Apply for GreenThumb Trainings

Dig deep and further your gardening knowledge and leadership skills with NYC Parks GreenThumb! GreenThumb is offering several new FREE trainings throughout 2019 and 2020. GreenThumb Trainings are courses or certifications that fall outside of our usual year-round workshop series, are multiple days, and go in-depth on a specific subject. We are including descriptions and details for these trainings in one place so that they are easier to access.

For more information and links, visit bit.ly/GreenThumbTrainings

Carbon Sponge: Gardening to Mitigate Climate Change Healthy soil stores carbon from the atmosphere in a process called carbon sequestration, which can help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. What can you do to increase carbon sequestration at your garden? Join soil scientists, artists, and educators who have been collaborating on a project called Carbon Sponge to develop methods for “urban carbon farming.” This workshop series will include a basic introduction to soil science regenerative agriculture and traditional indigenous techniques, as well as demonstrate hands-on tools for measuring your garden’s carbon and the wide-ranging benefits for your community garden.

No applications: See complete program details and RSVP at bit.ly/GTCarbonSponge2020 Who is eligible? Anyone is welcome. All workshops in this series are open to the public. Workshops: March 9, March 22, and June 23, at Smiling Hogshead Ranch in . Carbon Sponge Kit: GreenThumb gardeners who attend all three workshops will be eligible to receive the Carbon Sponge Kit for monitoring soil health. Facilitators: Brooke Singer (artist and educator with Carbon Sponge), Sara Perl Egendorf (PhD Candidate at the CUNY Graduate Center, Advanced Science Research Center, and College), Marisa Prefer (educator, artist, and herbalist), and Katharhy G. (plant and soil science researcher with CUNY Graduate Center, Advanced Science Research Center, and Lehman College’s Plant Science Lab)

Community Chef Training with Just Food Do you want to create engaging food demos for your community garden? Just Food’s Community Chef Training will teach GreenThumb gardeners effective facilitation skills and culinary techniques to prepare nutritious, culturally relevant, and easy meals at their community gardens. As part of the training, the cohort will work on completing their food safety certificate and build a recipe book to share with their garden group.

Applications due: Link to application: Who is eligible? This training is reserved for members of registered GreenThumb Community Gardens. Training dates: 4 all-day Saturday sessions: May 16, June 6, June 13, and June 27 Location: 100 Gold St., Manhattan Facilitator: Just Food

Compost and Farm Apprenticeship Program with Earth Matter Does your garden’s system need a boost? GreenThumb is sponsoring 10 community gardeners to participate in Earth Matter’s adult apprenticeship program at Governors Island. With a main focus on building sustainable compost operations, this training will also include growing veggies and public engagement. Gardeners will learn how to make “Gold Standard” compost in a variety of urban environments at different scales with the goal of utilizing best practices for the improvement of soil and plant health. Gardeners who fulfill the requirements of this multi-season training will earn a certificate.

Applications due: 2/9/2020 Link to application: See complete program details and apply at bit.ly/GTCompostApprenticeship2020 Who is eligible? This training is reserved for members of registered GreenThumb Community Gardens. Training dates: 10 all-day Saturday sessions from March 7 - May 16 (except April 4th) Location: Soil Start Farm, located on Governors Island Facilitator: Earth Matter

Growing Vegetables in NYC Get the most out of your garden plot this season. In this six-week training, Amara Ullauri (KCC Urban Farm) will introduce the basics of crop planning, prepping your soil, starting seeds, record keeping, harvesting, and organic pest management. Gardeners from gardens in good standing who complete the training will receive a basic set of gardening hand tools.

Applications due: Link to application: Who is eligible? This training is reserved for members of registered GreenThumb Community Gardens. Training dates: Location: Greene Acres Community Garden, 349 Greene Ave., Brooklyn Facilitator: Amara Ullauri (KCC Urban Farm)

Herbal Allies in the Garden Awaken this growing season by welcoming herbal plant allies in your gardens. In this course we will explore the many properties of common garden herbs and flowers, learn basic propagation methods, and discuss proper plant care strategies. We will use dried herbs to familiarize ourselves with these plants using herbal infusions such as teas, oils, syrups, and salves.

