We're very pleased to share the following story from Seedlin, a zine published by Groundcycle, a Care of Chan preferred vendor. Founded in 2020 by Vivian Lin, Groundcycle helps homes, business, and events compost in New York City. The grassroots organization that started during the COVID pandemic has since diverted more than 1 million pounds of organic waste from landfills.

At Vinegar Hill Community Garden, from the garden's sidewalk entrance, there's a path that curves slightly around quince and pomegranate trees, leading to a picnic table nestled at the back. Garden founding member and beekeeper Antonia Lant explains that the organic twists and turns here are intentional. The garden spans only 52 x 48 ft (1/20th of an acre), but upon entering, a sense of curiosity and wonder calls from this patch of greenery.

Fall warblers are perched on the edges of garden beds, bees dance from flower to flower, and an English ivy climbs up the sides of the walls and fences that make up the perimeter. Antonia has seen the garden grow from an empty lot in 2013 to the living, breathing ecosystem of 40 or so community beds it hosts—along with the critters, beehives, and other winged and crawly friends who visit. One special quality of the garden: it has community beds that everyone can help take care of. There’s a waitlist for individual beds since so many people are eager to get their hands dirty, and members can work to “earn” a bed through active involvement in the garden.

This special place is a community rendezvous point for many. Gardeners tend to their onions, leeks, kale and radishes come fall, and harvest lettuces and other leafy greens come spring. In early 2020 when many were isolated, visiting Groundcycle’s compost hub became a Sunday ritual for many in the area—kids, parents, grandparents, partners, friends and solo New Yorkers would stop by to bring their food scraps and say hi to their neighbors. I was introduced to Antonia during one of my first times at the garden, and apart from expecting to see her (or her son Caspar, Vice President of the garden) there—bee suit or not—it's clear how much of the garden she is a part of. She points out that garden beds on the right are all at about a 30° angle to create an angular footpath and catch more sun. It's better than a grid, she muses, which creates sharp edges and less of an ebb and flow. She has an intimate knowledge of which flowers are blooming next as the ones we see start wilting with colder months and decreases in temperature. The tall golden stars of the sunchoke are the last to leave.

I'm curious about the honey she harvests from the bees that she keeps. As if she hadn't thought about it for years, Antonia humbly informs me that the honey I order from the garden via Groundcycle (that I have been eating with my breakfast skyr and stirring into my Darjeeling) was awarded the grand prize in the NYC Honey Week and The American Honey Tasting Society's Best Honey contest in 2015. The aromatic, earthy, fudgy dark honey that she (and her bees) produce is unique not only by character but also by geography. Because the bees cannot cross the East River (too windy), I’d imagine no honey in Manhattan tastes quite like it—especially with all the echinaceas, black-eyed Susans and frilly marigolds that the bees jump between in the garden throughout the year before bringing it back home to their colony. Antonia has been beekeeping for twelve years, and she leads apprentices for those who are interested, passing knowledge to longtime members and newcomers alike. It's a beautiful way to taste flowers growing in our community, while spurring on the pollination of local seasonal produce we all enjoy.

Vinegar Hill Fun Fact: the garden has 8 fruit trees and one white pine! Bees collect tree sap for propolis, a waxy sealant used to build and repair hives.