This project grew out of our Green Design Lab project that was recently highlighted in the Wall Street Journal and elsewhere. Now, the Greenhouse project will be taken to a new level thanks to a Kickstarter campaign that raised over $16,500.

Get your spooky fun on this Friday at BuildItGreen!NYC’s brand-new space in Gowanus, Brooklyn! From 3-6pm, kids can stop by the BIG!NYC/GrowNYC costume swap and trade their old finery for new, plus watch family-friendly Hallowe’en films, do some eco-crafts (Solar One will be making cardboard animal masks), play games and much more!

Then at 7pm, it’s time for more adult fun at BIG’s costume fundraiser. Tickets start at just $10 and are available HERE!

BIG!NYC Costume Swap and Fundraiser
Friday October 28, 2011
Costume Swap at 3pm, Fundraiser at 6pm
69 9th Street, Brooklyn
Get directions HERE!

Sun to Stars returns to Solar One for its 6th season on September 10, 2011 from 2-10 pm [Rain Date September 11]

This year’s performers include: Neel Murgai │ Shobana Ram│Indrajit Roy-Chowdhury│Gaurav Shah│ Parul Shah Dance Company│Malini Srinivasan│ Rujuta Vaidya │Jay Gandhi │Nitin Mitta

Please click on the links above to learn more about the artists!

This year’s Festival will have a special emphasis on children, with special activities for them in the early part of the Festival (2pm-4pm). These activities will include traditional kite and lamp making, coloring South Asian deity puppets, learning to wrap a sari and a special storytelling performance.

Curated by Parul Shah with Reena Shah

Artistic Direction by Tamar Rogoff

Food from Five Star Banquet and Catering

East India Pale Ale from Brroklyn Brewery

For more information about Sun To Stars, click HERE.

Saturday September 10 from 2pm-10pm with special activities for kids from 2pm-4pm

Schedule (subject to change):

2pm Kids Program: Student Performers, Arts & Crafts, Storytelling, Kite Making

4pm Dance Performances: Malini Shrinivasan, Shobana Ram, Parul Shah Dance company, Rujuta Vaidya

6:30pm Music Performances: Neel Murgai, Jay Gandhi & Nitin Mitta, Indrajit Roy-Chowdhury, Gaurav Shah

Sun To Stars Video by Andrew Baker

UPDATE! MORE THUNDERSTORMS SUNDAY NIGHT, DIRT! THE MOVIE CANCELED AGAIN

Please check back here to find out when we might be able to screen DIRT!

Due to thunderstorms on Friday, the screening of DIRT! the Movie has been postponed until TONIGHT Sunday August 21 at 7pm (film will screen around 8:30).

The summer is more than half over, and you know what that means- time for Solar One’s annual Solar-Powered Film Series! As usual, we’ll have 6 programs of (mostly environmental) features and shorts, with a few surprises and special guests thrown in. Also as usual, we’ll be partnering with the always-amazing Green Edge NYC, a social network that helps New Yorkers live more sustainably. This year’s Film Series is also sponsored by Chapin Hill Advisors, a financial planning and wealth management firm with a strong commitment to the environment. We’re excited to welcome them to the Solar One family!

Also new this year: the first week of films deal with the themes of food and urban agriculture, and we’re incredibly excited that the urban farmers of Eagle Street Rooftop Farm will be coming to Solar One and setting up a farm stand where attendees will be able to buy popcorn, snacks and produce grown right across the river in Greenpoint, Brooklyn! Eagle Street is close to Solar One’s heart not only because of their farming venture, but also for Growing Chefs, a great program that teaches schoolkids to not only grow food, but to prepare it as well.

  
Come and meet them on Thursday, Friday and Saturday August 18-20!

And now, more about the first film we’ll be screening- DIRT! the Movie:

From the website:

DIRT! The Movie–directed and produced by Bill Benenson and Gene Rosow–takes you inside the wonders of the soil. It tells the story of Earth’s most valuable and underappreciated source of fertility–from its miraculous beginning to its crippling degradation.

