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Program Updates

Program listings below are for the next several weeks. For a complete schedule of all BNAN summer programs check our summer newsletter posted online. You may also check listings by date using the calendar. To receive BNAN's free, biweekly eNews with program, event and news updates, please scroll the the end of this page and subscribe.

Family Movie Night
Thursday, September 2
Sunset
Pope John Paul II Park, Gallivan Blvd, Dorchester

Thursday nights are family nights in Dorchester! Bring a blanket, chair and popcorn and enjoy a family movie under the stars. Free. Sponsored by MA DCR.

Seed, Sow & Grow
Common Garden Pests & Disease
Saturday, September 11
9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
ReVision Urban Farm, 38 Fabyan Street, Dorchester

Matt Kochka, Farm Manager of ReVision Urban Farm and Jean Claude Bourrut Lacoutre, Assistant Director of Natick Community Organic Farm, will walk participants through Revision Urban Farm pointing out active pests and disease and fielding questions. Topics of discussion will include the life cycles and origins of pests and disease, pest management techniques and gardening practices useful in controlling disease. Free, registration required. To register call BNAN at 617-542-7696 or or email info@bostonnatural.org.

BNAN Signature Event
Fall Harvest Festival and Perennial Divide
Saturday, October 2
10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
City Natives, 30 Edgewater Drive, Mattapan

Divide your perennials and bring pre-divided plants to the plant swap. MUG volunteers will answer plant care questions. Purchase fresh, local produce and native plants. Tour the vegetable display beds and visit the woodland garden. Enjoy all the season has to offer. For more information calll BNAN at 617-542-7696 or email info@bostonnatural.org.

Neponset River Greenway
Neponset Greenway Council Comment Letter
Sent August 2010 to DCR regarding Neponset Trail Extension

In response to the MA DCR public comment period for the Neponset Trail Extension, the Neponset Greenway Council submitted a comment letter with the group’s priorities for the trail: ease of access from both communities abutting the river, proximity to the river, an emphasis on Ryan Playground, and safe connections to the existing trail segments. The Council proposed a “sixth option” for extending the Greenway. Click here to read more about the Council’s “sixth option” and letter in its entirety.

Click here to read more about the Council’s “sixth option” and letter in its entirety.

Video Link
Plant a Row for Haiti

The Boston Gardeners' Council (BGC) project, "Plant a Row for Haiti", is well underway. BGC and BNAN are working with community gardeners and three local farms to grow, harvest and transport produce to food pantries in Mattapan to serve the Haitian community. Over 3000 pounds of fresh produce has been donated and distributed as of August 25, 2010. The program runs into the fall and more donations of fresh produce will be coming.

Click here to view video of Plant a Row for Haiti volunteers sorting the donated produce at the Voice of the Gospel Tabernacle Church in Mattapan on August 20. The music you hear in the video is being sung by Haitian women to pay respects to the earthquake victims, the singing is taking place at the same time the sorting is taking place. For more information on Plant a Row for Haiti contact Karen Chaffee, Stewardship Manager, at 617-542-7696 or email karen@bostonnatural.org.

Video Link
Community Garden News

The Bowdoin Street Health Center Youth Program partners with BNAN at the Norton Stonehurst Community Garden in Dorchester to bring fresh food to local residents as part of the Boston Is Growing Gardens (BIGG) project. Click here to view video one and click here to view video two.

Video Link
Community Garden News

The Gardening through Refugee Organizations (GRO) project hosted a cooking-based nutrition workshop at City Natives in Mattapan in August for the Haitian and Vietnamese residents of Boston. Workshop content was translated in Haitian and Vietnamese. Participants learned about the composition of a healthy diet, healthy cooking options such as grilling both vegetables and meat with reduced salt and oil/fat contents. Attendees spanned all generations and got to taste the food and learn home made salad dressing recipes. View video excerpts of this cooking workshop, click here for video one and click here for video two.

Video Link
Community Garden News

Community gardener Elnora Thompson from the Nightingale Community Garden in Dorchester talks about renovations being undertaken by BNAN during US Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius's visit to Boston with Mayor Menino on July 9. Click here to view video. Click here to view photos.

Video Link
Youth Conservation Corps

See this year's Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) in action as they plant native trees and shrubs at Pope John Paul ll Park in Dorchester, in partnership with MA Department of Conservation and Recreation. This is only one of the important projects that the three BNAN YCC crews will work on this summer. Click here for video and click here for more information on YCC.

Garden Education
Grow Healthy Tomatoes
Tips to Avoid Late Blight in Your Garden!

Ensure your garden is not a source of this plant disease in 2010!
Late blight destroys tomato crops. Late blight persists in "volunteer" potato tubers.

See these important links from the Extension Service, University of New Hampshire, Durham:

http://extension.unh.edu/agric/Media/Late-Blight2010/Late-Blight2010.htm

http://extension.unh.edu/agric/Docs/Lateblightpreventionflyer.pdf

Take Action!

Tell your congressional legislators to fund community gardens and support the bill titled Community Gardens Act of 2009. The bill authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to make grants to eligible entities to establish, build, or operate community gardens.

Contact your Congressional Representative (either Michael Capuano or Stephen Lynch) to tell them to support this important bill. Tell them why community gardens are important and what they provide for the community. So pick up the phone or send in a letter. It is vital that we demonstrate our support for community gardening. Each voice will help influence the decision, so don't under-estimate the impact your letter can have. For the complete bill language and current list of co-sponsors go to
www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-3225 .

If you are uncertain as to who is your Representative, go to https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml,. You can then use this same site to email your Representative to support this important bill to fund community gardens.

Please share this information with your fellow community gardeners.

Finding a Community Garden Gets Easier

In time for the growing season, the community garden map on the BNAN website that includes all 150 community gardens in the city has become interactive. You can now easily locate gardens near your home or in your neighborhood and see garden aerials, photographs of the garden and street views to and around the garden and learn the address and owner. Check out www.bostonnatural.org/cgFind.htm today. It is also a great way to take a virtual tour of the city's gardens.

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Urban & Green Newsletter..

The spring 2010 issue of BNAN's Urban & Green Newsletter is available online. Included in the newsletter are BNAN spring events and programs. Read it to find out what's happening in Boston's Community Gardens, Urban Wilds and along the Neponset and East Boston Greenways. Click here for current and past newsletters.

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