The poetry reading series, Poets Read in the Garden, came into being last year during the height of the COVID pandemic when we were all wary of being inside for any events. The community gardens became an essential space for artists, poets and writers to gather to share good words and energies in a safe outdoor space. The Pacific Street Bears garden inaugurated their space with readings and then recruited the Greenspace@President Street as another perfect spot for poetry to be read out loud. This is what a positive non-monetized space for our communities looks like. Poetry belongs in t ..read more

We hope to have more poetry events at the Bears. Stay tuned ..read more

Finally, we were opened on Open Garden Day! As part of the GreenThumb’s annual citywide event, we invited the community into our green space, which had been shuttered for almost a year and a half. Matt says, “Come on in!” Our main event was the women of Batalá, a garden favorite! They spread their good beats and vibes all over, making Flatbush Avenue sound so good! Feeling all the good vibes! We hope to have more open days at the Bears Garden ..read more

Batala NYC livens up Flatbush Avenue right outside the Pacific Street Brooklyn Bears garden! Deinya conducts the drums! Dedicated garden member, Deinya, is Batala’s musical director extraordinaire! Making Flatbush sound great again! Check out this awesome drumming group at http://batala.nyc ..read more

Garden bounty for our local politicos! Thanks Brad Lander We were happy to gather our flowers, veggies & herbs for “Thank You” baskets to present to the local politicos whose community grants support the work of all BANG gardens. Thanks Steve Levin Remember, they work for us so we need to make sure they don’t forget their advocacy is for communities and not companies or (real estate developers). Thanks Laurie Cumbo It’s okay to say that out loud.   ..read more

This season the garden gets just a little bit more diverse. Sesame Leaves Yes, we care about diversifying what plants grow at the Bear’s garden, but the trend has been to grow the familiar.  Every season you will see the same crops growing in our plots because it makes sense to grow the stuff you like––cukes, kale, tomatoes, collards, peppers, did I mention tomatoes? But this growing season I made a plan to see if some Korean crops could thrive on Flatbush Avenue.  I got some seeds from a Kitazawa seed company and started them at home over the winter months. Beautiful bo ..read more

As a garden steeped in organic and environmentally conscientious practices, we are aware of how nature provides her own checks and balances when it comes to pests. A welcome visitor to all gardens Because ladybugs eat aphids and other pesky insects like mites and white flies, they are a great friend to us gardeners and the plants who so often are afflicted by them. Stay hungry! Let’s make sure we make our gardens hospitable to all our ladybug friends ..read more

What happens when a group of Brooklyn gardeners gather for a Brooklyn gardens tour?! It’s a gardening thing, you WOULD understand!   Oh, the usual mayhem. And lots of learning about the individual functioning of each community garden.  I won this Jon Crow-led tour from the silent auction at BANG’s  October fundraising event. Our tour took us to: (Check out all these links) Greenspace@President Street Pacific Street Brooklyn Bears Carlton Brooklyn Bears Rockwell Brooklyn Bears Warren St. Marks Gil Hodges (NYRP) Prospect Heights Community Farm 6/15   Jo ..read more

Getting the skinny on how the Bear’s garden made it this far… Talking to the Old Timers and how we’re going to keep on going. This month, Organic Life’s Betsy Andrews reached out to the Bear’s garden for a profile on how a community garden can make it in this climate of overdevelopment and greed (yes, greed). The next generation of Swallowtails How have we managed to keep this piece of property from becoming the next Shake Shack, Duane Reade, or Bank of America? What do you like best about gardening? There’s a lot of factors that go into keeping our garden a postive public open spac ..read more