It’s way to complicated to explain what a “3-D printer” is. I’ve heard about this a couple times in the past few months, and only now understand thanks to the video on this homepage. For a well-done article explaining it to you in layman language, check out this Crain’s article.

Now, the geniuses behind this technology are right around the corner from me in Boerum Hill — which is why I’m taking up your valuable time telling you about 3-D printers. Along with Jonathan Wegener, inventor of Exit Strategy, it’s an impressive little high tech community we got going here, amongst all the artists and writers and bloggers and what-not.

Ok people, you know that the new Theatre For A New Audience, um, theatre, is going up technically in Fort Greene. But hey – it’ll be right across Flatbush, and just a block from our borders and, frankly, is one of the most exciting things I’ve been looking forward to for some time. 

They have this group called “Brooklyn Dreamers” which I just signed up for. TFANA is looking for neighborhood groups to reach out to, work with, develop programs with… and I thought, “hey, we’re a neighborhood group!” 

Maybe some FOSS – Friends of Sixteen Sycamores – awareness events would make sense? There was some Boerum Hill Arts festival in the works I thought I heard, plus the Atlantic Avenue Artwalk next year… Anyway, I present it up to the group. Discuss amongst yourselves.

Our original Boerum Hill Pub Walk is repeating itself: on July 14th and August 11th – both Tuesday nights, at 7:30. Same route as last time. Same awesome commentary and historic photos from Erik. Same inane witty banter from Chuck the tour guide. And most important, the same great bars. 

If you missed out on the first one, now’s your chance. Just $10. 7:30pm at the corner of Court & Atlantic. Call 646-320-5657 or email bha.pubwalk@gmail.com for more info. Or read the original post/press release. 

Cheers!

PS: This tour will not run in September or October so we can prepare for our next great, all-new pub walk — Haunted Boerum Hill — so act now or miss it forever!

Hey neighbors – the first C(ommunity) S(upported) A(griculture) in Boerum Hill is about to begin. 

Lots of the surrounding nabes already have theirs. And some people in our community — who shall remain nameless — leave the borders of Boerum Hill (scandal!) to trespass in foreign lands like Cobble Hill, Fort Greene and Park Slope to get their farm-fresh veggies. No more! The Brooklyn Beet CSA starts their first distribution next Tuesday from the YWCA at 3rd and Atlantic. Cooking demonstration, too!

I’m not normally a person who gets excited about vegetables, but hey, the times they are a-changin’.

Yes — an event so important, I had to use the CAPS LOCK button. Forgive me. I don’t use it often. 

Tuesday, June 23rd – 7:30pm: It begins outside Trader Joe’s, at Atlantic & Court. The BHA’s first historical Pub Walk through Boerum Hill. A mere $10, accepted at start of walk. With drink specials coming from the three pubs we’ll visit: Brazen Head, Brooklyn Inn and Hanks. 

Join us for a fun night of  interesting tid-bits about Boerum Hill, as you pass by famous addresses, historical sites and stop in for a drink at three cool local pubs. It’s not a pub crawl, but a chance to see and hear history come alive as we pass through the heart of Boerum Hill (with, of course, a civilized drink or three along the way). 

From Flatbush Gardener: Brooklyn Garden Tour Calendar.

Most of these are house tours which also feature gardens, some are garden-only tours.

Brooklyn Heights, May 9

Five houses and their gardens will be open from 1 to 5 p.m. for the 24th annual tour of the Brooklyn Heights Association. There will be an 1842 Greek Revival house on a street once known as Mansion Row, with its original mahogany woodwork and a collection of contemporary art by American and German artists, and an 1846 house on a corner lot with formal-style gardens, interior front and back staircases and a Federal doorway that was salvaged from a neighborhood building. No children under 13 except infants in front packs. Reservations are recommended. Tickets, $30, by calling (718) 858-9193 and brooklynheightsassociation.org. On the day of the tour only, tickets will be sold starting at 12:30 p.m. at 129 Pierrepont Street (near Clinton Street). [Via New York Times, 2009-04-30]

