Backyard and Beyond

Starting out from Brooklyn, an amateur naturalist explores our world.

As John Burroughs said, “The place to observe nature is where you are.”

Newtown Creek

  • Kingsland Wildflower Roof

    When last we visited this Greenpoint wildflower garden, it was right after its opening.Now the first generation of wildflowers sprouting here have emerged, with more blooms to come.Currently, the garden is only open for events. Eric W. Sanderson was talking about Newtown Creek’s history, in the context of the Welikia Project. This is an elaboration of the…

    mthew

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  • Up the Creek

    Twisty estuary: this is a sculptural map of Newtown Creek’s original watershed. The Creek, separating Greenpoint, Brooklyn, from Hunters Point, LIC,Sunnyside, and Blissville, Queens, was long ago renown for its oysters. It’s now a Superfund site, the result of more than a century of industrial pollution. Sections of Greenpoint itself sit on a underground oil…

    mthew