No, no, no! The animals will not be playing bluegrass music and you can forget any jokes about banjos and monkeys.
The weekends of September 12-15 and the 19th will see four HVBA Member Bands entertaining huge crowds at the re-opening of the Bronx Zoo, Children’s Zoo.
The bands are:
- Blue Plate Special: September 12
- Too Blue: September 13
- R.J. Storm & Old School: September 14-15
- Angell Bandd: September 20
The Hudson Valley Bluegrass Association is honored to be a part of this re-opening.
Overview of Fall Harvest Festival Concept
As part of the celebration of the re-opening of the cherished Bronx Zoo, Children’s Zoo, we developed a working family garden that supported the following goals:
• Connect our visitors to nature and natural processes
• Generate awareness of, and interest in, engaging in sustainable actions that relate to gardening
• Create opportunities for inter-generational learning
• Explore themes of empathy for nature and accountability for the health of the planet
• Help visitors become more comfortable with nature through direct contact
Harvest Festival – September 12-15, 19-20
Based upon the exceptional success that the garden has had to date with our visitors, we are expanding the Garden’s public programming activities into the fall to develop a Fall Harvest Festival. This celebration of the fall season will include a range of activities that reflect the harvest season. Activities will include the following:
September 12
• LIVE BLUEGRASS MUSIC: Blue Plate Special will be playing their blend of American roots music featuring strong three-part vocal harmonies, mixed with the acoustic sounds of accordion, banjo, fiddle, guitar, mandolin and upright bass.
• DEMONSTRATION: Composting your garden. Learn the basics of how to collect for composting and natural fertilization of your garden, presented by Kidsgardening.org
• HANDS-ON ACTIVITY: Make a seed ball! Seed balls allow vegetation to be introduced to land by throwing (or, on a large scale, dropping from an airplane) compressed bundles of soil containing live vegetation. This gorilla gardening technique dates back to the 1930’s and is still used today to treat areas burned by wildfires. On the home front, and a much smaller scale, seed balls are fun to make and offer an inexpensive way to spread native plants and flowers.
• CRAFTS: Create your own flower press and preserve the beauty of summer when you press your own flower to create beautiful art run by Kidsgardening.org.
• FOOD DEMONSTRATION AND TASTING: Skinnytaste will be on-site for a demonstration of with samples of homemade apple butter, and book signing of her newest cookbook.
FOOD DEMONSTRATION AND TASTING – From famed Arthur Avenue, learn how the best mozzarella is made from the chef’s at Mike’s Deli. Sample a piece of heaven, the highest quality Fresh Mozzarella. Mangia Bene Vive Bene!
• APPLE TASTINGS: Taste different types of freshly-picked apples – part of the fall season bounty and locally grown from local orchards.
September 13th
• LIVE BLUEGRASS MUSIC: Enjoy the musical stylings of Too Blue. Traveling freely between the genres of bluegrass, swing, Celtic & jazz, a Too Blue performance is a dynamic dose of serious fun. Smooth harmonies and adventurous musicianship bring stellar arrangements to life and leave the listener anything but “blue.”
• DEMONSTRATION: Composting your garden. Learn the basics of how to collect for composting and natural fertilization of your garden, presented by Kidsgardening.org
• HANDS-ON ACTIVITY; Make a seed ball! Seed balls allow vegetation to be introduced to land by throwing (or, on a large scale, dropping from an airplane) compressed bundles of soil containing live vegetation. This gorilla (guerilla?) gardening technique dates back to the 1930’s and is still used today to treat areas burned by wildfires. On the home front, and on a much smaller scale, seed balls are fun to make and offer an inexpensive way to spread native plants and flowers.
• CRAFTS: Create your own flower press and preserve the beauty of summer when you press your own flower to create beautiful art, run by Kidsgardening.org.
• FOOD DEMONSTRATION AND TASTING: GrowNYC will be onsite with a salsa demonstration from market fresh ingredients plus sampling opportunities.
• APPLE TASTINGS: Taste different types of freshly picked apples – part of the fall season bounty and locally grown from nearby orchards.
• FOOD DEMONSTRATION: Join Beth from Beth’s Farm kitchen for a demonstration on how to make jam. Learn the fundamentals of making jams and using chutneys from Beth Linskey of Beth’s Farm Kitchen, who has been making and selling jam from local fruit for 30 years. In addition, Beth will share her indispensible wealth of knowledge on how to properly store and jar your fruit preserves and provide useful tips on ways to use preserved fruit other than on toast.
September 14th
• LIVE BLUEGRASS MUSIC: Enjoy the musical stylings of The R.J Storm & Old School bluegrass band that brings together tasteful instrumental musicianship, rich harmonies and an energetic stage presence.
• DEMONSTRATION: Learn all about how the fall is the perfect season to plant bulbs. Discover how bulbs work, types of bulbs, how to prepare a planting bed, design ideas and more with KidsGardening.org.
• HANDS-ON ACTIVITIES: Make a seed ball! Seed balls allow vegetation to be introduced to land by throwing (or, on a large scale, dropping from an airplane) compressed bundles of soil containing live vegetation. This gorilla (guerilla?) gardening technique dates back to the 1930’s and is still used today to treat areas burned by wildfires. On the home front, and on a much smaller scale, seed balls are fun to make and offer an inexpensive way to spread native plants and flowers.