East New York, May 17

East New York Community Gardens Bike Tour
As part of Bike Month NYC, join GreenThumb Community Gardeners for a bike tour starting in East New York, part of NYC’s densest concentration of community gardens. Learn about the tumultuous history of gardening in NYC and see the fruits of the gardens.
Sunday, May 17, 2009, 9:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m.
Start at Green Gems Community Garden, 947-953 Glenmore Avenue, between Fountain and Crystal Street

Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, May 31

Eleven houses will be open from noon to 5 p.m., including a 1907 limestone house renovated with a mix of pocket doors, antique chandeliers, an exercise room and a contemporary galley kitchen; a 1911 townhouse with original Arts and Crafts interior details and a staircase decorated with vintage maps; and the home of the 2006 Silver Award winner of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers, which has a back garden with two waterfalls, charming seating areas and winding paths. Infants in front packs only. Tickets, $25, at K-Dog & Dunebuggy Cafe, 43 Lincoln Road (between Flatbush and Ocean Avenues). Advance tickets, $20. Information: (718) 284-6210 or (718) 462-0024 and at leffertsmanor.org. [Via New York Times, 2009-04-30]

PROSPECT HEIGHTS, FORT GREENE AND CLINTON HILL, BROOKLYN, JUNE 14 The Brownstone Brooklyn Garden District’s Garden Walk, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., will feature a dozen private and five community gardens. This year’s sites include two gardens that occupy neighboring yards behind adjacent town houses. One evokes ancient Rome, with shards of masonry, sculptural fragments and embedded plaques set among perennials and tropical plants. The other, centered by a cherry tree planted by the jazz singer Betty Carter, features perennial plantings and flowering trees.

Tickets, $20, at the Forest Floor, 659 Vanderbilt Avenue (Prospect Place) in Prospect Heights; Greene Grape Provisions, 753 Fulton Street (South Portland Avenue) in Fort Greene; and Root Stock and Quade, 471 Myrtle Avenue (Washington Street) in Clinton Hill. Advance tickets, $15, and information: (718) 858-7968, e-mail to brownstonebgd@gmail.com or bbgd.wordpress.com.

CROWN HEIGHTS NORTH, BROOKLYN OCT. 4 Eight houses, two churches and a community garden will be open from noon to 5 p.m. Tickets, $25, at St. Gregory’s Parish School, 991 St. Johns Place (between Brooklyn and New York Avenues). Advance tickets, $20, and information at (917) 748-4664 and crownheightsnorth.org. [Via New York Times, 2009-04-30]

Food issues hit home for all of Brooklyn–from school lunches, the rise in diabetes, and escalating food costs to immigration, farmers markets and local food challenges and delights, food touches us all. Come join us for a day of workshops, food demos, and a kids’ food fair. Lunch and dinner will be available for purchase. Dance following dinner. The conference will be FREE to all participants.

• See a roundtable of NYC chefs, moderated by WNYC’s Leonard Lopate, with Dan Barber, Peter Hoffman, Bill Telepan, and Brooklyn’s own David Shea of Applewood and John Tucker of Rosewater.
• Hear LaDonna Redmond on what people in Chicago have done to change their food system, learn about worldwide food rebellions from author Raj Patel, and find out how climate change can affect the world’s food supply from activist Anna Lappé, and discuss milk health risks and benefits with author Nina Planck–plus workshops with many other dedicated activists and professionals.
• Screen films about food issues, including Fresh, Life and Debt, Unnatural Selection, and Flow.
• Meet your local farmers!
• Learn how to start your own victory garden in Brooklyn, compost, and start a food coop.
• Join your children at a kids’ food fair with cooking demonstrations and other fun activities.
• Workshops by and for teens plus Teen Iron Chef!
• Enjoy lunch and dinner created by Brooklyn chefs using sustainable foods. (See menus here!)

via A Project of the Brooklyn Food Coalition « Brooklyn Food Conference.

