A Bike Made of Bamboo?

This past Sunday, Washington (former J.J. Byrne) Park was the setting for Brooklyn's first annual Bike Jumble, a bicycle flea market.

Sean Murray, a staffer for Bamboo Bike Studio in Red Hook, was at the Bike Jumble, showing his bikes made out of bamboo. The bamboo comes from Long Island and is a sustainable alternative to the traditional titanium.

Click here to read the full story about Murray and the Bike Jumble by Eagle writer Caitlin McNamara.

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Fix Your Leaky Faucet

A faucet that drips slowly when turned off can waste 20 gallons of water a day. That's 140 gallons a week, and that's just a slow drip.

So don't take a leaky faucet lightly!

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Squash Seed From Thomas Jefferson Makes Its Way to Brooklyn

As it turns out, not all of Thomas Jefferson’s seeds are controversial. Saturday, one Brooklyn community gardener will take home squash seeds descended from a squash Jefferson planted in the 1800s, as part of the Vegetable Starts Seed Giveaway held by the New York Restoration Project (NYRP).

Jason Sheets, regional director of Brooklyn gardens at NYRP, had the idea for a seed giveaway and first implemented it last year. This Saturday, gardeners from the community will converge on Target Community Garden in Bed-Stuy (below) to collect some of the 2,000 heirloom vegetable seeds donated to NYRP for the giveaway.

Heirloom seeds, Sheets said, are “seeds that have been around for years and years,” handed down for generations. They’re better in many ways than hybrid seeds you see in garden centers today, because they produce vegetables that “are better tasting, have a historical context and are open pollinated,” he explained. For a vegetable to be open pollinated means that its seeds can be harvested, as opposed to hybrid vegetables, which have sterile seeds.

“More and more people over the last 10 years have been embracing hybrids because they have built-in disease resistance,” Sheets said. This has brought about the near extinction of many heirloom vegetable plants.

Fortunately, heirloom seeds have become popular in recent years, no doubt helped by the efforts of Amy Goldman, chair of the board of the Seed Savers Exchange, an organization dedicated to “preserving the world’s diverse but endangered heirloom seeds,” she said.

“I have devoted my life to the preservation of our vegetable heritage,” Goldman said. She donated the seeds for Saturday’s giveaway to NYRP, because she wants to educate “this new generation of farmers and gardeners.”

The selection of seeds that will be given out were determined by the gardeners themselves. Sheets said NYRP held a gardener’s gathering in March where community gardeners reserved the heirloom seeds they wanted in their garden.

In case some gardeners aren’t comfortable growing the vegetables from seeds, Sheets will have some seedlings, or vegetable starts, available. These were propagated by Landcraft Environment and will be given away Saturday.

Vegetable starts and seeds will be organic, untreated and not genetically engineered. Types will range from tomatoes, carrots, corn and herbs. Sheets said that an heirloom seed might yield a purple tomato. He hopes that in future years, he will be able to open seed giveaways to the public.

Sheets calls Goldman, an avid gardener who has published many books on the subject, the “queen of heirloom vegetables.”

“We want to get people out there gardening and growing their own food,” Goldman said. “We’re putting seeds in the hands of farmers and gardeners where they belong.”

Jefferson photo courtesy of whitehouse.gov, garden photo courtesy of the New York Restoration Project.

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Windsor Terrace Cohousing May Have Greenest Building in NYC

Eagle writer Linda Collins reports:

This week, Brooklyn Cohousing members decided unanimously — by consensus — to create their new home in Windsor Terrace as a low energy, environmentally friendly building.

“I think this is pretty big news. The decision was unanimous,” said spokesperson Alex Marshall, a founding member. “The consultants working on the project say it would be the most energy efficient building in New York City.”

The method of construction the group has adopted is called “Passive House” or, as it is known in Germany where it originated, “PassivHaus.”

According to Marshall, it involves a set of techniques resulting in a nearly air-tight building that simultaneously is supplied with clean, fresh air. Often heating and air conditioning is unnecessary beyond minimal levels, he said, and energy use can be a tenth of ... read more.

