. Learn more about these adaptive animals, and also discuss together the role New York residents play in the ecosystem and ways to coexist with urban wildlife through small group discussions.

Workshop Session 2A (12:25 p.m. - 1:25 p.m.) & Workshop Session 2B (1:35 p.m.- 2:35 p.m.)

These workshops will run twice for one hour each.

NYC EcoFlora Project / Room N489Brian Boom and Daniel Atha – The New York Botanical Garden

The New York City EcoFlora project engages New Yorkers in protecting and preserving the city’s native plant species. We will discuss ways gardeners can be citizen scientists, observing and collecting information about the city’s plants and their relationships with other organisms, such as birds, insects, and mushrooms. In this workshop, we will describe the goals of the NYC EcoFlora project and ways gardeners can get involved.


Organizing and Activating your Community Garden / Room N580Aziz Dehkan and Ray Figueroa – NYC Community Garden Coalition

Community gardens are often at risk to development in the city. A key issue is the encouragement of building affordable housing that puts community gardens at risk. This false premise of either affordable housing or community gardens must be directly confronted. In this workshop we will examine how to work politically within the community and organizing collectively to protect our community gardens.


Tracking Butterflies in New York City / Room N582Katie Grassle – Citizens Committee for NYC; Ursula Chanse – The New York Botanical Garden/Butterfly Project NYC; Chrissy Word – City Parks Foundation/Butterfly Project NYC

This interactive workshop on butterflies introduces an exciting citizen science project for adults and youth. Learn about these amazing creatures and how to provide long-term data to support their conservation.

Film Screening: “Green Streets” on Community Gardens / Room N795 Maria DeLuca

Green Streets is an award-winning, nationally televised 87 minute film shot in 35 community gardens in all five boroughs in the 70’s & 80’s, shown across the US and in thirteen different countries “...Exuberant...dazzling variety...celebrates our deepest hopes & joys” (Riverfront Times).

This film starts at 2:15 and ends at 4pm.

Workshop Session 3: 2:45 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Building a Foundation / Room N490Janice Hawkins-Flood – The Bainbridge Ave. Garden

Creating a foundation for your garden can resolve many recurring issues that crop up year after year. Issues are unavoidable when people gather, but some issues can be resolved by creating a consistent democratic process that people rely on.



Community Land Access Story Circle / Room N783Stephanie Alvarado and Mara Kravitz – 596 Acres

Community land stewards, farmers, and gardeners who are advocating to keep and/or create new community growing spaces will share their stories and strategies about working within the present political context.


Earth and Human Stewardship / Room N466Paola Garcia – Conscious Orchards

Our roots, as with plants, help anchor us and absorb what we need to thrive. Having an awareness of our familial legacies and honing the sacred knowledge passed down by our previous generations illuminates our potential and meaning on this planet. Let’s talk about biomimicry and how we can find sustainable solutions to our human challenges, and let’s share how we can improve our health and heal our traumas and challenges through growing our own food and creating built environments via biotecture, green infrastructure and community-involved designs that surround ourselves with nature.


Hosting Summer Youth Employees in the Garden / Hudson RoomRasheed Hislop – NYC Parks GreenThumb; Summer Youth Employment Program, NYC Department of Youth and Community Development Staff

Are you interested in offering young people paid employment in your garden this summer? The Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) provides city youth between the ages of 14 and 24 with paid summer employment for up to six weeks in July and August. Join us for an in-depth discussion about the SYEP and how community gardeners have worked as host sites for summer jobs for young people in the past.

Financial and Political Support


Make it Rain - Three Ways to Fund your Community Garden Project / Room S341Michael Mullaley – Partnerships for Parks; Ethany Uttech – ioby; Shawn Whitehorn – Citizens Committee for New York City; Lindsay Sierra – Partnerships for Parks

Come hear from ioby, Citizens Committee for New York City, and Partnerships for Parks, who provide funding for community green space projects. Learn about the financial resources they offer and top tips to secure funding for your project.




This workshop will run twice for one hour each.