Press Release Contact: Sue Wolfe

Friends of Douglas/Greene Park, Inc. 917-868-5332

suehwolfe@aol.com

Saturday, April 25^th was a fun time for all ages at Thomas Greene Park in Gowanus located at Third Avenue & Douglass Street.

There was sunshine, live music, free food and skaters of every description from everywhere, Brooklyn and beyond!

The extensive skate network of Michelle Sauer and Jose Portes of HOMAGE, the skate and health food shop at 151 Smith St, drew hundreds of skaters. They swarmed and settled in for a long afternoon of skating at its best: contests, clinics and serious practice at Thomas Greene Park on the edge of downtown Brooklyn. The skating was supervised by the HOMAGE team, who’ve had lots of experience with kids and skate events. Five hours and the live music never stopped.

Recruited by Board member Cynthia Hammond, the diverse music included newspaper writer Steve Witt on guitar, reggae sounds from “Widdeyah”, “With Legs We Run” punk rock group and the tweeny girl group, “Saffire”

While Friends of Douglass/Greene Park organized the event, provided free water and raffled t-shirts, the Wyckoff Gardens Tenants Association donated hot dogs, popcorn and cotton candy, feeding hundreds & sponsored two inflated games for the little kids.

Local artist and board member mac premo designed the Gowanus Grind T-shirts, sold for $10.00, and supervised the “Paint board” art project at the event.

Lauren Elvers Collins represented the Gowanus Canal Conservancy, with information on the GCC mission and projects and offered various GCC products for sale.

Jo Anne Simon, candidate for the 33rd District City Council seat just happened to be visiting when an accident occurred in the skate area. Luckily for everyone, Jo Anne jumped into the breach and worked with several adults in getting help for the injured skater.

Gary Reilly, City Council candidate from the 39th District and Joan Millman, State Assembly Representative both stopped in to visit and enjoy the skate day events.

The Friends of Douglass/Greene Park, Inc. is a coalition of neighboring communities and 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is to refurbish this park. The Friends sponsor three annual events to raise awareness and funding for the park. Although the park has been at Third Avenue and Douglass for more than 40 years, it is a little known NYC Parks facility in a rapidly expanding residential area. Representatives of the Boerum Hill Association, the Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association, the Cobble Hill Association, Park Slope Civic Council and Wyckoff Gardens Tenants Association have been working together with City Council members Bill DeBlasio and David Yassky, Borough President Marty Markowitz and the Parks Department to revitalize Thomas Greene Park. To get on the mailing list, visit http://www.friendsofdouglassgreenepark.org.

Gather up your family and friends and head over to Thomas Greene Park on Third Avenue between Douglass and Degraw for skateboarding and other activities at the Gowanus Grind, on Saturday, April 25 (raindate, April 26).

There will be live music, art activities, a free skate board clinic sponsored by Homage, the skate board shop on Smith Street and recreation and food, donated by the Wyckoff Houses Tenants Association and Building on Bond.

Activities, including live music, will take place between 11 AM and 4 PM.

View the poster:

The City government re-populated and plans to massively expand its jail in Downtown Brooklyn despite deep concerns that the project is a waste of taxpayer money and would signal a shift of Corrections Department policy from a focus on rehabilitation to a focus on incarceration.

A lawsuit filed last month by Comptroller William C. Thompson, Council Member David Yassky and advocates challenges the City’s ability to make this decision without public approval.  On Tuesday, January 6th, a State Supreme Court judge will hear arguments from the plaintiffs and the City.  It is our hope that we keep the City from wasting millions of taxpayer dollars on this wrongheaded project.  We hope you will join us outside the Courthouse on Tuesday morning at 9am to join a rally with elected officials and other community members.

It is imperative that many of us attend this rally!