21st Century Plowshare

Meadow Identification Guide

Thanks to the impressive April efforts of about 100 Meadow Volunteers, and the financial support of donors and sponsors, flowers are blooming in tree pits all over Bed Stuy!

Here's a guide for spotting what we have planted, complete with latin and common names. Stay tuned for next year's Meadow Plans, a weed identification page, so that you can help the wildflowers you see without pulling out wanted plants, and a general re-tooling of this blog, because that's the great thing about having a blog. You can just start, and let it figure out its own purpose. This blog's purpose has wavered and floundered, but is finding itself as we speak.

Centaurea cyanus, or Cornflower, or Bachelor's Buttons (annual)

Cheiranthus allionii, or Siberian Wallflower (biennial--leaves only this year, next year look for blooms!)

Chrysanthemum leucanthemum, or Ox-Eye Daisy (perennial, unopened buds are edible)

Chrysanthemum maximum, or Shasta Daisy (perennial)

Coreopsis lanceolata, or Lance-Leaf Coreopsis (perennial)

Coreopsis tinctoria, or Plains Coreopsis (annual)

Cosmos sulphureus, or Sulphur Cosmos (annual, won't bloom until late summer or fall)

Cosmos bipinnatus, or Wild Cosmos (annual, will keep flowering until frost)

Delphinium ajacis, or Wild Larkspur (annual)

Dianthus barbatus, or Sweet William (biennial or short-lived perennial, edible flowers)

Echinacea purpurea, or Purple Coneflower (hardy perennial)

Eschscholzia californica, or California Poppy (annual)

Gaillardia aristata, or Perennial Gaillardia or blanketflower (perennial, blooms through fall)

Gypsophila elegans, or Baby's Breath (annual or tender perennial)

Helianthus annuus, or Wild Annual Sunflower (annual)

Hesperis matronalis, or Dame's Rocket (short-lived perennial)

Lavatera trimestris, or Rose Mallow (annual)

Linum grandiflorum rubrum, or Scarlet Flax (annual)

Linum perenne lewisii, or Blue Flax (perennial, blooms in spring so look for it next year)

Lupinus perennis, or Perennial Lupine (perennial)

Nemophila menziesii, or Baby Blue Eyes (annual)

Papaver rhoeas, or Red Poppy (annual)

Ratibida columnaris, or Mexican Hat (hardy perennial)

Rudbeckia hirta gloriosa, or Gloriosa Daisy (tender perennial)

Rudbeckia hirta, or Black Eyed Susan (perennial)

Silene armeria, or None-so-Pretty (annual)

Pecha Kucha Tonight!

Sure... go to Pecha Kucha because you love 21st Century Plowshare! I'll be linking Bed Stuy Meadow to the rest of this beautiful globe we live upon, and our vision of environmentalism as a movement that does as much as it talks.

But don't forget to revel in the glory of the entire lineup:

Daniel Perlin
Viraphon
Eric Sanderson
Mannahatta Project
Allegra Burnette
MoMA
Tina Roth Eisenberg
Swissmiss
Jonathan Harris
Number 27
Jay Parkinson
Hello Health
Dickson Despommier
Vertical Farm
Glen Cummings
MTWTF
Eviana Hartman
Bodkin Brooklyn
Dan Fogelson
Emeco
Deborah Fisher
21st Century Plowshare
Paul D. Miller
DJ Spooky

Planting Day: April 11, 2009

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This is a map of planting zones with RSVP'ed, assigned volunteers, it's getting updated as folks confirm their participation, so check back in regularly and see the progress. Next weekend, this map will be updated to include the Rendezvous Points, Team Leaders, and other necessary tactical information like known vacant lots.

If you have not yet volunteered, it is not too late! If everything goes according to plan, each volunteer will receive their very own reusable tote bag with Bed Stuy Meadow logo, in addition to good karma and free fun on a Saturday!

Why Meadow

I've been talking to a couple of journalists, and am going to be speaking briefly about 21st Century Plowshare and Bed Stuy Meadow on Monday night, and all this framing and reframing has been a great opportunity to think in terms of why.

But first, The Facts: The volunteer count at this writing is at around 66 and still climbing, and there are forty-two more people who have given money instead of time. The Meadow also has a brand-new sponsor, who will get a serious thank you post as soon as I know what they want to be called.

In addition to this impressive outpouring of time and money, I have been able to start no less than ten discussions with people about other projects. There have been more opinions about making the Williamsburg Bridge into a real greenway; a small army of individuals who want to plant forest gardens, make parks or otherwise cultivate vacant lots in Brooklyn; ideas about community-based recycling and reusing; and one really complicated idea about datamapping that I can't flesh out in this run-on-sentence format.

And what I do when I look at my inbox is gasp elatedly and clutch my heart, because it seems that folks are getting it. It's great that people are sending $10 from far away, so that they can get their seed bomb in the mail and watch their own little patch of wildflowers grow, and thereby link their patch of Indiana or California or Rochester NY to this project.

It's great that people are taking all this big talk about Google Earth re-photographing the neighborhood for what it is--a totally necessary scale shift from local to global.

Bed Stuy Meadow is an environmental action. It succeeds when one-hundred-plus-and-counting individuals manage to turn the environment into a Celebrated Place instead of an Agonizing Concept. And it succeeds again when that sense of place is transcended, when the scale shifts from local to global.

I am ordering seeds, sending out emails to volunteers and drawing up a map of planting zones. And I want you to keep the great ideas, criticisms, tangents and support flowing.