State and Federal Resources to Support your Farm or Garden / Room N487Kimberly Vallejo – New York State Department of Agriculture & Markets; Ian Marvy – United States Department of Agriculture, Yolanda Gonzalez and Sam Anderson, Cornell Cooperative Extension

In this workshop, we’ll cover a range of resources available to urban growers, both commercial and community growers alike.


Make it Rain - Three Ways to Fund your Community Garden Project / Room S341Michael Mullaley – Partnerships for Parks; Ethany Uttech – ioby; Shawn Whitehorn – Citizens Committee for New York City; Lindsay Sierra – Partnerships for Parks

Come hear from ioby, Citizens Committee for New York City, and Partnerships for Parks, who provide funding for community green space projects. Learn about the financial resources they offer and top tips to secure funding for your project.




Food Justice


Creative Writing as Propagation: Stirring the Storyteller Within / Hudson RoomTari Ann Ayala - Tierra Sana Holistics

This workshop will explore ways to tap into the story you wish to tell, particularly as it relates to the ways earthwork informs your relationship to food justice and the communities you live in and serve as community gardeners. Leave with tips for building on and continuing a writing practice.

Sweet Potato in the Past, Now, and the Future / Room N489Rose Livingston

During this workshop, Rose Livingston will honor her roots as a 6th-generation farmer from rural South Carolina and share the story of the sweet potato and how it has been important to her life and her ancestors.


This workshop will run twice for one hour each.Este taller se ejecutará dos veces durante una hora cada uno.

20 Years of East New York Farms! / Room N452David Vigil & Sarita Daftary-Steel; gardeners, youth, staff, and vendors from East New York Farms!

This year East New York Farms! (ENYF!) celebrates its 20th year of organizing for food justice in the community. This workshop will bring together gardeners, youth, staff, and vendors from ENYF! to share our collective history, from the modest start to the current network of gardens, farms, and markets. Come to learn about how ENYF! has sustained this growth, and how you could start a similar project in your community.


Foraging and Food Sovereignty / Room N489Connor Vaughn and Rose Livingston – Farm School NYC

Tune in to the importance of foraging by exploring its intersection with food sovereignty. Discuss ethics, considerations, and walk away with some tips on how to forage in the city.

Rooting History: Digging Deeper into Food Crop Origins / Room N488Glenda Ullauri and Cris Izaguirre – KCC Urban Farm

Explore the pre-Columbian origins of food crops (corn, tomatoes, amaranth/callaloo, and okra), to learn who originally cultivated them, why they were culturally significant, and discuss how this information is essential to decolonize food and farming education.

For Teachers and Garden Educators


Garlic the Wonder Bulb: Engaging Youth Year-Round / Room N783Manna Hara and Shari Rose – City Parks Foundation

As a K–12 education program, one of the goals of Learning Gardens is to engage, inspire, and teach youth in our gardens. City Parks Foundation (CPF) will highlight garlic which can be planted indoors, outdoors, and is useful all year round. Not only does garlic provide protection from the loner vampire, it can provide multifaceted learning for all ages from 2nd graders to high school interns and beyond. This workshop will share with participants how CPF engages our youth using this crop horticulturally and the educational activities that can be easily implemented. Participants will plant and take home garlic cloves.


Polycultures in Urban Gardens and their Educational Connections / Room N466Brendan Parker – Edible Schoolyard NYC

Polycultures are a missing element from our current industrial agriculture system and they are ideal for the smaller spaces of urban gardens. This workshop will discuss examples of polycultures, how to grow them, and the opportunities for educational connections.

Teaching the Garden: A Workshop for Teachers / Room N793Carolyn Zezima – NYC Foodscape/Campos Community Garden

Year-round gardening and garden education basics for teachers, with community and school garden curriculum ideas and activities for teaching kids the lessons of the garden, from seed to soil to plate and beyond, to the art, poetry, and community that gardens grow.

Toys from Twigs / Room N467Eric Thomann – NYC Parks GreenThumb, Anisya Reese, Armani Reese, Alanna Harrison, Kinkade Harrison, and Akira Harisson

A hands-on workshop for teachers, parents, and care-givers of elementary school children. Learn how to safely build an array of toys that can be made from twigs the kids have gathered. Share your own ideas. You will build a toy in this workshop. Handouts will be provided with twig toy plans and a suggested tool list.

