The Kingston Land Trust will host a very special tour of the African-American Burial Grounds in the city of Kingston on Wednesday, August 11th at 2:00pm.  The group will meet at the South Wall Street cemetary and will be led by Kingston Historian Ed Ford, who will take participants through the history of both sites (South Wall and Pine Street).

If your group wishes to participate, please contact Executive Director Rebecca Martin at kingstonlandtrust@gmail.com or, you can call 845/877 – LAND (5263).

About the Mt. Zion African American Cemetary (as per the Kingston, NY Architectural Guide):
This African-American cemetary is scarcely visible from South Wall Street because it is set well back from teh street in a semi-rural setting. LIttle is known about the history of the cemetary, although Gail Schneider discovered a deed dated May 1st, 1840,, between Henry and Ann Houghtaling, parties of the first part, and Richard Peterson, Samuel Brown, and Samuel Beekman, Trustees of teh “Coulered people’s Burying Ground,” parties of the second part. What is apparent is the beauty of the setting, a wooded, elevated tongue of land extending from the cemetary entrance of South Wall Street and providing views down the steep slope towards the Rondout Creek. While smaller than Montrepose and Wiltwyck cemetaries, and lacking the grand monuments and mausolea, Mouth Zion is apparently older. Its landscape features are as appealingly pituresque as those found at Montrepose and Wiltwyck, whih probably were originally intended for the burial of white Kingstonians. Community efforts to remove overgrown nature have revealed numbers of gravestones from the second half of the nineteenth century to the 1980′s, often marking the graves of Civil War and World War Veterens. Some Civil War gravestones were probably lost in May 1918 when vandals took some twenty-six monuments from the graves of Civil War soldiers and hurled them down the embankment, while ruining fifteen other markers. Many in the Kingston community were outraged by this vandalism. Sadly, the graves of most of Kingston’s nine-teenth-century African American population are now unmarked.

Kingston Land Trust Announcement

July 19, 2010

Kingston Land Trust Names Rebecca Martin Executive Director

The Kingston Land Trust named community leader and board member Rebecca Martin executive director of the Kingston, N.Y.-based non-profit, effective immediately. Martin has stepped down from the board of directors of the trust and replaces Arthur Zaczkiewicz , who had served as interim executive director. Zaczkiewicz continues to work as the co-chair of the garden committee.

“As the Kingston Land Trust enters the next phase of its development, I can’t think of anyone better to lead, manage and organize the Kingston Land Trust than Rebecca Martin,” said Steve Noble, chairman and co-founder of the trust.

“Kingston has a rich inventory of public and open space, and it has immense potential in regard to connecting people to the outdoors,” Martin said. “So, I believe the Kingston Land Trust – which is an urban land trust – is well positioned to create exciting educational programs, work to preserve open space, and to continue its leadership role with community gardens. As executive director, I want to help residents rediscover Kingston’s uniqueness as an urban community set in a rural region.”

“Rebecca is an exceptional leader who possesses top-notch organizational skills, which will help take the Kingston Land Trust to its next level of growth,” said Zaczkiewicz, co-founder of the trust.

Martin’s duties will include, but not be limited to: creating a strategy to organize and build a support base for the trust of volunteers and donors; develop, update and enhance the trust’s website; develop a strategic plan for fundraising; and focus on public outreach as well as the trust’s mission.

Some of the Kingston Land Trust’s activities include: leading the creation of community gardens; installing an organic Victory Garden at Kingston City Hall; offering free seedlings to the community, which were grown by city youth; holding a Kingston Ward 9 visioning session as a way to re-imagine a portion of Broadway as a vibrant, sustainable community; launching a city-wide Victory Gardens program; helping feed hungry people via the creation of partnership that culled meat from a whitetail deer management program in the Shawangunks; working with other non profits and governmental agencies on open space planning, environmental and historic preservation matters in Kingston and the Town of Ulster;  and helping organize a city-wide community garden coalition and regional school gardens. Noble and Zaczkiewicz both previously served as interim executive directors. The trust is a recognized 501c3 non-profit and is incorporated in New York State.

For more information or to interview Rebecca Martin or Steve Noble, contact the Kingston Land Trust at 845.877.5263 845.877.5263 or kingstonlandtrust@gmail.com.

