Upcoming Meetings
Our next meeting will be held on Earth Day, Thursday, April 22. we'll be gathering at 6:00 pm in Mill Hollow. Hopefully by then the volunteer farmer will have turned the ground over and stakes and strings will be in place, indicating plot locations.
Two days prior, the Greenwich Citizens Committee will be hosting a public meeting on Composting at the Main Street Library. The meeting will feature a presentation by composting expert and educator Josh Nelson. The meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 20th at 7:00 pm.
Discussion Board
To facilitate communications on the garden project, a discussion board has been added.
Community Garden Planning Meeting
Due to snow, the meeting scheduled for the 24th has been re-scheduled for Monday, March 1 at 7:00 pm. We will be meeting at Village Hall.
Hello All Gardeners,
On February 24th we would like to hold our first Community Garden Planning Meeting. It will be Wed 7pm at the Village Hall in Greenwich.
As you might have seen on the Greenwich Village Website, under the "Community Garden tab", some village land has been chosen in Mill Hollow. The village work crew put water in for the Garden last fall. The soil has been tested. And one of our local farmers, Bill Ellsworth, has graciously agreed to plow this plot for us in late March and/or April.
We would like to get anyone interested in being part of the Garden to come together and do some planning.
The plan thus far: there will be a larger section that will be sectioned into individual plots for individaul gardeners. Some of you met last fall to discuss this idea and others attended the tours of the Community Gardens in Salem and Cambridge. Both great Gardens, by the way.
And there will also be an "Ecclesia Garden" which means, