Plummania... It's the time for beach plums out at Canarsie in the Jamaica Bay wildlife refuge. I've been going there for about fifteen years to harvest the small reddish-blue astringent fruits. They taste like a cross between a cranberry and a plum. When the harvest is good, I have enough beach plum jelly to serve at Thanksgiving Dinner with the bird, alongside fresh cranberry-raspberry relish. The jelly is gone by Christmas, but if the harvest is good, we have beach plum shrub spiked with vodka and ginger ale. Beach Plum shrub is also good in seltzer or in sweet and sour sauces. Last year, 2004, was not a good year for beach plums. I didn't get out to Canarsie until Labor Day, and only found one lone beach plum. A friend of mine called to report that she had gone earlier and had found only a few plums. The natural cycle of beach plums alternates between good and sparse years. Every five years or so they have a prodigious year, yielding a huge crop of succulent plums - enough for jelly, shrub, preserves, and some to freeze. This year was average, but the fruits were very small, only about an inch wide, which is a pain because they have big plum pits. To get out to Canarsie Pier, take the L train from 14th street. Emerging from the tunnel in mid Brooklyn, the train travels over the highest point in the 'subway" system, soaring 200 feet at Broadway Junction over the "A" and "J" line stops. Looking out from the train, it is at eye level with a nearby seven story building. The next stop, Atlantic avenue, is equally high, and as you move on to the next stop at Sutter you can look down into junk yards where giant cranes lift up cars and trucks, placing them into crushing machines. The crushed up metal is taken on a conveyor belt over to the next yard and fed into a noisy shredding machine which spits out metal nibs onto a blackish pile. Descending, the train is at street level by the last stop. Busses meet the train inside the train stop, no fare necessary, to continue the trip. Although the buses travel under the Brooklyn Queens Expressway (BQE) directly to Canarsie pier, there is no bus stop directly at the pier. Instead, travelers must get off a block away at the bus stop and walk to the pier. Cross the BQE exit ramp( there is a signal), walk under the BQE and then cross the BQE enter ramp ( there is no signal- watch carefully) in order to get to the pier and wildlife area. Once you have navigated these dangers, you'll find a large pier and a picnic area. Forget them - unless you like large expanses of concrete and parked cars. The little restaurant is usually closed, but people like to gather there to promenade. Old guys hang out along the fringes of the pier fishing. I saw a kid last year catching crabs in a trap by the defunct restaurant, and a 40'ish guy with sideburns was putting on his own DJ radio type show by the restrooms, with strong interference from the younger set. To find beach plums, Face the pier, turn left, and walk on the bike/jogging path along the expressway. You'll see a line of wildly inappropriate Arbor Vitae ( a columnar evergreen which prefers slightly acid soil) ) which is turning brown. Walk to the end of the line of dying evergreens and then lurch into the brush. The beach plums are on small shrub like trees or bushes with oval leaves. Look carefully for the small purple plums, they are overgrown this year with vines (maybe I'll take a trip out there next spring for some vine removal) After you spot a few, your eyes learn what to look for, and it gets easier to spot them. I quickly picked a pail full and then, since it was low tide, wandered out on the beach to enjoy the sky and watch the birds. A family was quietly fishing nearby, hip deep in the water, dressed in their bathing suits Working my way back up through the brush onto the pathway, I navigated the peril of the double BQE ramps to the bus stop. Getting on the bus, the fare box registered "transfer" on my Metro card. A cool one fare round trip between Manhattan and Canarsie Pier if you clock back onto the bus within 2 hours of your start time.

Swimming in New York...It was 95 in the shade when I got out of court today, so I rushed out to Far Rockaway for a swim. Ernie, who works mostly weekends as a church organist, joined me on the long air conditioned ride to the beach. When we got there it was blisteringly hot, with only the slightest breeze coming from offshore to promise relief. We spread our blanket ( actually my orange Halloween tablecloth) on a promising stretch between two jetties near the water where the breeze was strong. The water was green and glaucous with bits of seaweed churning in the waves like torn up bits of salad. The surf was pretty high with some waves over my head and it was cool and exciting tumbling in the waves. You couldn't go past waist deep to swim because the lifeguards were double teamed on the whistles, herding the people into a little patch of water directly in front of their chair. There have been a couple of unnecessary drownings in the papers this summer so they are super vigilant, guarding their reputations. Rockaway is like New York's secret beach. It's so big that it is never very crowded, and you can get there by train. Change for the shuttle at Beachchannel, and the subway lurches right on a concrete subway viaduct when it reaches Rockaway. After a few stops, it comes to the end of the line at ground level. The exit is in an old shopping district, and a couple of short blocks away is the beach, which spreads out for miles on either side. It's a world class beach at the end of the "A" line. The place I really want to swim is in the Hudson. Most evenings I take a bike ride down into Riverside park and ride along Cherry Walk, the path between 98th street and 125th streets, by the water. The Parks Department has put giant rip-rap along the water, and some of the large pieces of rock jut right out into the water. On hot evenings it would be nice to climb down and sit on one of those rocks - to take off my sandals and dangle my feet in the river, and then, as the sun sets, slide down into the water for a swim.

Speer's Toothpick.. Today the paper of record carried a couple of stories about the new design for the "Freedom Tower" in downtown Manhattan. The minute people start talking about building monuments to freedom I get nervous. Generally, governments that build monuments to abstract concepts, like freedom, are actively engaged in taking it away from us and giving us the freedom tower as a tombstone.Appropriately, the proposed monument looks like something from the drawing board of Albert Speer, Hitler's architect. The best monument to freedom in this country is the law and impartial administration of justice and the rights it preserves and protects. Rights that this administration feels less and less compelled to uphold, and laws that it feels are outdated impediments to its imperial power. How can there be justice without a government that is bound by law? How ca n there be freedom without justice? Meanwhile, let's name that building downtown something else. How about WTC2?

U.S.C. TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 47 § 1001. (a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, WHOEVER, in any matter within the jurisdiction of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the Government of the United States, knowingly and willfully— (1) falsifies, conceals, or covers up by ANY trick, scheme, or device a material fact; (2) makes any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation; or (3) makes or USES any false writing or document knowing the same to contain any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or entry; shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both. (b) Subsection (a) does not apply to a party to a judicial proceeding, or that party's counsel, for statements, representations, writings or documents submitted by such party or counsel to a judge or magistrate in that proceeding. (c) With respect to any matter within the jurisdiction of the legislative branch, subsection (a) shall apply only to— (1) administrative matters, including a claim for payment, a matter related to the procurement of property or services, personnel or employment practices, or support services, or a document required by law, rule, or regulation to be submitted to the Congress or any office or officer within the legislative branch; or (2) any investigation or review, conducted pursuant to the authority of any committee, subcommittee, commission or office of the Congress, consistent with applicable rules of the House or Senate.

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Taking up space. The building next door to our garden needs to repoint their brickwork and wants to close one our 90th Street Garden gate and a quarter of the Public area 8 am-4 pm weekdays for about three weeks during the work. We found out about the scope of the project a scant three weeks before the beginning of our annual Tulip show. A large part of the Tulip display would have been in the closed off area. After a meeting at the Garden, the building agreed not to begin the project until later. So now we're negotiating for August dates and we would like them to contribute a sum of money to pay for new plants plus an amount to reimburse us for the loss of use of a quarter of our Public area Monday through Friday during the work. The building points out that if we were just another building they would not be expected to put up any money for stepping on our roof top, and any damage would be paid out of their insurance. They are right, but we are not a roof top. We are a Garden which can't wait several months for insurance to pay for lost plants and trees and shrubs. At this point, they have pretty much agreed to a small sum to replace lost plantings. It's the lost use of public space that is giving us problems. It's a hard concept. We are open daily, and the 90th Street gate and area to be closed during the work is the most accessible for the handicapped. Many disabled people come to the Garden every day, many pushed in wheelchairs or helped along by their Aides. They will not go around the block to the 89th Street Gate, they will just go someplace else, and after being turned away a couple of times many will stop coming to the Garden for this season. So what is the value of that? I'm having a hard time convincing the building that public access and public use of the space has value. I can point out that we will lose donations, but even that is hard to quantify. Our Corporate purpose, covenants running with the deed, and agreements with the City of New York all mandate that two thirds of the Garden be open to the public daily except during icy conditions. So what is the loss of a quarter of our Public Space worth? What is the worth to the 50 or so people who cannot walk around the block to a more inaccessible Gate, and how do we make the loss up to them? What is the value of the loss of pass-through egress to the hundreds of people that walk through the Garden daily on their way to work, or as a pleasant short cut while running errands? What is the value of open space to the public in a City anyway?

