A recreation van was on hand to provide games for our young volunteers. Children helped rebuild the mulch in the Monarch Butterfly Garden then played a game of checkers. Mulch is important for our Monarch Butterfly Garden’s health. It helps retain moisture in the soil. Mulch adds organic material for microorganisms and worms to consume. As they breakdown the mulch nutrients are added to the soil. Worms attracted by the nutrients aerate the soil and leave casings that nourish roots. The Monarch habitat is just beginning to blossom with purple Catmint (Scientific/Botanic name Nepeta faassenii).

Friends of Brower Park in Partnership with the NYC Parks Department and community volunteers did Brower Park spring cleaning. Volunteers raked leaves, to add them to the compost bins.  It took many shovels to turn the leaves. Plant beds were cleared of trash and the soil turned. As we worked we were surrounded by over 2000 FOBP community planted daffodils. Information about Butterfly Gardening, the Adopt-a-Tree program (for Brower Park trees, and the trees on your block) and the NYC Tree Census Project was distributed. Friends of Brower Park is participating in the TreesCount initiative. You can join the Friends of Brower Park group and help us reach our tree counting goals. We have a large area to count: Kingston Avenue to Franklin and Empire Blvd to Atlantic Avenue.

Monarch Butterfly Inventions at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum – Earth Week April 2015

Visitors to the Brooklyn Children’s Museum during the museum’s Earth Week celebration colored Monarch Butterflies, invented a Monarch Butterfly Metamorphosis card game and made an animated booklet of the Monarch’s transformation from a caterpillar (larva) to a adult butterfly.

https://friendsofbrowerpark.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/FOBP-Web-Post-BCM-Earth-Weekweb.png