Applications due: Link to application: Who is eligible? This training is reserved for members of registered GreenThumb Community Gardens. Training dates: Location: TBD Community Garden (Brooklyn) Facilitator: Amara Ullauri (KCC Urban Farm)

The Open Orchard School The Open Orchard School is a year-long series of educational programs co-presented by NYC Parks GreenThumb and the Trust for Governors Island. The Open Orchard School is an extension of The Open Orchard, an expansive new artwork by Sam Van Aken on Governors Island that will take the form of a public orchard of 50 hybrid fruit trees. Each individual tree will contain multiple varieties of peaches, plums, apricots, nectarines, cherries and apples that were historically grown in the New York City region over the past 500 years, but which have been lost to climate change and the industrialization of agriculture, preserving their biodiversity for future generations. Hundreds of additional trees will be distributed to community gardens in all five boroughs. Through the Open Orchard School, community gardeners and members of the public will learn practical skills related to the project, including in-depth experience with fruit tree care, cultivation, planting, and grafting. Participants who complete multiple workshops can become part of the team working to ensure the ongoing stewardship of the trees as they put down roots across the city.

In the fall of 2020, garden groups that have attended at least four of the workshops will be eligible to receive one or more multi-grafted fruit trees from The Open Orchard to plant in their gardens. Subject to approval from GreenThumb.

No applications: all workshops are open to the public. RSVP on the GreenThumb events page. Who is eligible? Anyone is welcome. All workshops in this series are open to the public. Workshops: 1-2 workshops per month from January 2020 - November 2020. All workshops will be posted in the quarterly GreenThumb Program Guide and on the GreenThumb events page. Facilitators: Sam Van Aken (The Open Orchard) and Sam Bishop (Trees New York)

Reclaiming Ancestral Knowledge: Latin American Foodways with Happy Healthy Latina During this workshop series, Yadira Garcia (Chef, Happy Healthy Latina) and Adriano Espillat, Jr., (Agricultural Director, Happy Healthy Latina) will use nature, observation, and ancestral knowledge for hands-on cooking demonstrations in a culturally rich, nutritious, delicious and educational experience appropriate for younger and older community garden members and the public. In this workshop series, we will explore the deep need for representation, access, equity, and cultural relevance through a lens of decolonizing and reconstructing our access to heritage based diets in our home and community. Trainings will focus on the history of Latin American and Caribbean dishes and foodways, as well as demos on how to cook these dishes nutritiously.

Workshops will include:  DIY Sofrito/Sazon and Herb Lab  Season Extension – Grow Your Own Herbs with Window Farming  Ancestral Healing with Caribbean Pickling and Ferments  DIY Build your Culinary Botanica  Caribbean Cookery Bootcamp  Grow Your Own: Exploring Food Sovereignty Through Seed Saving and Deep Water Culture

No applications: RSVP at bit.ly/GT_HHL2020 Who is eligible? Anyone is welcome. All workshops in this series are open to the public. Dates: May 3, May 31, June 6, June 20, July 18, and September 15. Location: TBD (Bronx, Manhattan, and Brooklyn) Carbon Sponge Kit: GreenThumb gardeners who attend all three workshops will be eligible to receive the Carbon Sponge Kit for monitoring soil health. Facilitators: Yadira Garcia and Adriano Espillat, Jr. (Happy Healthy Latina)

The Soul of Food: Tracing the Origins of Southern Crops and Foodways During this weekly, hands-on workshop series with Maya Stansberry (KCC Urban Farm) we will delve into the history of fundamental crops that define Southern cuisine. Alongside discussion of the agricultural and culinary histories of this cuisine, we’ll prepare Southern dishes to develop a deeper understanding of our relationship to these foods and celebrate the culinary legacy of the African diaspora.

No applications: RSVP at bit.ly/GTSoulOfFood2020. Who is eligible? Anyone is welcome. All workshops in this series are open to the public. Dates: May 19, May 26, June 2, June 9, and June 16. Location: Northeast Brooklyn Housing Development Corporation, 376 Throop Avenue, Brooklyn Facilitator: Maya Stansberry (KCC Urban Farm)

Urban Seed Stewardship During this training, gardeners will learn seed saving techniques with Reclaim Seed NYC through classroom instruction, fieldwork visits, and hands-on experience stewarding seeds. This training will provide participants with the knowledge and skills necessary for seeding a community of change within their gardens by envisioning a decolonized relationship to seed, defining their urban seedkeeping practice, understanding the botany and horticulture skills applied in seed saving, developing planting plans for seed saving from sowing to storage. We will explore the history of seed in New York City from pre-colonization to our current industrialized food system. Participants will explore the history of consolidation and control of seed, the importance of stewarding regionally and culturally significant seed, how to build and contribute to resilience in their community gardens, and how to determine if a seed source is reputable and responsible.

