Gardens Matter

The Scarsdale Sustainable Garden Project will host all-day sessions, Saturday, Apr. 5 to promote community gardens in Rockland and Westchester counties and in the Bronx. Maggie Favretti '85 (above, R) is faculty leader and club adviser. (LoHud photos, logo by Sydney Kula)

COMMUNITY SERVICE

The Scarsdale Sustainable Garden Project wants to share and spread its successes by hosting a day of learning and networking, Saturday, Apr. 5 in Scarsdale to promote community gardening throughout the region.

The project involves a club of students and volunteers, guided by Maggie Favretti '85, a faculty adviser.  Favretti, club members and others who have assisted have produced food from the garden to support food pantries and local organizations in need. In the past, it has produced as much as 1,000 pounds of food in a year.  It also has an education mission to teach students, neighbors, and others about gardening techniques, food sustainability, food production and the importance of community service.

The club urges students and participants to use the garden as a classroom and natural outdoor setting. Classes or student groups from biology to the arts have studied in it or used it for a variety of purposes. The club stresses participants learn by doing. The garden was a Westchester site for Yale Day of Service last year, where Yale alumni and volunteers tended the garden and helped clean it.

Favretti and the Scarsdale project now plan to spread such success and experiences and encourage similar gardens beyond Scarsdale neighborhoods.  The Club is hosting "Gardening Matters," an all-day event at Scarsdale High School, Saturday, Apr. 5 from 9 am to 3 pm to encourage the formation of community gardens in Rockland and Westchester counties and in the Bronx.

The affair, which includes three sessions, will be a day for networking, learning, sharing gardening expertise, solving gardening problems and finding solutions to community feeding challenges.  Participants will learn how to start community gardens, organize volunteers, and produce food. And they can learn about laying out gardens, preparing soil, and preparing gardens for winter. 

Session leaders will include representatives from food banks, farm-to-table programs, local restaurant chefs, and farmers. Session topics will also cover nutrition, hunger, and obesity.

The event is open and free to anyone in the region interested in starting a community garden or learning more about food sustainability, but participants must register before Mar. 25.   To register, click SCARSDALE GARDEN.