What is permaculture?
I had to look in the dictionary for this one. Permaculture: “An agricultural system or method that seeks to integrate human activity with natural surroundings so as to create highly efficient self-sustaining ecosystems.”
Who knew? I’d never even heard the term permaculture before I met Claudia Joseph two weeks ago. But for years now, Joseph has been hard at work bringing permaculture to Park Slope.
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Joseph is currently the Environmental Education Director of the as well as the President of the Board of Directors of the Garden of Union, fittingly on Union Street. In other words, if there is an official gardener of Park Slope, meet Claudia Joseph.
After a career of training horses, she now spends her time practicing and teaching permaculture. When she moved to Park Slope from California more than a decade ago, Joseph headed straight to her local community garden. At the Garden of Union, she planted seeds in order to, quite literally, “Put down roots” in the neighborhood, said Joseph.
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The Garden of Union, a lovely and lively green oasis between Fourth and Fifth Avenues, is home to 200 members. Membership comes with planting and harvesting privileges, but many more neighbors simply come to enjoy the space.
But for Joseph, the Garden is much more than just a pretty space.
“[Community gardens] improve neighborhoods on every level,” says Joseph. “Plants beautify, help keep trash at bay, hold water in the landscape so that it does not overwhelm our storm drain system, add oxygen and reduce particulate matter in the air," she explained. "Even though Park Slope is a great neighborhood with plenty of trees, it can get better.”
Since 2004, Joseph has also been working with Old Stone House Executive Director Kimberly Maier to cultivate several gardens around the historic property. The gardens feature medicinal and flowering plants, herbs and fruits and vegetables routinely employed during Dutch Colonial times.
“Connecting plants and people through the lens of history, allows us to understand the vital relationship between plants and human health and wellbeing,” Joseph said.
As a result of the recent construction at J.J. Byrne Playground, these gardens have been relocated behind the Old Stone House, but continue to thrive and beautify the neighborhood. Once the renovations are complete, the gardens will be expanded.
Joseph also regularly offers gardening lectures and demonstrations in urban permaculture through the Old Stone House. But Joseph also offers less formal instruction. On a recent Saturday, she was in the garden tutoring a volunteer about the best way to prune and harvest Jerusalem artichokes.
Joseph has also partnered with local public schools, especially MS 51, to develop school gardens and foster environmental curriculum. She is also behind the Compost-O-Rama at the Old Stone House, an annual festive event held the weekend after Halloween (this year it's on November 6) where neighbors can come compost their pumpkins.
Whatever she’s doing, though, Claudia Joseph’s passion for agriculture, nature and the Park Slope community are the unifying thread.
“Community gardens are always a good idea,” Joseph said. “Gardens are a social [unifier], bringing together diverse groups of people who might otherwise not meet. Gardens develop stewardship and team-building skills while providing fresh air and exercise. They improve neighborhoods on every level.”
Skeptical that a garden can really do all that?
One day soon, duck out of the Park Slope fray and into one of Joseph’s many urban oases and you’ll see for yourself exactly what she means.