Youth in Gardens / Room N487Nando Rodriguez and Youth Members of Gaia Renaissance – The Brotherhood/Sister Sol

Learn about how to engage community youth with your garden, from young people who have worked in community gardens and on urban farms in West Harlem.


This workshop will run twice for one hour each.

Agriculture in the K-12 Classroom: Teach through a Lens of Food / Room N587Katie Carpenter – New York Agriculture in the Classroom

Experience lessons in irrigation systems, pollination, and more. New York Agriculture in the Classroom will provide you with curriculum, tools, and resources to use agriculture as a context for learning in your classroom. Teach your students about the wider scope of food systems in our city, our country, and our world.


Teaching Culturally Relevant STEAM in the Garden / Room N781Bianca Bibiloni and Angelica Ortega – P.S. 14 Fairview Garden

Garden educators will explore ways to combine STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, math) and Social Studies in a half-year unit that focuses on the ethnobotany of peoples and places that are culturally relevant to their students.



Gardening and Horticulture


A Rainbow of Native Flora for your Garden / Room N465 Bella Ciabatonni – Kingsland Wildflowers

Get inspired with ideas for shade, sun, and containers with more than 75 colorful native plants. Take home a design to create a rainbow native flora garden at a sunny site!

Cultivating Mushrooms, for Food & Medicine, Indoors & Outdoors / Room N491 Olga Tzogas – Smugtown Mushrooms

In this workshop we will look at the roles mushrooms play in our lives, the forest, and in food systems. Starting with basic concepts of mycology, exploring the biology and ecology of fungi, we will then begin to understand how we can incorporate them into growing methods for urban farmers and cultivators of all kinds.

Garden and Design with Perennial Edibles / Room N780John Paul Learn

Gardening with perennial edible plants can be easy with some guidance. Learn some locally adapted fruits, nuts, and vegetables and harvest nutrient dense, delicious crops year after year.


More Plants for Free (or Cheap) / Room N781Lauren Gill – Citizen Grower/Bartow-Pell MuseumGarden planting without spending lots of money! Waste less by overwintering plants indoors. Plant seeds and grow tubers. Make cuttings and propagate your own perennials.

¡Paraíso de Tomates! / Sala N790Carla Rodriguez and Claudia Navas – Brooklyn Botanic GardenVariedades típicas de tomates — como Beefsteak, Tigerella, y Fox Cherry — son unos globos deliciosos de historia alimenticia que también están llenos de vitaminas. Empieza tu propio cultivo de tomates.

This workshop is offered in English in the afternoon workshop session.

Pest-Free Plants in our Urban Gardens / Room N469 Peggy Conte – 615 Green Community Garden

Got whiteflies, spider mites, squash bugs? Got powdery mildew or blight? As our farm and garden sites get older, pests and diseases move in, and can become worse each year. Sound familiar? Learn about the principles of integrated pest management in order to keep plants healthy. This workshop will include a demonstration of how to make aerated compost tea.


Sifting for Black and Gold / Room N455Ilsa Enomoto, Desiree Marzan, Jamal Smith, Yuk Ting Chan, Kai Tang, Ticiana Marini, Pamela Orrego – NYC Compost Project

So, you have an indoor worm bin and the worms have done their work. Learn how to harvest worm castings! Have fun building your very own sifter to take home. Materials provided.

This workshop is offered with Cantonese and Mandarin translation.

Tracing and Reclaiming Southern Crops / Room N468Maya Marie Stansberry – KCC Urban Farm

Come on a food journey to learn the history of crops which define Southern American cuisine! See how tracing the cultivation of plants teaches us about ancestral food-ways and resiliency.


These workshops will run twice for one hour each.

Compost in the Sky / Room N486Jayden McCoy, Kayla Almeida, Wan Yi Ng, Tanya Mejia – Friends of the High Line

Join the Green Council Leaders from Friends of the High Line to learn about what compost is, how they use it to maintain the park, and how it impacts each of us! Activities include a compost game and tutorial on making your own compost.


