Irving Berlin’s Alexander, of ragtime band fame, had nothing on the jazz age crews Michael Arenella has been bringing to the Island twice every summer. For the past six years, “Michael Arenella’s Dreamland Orchestra” has brought his own brand of jazz age music to a 50-by-50 foot wooden dance floor laid out in Nolan Park.

“Claude Debussy and Bix Beiderbecke would have really dug each other,” says the 33-year-old trombonist, whose first public performances were on L train platforms in Brooklyn and Manhattan. His venues these days have ranged from the finish line of the New York City Marathon to a Rockefeller family wedding at their Kykuit estate.

For authenticity, Arenella transcribes the music from original recordings rather than using later stock arrangements. His 12-piece orchestra plays period instruments in period dress while Arenella croons into a period microphone. Period headware is on sale — straw boaters for men and clinging cloches for women.

“Our music was the rock and roll of its day, or punk of its day,” says Arenella, “rebellious, reckless and, in the eyes of the older generations, dangerous.” Have you heard Toot, Toot, Tootsie Good-bye lately? Dangerous stuff.

The Earth Matter plot on the eastern edge of Picnic Point answers the age-old question of which came first: the chicken or the egg? The chicken did – about 30 of them, in an earth friendly demonstration project by a pair of seasoned community gardeners, Marisa DeDominicis and Charley Bayrer. (The eggs will start coming when the chicks are a few weeks older.)

Earth Matter is a two-year-old non-profit that combines composting and chickens. “We want composting to be a household word, like recycling,” says Marisa. Their 40- by 90-foot enclosure across Gresham Road from the Added Value Farm has different heaps for composting different materials. The chickens demonstrate that they can thrive on ordinary forage, making it unnecessary to grow acres and acres of grain. Meals come from Island leftovers, notably from Water Taxi Beach and the Jamaican menu at Fauzia’s Heavenly Delights. “They really like Jamaican,” Charley says. One hazard: Hovering hawks that would delight in a taking chicken for lunch. There has been one close encounter, but no losses so far.

All this and worms, too. Marisa is preparing a “worm bed” framed by an old metal bedstead. When finished it will have a canopy to catch rainwater and boarded sides where children can sit while they dig for worms in the bed.

As a cleaner New York Harbor has penetrated deeper into the public consciousness every year, so has the desire to spread the news. From the Urban Assembly New York Harbor School‘s high school lessons to Baykeeper’s oyster gardening, advocates enliven new use for this old water. The latest entrant is the Alliance’s partnership with the National Park Service to promote Harbor Education for the Island visitors. The Island’s 360-degree exposure makes it an ideal platform for exploring the harbor.

The first creation of this partnership is the Harbor Map on the pavement near Buttermilk Channel, a testing ground for new education initiatives by N.P.S. Rangers, Alliance interns and volunteers, and Harbor School students. This shared enterprise promotes responsible stewardship of the Harbor, cherishing stories of its past, enjoying and maintaining its vitality at present, and planning its continued improvement for use and reuse tomorrow.

The giant 1600 square foot Harbor Map serves as an outdoor classroom for learning about the complex ecology, geography and history of the Harbor from the viewpoint of its center on Governors Island. Weekly programs take place at all hours on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. They include talks by Rangers, oyster restoration updates by Harbor School students, interactive geography games, and hands-on water quality testing.

Come visit us on the water between Yankee Pier and Pier 101