The opening scenes of the film dive into the wonderment of the soil. Made from the same elements as the stars, plants and animals, and us, “dirt is very much alive.” Though, in modern industrial pursuits and clamor for both profit and natural resources, our human connection to and respect for soil has been disrupted. “Drought, climate change, even war are all directly related to the way we are treating dirt.”

DIRT! the Movie–narrated by Jaime Lee Curtis–brings to life the environmental, economic, social and political impact that the soil has. It shares the stories of experts from all over the world who study and are able to harness the beauty and power of a respectful and mutually beneficial relationship with soil.

DIRT! the Movie is simply a movie about dirt. The real change lies in our notion of what dirt is. The movie teaches us: “When humans arrived 2 million years ago, everything changed for dirt. And from that moment on, the fate of dirt and humans has been intimately linked.” But more than the film and the lessons that it teaches, DIRT the Movie is a call to action.

“The only remedy for disconnecting people from the natural world is connecting them to it again.”

What we’ve destroyed, we can heal.

Speaker: Leanne Spaulding, Program Coordinator for the Western Queens Compost Initiative will talk abut the latest in compost initiatives and how YOU can get involved! Find out more about WQCI on their Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/wqnscompost.

You can see trailers and get information about the entire Series HERE, and check back here in the coming days for more details about each program!

Unfortunately and once again, severe thunderstorms are headed straight for us, so we’ll be canceling the screening of Urban Roots tonight. Since we’ll be screening DIRT! on Sunday August 21, we’ll have to see about a rain date for Urban Roots.

URBAN ROOTS!

We’ve all got some urban roots, don’t we? Well, a small group of Detroit natives have discovered that their urban roots, and brought them to the center of a farming revolution! The movie, URBAN ROOTS, directed by Detroit-native Mark McInnis details the powerful story of a small group of unique individuals involved in Detroit’s inner-city agricultural movement.

The documentary from Tree Media (produced by Leila Conners and Mathew Schmid and directed by Mark Mac-Innis) the film follows the urban farming phenomenon in Detroit. Urban Roots is a timely, moving and inspiring film that speaks to a nation grappling with collapsed industrial towns and the need to forge a sustainable and prosperous future.

While it follows the inspiring stories of several agricultural programs, each story in Urban Roots is designed to address a specific issue. Not only are the organizations amazingly productive and emotionally driven, but the people tilling the soil and picking the harvest have fantastic stories to tell!

Speaker: TBA

Anyone Up For A FOOD FIGHT?

When we walk into a supermarket, we assume that we have the widest possible choice of healthy foods. But in fact, over the course of the 20th century, our food system has been co-opted by corporate forces whose interests do not life in providing the public with fresh healthy and sustainably-produced food.

Fortunately, for America, FOOD FIGHT, produced and directed by Christopher Taylor, is here to expose the nation’s tainted, conventional food system. FOOD FIGHT documents the journey of a group of political, anti-corporate, protesters – led by Alice Waters – as they voice their dissent over the conventional food system. The unintended result was the birth of a vital, local, sustainable, organic, food movement that has brought back taste and variety to our tables.

FOOD FIGHT is a fascinating look at how American agricultural policy and food culture developed in the 20th century, and how the California food movement has created a counter- revolution against big agribusiness.

In addition, FOOD FIGHT empowers views to share in this revolution. We have the power through our food choices to put the culture back in American agriculture. We get three votes a day, and they don’t all have to be perfect. But if just one meal is made with a mind to the small farmer, the land, and the environment, then we can all make a huge difference, one meal at a time.

Speaker: Paula Lukats, CSA NYC Program Manager for Just Food
Paula has 15 years of experience working in community and program development in New York City and has helped groups start CSA sites for the last 6 years.