Healthy Soils, Healthy Gardens: Research Update / Room N465Hannah Shayler – Cornell University, Soil and Crop Sciences Section; Sara Perl Egendorf – Brooklyn College, Urban Soils Institute Lab

Hear about the latest Healthy Soils research and learn what you can do in your own garden to keep your food safe, from building raised beds with clean soil and compost to washing your vegetables!

Making More Plants! / Room N485Nick Storrs – Homegrown Nurseries and Farm

Save money and exercise your green thumb early this year by growing your own transplants! We will walk through growing great seedlings from propagation through transplanting. The workshop will focus on growing transplants in small spaces and making the best use of resources.

Preventing Rats in your Community Garden / Room N585Caroline Bragdon – New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

Spring is the time of year to start thinking about rat prevention. This workshop will introduce the basic biology and behavior of the Norway rat and offer tips for community composters and gardeners on how to prevent and/or manage them. It is possible for community gardens to thrive without rats.


DIY Potting Soil Mix Using Finished Compost / Room N793Lia Lucero and Andrew Olesh – NYC Compost Project

Buying potting soil is expensive. In this hands-on workshop learn how to make your own potting soil mix — a nourishing medium for growing healthy plants or seed starting — using finished compost.


Garden and Design with Perennial Edibles / Room N780John Paul Learn

Gardening with perennial edible plants can be easy with some guidance. Learn about some locally adapted fruits, nuts, and vegetables and harvest nutrient dense, delicious crops year after year.


Seeds of Change: A Botany of Colonization / Room N470Marisa Prefer - Swale/Vera List Center for Art and Politics

Weeds! The scourge of many gardeners. How did they get here? Join us for a hands-on ecological adventure exploring the histories and uses of the city’s common weeds. Maria Thereza Alves studies colonialism, slavery and global commerce through the lens of displaced plants in ballast — the waste material historically used to balance ships in maritime trade. Dumped in ports at the end of passages, ballast often carried dormant seeds from its places of origin that remained in soil for hundreds of years before germinating, and many of these plants are the city’s common weeds. In this planting workshop you will learn about and plant your own ballast flora.


Tomato Heaven / Room N790Maureen O’Brien – Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Hard-to-find heirloom tomato varieties — like Paul Robeson, Speckled Roman, and Plate de Haiti — are luscious little globes of food history. They also burst with vitamins and minerals. Learn hands-on how to successfully start your own tomato plants from seed. We will have some special varieties on hand… bring your own to share if you have them! Everyone will go home with dreams of summer and a tomato starter six-pack.

Este taller se ofrece en español en la sesión del taller de la mañana.

Urban Aquaculture via Aquaponics / Room N778Yemi Amu – Oko Farms

Learn about aquaponics, a sustainable closed loop food production system that produces both freshwater fish and vegetables. This workshop will introduce participants to the basic principles of an aquaponics ecosystem along with design basics. There will also be a demonstration of a system you can build yourself.

Health and Well-Being


Breath and Meditation in the Community Garden / Room N450Dr. Eileen J. Ain – LaGuardia Corner Community Garden

The urban community garden creates a space to further experience the benefits of breathing practices and meditation. This workshop welcomes all to practice meditating together.

Healing with Garden Art / Room N485Angela Maull and Tisha French – Chenchita’s Garden

In this workshop we will meditate and create beautiful art pieces for your garden.

Sugar! Sugar! / Room N488Fen Yee Teh and Mishell Coronel – Cook Play Live Inc.

Learn why we’re all hooked on processed foods, especially sugar! Spot the sweeteners in our diets. Make and taste sweets without added sugar! Limited to 20 adults.


The Fermenters / Room N491Frances Mastrota – Manhattan Community Board 11, Mia Brezin, and Sophie Winfield-Pust

Fermentation is not only a scientific process, but it is also an art form. Understand the essential concepts of the process, and taste the results of art. Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast (SCOBY) for various ferments will be offered, a handbook, and raffle prizes. Persephone, Goddess of all that grows, nourishes fermenters, so that we may nourish you. Limited to 20 participants.