Bed Stuy Meadow: Status Report

Thanks to everyone who's participated so far--The Meadow has 45 people on its volunteer list and a quarter of its budget has been raised! Serious thanks to the THREE Official Meadow Sponsors: Bed Stuy Blog, Brownstoner and Girls Write Now!

Let's not stop. There are still almost three weeks before planting, and that's enough time to get two hundred volunteers and the entire two thousand dollar budget raised. What I am going to be doing is sending out more press releases. What you can do is email this page to everyone you think might be interested!

Bed Stuy Meadow: It's Raining Support!

This boarded-up house on the corner of Van Buren and Lewis is going to be overtaken by wildflowers this summer.

I sent a big handful of emails out this weekend to see if there would be any public support for the Bed Stuy Meadow and the response has been overwhelmingly positive.

Thank you!!!

Donations from individuals are trickling in, and one donor has given enough to get a gift in return--their very own mini-meadow seed bomb delivered in the mail when planting's done! So far the average individual donation is about $4.00, which is right where I wanted it to be.

Huge Thanks to the first two Meadow Sponsors: Brownstoner and Bed Stuy Blog!

And most importantly, in two days almost twenty people have put themselves on the volunteer list by sending an email to 21stcenturyplowshare-at-gmail-dot-com!

Keep All This Great Help Coming! We'll need at least thirty more people (and could use like a hundred more people) and about $1760 more dollars to get this thing off the ground.

In the next two weeks, I'll be continuing to get the word out, organizing the planting effort, and posting regular updates here. Keep tuned for news, and figure out how you want to participate. Remember that if you don't have time or money to give, just spreading the word is an enormous help!

UPDATE: I am overwhelmed in a good way by the influx of volunteers and donations. It looks like there's no way this isn't going to happen! I'll be processing the numbers tonight (Tuesday) and writing up a post about where this project stands. Thanks again everybody!!

Bed Stuy Meadow

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Project Description

The goal is to sow wildflower seeds on every single patch of abandoned soil in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bed Stuy this April. By early summer, there should be so many wildflowers growing in the untended treepits, vacant lots, half-built developments and other tiny scraps of neglected soil in Bed Stuy that the whole neighborhood effectively turns into a meadow.

Wildflower seeds are very easy to plant, and they grow well in poor, shallow soils without human attention, so it's going to be relatively easy to make a huge visual impact over the entire neighborhood. The profusion of wildflowers that result from this minimal effort will probably be relentless and visually unifying, and this relentless unity of wildflowers will probably make anyone walking down the street feel good.

I want there to be so many wildflowers on the streets that the summer of 2009 is remembered very fondly every single resident of the neighborhood. I want the continuity of the Meadow to be so strong that Google Earth is compelled to re-photograph Bed Stuy. I want people who don't even live within the five boroughs to visit Bed Stuy for the first time so that they can see the Meadow with their own eyes, and I want people who will never even come to be so inspired by the Bed Stuy Meadow that they make their own amazing neighborhood project and share it on 21st Century Plowshare.

Bed Stuy is a neighborhood of contradictions. There is a lot of crime here, but it's also by far the friendliest neighborhood I have ever lived in. It's got a litter problem and the landscape is dotted with empty lots and condemned houses. But this is also a neighborhood of seriously tended front yards with a rich history of community gardening. Bed Stuy claims as its own Hattie Carthan and the Notorious B.I.G. I think the Meadow is going to work because it doesn't work against what Bed Stuy is. Bed Stuy's low-slung, long-blocked character and the expansiveness of its territory are not like an urban jungle or forest as much as an urban prairie. The effort of the meadow is another chapter in the community gardening history of the neighborhood. Wildflowers are beautiful in the way that the architecture here is beautiful, the way the people who go out of their way to say good morning on the streets here are beautiful. And wildflowers are tough enough to grow wherever the seeds are cast.

Get Involved

1. Plant Seed in April. If you live in NYC and want to spend an afternoon scattering seed in April, email 21stcenturyplowshare-at-gmail-dot-com to get on the list of volunteers.

2. The total budget for this project is about $2000. Donate a few dollars by clicking this button:

Every donation over $10 gets you a gift: your own mini-meadow delivered to your door.

3. If you are local business, seed company, landscaper or other interested entity, this event needs corporate sponsorship. Your $100 sponsorship gets your business name mentioned on every single thing that's ever written about the Meadow, your name on all Meadow Schwag, effusive and prominently placed thanks on 21st Century Plowshare and good karma.

4. By the time spring turns to summer and results are visible, you'll be able to buy Meadow Schwag. Schwag will serve three purposes. It will make up any budget deficit that I had to put on my own credit card, fund future projects, and most importantly, raise Meadow Consciousness.

5. Spread the Word. Even if it's the only thing you do, it's big help to tell people about this project and link to this page.

6. Do your own project. Bed Stuy is not the only neighborhood that needs a meadow or similar plant intervention. What should happen to your neighborhood? Email pictures and stories to 21stcenturyplowshare-at-gmail-dot-com.

Rules of Engagement

There will be an organized effort going to every single block and planting seed. But this doesn't have to be a tightly organized event. If you live in Bed Stuy and just want to go make sure your block is covered without being part of the larger effort, I thank you. Please though, for the sake of future efforts, follow two simple rules:

1. No fair throwing seeds on someone else's property, and that includes tree pits that are being tended. Tended tree pits have boxes, fences, signs about dog poop, and other signs that someone cares.

2. No fair planting invasive species. If you have any doubt about your seed, email 21stcenturyplowshare-at-gmail-dot-com and I will give you some.