On a recent Saturday morning, garden members met to clear out a dead tree in the center of the main common area that had been trimmed down the week before. The plot was surrounded with cinder blocks and thick concrete that required crowbars and sledgehammers to remove. The cinder blocks, bricks, and large capstones were moved to create a new wall adjacent to the old plot. Finally, once the old plot was completely exposed, the tree stump was removed and further cut down. Our common area is now slightly larger, and we look forward to discussing how best to use the new space.

El Sol Brillante and Down to Earth Garden hosted four staff members from the Queens Botanical Garden to go deep into our bokashi composting process. Our resident expert led them through all aspects of the bokashi process from creating the bokashi to feeding worm compost bins, and even how to improve growing vegetables. Between the two gardens, we’ve diverted almost 70 tons of food waste since 2009 using the bokashi method of recycling food waste. You can learn more about our process here.

On Sunday at noon, about a dozen garden members gathered at El Sol Jr. on the north side of 12th Street to travel uptown and participate in the March to End Fossil Fuels. Earlier in the week, they had gathered in the garden to make signs and banners with messages like “There is no Planet B” and “Keep the Oil in the Soil”.