Making Things with Plants and Herbs


How to be a Microbe Farmer: Various Forms of Home Fermentation / Room N472Harry Rosenblum – The Brooklyn Kitchen

This workshop will cover home fermentation of pickles, beverages, and vinegar. Participants will also have the opportunity to taste sauerkraut and take it home.


Natural Stress Relievers that Pamper / Room N786Gioya Desouza-Fennelly and Sabrina Fennelly – Act Green LLC

Treat yourself to less stress. You probably know that some of the best ways to relieve stress include exercising, talking to friends, or simply getting outside. But what if you can’t make it to the gym for your one-hour workout? It might be time for a little pampering. These strategies will not only help calm you down, you’ll also feel legitimately spoiled in the process.



Soap Making 101 / Room N792Marcia Denson – Phoenix Community Garden

Make your own soap using an easy melt-and-pour method with herbs and essential oils from your garden. Limited to 20 participants, each person will take home their own bar of herbal soap.


Urban Soaping / Room N794Sharon Griffin – CocoaVera and New Roots Community Farm

Join herbal soap maker Sharon Griffin to learn how to make soap from coconut oil, castor oil, and additional natural ingredients, including herbs from her garden. Limited to 24 participants, each person will take home a bar of herbal soap.



Ay Sí, Alcoholado / Room N469Myrna Cabán Lezcano – Sacred Vibes Apothecary and Casitas Wisdom

Honoring our roots means remembering how our ancestors healed themselves and acknowledging their gifts through medicine-making. Using plants directly from Boriken (Puerto Rico), we will make alcoholado, a medicinal rubbing alcohol (or liniment) used to heal a number of spiritual and physical ailments such as muscular pain, headaches, insect bites, melancholy, and emotional trauma.


Blossoming Before Burnout: Herbs for Adrenal Resilience / Room N468Sara Abdullah – Sacred Vibes Apothecary

Struggle with feeling depleted, stressed, or unfocused? Explore herbs and other embodied practices that cultivate resilience. We’ll practice making herbal medicine, and everyone will leave with a self-care remedy.

Making Sun Prints / Richard Harris Terrace Breakfast RoomElena Dubas – NYC Parks GreenThumb

Discover a new way to take a photograph by making photograms, a photographic image made without a camera, using the cyanotype process, an alternative photographic technique that produces a photographic blueprint. Using natural materials, you will produce unique and one-of-a-kind prints to take home with you. Fun for the whole family!

Healing with Ancestral Medicines / Room N450Karen Rose – Sacred Vibes Apothecary

Use the plant medicines in your community garden to reconnect to our ancestors, and heal as a community using traditional rituals. This workshop will utilize hands-on medicine-making to recreate home. Many of the health concerns in the Afro-Caribbean community are connected to loss, which can be addressed through reconnecting to the familiar. Indigenous healing traditions have been shared orally — a system of knowledge-sharing devalued in the West. Through sensory experiences of familiar artifacts, and medicine-making, individuals will recall their healing traditions. In addition to learning medicine-making techniques, participants will begin to document their ancestral healing practices, stories, and legacies.

Heart-Centered Healing from the Root / Room N467Tiffany Monsalve and Roxana Marroquin – Sacred Vibes Apothecary

This hands-on workshop will cover how to work with plants to heal our hearts through getting to the root of our physical, spiritual and emotional illness.


How to be a Microbe Farmer: Various Forms of Home Fermentation / Room N472Harry Rosenblum – The Brooklyn Kitchen

This workshop will cover home fermentation of pickles, beverages, and vinegar.



Get Ahead: Herbal Practices to Prepare for Allergy Season / Room N455 Susana Montesinos and Madelyn Moyer – Sacred Vibes Apothecary

Do itchy, watery eyes, sneezing, and wheezing sound familiar? Does this put a damper on the beauty of spring? In this workshop we will make an herbal treatment to prepare the body and reduce allergy symptoms.


Natural Stress Relievers that Pamper / Room N786Gioya Desouza-Fennelly and Sabrina Fennelly – Act Green LLC

Treat yourself to less stress. You probably know that some of the best ways to relieve stress include exercising, talking to friends, or simply getting outside. But what if you can’t make it to the gym for your one-hour workout? It might be time for a little pampering. These strategies will not only help calm you down, you’ll also feel legitimately spoiled in the process.


