A pilot program for 24/7 self-service composting launched by the Downtown Alliance and by the NYC Department of Sanitation earlier this year has proven so successful that the program has been extended for another six months. In the first six months, the self-serve bins diverted 25,000 pounds of organic waste from landfills. This helps to reduce the city’s climate footprint and ensures that nutrients go back into the earth instead of rotting in a trash pile. For a map showing the placement of the bins along with an explanation of how to use them, click here. (Photo: Downtown Alliance)

Free Summer Meals breakfast and lunch: New York City's free breakfast and lunch program starts on June 28 and runs through Sept. 2. (There is no service on Monday, July 4.) The free Summer Meals Program is available throughout New York City to anyone ages 18 years old and under. Designated public schools, community pool centers, parks, and food trucks will be open for service. No registration, documentation or ID is necessary to receive a free breakfast or lunch meal. The meals meet or exceed U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) standards and do not use food additives such as artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives. The meals include a variety of fresh fruit, whole grains, vegetables, and salads. At designated public schools, breakfast is served from 8 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. Lunch is served from 11 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. Participating schools in Lower Manhattan include PS 89 at 201 Warren St. and the Spruce Street School at 12 Spruce St. To find other participating schools, click here. To find Halal locations, click here. For other information about the program, click here.

Bowne & Co. reopens: Bowne & Co. Stationers at 211 Water St. in the South Street Seaport has just reopened after a pandemic hiatus, its shelves and tables filled as formerly with art supplies, notebooks, greeting cards and stationary printed on the South Street Seaport Museum's antique presses, plus all manner of intriguing curios. If you've been looking for a ship in a bottle or a carved whale, look no further. Notebooks and journals with decorative covers are piled high on the tables next to brightly colored pencil sharpeners and brush pens, crying out to be used.

The shop is housed in a historic 19th-century storefront with brick walls and a beamed ceiling that once served as a warehouse for heating stoves. A painting of Robert Bowne who founded Bowne & Co. in 1775 hangs on the wall. The venerable shop that bears his name is New York’s oldest operating business under the same name.

Bowne & Co. is open from Wednesdays through Sundays between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. Entry to visit the Bowne & Co. store is free with no museum admission required. For more information, click here.

For those who are unable to visit Bowne & Co. in person, check out the Bowne & Co. Online Shop which features a selection of offerings from Bowne & Co.: journals, writing paper, books, and house-designed notecards and broadside posters. Totes and other Seaport Museum branded merchandise are also available for purchase. Orders can be shipped anywhere in the United States via UPS Ground and are also available for local pickup. Click here for more information.

Sea Chanteys Aboard Tall Ship Wavertree: The South Street Seaport Museum’s sea-music event, "Sea Chanteys and Maritime Music," continues on Sunday, July 3, at 2pm ET, aboard the museum's 1885 tall ship Wavertree. On the first Sunday of every month, singers of all levels as well as those who just want to listen, can lead or request a song and join in the choruses of traditional maritime work songs and ballads. Before or after the sing, participants can tour the Seaport Museum gallery exhibitions at 12 Fulton St., as well as tour the 1885 tall ship Wavertree and the 1908 lightship Ambrose. Place: Pier 16 in the South Street Seaport. Time: 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Free. For more information and to sign up, click here.

South St. Seaport Museum seeks volunteers: Volunteers work to support every aspect of the South St. Seaport Museum, but are most often involved in working on the waterfront at Pier 16 where crews restore and maintain the Museum’s fleet of historic vessels using traditional maritime skills. Volunteers and interns help the museum staff maintain and interpret the stationary vessels and operate, maintain and interpret the operational vessels. Entry level work includes cleaning and organizing, repairs, painting, polishing, varnishing, and general maintenance. In the spring, the operational vessels are fitted out and re-rigged for the coming season, and in the late fall they’re down-rigged for winter. Most labor can be unskilled. Training is provided. In addition, all ships need carpenters, electricians, ship engineers, riggers, metalworkers and divers from time to time. Requirements: Physical stamina, skills as described above and an ability to work in a team. Volunteers must be 18 or older and have a parent’s or guardian’s permission to sail. In addition, they must go on two training sails which are held most Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 12 noon during the sailing season. Between the first and second training sail, volunteers must take a U.S. Coast Guard mandated drug test. To maintain their active status, they must work as crew on at least four sails a month (during the season). Click here for more information.

Governors Island ferry access: Access to Governors Island is by ferry, with timed ticket reservations required. Ferries run daily from the Battery Maritime Building at 10 South St. in Lower Manhattan. The ferries are always free for kids 12 and under, for seniors 65 and up, for residents of NYCHA housing, for military servicemembers, Governors Island members, and for everyone on weekends before noon. Starting later this year, NYC Ferry will serve Governors Island daily via the South Brooklyn route. A launch date for this expanded service will be announced soon. NYC Ferry's shuttle from Wall Street/Pier 11 to Yankee Pier on Governors Island will continue on weekends until the launch of 7-day/week service along the South Brooklyn route. NYC Ferry riders on any line that makes stops at Wall Street/Pier 11 may transfer to a shuttle service to Governors Island on Saturdays and Sundays. Governors Island weekend ferry service from Brooklyn (Pier 6 in Brooklyn Bridge Park and Atlantic Basin in Red Hook) is currently not in service and will return in Spring, 2022. The first ferry to Governors Island from 10 South St. leaves at 7 a.m. The last ferry from Governors Island leaves at 6 p.m. Learn more about Governors Island ferries and book tickets by clicking here.

Lower Manhattan Greenmarkets: There are Lower Manhattan Greenmarkets in Tribeca (at Chambers and Greenwich Streets) and at Bowling Green, City Hall, the Oculus and the Staten Island ferry. GrowNYC asks that shoppers wear a face covering inside the market space and maintain a six-foot distance between themselves, Greenmarket staff, farm stand employees and other customers. Dogs and bicycles should be left at home.

Click here for a list of the fruits and vegetables now in season.