Just Food has been the leader in connecting local farms to NYC neighborhoods and communities since 1995. Our mission is to unite local farms and city residents of all economic backgrounds with fresh, seasonal, sustainably grown food.

UPDATE- We just found out that our friends NYC Beekeeping will be coming with their Observation Hive and some special activities to help kids understand even more about pollinators and their amazing and essential role in our food system. Don’t miss it- RSVP to daisy[at]solar1[dot]org or dina[at]solar1[dot]org today!

UPDATE: Saturday May 21 is SOLD OUT! Tickets are still available for Sunday May 22 at www.crawfishny.org.

A real Louisiana Crawfish Boil on the banks of the East River! Proceeds benefit Kids Need a Melody, dedicated to providing free music classes, instruments and concerts to young children living in the shelter system in New Orleans. Tickets $100, available only in advance at www.crawfishny.org – event will sell out! Rain dates May 28 and 29.

Last Thursday, Solar One partnered with Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Green Screens program to show Carbon Nation, Peter Byck’s climate change solutions documentary. The screening on Thursday was a phenomenal success, with a full house, a great discussion with director Peter Byck, Solar One Executive Director Chris Collins, Solar One Green Workforce Development Director Diallo Shabazz and “green hawk” Dan Nolan. Thanks to everyone who was able to come!

However, if you weren’t able to be there, you can still see Carbon Nation this week at the Cinema Village at 3:30pm and 7pm from now through Thursday February 17. You can get tickets HERE!

After Thursday, Carbon Nation is going on the road, and if you happen to live in one of the following cities, you’re in luck:

Los Angeles, CA- February 18
Austin, TX- February 25
Portland, OR- March 4
Seattle, WA- March 4
San Francisco, CA- March 11

Group tickets are available for the above screenings- please contact Jackie Papier, jackiepapier[at]hotmail[dot]com.

Vanishing of the Bees , 2010, 94 mins

Vanishing of the Bees is a fascinating documentary about the mysterious disappearance of bees from beehives all around the world. The film’s aim is a better understanding of ‘Colony Collapse Disorder’ (CCD), a phenomena in which honey bees abruptly abandon both their queen and brood for reasons as yet not fully known. The situation is dire and only stands to get worse and so, with that in mind, the documentary examines all scientific and environmental links to CCD. Plus a visit from some NYC beekeepers to explain the concepts of urban beekeeping!

Program will begin with a short film from Greener Media.

The 2010 Solar-Powered Film Series is sponsored by Green Mountain Energy.

Trailer for A Road Not Taken

Join students from Unity College, Bill McKibben and 350.org as they ramp up their Put Solar On It campaign for world leaders to install solar panels on the roofs of their official residences on 10/10/10.  And since it’s always good to go looking for your heart’s desire in your own back yard, they’re taking one of the solar thermal panels that used to sit on the White House roof during the Carter and Reagan administrations (Reagan had the panels taken down in 1986) back to DC to ask President Obama to reinstall it as a symbol of his commitment to better renewable energy policy.

In addition to a visit from the panels, we’ll be screening the documentary about the panels A Road Not Taken when the sun goes down. Before that, we may have some speeches or we may not. There will be information on how you can become involved with 350.org and Put Solar On It. Hopefully the weather will be beautiful, so please come on over, bring a little picnic supper and stay for the movie (and some popcorn)!

You can RSVP to dina@solar1.org or via Facebook. And it’s FREE for people of all ages!

Sun To Stars, our annual South Asian festival of food, music and dance, is turning 5, and we’d like you to come to the party!

The festival was inspired by the all-night concerts held along India’s Ganges River where not only are the talents of a wide variety of artists presented, but also a vibrant mix of families, children, couples, friends and random passersby as everyone settles in to relax and enjoy. The Solar One blacktop in front of the stage will be transformed with carpets and pillows into a South Asian seating area, with carpets and pillows for attendees to lounge on. Long Island City’s Five Star Banquet and Restaurant will be serving North Indian fare for $8 a plate; they’re known for their chicken makhani (butter chicken).