Soap Making 101 / Room N792Marcia Denson – Phoenix Community Garden

Make your own soap using an easy melt-and-pour method with herbs and essential oils from your garden. Limited to 20 participants, each person will take home their own bar of herbal soap.


Urban Soaping / Room: N794Sharon Griffin – CocoaVera and New Roots Community Farm

Join herbal soap maker Sharon Griffin to learn how to make soap from coconut oil, castor oil, and additional natural ingredients, including herbs from her garden. Limited to 24 participants.



Cultivando el Compromiso de la Comunidad

Sesión de Taller 1: 11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.

Poblaciones Inevitables de Gatos en los Jardines / Sala N486Anja Krause - Mayor’s Alliance

La población de gatos salvajes y callejeros en muchos jardines comunitarios de Nueva York aún es problemática, a pesar de estar mejor controlada a través del programa gratuito TRAP-NEUTER-RETURN (TNR). Este taller responderá a la pregunta de cómo reducir la abundante población de gatos en nuestros jardines comunitarios y el beneficio de un diálogo abierto entre los miembros de la comunidad, las organizaciones ecológicas y las agencias relacionadas con los animales, para reducir exitosamente la sobrepoblación de gatos salvajes/callejeros en los jardines.

Sesión de Taller 2A (12:25 p.m. - 1:25 p.m.) & Sesión de Taller 2B (1:35 p.m. - 2:35 p.m.)

NYC EcoFlora Project / Sala N489Brian Boom and Daniel Atha – The New York Botanical Garden

Se describirán los objetivos de NYC EcoFlora y las maneras en que los jardineros pueden participar en el proyecto al hacer observaciones originales de las plantas y sus conexiones ecológicas.

Organizar y Activar su Jardín Comunitario / Sala N580Aziz Dehkan and Ray Figueroa – New York City Community Garden Coalition

Los jardines comunitarios a menudo están en riesgo de desarrollo en Nueva York. Una cuestión clave es alentar la construcción de viviendas asequibles que pongan en riesgo los jardines comunitarios. Esta falsa premisa, ya sea de viviendas asequibles o jardines comunitarios, debe enfrentarse directamente. En este taller examinaremos cómo trabajar políticamente, dentro de la comunidad y organizarnos colectivamente para proteger nuestros jardines comunitarios.

Sesión de Taller 3: 2:45 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Círculo de Historias de Acceso a Tierras Comunitarias / Sala N783Stephanie Alvarado y Mara Kravitz - 596 Acres

Los administradores de tierras comunitarias, agricultores y jardineros que abogan para mantener sus espacios o crear otros nuevos, compartirán sus historias y estrategias acerca de trabajar dentro del contexto político actual.

Administración de la Tierra y de los Humanos / Sala N466Paola Garcia - Conscious Orchards

Nuestras raíces, como ocurre con las plantas, nos ayudan a arraigarnos y a absorber lo que necesitamos para prosperar. Ser conscientes de nuestro legado familiar y honrar el conocimiento sagrado que nuestras generaciones previas nos han transmitido ilumina nuestro potencial y nuestro propósito en este planeta. Hablemos de la biomímesis y de cómo podemos encontrar soluciones sostenibles a nuestras dificultades humanas, y compartamos cómo podemos mejorar nuestra salud y sanar nuestros traumas y dificultades mediante la cosecha de nuestra propia comida y la creación de ambientes de desarrollo a través de la biotectura, la infraestructura ecológica y los diseños de participación comunitaria, que nos permitan rodearnos de naturaleza y de espacios frescos para la regeneración.

GreenThumb GrowTogether en Español Estos talleres se ofrecerán con traducciones al español.


Apoyo Financiero y Político

Sesión de Taller 1: 11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.

Hacer que llueva: Tres maneras de Financiar su Proyecto de Jardín Comunitario / Sala S341Michael Mullaley - Partnerships for Parks; Ethany Uttech - ioby; Shawn Whitehorn - Citizens Committee for New York City; Lindsay Sierra - Partnerships for Parks

Venga a escuchar a ioby, Citizens Committee for New York City y a Partnerships for Parks, quienes financian proyectos comunitarios en espacios verdes. Obtenga información sobre los recursos financieros que ofrecen y los mejores consejos para garantizar financiación para su proyecto de 2018.

