Happy Tuesday, Mulchers!

I want to start this week’s newsletter off by sharing this incredible home in Brooklyn that one of our members share with us! We’re all a piece of the rewilding journey, and it’s always so inspiring to see just how much people can accomplish with some creative effort.

This home belongs to the founder of EcoBrooklyn Living Walls, a company that brings art and technology together to create incredible living walls to make NYC greener and wilder. I love to learn about people who are living and creating a mission similar to our own here at Mulch.

which leads me to my weekly musings…

Last week, I sat in on a coworker’s presentation about soil health (completely unrelated to our jobs, but who doesn’t love a good geek-out?). He talked about the lush garden he once kept in Asheville, NC — one he had to give up when he moved to the city.

It made me think about how rare soil is here, and how essential it is to touch dirt. Not just metaphorically, but literally: studies show that soil microbes can boost serotonin, ease stress, and even strengthen our immune systems. It’s nature’s antidepressant, right under our fingernails.

But most of us can’t just go outside to a plot of dirt in our back yard. The NYC dirt economy is a bit more circular than direct to consumer. Some of us can drop off our food scraps at composting sites, and others work in the parks department or build living walls as a profession.

So how do we all access that grounding in our New York lives? A few accessible ways:

• Drop Off, Pick Up: The NYC Compost Project takes food scraps at dozens of sites across the boroughs. Many also offer free finished compost in the spring. Translation: you can hand in your peels and pick up living soil.

• Community Gardens: There are over 600 GreenThumb gardens in NYC, and many welcome volunteers. A couple of hours of weeding or planting, and you’ll have dirt under your nails guaranteed.

• Pot & Grow: Even a bag of potting soil and a single pot on your windowsill counts. Get basil, mint, or a cherry tomato plant going, and suddenly you’re harvesting city-grown flavor.

• Volunteer with Parks: Groups like Partnerships for Parks or your local conservancy often host tree bed clean-ups and planting days. These are open to anyone, no green thumb required.

• Houseplants, Bare-Handed: Skip the gloves next time you repot. The tactile connection to soil, even in a terracotta pot on your desk, has real benefits.

Soil might feel like a scarce resource in the city, but it’s more accessible than it seems. A little effort, and you can reconnect with the ground beneath our feet — even if it’s just one planter, one worm bin, or one afternoon in a garden.

Because at the end of the day, touching dirt isn’t about escaping the city. It’s about remembering we’re part of the ecosystem, too.

Did a friend send you this email? I’d love to have you join us! I send an email each week full of rewilding inspo and community highlights, so that you can be rooted in the fact that we are real people making a real difference in this city.