It takes a village to support a Garden... Well I've been distracted for the past month with our annual Garden benefit. The Garden needs about $30,000 a year to operate and maintain. We only charge $15 yearly dues, and $25 for members with vegetable plots, so you can see there is a constant fundraising component built into our continued existence. What does the money go for? Well there's utilities... right now Con Ed is charging us over 200 a month to light four lights. Then there's the tools, Newsletter costs, insurance, soil amendments, greenhouse supplies, plants and perennials that we buy, our annual picnics, the Arts Festival, and of course the costs of raising money. Finally, there is maintenance. Plumbing ( always a headache) brickwork at our gates, iron work on our railings and fences, sidewalk patching, doors to the two toolsheds, locks, keys, etc.etc.etc. We're open daily to the public so everything has to be maintained top notch. No one in the organization gets paid, but we have to pay our plumbers, ironworkers, and other craft people. Anyway, we raise money from grants- (too many to list here) booksales, neighborhood supporters and the annual benefit. It helps to be in an affluent neighborhood on the upper west side of Manhattan with good restauraunts nearby that donate food. Our members also make fabulous dishes- stuffed pork loin, shrimp appetizers with endive, spiral cut ham with plumsauce, asparagus with proscuitto, cakes and cookies. About 25 Garden members worked on the benefit this year- everything from setting lanterns the morning of the event, and working the food prep tables to designing the invitations in February. and inviting local officials and celebrities to be a part of our "Benefit Committee and Supporters" in January. Any way it's over, the garden is beautiful- and we can look forward now to our Shakespeare in the Garden Performances in July and August. Check out the website, westsidecommunitygarden.org for pictures of the Garden, membership forms and the latest schedule and coverage of events, and thanks to everyone who worked on this excellent Midsummer Revel.

Lucky tree...Last week we noticed ominous lines of pencil sized holes in the bark of a large poplar on the southern border of our Garden on 89th Street. The tree was already large when the West Side Community Garden was established in 1975, and survived the various building cycles which resulted in a neighboring townhouse development and the landscaping of our permanent Garden site. The Poplar tree was almost a goner when lightning struck it in August 1988. It survived, and now bears a long pale vertical scar along the north side of its trunk, as a reminder of the summer storm. Tom Thies, head of our Flower and Greenhouse regiments, noticed the holes first and alerted me during a walkthrough last Wednesday with some of our funders and supporters. Heavy hearted, I called 311 after the visitors left, and asked for the Asian Longhorn Beetle hotline. The young man manning the line is part of the Parks Department, and we went over the specifics of location and types of nearby trees. The beetles not only enjoy Poplar, they also would like our Birch trees, Plum and Crab Apple trees. I didn't think to ask him about the airy Sappora trees that shade the table or the rare Tibetan Cedars. While I was on the line I also checked the other Poplar tree in the property, located on the border of the vegetable garden and the 90th Street playground.. That tree is very large and grand and probably the largest tree below 110th outside of Central and Riverside Parks. It has no holes. Going back to the 89th Street Poplar, the hotline guy asked me to take a pencil or pen and see if it fit into the holes, and to check their depth. The tree looked healthy and our garden Mockingbird twittered in the branches as I approached. The holes were about a third of an inch deep. There was no sawdust about. The hotline mentioned there is also a possibility the holes are from birds, and promised to send an inspection crew out to look things over as soon as possible. This morning I heard again from Tom, who had contacted our regular tree pruning guys to come and take a look. They tell us it is highly likely that the holes were drilled by Yellow Sapsucker birds dropping by for a snack on their way north this spring. Keep your fingers crossed... lucky tree.

Memories of Buffalo... The recent stories about the Buffalo Fireman who regained his memory , and the proposed sainthood of Father Baker brought back memories of second grade back at PS 68 on Westminster Avenue in Buffalo. The ultimate threat from a teacher - even in public school- was " if you're not good we'll send you to Father Bakers." Father Bakers was widely known in Buffalo children's culture as a correctional orphanage for bad boys. The threat had teeth, because we all knew that parents who had too much to handle could make arrangements to ship an errant son off to Father Bakers. Big boys in the neighborhood working on their cars in the back yard would regale us with tales of deprivation and whippings at Father Bakers. Once a year the Buffalo Courier Express featured a story about the yearly Christmas party at the orphanage, with pictures of thin little tykes getting toys, and the older boys getting socks. It was said the boys slept in dormitories, and wore hand me downs. We'd make fun of kids in the playground by saying they got their clothes from Father Bakers. Now that time has padded some distance on the Father Baker story - and a symbol of terror from my childhood is being exalted. What else is weird is seeing the "Our Lady of Victory Basilica " getting press. Our Lady of Victory Basilica is a huge Italianate over- the- top structure on the border between Buffalo and Lackawanna. Originally built in white marble, pollution from the steel plants and factories turned it bright yellow. The whole area was engulfed in a horrible stink from sulfide gas. The nearby Buffalo river was so polluted that it caught on fire. The surrounding Lackawanna and South Buffalo neighborhoods consisted of workers hovels - A cheap two story wood frame house built in the twenties would have a tunnel of two or three tiny shack like houses built on the back of each other, extending into the back yard and filling the entire lot. The area was so low class that nice people ignored the Basilica as a sort of a Folly. My father would take the route past it on the way to the beach when the lake road was blocked with traffic, and occasionally we would visit the South Park Conservatory and Gardens located across the street. When the steel plants and factories went out of business, the smell abated and people rediscovered the Basilica on Buffalo's south side as a pilgrimage destination. The trip is actually enjoyable, and you can get world class "Beef on Weck" while you're there.