Este taller se ofrece en las sesiones de talleres de la mañana y de la tarde.


Hacer que llueva: Tres maneras de Financiar su Proyecto de Jardín Comunitario / Sala S341Michael Mullaley - Partnerships for Parks; Ethany Uttech - ioby; Shawn Whitehorn - Citizens Committee for New York City; Lindsay Sierra - Partnerships for Parks

Venga a escuchar a ioby, Citizens Committee for New York City y a Partnerships for Parks, quienes financian proyectos comunitarios en espacios verdes. Obtenga información sobre los recursos financieros que ofrecen y los mejores consejos para garantizar financiación para su proyecto de 2018.

Este taller se ofrece en las sesiones de talleres de la mañana y de la tarde.

Jardinería y Horticultura

Sesión de Taller 1: 11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m

Plantas sin Pestes en Nuestros Jardines Urbanos / Sala N469 Peggy Conte - 615 Green

¿Tiene moscas blancas, ácaros, chinches de la calabaza? ¿Tiene oídio o plagas? A medida que nuestras granjas y jardines envejecen, las plagas y enfermedades llegan con un efecto peor cada año. ¿Le parece familiar? Aprenda sobre los principios del manejo integrado de plagas para mantener saludables sus plantas. Este taller incluirá una demostración de cómo hacer té de compost aireado.

¡Paraíso de Tomates! / Sala N790Carla Rodriguez and Claudia Navas – Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Variedades típicas de tomates — como Beefsteak, Tigerella, y Fox Cherry — son globos deliciosos de historia alimenticia que también están llenos de vitaminas. Empieza tu propio cultivo de tomates.


Mezcla de Tierra Preparada para Macetas Hecha por usted Mismo Utilizando Compost Preparado / Sala N793Lia Lucero y Andrew Olesh - New York City Compost Project

La tierra preparada para macetas es costosa. En este taller práctico, aprenda cómo hacer su propia mezcla de tierra preparada para macetas, un medio nutritivo para cultivar plantas saludables o hacer un semillero, utilizando compost preparado.


Hacer Cosas con Plantas y Hierbas


Sanación desde la Raíz Centrada en el Corazón / Sala N467Tiffany Monsalve y Roxana Marroquin - Sacred Vibes Apothecary

Este taller práctico cubrirá cómo trabajar con las plantas para sanar nuestros corazones, al llegar a la raíz de nuestra dolencia física, espiritual y emocional.

Ay Sí, Alcoholado / Sala N469Myrna Cabán Lezcano - Sacred Vibes Apothecary y Casitas Wisdom

Honrar nuestras raíces se trata de recordar cómo nuestros ancestros se curaron a sí mismos y reconocer su legado al hacer medicinas. Al usar plantas directamente desde Boriquén (Puerto Rico), haremos alcoholado, un alcohol medicinal de uso tópico (o ungüento ligero) para sanar una variedad de dolencias espirituales y físicas, tales como dolor muscular, dolores de cabeza, picaduras de insectos, melancolía y trauma emocional.

Adelántese: Prácticas Herbarias para Prepararse para la Temporada de Alergias / Sala N455 Susana Montesinos y Madelyn Moyer - Sacred Vibes Apothecary

¿Los ojos llorosos y con picor, los estornudos y la respiración sibilante le parecen familiares? ¿Esto le dificulta disfrutar de la belleza de la primavera? En este taller haremos un tratamiento con hierbas para preparar al cuerpo y reducir los síntomas de la alergia.

Para Maestros y Educadores de Jardines


Enseñar STEAM Relevante a Nivel Cultural en el Jardín / Sala N781Bianca Bibiloni y Angelica Ortega - P.S. 14 Fairview Garden

Los educadores de jardinería explorarán maneras para combinar STEAM y Estudios sociales en una unidad de seis meses que se enfoca en la etnobotánica de pueblos y lugares que sean relevantes culturalmente para sus estudiantes.

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