This year’s performers include:

A.R. Balaskandan │ Bill Buchen │ Narendra Budhakar │ Jay Gandhi │ Sonali Mishra │ Rohan Mishra │ Nitin Mitta │ Nemanja Rebic │ Indrajit Roy-Chowdhury and more!

Check the Sun To Stars page in the coming weeks to find out what’s new as the Festival approaches!

Volunteer extraordinaire Tom Eccardt serves up handmade mulberry ice cream, made with mulberries grown in Stuy Cove Park, to an enthusiastic crowd at Family Day on June 26. All photos are by Solar One photo intern Maya Cramer.

Tomorrow we’ll be having our second annual creature-themed Family Day,  but in June we had a Family Day that revolved around pollinators and food. We learned about pollinating creatures like bees, moths, flies and butterflies, colored pictures of pollinators and made puppets out of them (this activity is always a hit, and is affectionately known as Bugs-On-A-Stick), sampled sprouts grown from native plants seeds, and best of all, made ice cream without an ice cream maker! Check out the pictures after the jump to find out how we did it! And also a big, heartfelt “Thank You” to Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer for supporting Family Day!

Tom shows examples of pollinators to a rapt audience.

Preparing butterflies to become Bugs-On-A-Stick.

So how did we make the ice cream? The  basic idea came from the fabulous ReadyMade magazine; here’s the link to the original recipe. Instead of Lemongrass-Vanilla, we made 2 flavors using park-grown plants: mulberry and mountain mint chip. We used coffee cans to hold the ingredients, but we couldn’t find any 5-lb coffee cans for the ice, so we used clean plaster buckets instead:

Kicking the cream around under the FDR drive.

Everyone gets in on the action.

The wider top of the plaster bucket made it really easy to kick in a circle, from one person to another. Even in the 90-degree-plus weather that day, it only took about 30 minutes of kicking to form the ice cream. Because the plaster buckets were so big, we could put 2 coffee cans inside, and make our 2 flavors at once!

The results were absolutely delicious! There were many satisfied customers, and you can be sure this is a Family Day activity we’ll be repeating…

Where does our food come from? How do flowers turn into fruits? Which tiny creatures are responsible for the existence of some of our tastiest treats, like almonds, strawberries and oranges? In fact most nuts, fruits and vegetables require animal pollination, or they wouldn’t exist at all!

On Saturday June 26 from 10am-2pm, we’ll be exploring the pollinators in our environment: honeybees, bumble bees, moths and even flies. Come make handmade ice cream using fruits and plants that grow in Stuyvesant Cove Park, sprout a native plant salad to take home, make a watercolor painting or pollinator costume and learn all about the fascinating, tiny helpers that make our food taste so good!

In Stuyvesant Cove Park, 20th Street Entrance
20th Street & the East River
Map & Directions: http://solar1.org/about/map
RSVP to Daisy@Solar1.org

NYU Earth Matters is throwing a party for Earth Day’s 40th birthday, and you’re invited! Check out a fabulous exhibit of eco-art from the NYU community and beyond, eat delicious food from the Dosa Man and check out some exciting live entertainment from MC Andrew WK, Cold Cave, Oberhofer and North Highlands, plus a Special Secret Guest so exciting we won’t be able to reveal their name until Saturday morning!

This event is free and open to the public, rain or shine! We hope to see you there!

The city’s Board of Health has decided to end its decades-long ban on city beekeeping, and allow the honey to flow! Just minutes ago, the AP reported that the movement to legalize bees has succeeded.

Honeybees are non-aggressive, and the very low incidence of bee stings within the city limits convinced the Board to change the rules. Honeybees are great pollinators, and allowing rooftop hives and so forth will be a fantastic boon to the burgeoning urban agriculture movement!

Go bees!