About Rebecca Martin:

Rebecca Martin hails from the state of Maine, but now resides and raises her family in the City of Kingston since 2002. A professional musician, Rebecca has made seven critically acclaimed albums (currently signed to Sunnyside Records in New York City) and has performed internationally as well as in the U.S. at notable venues that include Carnegie Hall and The Village Vanguard. As a manager, Rebecca held positions at MTV Networks for many years prior to starting her own production company. As a community leader, she is founder of KingstonCitizens.org, an initiative that encourages civic responsibility and government transparency and accountability. Her recent endeavor, The Kingston Victory Garden Project, produced an organic garden at Kingston City Hall that was launched on Earth Day, 2009. Rebecca was the former chair of the garden committee through the Kingston Land Trust as well as a board member.

About the Kingston Land Trust:

The Kingston Land Trust is a 501c3 non-profit organization committed to the protection and preservation of open space, historic sites, wetlands, scenic areas, and forests in the City of Kingston and the surrounding region to include the Town of Ulster and the Town of Kingston.

The Mission of the Kingston Land Trust:

* Protect and preserve open space * Identify, acquire, hold, and manage, real property as well as employ conservation easements to real property in and around Kingston, N.Y.

* Work with local, state and federal agencies, municipalities and businesses in preserving, protecting and conserving open space, scenic areas, wetlands and historic sites in and around Kingston, N.Y.

* Work with community groups, schools, other non-profits and individuals to bolster the level of appreciation for open space and natural resources as well as the need for conservation efforts.

* Develop educational and outreach programs with the community that relate to the preservation of open space

* Help form and work with community groups involved in community gardens, preservation of parklands and recycling efforts in and around Kingston, N.Y.

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The Healthy Kingston for Kids Project, which aims to reverse childhood obesity in Kingston via environmental and policy change is humming along as the four committees – complete streets, after school food environment, safe routes to schools and parks, and school and community gardens – are busy assessing current policies as well as the overall environment.

For my part, I’ve been working with environmental educator Julie Noble and several volunteers on the HKK school and community gardens work plan. We’ve been meeting with municipal and school officials as well as residents, non-profits and businesses as a way to build support for school and community gardens in Kingston. The idea is to support policies that encourage people and kids to grow veggies, which has shown to reverse obesity.

In May, we launched the Kingston City Gardens Coalition, which held a visioning session to decide the projects volunteers are most interested in. Although slow going, there’s interest in two community gardens: South Pine and the YMCA. The coalition takes a decentralized and consensus-building approach as a way to create long-term sustainability, which is a primary goal of the HKK project. The idea is for each garden to have a steward(s) who rally volunteers and gardeners on a neighborhood level. They would meet regularly and focus their attention on their particular garden.

The garden stewards would then attend the coalition meetings to participate in skill shares, visioning sessions, policy brainstorming sessions, etc. Organizations such as the Kingston Land Trust would then act as resources and support for these garden groups as well as the coalition. Of course this is a process, and takes time to build. Stay tuned for more details as this work progresses.

Meanwhile, in June, I attended a conference with other grantees of the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation (which is funding the HKK project with seed money), and learned that Kingston, in many respects, is ahead of other communities in regard to gardens – particularly with the citywide coalition. Other communities applauded our work, and I’ve been in touch with several other communities in the U.S. to share some of the tactics we engage in here in Kingston.

This past spring, at the “Kids Run Wild” event at Forsyth Nature Center, I worked with other volunteers during a “Paint the Picture” session. Using a variety of art supplies such as markers, paints, brushes, and large pieces of cloth, over 200 participants shared their vision in words and pictures of what they imagined to be a healthy Kingston. The results were amazing. Children painted people recreating on bikes, growing veggie gardens, playing in parks and recycling. There were lots of flowers, suns, trees and happy faces. The leftover art materials were used again during the recent “Make a Difference Day” in Midtown.

Interested in volunteering or having some space to grow a vegetable garden? Email me at zaczkiewiczATyahoo.com.

Last year, with the support of the Garden Committee through the Kingston Land Trust, the children at the Everett Hodge Center started seeds to grow their own food garden. A raised bed was built and added in the front to what they had begun with the Forsyth Nature Center many years ago. The kids became familiar with ‘Kale’ and how delicious it tasted fresh out of the garden.

