While we have “green” in the name, our neighborhood comes up short in terms of actual greenspace, so it’s important that we work to preserve what we have. The demonstration garden in McCarren Park launched last year and is back for another season to get your hands dirty.
“2022 was the first year North Brooklyn Mutual Aid took stewardship of the land near the McCarren Pool and we successfully grew 700 lbs of produce that filled our community free fridges at Lot Radio and Cooper Park,” volunteer Megh Wingenfeld told us over email. “We hosted many fun and educational events for the community, had over 200 neighbors sign up to volunteer and ended with a harvest dinner that so many local businesses helped us out with!”
The garden recently hosted a pop-up plant sale at Edy’s Grocer, an heirloom tomato workshop with Michael Ayoub of Fornino, and a planting party. Next up are pride month events in June, so stay tuned to get dates for that.
While spring and summer is the big season to shine (literally), the garden has hosted events year-round, like pumpkin carving in the fall and a winter seed-sowing workshop.
Follow them on Instagram to learn more and sign up to volunteer.