• CRAFTS: Create your own flower press and preserve the beauty of summer when you press your own flower to create beautiful art, run by Kidsgardening.org.
• FOOD DEMONSTRATION AND TASTING – You’ll swoon as Executive Chef Raymond Jackson of Alvin & Friends whips up a scrumptious, seasonal dish redolent of the contemporary Southern and Caribbean flavors for which this awarded New Rochelle restaurant is known and loved.
• FOOD DEMONSTRATION AND TASTING – From famed Arthur Avenue, learn how the best mozzarella is made from the chefs at Mike’s Deli. Sample a piece of heaven, the highest-quality fresh mozzarella. Mangia Bene Vive Bene!
• APPLE TASTINGS: Taste different types of freshly picked apples – part of the fall season bounty and locally grown from local orchards.
September 15th
• LIVE BLUEGRASS MUSIC: Enjoy the musical stylings of The R.J Storm & Old School bluegrass band as it brings together tasteful instrumental musicianship, rich harmonies and an energetic stage presence.
• DEMONSTRATION; How to clean-up your garden or other ideas brought to you by KidsGardening.org.
• “MIND YOUR BEESWAX” DEMONSTRATION AND SAMPLING– Join the beekeeper and owner of Honeybrook Farms as they show the tools of the trade and show off the byproducts their busy workers generate, including beeswax candles, beeswax balms, and several flavors of honey.
• HANDS-ON ACTIVITY: Make a seed ball or other activity! Seed balls allow vegetation to be introduced to land by throwing (or, on a large scale, dropping from an airplane) compressed bundles of soil containing live vegetation. This gorilla (guerilla?) gardening technique dates back to the 1930’s and is still used today to treat areas burned by wildfires. On the home front, and on a much smaller scale, seed balls are fun to make and offer an inexpensive way to spread native plants and flowers.
• CRAFTS: Create your own flower press and preserve the beauty of summer when you press your own flower to create beautiful art run by Kidsgardening.org.
• DEMONSTRATION: Learn how to craft inviting, natural tablescapes utilizing the beauty and bounty of the fall season – flowers, pumpkins, gourds, berries, fruits and nuts. Linda Ochser, master arranger, will share her secrets of color, container selection and composition to help you create unique centerpiece to last throughout the season.
• FOOD TASTING: Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture will be onsite and share one of its favorite seasonal recipes, made from the freshest hand-picked garden ingredients of various vegetable. Try a sample of their delicious Gazpacho soup and learn how to make this wonderful cold soup delight.
• APPLE TASTINGS: Taste different types of freshly-picked apples – part of the fall season bounty and locally grown from local orchards.
September 20th
• LIVE BLUEGRASS MUSIC: Angell Bandd was formed when several musicians decided they had a desire for playing and singing more songs outside of the usual bluegrass repertoire, and wanted to include some more classic country/honkey-tonk songs from the 50s, 60s and 70s- but still play in the bluegrass style. This kind of honky-tonk kick-ass bluegrass will keep folks dancing and having even more fun than the band!
• HANDS-ON ACTIVITIES: Join the incomparable teacher extraordinaire, Stephen Ritz, teacher, Ted Talk presenter and founder of the Green Bronx Machine. He will host a workshop; “Brewing Up the Magic of Herbs and Spices with Green Bronx Machine.” Visitors can participate in an interactive cooking and tasting center where they will brew their own teas and beverages using locally grown herbs and learn the savory flavor of herbs grown vertically in space age Tower Gardens, using 90% less space and 90% less water.
• CRAFTS: Create a seasonal fall collage made out of leaves with varying colors of the season. Learn why leaves change color. Presented by Whitney Parkerton
• FOOD DEMONSTRATION AND TASTING – Artist, Chef and World Traveler, Lexie Smith will demonstrate how to create a masterful pastry delight.
• FOOD DEMONSTRATION AND TASTING- Watch Beth from Beth’s Farm Kitchen create a squash soup served with BFK chutney. Learn the fundamentals of making jams and using chutneys from Beth Linskey of Beth’s Farm Kitchen, who has been making and selling jam from local fruit for 30 years. In addition, Beth will share her indispensible wealth of knowledge on how to properly store and jar your fruit preserves and provide useful tips on ways to use preserved fruit other than on toast.
• FOOD DEMONSTRATION AND TASTING – From famed Arthur Avenue, learn how the best mozzarella is made from the chefs at Mike’s Deli. Sample a piece of heaven, the highest-quality fresh mozzarella. Mangia Bene Vive Bene!
• COMPOSTING DEMONSTRATION- Learn about how to compost your foods and all about earth worms and the work they do to create soil from waste. Guest speaker: Whitney Parkerton
• FOOD DEMONSTRATION – Learn techniques and recipes for how to pickle any vegetable from your garden. Presented by Whitney Parkerton.
• APPLE TASTINGS: Taste different types of freshly picked apples – part of the fall season bounty and locally grown from local orchards