Rendering by Levenson McDavid Architects

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Can You Go Without Take-Out for 3 Months?

The Brooklyn Green Team has posted their lasted eco-challenge: the No Take-Out Challenge. For three months, participants will eat no take-out, which is defined as delivery or going to a restaurant and taking your left-overs home. For more information, plus helpful tips and encouragement, click here.

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Table Is Chair And Vice Versa; How BADA Can That Be?

Have you ever had guests over to your home and wanted to maximize seating, but your table was in the way? Or during a dinner party, did you ever wish you had more table space and fewer chairs? Do you need a chair and a table, but your living room doesn’t have room for both?

The answer to these questions (and any others involving a choice between a table and a chair) is the BADA table, just launched by green design firm EcoSystems. It’s a table that transforms into a chair — a love seat or bench, more appropriately — by inserting a credit card into two slits in the side, unlocking a piece of the table that flips over to become the seat.

Made from FSC-certified wood, the BADA table also represents sustainability because it’s a way of conserving space and resources — using less, but getting more. It was previewed at BKLYN DESIGNS, where it was awarded “Best in Show” by green design blog Inhabitat.

EcoSystems has its headquarters — and manufacturing operation — based out of 33 Flatbush Ave., a building populated by start-up businesses sharing space in three different co-working initiatives: Treehouse (managed by EcoSystems), Green Spaces and MEx.

Andrew Personette (pictured above right), co-founder (along with Matt Tyson — pictured above center — and Pablo Souto) and executive director of EcoSystems, says the BADA table (below) is “a symbol of the collaboration going on at the building.” It’s based on an antique that building owner Al Attara (pictured above center) acquired 25 years ago that’s actually 125 years old, Personette said.

BADA stands for “Brooklyn Arts and Design Arena,” he noted, a name that refers to the building itself. The table, which can function as a desk, dining table or a seat, was designed so that it could “possibly be the only piece of furniture you own,” Personette said.

While the table isn’t available for purchase yet, it will be in the next few months, he explained, along with a new line of furniture, dubbed the “Snug-it!” collection. Recyclable aluminum hardware and FSC certified plywood (that has no VOCs) make up the Snug-it! line, designed to be totally user-friendly.

EcoSystems has designed several different pieces in the Snug-it! collection: a Snug-it! desk, a Snug-it! shelving unit and a Snug-it! entertainment center.

Personette said that the Snug-it! collection is about “creating an easy user experience — making it fun and simple to have something beautiful and sustainable.”

Sustainability has always been a key factor in EcoSystems’ designs. One of their previous pieces, the BAMBA chair (right), is eco-friendly from start to finish. Made from bamboo, a rapidly renewable resource, the seat, back and arms of the chair are cut from the sides and pack into each other for shipping, minimizing waste.

The chair requires no tools for assembly and the cushions are made from recyclable, organic materials. “You can recycle the hardware in regular aluminum recycling,” Personette told the Eagle. “And the rest of the chair is compostable.” EcoSystems will even pick up the product after its first life to recycle or reclaim the materials — green from start to finish.

For more information about EcoSystems, visit www.ecosystemsbrand.com. Also check out the sites for Inhabitat, Treehouse, MEx and Green Spaces.

All photos courtesy of EcoSystems

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Get Fresh Market and Eatery in Park Slope

Pictured here from Get Fresh Market and Restaurant in Park Slope, left to right, are Lindsay Wolff, culinary intern; server Alana Sweetwater; and Juventino Avila, chef and owner of the food market/eatery.

Get Fresh is an eco-friendly business, “the ingredients are sourced locally as much as possible and they’re organic and sustainable as much as possible," said Wolff.

Avila said he opened Get Fresh as a market a year ago, but opened the restaurant portion in January of this year.

I met and chatted with Wolff, Sweetwater and Avila at BAM for Brooklyn Uncorked last week. Read more about the event, held by magazine Edible Brooklyn, here.

Get Fresh is at 370 Fifth Ave. in Park Slope. Visit www.getfreshnyc.com for more info.

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