In 2010, the children with the help of the Rondout House in Kingston successfully placed a fence around their space. Now, the garden has an official boundary to help protect their ‘bounty’ this fall.

All involved did a beautiful job! Kudos.

- RM

The purpose of the coalition is to foster a garden democracy in Kingston that results in the sustainable development of community gardens in Kingston. This initial meeting will serve as a visioning session for the coalition, which will subsequently meet on a monthly basis. Possible goals and activities of this first meeting include: sharing resources and ideas; creating garden skill shares; holding teach-ins and dialogues on food security, local food and direct democracy; coordinating support for each other’s community gardens; and working to shape the policy of community gardens in the City of Kingston and beyond; among other initiatives.

“For thousands of years we have grown food together, creating community and culture alongside healthy food,” said Valeria A. Gheorghiu, a Kingston-based environmental attorney and food justice advocate who is facilitating the meeting on May 20. “It’s time to bring back these traditions through city gardens not just to grow local food for all people, but also to build community by reconnecting with the earth.”

“Organizing around our gardens will foster greater civic participation,” Gheorghiu  explained. “As we create a long-term vision, social and policy improvements necessary for food justice, we may naturally address other community needs as they arise. Let’s ask ourselves: What can we bring to the table, other than food?”

Currently, there are about 15 community and school gardens in Kingston, and several more proposed. If you participate in any of these gardens, would like to create a new garden or just want to participate in this movement, please consider attending the meeting. Supporting members of the coalition include representatives from the Kingston Land Trust Garden Committee, Master Gardeners from Cornell Cooperative Extension Ulster County, Kingston City Schools, Bard College, and others, including, hopefully, you!

For more information, please contact Valeria A. Gheorghiu at valerialexia@gmail.com or by leaving a message at 845.877.5263

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Reunión de la Coalición Ciudad Jardín Conjunto de 20 de mayo

Sea parte de una democracia jardín. Haga crecer su comida y su comunidad.

Los residentes, grupos comunitarios, sin fines de lucro, líderes comunitarios y cualquier persona que está creando o quiere crear jardines comunitarios en Kingston, así como dar forma a su política se anima a asistir a una reunión para formar una “Ciudad Jardín de la Coalición”, el jueves, 20 de mayo 2010, 6 pm en el Pabellón de Kingston Park Point. Los asistentes pueden traer una merienda de picnic potluck. La reunión se llevará a cabo llueva o truene.

El propósito de la coalición es promover una democracia jardin en Kingston que los resultados en el desarrollo sostenible de los jardines de la comunidad en Kingston. Esta reunión inicial servirá como una sesión de la visión de la coalición, que posteriormente se reunirá en forma mensual. posibles objetivos y actividades de esta primera reunión son: compartir recursos e ideas, la creación de acciones jardín habilidad; explotación Teach-ins y el diálogo sobre la seguridad alimentaria, los alimentos locales y la democracia directa, el apoyo a la coordinación de los jardines comunitarios de cada uno, y el trabajo para dar forma a la política de los jardines comunitarios en la ciudad de Kingston y más allá, entre otras iniciativas.

“Durante miles de años hemos crecido juntos los alimentos, la creación de comunidad y la cultura junto con la alimentación saludable”, dijo Valeria A. Gheorghiu, un abogado ambientalista Kingston basada en la justicia y defensor de los alimentos que está facilitando la reunión del 20 de mayo. “Es hora de traer de vuelta esas tradiciones a través de jardines de la ciudad no sólo para producir alimentos locales para todas las personas, sino también para construir una comunidad volviendo a conectar con la tierra.”

“Organizar una vuelta por nuestra jardines fomentará una mayor participación ciudadana”, explicó Gheorghiu. “A medida que crear una visión a largo plazo, las mejoras sociales y políticas necesarias para la justicia de alimentos, naturalmente podemos abordar otras necesidades que puedan surgir. Vamos a preguntarnos: ¿Qué podemos traer a la mesa, además de alimentos? “

En la actualidad, hay cerca de 15 comunidades y los huertos escolares en Kingston, y varias propuestas más. Si usted participa en cualquiera de estos jardines, desea crear un nuevo jardín o simplemente quieres participar en este movimiento, por favor considere asistir a la reunión. Apoyo a los miembros de la coalición incluyen a representantes de la Kingston Land Trust Jardín Comité, Jardineros Maestros de Extensión Cooperativa de Cornell Condado de Ulster, escuelas de la ciudad de Kingston, Bard College, y otros, entre ellos, con suerte, tú!