(via Gothamist/AP)

Thurs Sept 17: A Sea Change, 2008, 85 mins.
Fri Sept 18: The Garden, 2008, 80 mins.
Sat Sept 19: Burning In the Sun, 2009, 65 mins.
Rain Date for any of the above: Sun Sept 20

For trailers and descriptions, please visit http://solar1.org/events/film.

Friday September 18th

Short: Hawthorne Valley Farm (from From Elegance to Earthworms)

Feature: The Garden
An Academy Award-nominee, The Garden follows the plight of the farmers who care for a fourteen-acre community garden at 41st and Alameda in South Central Los Angeles. Established to promote healing after the devastating L.A. riots in 1992, the South Central Farmers have since created a miracle farm in one of the country’s most blighted neighborhoods but are now challenged by bulldozers that are poised to level their oasis.

Speakers: Juventino Avila & Stacey Murphy

Juventino Avila, Co-owner and Chef of Get Fresh Table and Market, entered his first professional kitchen in 1995. He began his career as a line cook for Nuevo Latino pioneer Douglas Rodriguez at Patria, which was rated three stars by the New York Times, but received his formal training afterwards at Peter Kump’s School of Culinary Arts (now the Institute of Culinary Education) in New York City. As an instructor at the Institute of Culinary Education [ICE] he had the opportunity to work alongside top chefs like Diana Kennedy and attend seminars with food science writer Harold McGee and the father of molecular gastronomy Hervé This.

Eating exclusively from NYC’s Greenmarkets for two years reconnected Stacey Murphy to food production and led her to question what kind of agricultural was possible in a city as dense as NYC. She entered BK Farmyards in the Buckminster Fuller Challenge as a way to combine all of her passions and envision an urban agricultural system where everyone eats well. She hopes to stimulate new possibilities in our failing food system through partnerships with the city, developers, and homeowners.

In the herb garden just outside of Solar One, we spotted 4 Black Swallowtail caterpillars. The were munching on the seedlings of last years dill plant.

At first glance we thought the caterpillars were Monarch caterpillars only because they are the only caterpillars we ever see in that garden, and from a distance they have similar stripes. But on closer inspection we noticed that they were definitely not Monarch caterpillars, nor were they on the correct host plant. These caterpillars were on our dill plants which are one of the host plants for the Black Swallowtail along with carrots, parsley, Queen Anne’s Lace, and a few other species.

The Black Swallowtail starts its life as a cream colored egg, it then goes through 5 larval instars and then forms its chrysalis (cocoon). After the chrysalis it emerges as an adult Black Swallowtail Butterfly.

The instars are different stages of growth the larva goes through to reach its mature size. The first two instars the larva or caterpillar is brown with a white band in the middle of its body. The following 3 instars the caterpillar is light green with black bands that have yellow dots on them (as shown above). It is the larval stage that these insects do most of their eating, in fact is seems like they never stop!

When the caterpillar enters the pupal stage, the time it forms it’s chrysalis, it begins the process of metamorphosis. This is when it changes shape from a caterpillar to a butterfly. Depending on the time of year the pupal stage can last from 8-12 days (if formed in early summer)  or it can over winter (if formed in late summer) and emerge 8-9 months later. The time of year also determines the color of  the chrysalis;  green in summer brown in winter.

It seems as though we may have to wait till next year to see the beautiful Black Swallowtail butterflies emerge from their chrysalides. In a few days these caterpillars are going to form their chrysalides, they seem to be in the 5th instar now.

Check back with us on our flickr account @ solaronenyc for updated photos of the caterpillars, chrysalides and hopefully the butterflies.

SEPTEMBER 16th: The last in our series of evening walking tours of Stuyvesant Cove Park, will be co-led by NYC Audubon’s Gabriel Willow who will give detailed information about the birds in Stuyvesant Cove Park and how they relate to our native plants.

Refreshments to follow in the park.

TIME: 6 PM

RSVP: melissa@solar1.org