3100 S Salina St, Syracuse, NY, United States, New York 13205
NOTE for those who previously checked this out, we have changed the date back one day to Friday the 27th to accommodate a personal calendar conflict of the organizer.
The serviceberry trees at Rahma are the anchor of our food forest garden at the free health clinic, and they share their abundance with us each and every year. We have to give back our stewardship to ensure they stay healthy, happy, and productive.
We’ll clear away bindweed and cleavers, prune competing trees, and use permaculture design and polyculture principles to manage the ground cover and understory.
Meet at 6 pm for orientation, work from 6:15 – 7:45 pm, then harvest! Snacks provided.
Here’s a couple screenshots from our files gallery to give you a sneak peak at the garden art signs our artists submitted – stay tuned for more info and plans for the unveiling and celebration, when we hear from the artists about their inspiration and/or techniques, and see the signs live and in place at the 610 Gifford St Community Forest Garden. Thanks to the artists:
Margaret Voss – Highbush Cranberry Heather Highfield – Elderberry Rebecca Garofano – Rhubarb Alana Joe – Peach Jess McElhinney – Red Currant Anthony Beckham – Sunchoke Julia Smith – Strawberry Cayetano Valenzuela – Black Currant Charlie Sam – Red Raspberry
The Alchemical Nursery Project (ANP) stewards 4 sites in the city of Syracuse for green space, edible food production, ecological services, climate change effects reduction, permaculture education and materials reuse. We are a grassroots all-volunteer run organization, and we welcome you to join our work. We couldn’t do it without each other!
Click on the Arrow to the left of each heading below to expand and see the details of what has taken place SO FAR and what is TO COME in 2025, and OPPORTUNITIES for 2025-2026
Rahma Edible Food Forest Garden
Rahma Edible Food Forest Garden More at https://www.facebook.com/rahmaforestgarden
SO FAR in 2025
> Winter pruning and felling, Saturday March 8. > Meeting with NRCS to evaluate for pollinator planting plan and funds, Friday March 28. > Resource Drive Day on Saturday April 19, acquisition of compost, mulch, and manure fertilizer. > Fence measuring and estimate, Friday April 25. > Earth Week Trash Clean-up, General Maintenance, Saturday April 26. > Brick pathway border installation by Engineers without Borders, Sunday April 20 and Sunday April 27. > Spring pruning, Thursday May 8.
TO COME in 2025
> Late June Serviceberry work day. > Fence installation, with gates, along South Salina St and Pleasant Ave to prevent windblown trash and litter on site. > Updated Soil Testing. > Mulching and compost amendments of soil around plantings. > NRCS pollinator planting financing application. > Felling of honey locust, box elder, and wild cherry trees that are shading our fruit producers.
OPPORTUNITY in 2025-2026
Join the Rahma Stewardship Team (1 person from Team will also serve on ANP Board of Directors) >> Special projects such as understory management and planting, invasive species removal, and plant tags installation, >> Regular trash pick-up >> Monthly work sessions
610 Gifford Street Community Forest Garden More at https://www.facebook.com/610GiffordStreetCommunityGarden
SO FAR in 2025
> Art in the Garden, Garden Art Sign program implementation, Winter and Spring ongoing, art designs from artists due May 31. > Resource Drive Day on Saturday April 19, acquisition of compost, mulch, and manure fertilizer. > Earth Week Trash Clean-up, General Maintenance, Saturday April 26
TO COME in 2025
> Art in the Garden Event, Date TBD late summer > Installation of garden art signs designed by 10 local artists. > Updated Soil Testing. > Application to Syr Parks Conservancy for fencing to prevent litter and trash blowing into the site.
OPPORTUNITY in 2025-2026
Join the Adopt-A-Bed Team (1 person from Team will also be asked to serve on ANP Board of Directors to represent the site needs and provide updates) >> Regular trash pick-up. >> Monthly work sessions. >> Practice permaculture and perennial polyculture management in a real life setting.
713 Marcellus St Bike Depot More at https://www.facebook.com/713MarcellusStBikeDepot
SO FAR in 2025
> Pre-Season work day to clean up the site and prep for Open Shops, Sat May 3. > Serviceberry street side planting. > Open Shops began: Tuesdays from 5-7 pm & Saturdays from 1-3 pm > New Volunteer Orientation, Saturday May 17.
TO COME in 2025
> Updated Soil Testing. > Repairs to the outdoor Bike Fix-It station. > Rain barrel installation. > Mural touch-up and protection. > Porch roof shingling and railing/floor painting. > Open Shops continuing weekly dependent on volunteer Stewards availability. > Management of the mini-meadow out front, and the edible tree and shrub plantings on site (persimmon, pawpaw, American Chestnut, nannyberry, hazelnut).
OPPORTUNITY in 2025-2026
Join the Stewards Team, become a Team member to host Open Shops and support visitors with tier bicycle repairs. Help out with a Stewards Committee: >> Outreach >> Building and Grounds >> Repair Shop
711 Otisco Street Commons Lot New site as of last year in 2024!
SO FAR in 2025
> No-Mow May meadow and pathway management. > Plane Tree street side planting.
TO COME in 2025
> Updated Soil Testing. > Mini-meadow management of species and pathways. > Art snake installation. > Additional benches installation. > Rear fence repairs.
OPPORTUNITY in 2025-2026
Help out when and if you can, contact Frank to coordinate, stop by and spend time in this block-based community green space, host an event at the lot.
The Marcellus Street Bike Depot (713 Marcellus St., Syracuse, NY) is a member and volunteer-run community bicycle shop. It was founded in 2022 to provide bicycle riders in Syracuse a place to share and learn bicycle repair skills, share tools, and connect with other bike riders. At the Depot, you work on your own bike with depot tools with support from volunteer mechanics and other members.