Para obtener más información, póngase en contacto con Valeria A. Gheorghiu en valerialexia@gmail.com o dejando un mensaje en el 845.877.5263

Jesica Pascual, volunteer garden manager of the City Hall Victory Garden, will lead a free workshop to on square foot gardening one Saturday, April 17 from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. The garden is located on the west side of City Hall, which is located on Broadway across from the Kingston High School.

The workshop is designed for anyone looking to learn square foot, or French intensive gardening, which allows gardeners to grow the maximum amount of vegetables in the minimum amount of space and is perfect for backyard (or front yard!) gardens. Square foot gardening is the method being used this year at the City Hall site as a way to encourage residents to grow their own food.

“Using this method, it is also easy to incorporate beautiful flowers and landscaping elements such as trellising and decorative borders,” Pascual said adding that she will cover the basics in setting up a garden plot, planning out the space and where to get high-quality ingredients for soil as well as seeds and transplants.

At the end of the workshop there will be a short swap and share session where fellow gardeners can swap seeds and share resources – so please bring your extra or leftover seeds.

For more information, contact the Kingston Land Trust at Kingstonlandtrust@yahoo.com.

Pia and Chloe in the thick of it.

Students from the Woodstock Day School helped clean up the grounds at the historic Senate House recently as part of a community service program organized by the school and coordinated with the Kington Land Trust.

The students raked leaves, cleared out garden beds and prepared the grounds for the spring season.

A pile of leaves grow.

Learn how to improve your gardening skills in a real garden classroom! Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County’s (CCEUC) Master Gardener Program is very pleased to announce a new workshop series which is set to begin in April 2010.

The “Learning in the Garden” workshop series is a hands-on approach to explain the principles of gardening and will take place on the third Saturday of each month, from  April through October, at the Xeriscape Garden at Ulster County Community College located in Stone Ridge. 

Each month there will be a specific topic discussed and demonstrated by Master Gardener volunteers as the garden moves through the season. Master Gardeners will be on hand from 9:00am to 12:00pm working in the garden and available for general questions.  A short lecture and demonstration will take place at each workshop at 10:00am.  No pre-registration is needed and all sessions are FREE. All workshops will take place rain or shine.

2010 Learning in the Garden Workshop Schedule

April 17:  Waking up your Garden – What to do to get your garden ready for the upcoming season: cutting back grasses, removing debris, taking stock of the situation.

May 15:  Adding Summer Color – Filling in the holes; planting annuals and cutting back perennials to prolong summer bloom.

June 19: Conserving Water through Mulching – How to apply mulch, what types to use. 

July 17: Weeding and edging – How to weed (what to worry about with various types of weeds) and edge your beds.

August 21: Deer Damage – Taking stock of what damage the deer have done and what methods were undertaken to limit the destruction.

September 18: Extending the Season – How to extend the beauty of your garden, removing and adding plants to extend the season, what to clean up now.

October 16: Putting your Garden to Bed – What to prune and pull out now before the cold sets in. 

The Xeriscape Garden is an interactive teaching tool in the selection of heat tolerant, water-wise plants, integrated pest management and alternative landscaping techniques.

For more information about CCEUC community programs and events call  845-340-3990 or visit us online at www.cceulster.org or follow us on www.facebook.com

Friends,
 
The Kingston Land Trust has partnered with The Hudson Valley Seed Library’s new program “Green$eeds”. If you buys seeds or other products from the Hudson Valley Seed Library website, 25% of the purchase will be dedicated to us by writing “KLT” as the Green$eeds Code when you check out.
 
www.seedlibrary.org
 
These donations will allow us to continue to support gardening and land preservation in the Kingston community!
 
If you have any questions about this program or the Kingston Land Trust, feel free to send me an email.
 
Please share this email with your friends and family!
 
 
Happy Growing!
 
-Steve
 
Chair, Kingston Land Trust, Inc.