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Thanks to everyone who made the day most productive as well as fun! We had a rather quiet, energizing day: building, repairing, cleaning, painting, composting, "plogging", weeding, pruning, and connecting. We met new volunteers and a few of us kept going till 4 p.m. and after! Below are statistics about the tasks and also some amazing high def pictures by Audrey Gray, Climate Journalist, and a new neighbor on Roosevelt Island. https://www.audreygray.nyc/        The pictures are a little blurry, but this week we had a special visitor who may have been lost due to lights or a building strike during a migration trip. It may be a Virginia Rail, a wetland habitat bird. She discreetly hung out near a water feature, hopping back and forth between two gardens. Here's to hoping she has moved on to a good home for breeding.  Thanks to members like Christina Delfico who are able and willing to host these groups, RIGC received and facilitated visits from 5 Kindergarten classes in late April and 1 Pre-K class in late May. Enjoy a glimpse of the Pre-K group called the Tiny Tigers with Ms. Kaplan. Their visit made possible with help from Kaz, Linda, Julia and others. These field trips give experiences that enhance the P.S. 217 curriculum such as the pre-K "plant units" as well as providing a much needed breaks from the in-school routines. Due to Covid 19 restrictions, RIGC had not been able to host any field trips since May of 2019, but this year a long standing tradition returned! Ms. Kaplan, who is retiring this year after many years at PS 217 on Roosevelt Island, sent the following thank you note to our community garden:
Thursday June 2, 2022 Good morning everyone! Thank you to everyone who made our visit on Tuesday so special. Julia, I appreciate your input in creating a time and plan for our time there. As always, Anthony, it is wonderful seeing you again, and I am grateful that you were there for my final visit as a teacher with PS 217. The children, Ms. Grandy, the adult chaperones , and I really enjoyed wandering the Gardens. The plants, pond, and guides made for a happy experience. A vase of pretty flowers made for the perfect goodbye. Again, thank you so much. We all loved it! Warmest wishes, Nancy Kaplan In early 2021 a group of 8-10 garden members worked with 2 Board members on ideas for more engagement and leadership opportunities as well as more transparency in our gardening community. One idea that resulted from this "Task Force" was to have a few "Town Hall" meetings. This year we are trying out these gatherings beginning with a Native Plant Share. About 15 gardeners showed up to meet and connect at this event hosted by Jack Burkhalter and Laura Laderman. Fifty small butterfly plant plugs from a Colossal Garden Kit by Prairie Moon Nursery were shared as well as another 20 plants of all sizes from the Butterfly Project Native Plant Share sponsored by facilitated by Bronx Green-Up of The New York Botanical Garden, City Parks Foundation, Grow to Learn NYC, and GreenThumb.  During the winter of 2022, Neal Weissman reached out to RIGC Associate Schuyler Borden and planned this wonderful May walk and talk attended by Members, Legacy Associates, and visitors. We look forward to more time learning with Schuyler in the future!  Congratulations! on 08-14-22 the RIGC Standards Committee voted the following gardens (in a three way tie) as "Best May Gardens" C55- Mamta & Talat D01- Carolina & Jorg C28 -Curtis    And a hearty dose of encouragement also goes to "Most Improved Gardens" B04- Alexis C33- Antoine & Karina  The white throated sparrow was singing his joy and I am sure I heard the cherry trees thank us as we brought them new companion plants and tickled/aerated their little roots. With Roosevelt Islanders help we have completely planted phase one for this lovely little habitat site. It takes a village and we are especially lucky in that regard. What a beautiful day it was to celebrate ecosystem connections and restore a little bit of ground with people of all ages! Thank you so much to RIOC and RI community and RIGC members for all the help. Gratitude For another RI Habitat Planting - Phase 1 is complete after EarthLove Day 2022! Email from Neal Weissman RIGC President 2022: Kudos to so many for so much accomplished! Save the Date: Our next CS Day is Saturday, June 11th. Email From Jack Burkhalter RIGC Vice President 2022: Yesterday was a most productive day with great weather and esprit de corps! Thanks to you all for your dedication, time and leadership in generating the list of tasks and then doing them! Here are some stats, based on the initial sign-in sheet which we are still adding info to. Thanks again. List for April 24, 2022 Community Service Day: Number of participants signing in: 28 Number of hours participants contributed: 62.4 hours A list of tasks accomplished: (Even more was actually completed)
TO DO: Clean & organize tools in the shed. Remove any dirt. Help keep tools organized. Sweep the shed. Join us for the next Community Service Day on June 11th. 
 RIGC welcomed Susy del Campo and Fay Christian with their Girl Scout Troop 3233 for Earth Day composting, planting, and garden visit. It is great to have groups visiting the gardens again.    This year the Rockefeller Center's Flag Project is sponsored by the UN Environment Program and the Climate Museum NYC. Peggy Roalf, artist and longtime member of RIGC, has a piece of her beautiful abstract artwork displayed on one of the flags. "For the Flag Project’s third annual iteration, Rockefeller Center collaborated with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Climate Museum, asking the public to submit flag designs that represent this year’s World Environment Day theme, “Only One Earth.” On Sunday the Climate Museum is offering a day of family activities to coincide with Earth Day and the Flag Art. https://climatemuseum.org/2022-events/2022/4/22/earth-day-initiatives   |
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