Forecast calls for rain Saturday morning so we are postponing the seed starting workshop until Sunday at 11am.
If you are interested in planting Sunday between 11am and 1230pm, you can still register by sending an RSVP by sending a message to CVEarthlab@gmail.com.
If you RSVP’d for Saturday and cannot make Sunday, let us know your choice of flowers and/or fruit and we will pack up your materials.
We have jalapeno pepper seeds, sweet bell pepper seeds, cherry tomato seeds, and seeds for zinnia, calendula, and marigold flowers. See photos here:
The seed-starting workshop starts at 11am Saturday, but RSVPs are due Friday evening. Please let us know you are coming by sending a note to cvearthlab@gmail.com.
Suggested Donation Is $10. per Person
We ask for $10. per participant or $30. per household for materials and to hold your spot. Bonus: The workshop fee covers your annual garden membership! Send payment electronically (via Venmo @misssha) or email us to arrange to pay via cash or a check (payable to Concord Village Owners) before Saturday morning.
Find us in the Children’s Play Area from 11am to 12:30pmon Saturday The workshop starts at 11am and lasts until 12:30pm. Depending on the turnout, and how much help you need, planting should take about 15 minutes per person.
Rain date is Sunday April 10th at the same time. If we get rained out and you cannot attend Sunday’s makeup, we will provide you with the materials you need to get started.
Snag your spot soon – so you can join us to start tomatoes, peppers, and flowers, including zinnias and marigolds.
The workshop will run from 11am to 12:30pm, in the children’s play area behind 195 Adams St. Garden committee members will provide organic soil, fertilizer, seeds and wicking materials for sub-irrigated planters made from recycled seltzer bottles. (Please bring your own empty bottles if you can!)
Suggested Donation is $10. per Person
CVEarthlab is self-funded. We ask residents who use the garden to donate money to cover annual expenses: $30 per household or $10 per individual.
When you join us for seed-starting, and donate $10., your annual dues are paid!
RSVPs Are Needed
RSVP by 6pm Friday to CVEarthlab@gmail.com. If you are able, kindly send your donation electronically (via Venmo @misssha). Alternatively, you can send a note to CVEarthlab@gmail.com to arrange payment before Saturday morning. Find more details here.
Thank you!
Rain date will be Sunday April 10th at the same time. If you get rained out and can’t attend Sunday, we will provide you with the materials you need to get started.
Join us this Saturday to plant tomatoes, peppers, and various flower seeds*. You’ll leave the workshop with what you need to nurture the “seedlings-to-be” indoors for 6-8 weeks, and then transplant seedlings into the garden in late May/early June.
This event will take place outdoors, in the children’s play area behind 195 Adams St, from 11am until 12:30pm.
Suggested Donation is $10. per Person
CVEarthlab is self-funded. Because the pandemic has prevented our usual fundraising events (but not our annual expenses), we ask for an annual donation of $30.00 for a family memberships. Suggested donations for individual members is $10. No green thumb required.
When you join us for seed-starting, and donate $10., your annual dues are paid!
RSVPs are Required;Advance Payments are Appreciated!
RSVP by 6pm Friday to CVEarthlab@gmail.com. If you are able, kindly send your donation electronically (via Venmo @misssha). Alternatively, you can send a note toCVEarthlab@gmail.com to arrange payment and finalize your reservation before Saturday morning.
The garden committee is looking to expand! Are you interested in being more involved with planning, fundraising, running activities and troubleshooting?
Maybe you are more of a worker bee, who can step up once or twice a week to do one of many small daily tasks required, such as watering or checking the irrigation timer? We need you too!
Garden Activities Upcoming In April
This April, we hope to hold a seed-starting workshop, snap pea planting activities, flower transplanting and more — but we cannot do these things without community participation and volunteers.
Your Help Is Needed!
CVEarthlab is a self-funded, community vegetable garden open to all residents of Concord Village, with or without small children. We welcome all ages and all experience levels. Over the years we’ve found that the more people who participate, the easier and more fun it is. Teamwork makes the dream work!