We host free Open Shop hours Tuesdays 5-7 pm and Saturdays 1-3 pm. Our 2025 Open Shop hours will start on Tuesday, May 6.
Fill out this form to let us know you are interested in learning more about the Bike Depot, and to RSVP for specific events.
Come to the annual Alchemical Nursery Project’s plant sale! We’ll have fruit bushes, ornamental, native, and perennial plants for people to buy. We’ll also have cuttings of some plants and can give you all the info you need about how to care for your plants.
You can stop by the Bitternut Homestead at 717 Otisco St to buy plants or pre-order plants online and pick them up either at Bitternut on the Westside or our partner Bread and Roses on the Eastside at 405 Westcott St. Pre-sales begin in April.
Welcome to the first post on “Biophilic Education & Guidance Resources for a Long Reckoning”, written by Alchemical’s Founder and President Frank Cetera. These educational resources will be made available as a benefit to members of Alchemical’s Patreon account, which you can join for as little as $1 per month, but this first taste is free for all.
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We shop for local and seasonal produce at the Regional Market every Saturday, and this time of year is quite thin for our favorite – we got a red one this week, nut no green cabbage from any farmer vendors was available. Fresh herbs are absent as well. We don’t complain, there are options including the red cabbage, kale, spinach, and some lettuce greens. But it is also the perfect time of year to go foraging for greens in your backyard and other favorite spots now that the snow is off the ground, and life is peaking up through the soil.
Onion grass (Allium vineale), alternatively known as wild garlic, field garlic, or crow’s garlic, is ubiquitous right now, so easy to recognize as it rises four or five inches above the Earth, and of course easy to identify because of its scent, taste, and bulbs attached underground – with every part of it being edible.
The Alchemical Nursery Project, with funding from CNY Arts and TNT Westside, is seeking local artists to design one of 10 Garden Art Signs to be displayed as public art, and to help identify the plants for the users, at the 610 Gifford St Community Garden. Each artist will be provided a stipend of $100 for the production of one plant Garden Art Sign of 12″H x 18″W dimensions. Any media may be used as part of your original work, original art remains the property of the artist, and Alchemical Nursery retains rights to reproduce via photography and printing of each design for all fund raising and educational purposes to support our neighborhood organizing, greenspace stewardship, and mutual aid work. The Art Signs for garden display will be printed on Aluminum Sandwich Board for long-term durability.
To apply, complete the form linked here, including submission of 2 examples of your work. A panel of volunteers from the garden will select the awardees based on local location awareness, description of your artwork style, submitted artwork samples, and consideration of your stated interest in this project.
Future considerations of Alchemical’s use of the Garden Art Sign designs include selling prints of the designs in which we will share profits with the artists.
Thanks for your interest! Contact us at info@alchemicalnursery.org with questions.
Example garden art signs from our community volunteer painting events.
Bitternut Homestead, 717 Otisco St. Syracuse, NY 13204 Sunday, November 17, 11AM – dusk (sunset at 4:30PM)
FREE with volunteer labor trade. Or just come for the opening (30-minute) training for a $10 donation to Bitternut Homestead. The bulk of the day will be spent constructing the wattle fencing, weaving together as we chat or sing.
Wattle is a woven framework of sticks, using upright posts and horizontal withies. At Bitternut, we will be using it to replace some of the original pallet fencing with a more aesthetically and community-minded front yard presentation.
Prior to the fence building, we will be coppicing/pollarding maple, willow, and slippery elm on site and at the 610 Gifford St community garden around the corner to procure the materials needed for the installation. Learn about solo stool coppicing and pollarding uses that you can practice at your own site.
Lastly, we will also be replacing some pallet fencing with new pallets obtained locally. Learn which pallets are safe to use, and how to treat and install them for stability and longevity.
We’ll have a big pot of soup (type TBD) and bread to share. Come for the whole time or drop in when you’re available; let us know when to expect you. Please RSVP here: https://forms.gle/ouaU5hQJFmngGcBJA
Syracuse, NY – On Tuesday, July 23, volunteers at the Marcellus Street Bike Depot unveiled a new mural by Hamidullah Majid, a New American artist from Afghanistan. The mural can be viewed at 713 Marcellus St., Syracuse, NY 13204
“I am honored to have this opportunity to create art for the Syracuse community. I have never lived somewhere that people appreciate art so much,” said artist Hamidullah Majid. “The girl in the painting is a flower seller. She represents women who are involved in improving their community.”
The mural at 713 Marcellus Street was made possible by financial support from the Grants for Regional Arts and Culture Engagement Program from CNY Arts and with additional support from Tomorrow’s Neighborhood Today Westside, Interfaith Works and the Alchemical Nursery Project.
Present to celebrate was NY Senator Rachel Mary who praised the many connections that brough this project to fruition citing “the vision, creativity, and volunteer energy that went into this whole project – from rescuing a neighborhood green space from becoming a parking lot, to developing the bike repair depot, to partnering with Interfaith Works to support a New American’s dream of bringing his art to Syracuse – This community has so much to be proud of”.
Hamidullah Maijd is a recently-arrived artist from Afghanistan with extensive artistic experience and a participant of the Job Readiness Program at Interfaith Works. To inquire about a mural or exhibit, Hamildullah Majid can be reached by phone at (315) 992-5936. His work can be viewed on his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/hamid.majid.3133
The Marcellus St. Bike Depot is a member and volunteer-run community bicycle shop founded in 2022 so that people in Syracuse who ride bicycles can have a place to learn how to fix bikes and have access to repair tools.