Applications due: Link to application: Who is eligible? This training is reserved for members of registered GreenThumb Community Gardens. Training dates: Location: TBD (Bronx, Manhattan, , and Brooklyn) Facilitators:

(DEADLINES HAVE PASSED) GreenThumb Leadership Academy Through a series of intensive trainings, GreenThumb will offer support and guidance for community gardeners in leadership positions in their gardens. These trainings will include topics such as conflict resolution, meeting facilitation, navigating city government, addressing racism and oppression, and garden management skills. Upon graduating from the program, gardeners will be invited to join a team of GreenThumb Garden Leaders who can be called upon to support one another, help mediate internal garden conflicts, and mentor new garden leaders.

Applications due: 11/5/19 Link to application: bit.ly/GTLeadershipAcademy2020 Course runs: Saturdays, 1/11, 1/25, 2/1, 2/8, 2/22, 2/29, 3/7, 3/14

Uprooting Racism Uprooting Racism is a theory and action training for community garden leaders to uproot systemic racism. We will delve deep into the history of our community gardens and examine our personal and collective roles as stewards of the land and as facilitators. Much of the time will be spent developing tangible action plans for uprooting these oppressions within our own gardens.

Applications due: 12/8/19 Training dates: 2/21/20 - 2/22/20 Link to application: Location: Discovery Center, Central Park bit.ly/GTUprootingRacism2020 Facilitator: Leah Penniman, Soul Fire Farm

Tackling Tough Conversations Conflict is stressful. And yet, it also offers opportunities to strengthen and repair relationships. New York Peace Institute (NYPI) trainings build your dispute resolution skills, helping to improve team cohesion and resolve differences in the garden. With a focus on mediation skills, NYPI helps you navigate difficult conversations, manage disagreements, and address challenges creatively.

‘Tackling Tough Conversations’ teaches the ‘Jedi’ skills of dispute resolution. This training draws on the tools mediators use to resolve conflict and helps community members communicate effectively. ‘Tough Conversations’ explores the classic responses to conflict, what active listening looks like in practice, and key mediation and de-escalation skills. This training gives provides a roadmap to navigate tough conversations and come up with solutions that last.

Applications due: 12/8/19 Training dates: Application link: bit.ly/GT_ToughConversations  Cohort 1: February 6-7, 2020 Facilitator: New York Peace Institute staff  Cohort 2: May 7-8, 2020

Responsible Urban Beekeeping Honeybees can be a rewarding and ecologically beneficial addition to a community garden. Whether your community garden wants or already has honeybees, this in-depth, hands-on program will help your garden group successfully manage an apiary. GreenThumb is sponsoring a limited number of seats in Responsible Urban Beekeeping, NYCbeekeeping.org’s longstanding training program, taught by a professional and experienced hobbyist team. Gardeners who fulfill the requirements of this full-season training will receive a kit with everything they need to start a sustainable community garden apiary, and will be eligible to join the NYCbeekeeping.org Bee Health Group for ongoing mentoring and mutual aid.

Applications: Members of GreenThumb community gardens can apply by 12/11/19 at bit.ly/GTBees2020. Members of the public can apply directly at NYCbeekeeping.org. Training Dates: 12 class sessions on Saturdays from February 2020 – November 2020 Facilitator: Liane Newton and additional team at nycbeekeeping.org.

GreenThumb Pruning Brigade GreenThumb has reserved a limited number of seats for community gardeners to get certified as Citizen Pruners through the Trees New York Citizen Pruner course. After getting certified, GreenThumb citizen pruners will be asked to complete 8 supervised volunteer hours to help with minor pruning needs at other community gardens. Gardeners who get their certification and complete the 8 hours will receive a set of pruning tools and a hard hat, and be asked to join a new group of GreenThumb volunteers dedicated to helping with the pruning needs of community gardens throughout the city.

Applications due: 8/26/19. There will be another application in the spring.

Course runs:  Cohort 1: Mondays 6pm-8pm, 9/16, 9/23, 9/30, and 10/7, with an outing on Saturday 10/5, 10am-2pm. Location: GreenThumb Office (100 Gold St.)  Cohort 2: Mondays 6pm-8pm, 10/21, 10/28, 11/4, and 11/18, with an outing on Saturday 11/9. Location: GreenThumb Office (100 Gold St.)  Cohort 3: May 2020, TBD  Cohort 4: June 2020, TBD

Supervised pruning practice sessions: 8 hours of supervised pruning practice spread out over multiple ongoing volunteer sessions. Dates and locations shared with participants who graduate from the Trees New York Citizen Pruner course.

Please contact GreenThumb Workshops and Education Coordinator Mara Gittleman with any questions or concerns at [email protected] or (212) 602-5318.