If you don’t already follow theCVEarthlab.com blog, please go to the website site and submit your email address (upper right hand corner) to receive notifications of new blog posts by email. Thank you!
In the Fall of 2021, we tagged and released 50 Monarch butterflies from Concord Village’s Monarch Butterfly Way station. These creatures were either passing through Brooklyn on their way to Mexico, or they were found as caterpillars on milkweed and raised by us. The organization Monarch Watch tracks the migration every year to help gauge the health of this endangered species.
First Sticker Sighting!
For the first time ever, someone reported seeing a butterfly with the tag that we placed on it!
A Monarch wearing a sticker that read “ACUS 734” was spotted in Brooklyn Bridge park on September 11, 2021, just a few days after we caught, tagged, and released it. Arend reported: Found in Brooklyn Bridge Park feeding on a flower. Taking macro shots and saw the tag afterwards in my photo
The distance, or lack thereof, is a bit disappointing at first. However, this news doesn’t mean that ACUS 734 or any of the other Monarchs tagged in Concord Village haven’t been recovered in Mexico! It is still early days in terms of reporting; the tags found in Central Mexico aren’t even posted yet. “Recoveries from Mexico are typically reported to us in February/March and will be posted as soon as everything has been verified. Recoveries within the U.S., Canada and northern Mexico are reported here in February, according to MonarchWatch. “Data regarding tag 2021 recoveries from central Mexico will be posted in the spring of 2022.”
While the kids gave most of the tagged butterflies nicknames such as Flyer or Applegate, it is likely that ACUS 734 was tagged and released before we started the naming tradition, unfortunately.
Get More Information About Brooklyn Monarchs
Stay tuned for more information! You can learn more about the efforts at CV here. And if you’d like to be involved in Monarch conservation at CV, or to catch and release butterfies this summer and fall, be sure to follow this blog or send your name and contact information to cvearthlab@gmail.com
We’ve just filed our annual report with the conservation group Monarch Watch as part of their tagging program. Gardeners placed small numbered ID stickers (tags) on the dorsal wings of 50 Monarch butterflies between August and October 2021. With luck, a tagged (expired) butterfly will be found in Mexico, the migration destination, recovered and reported.
A Record-Setting Yearfor These Special Pollinators
By far, this is the most Monarch butterflies we’ve counted in one season. No doubt the special new net helped with catching, but a fair amount of the butterflies were found as caterpillars on milkweed plants. The native plant species is the only type that Monarchs use for egg-laying, which is why conservation efforts call for planting as many of the drought-resistant host plants as possible. (Continued below)
Learn more about Monarch Butterfly Migration, habitat conservation and the Monarch Watch tagging program here. To date, there are 36,863 official way stations in the United States; sadly the species remains at risk, due to deforestation and the ongoing loss of natural habitats.
Migrating Monarchs Need Waystations for Food and Shelter
CVEarthlab Garden was launched in 2013 and a few years later, the play area was registered as an official Monarch Waystation. This means it provides shelter and food for the migrating butterflies. At CV, food is three different types of milkweeds and a variety of continuously blooming nectar-providing flowers, including annuals such as marigolds and Zinnia and native perennials (plants that come back every year) such as bee balm, black-eyed Susan, echinacea, sedum, coreopsis, goldenrod, violet, and hollyhock.
We have participated in the tagging program since 2019, but only started documenting CV Monarch caterpillar sightings around 2018. See the tag numbers we registered in 2021 on this spreadsheet; when a butterfly with the tag number is found it will be reported here.
Want to help support the 2022 Migration? In March we will start to grow butterfly-friendly flowers at our seed-starting event; there are many ways to help with conservation in the Spring, Summer, and Fall. Send your contact info to CVEarthlab@gmail.com and we’ll keep you in the loop! -CVEarthlab Core Committee Members
Concord Village EarthLab 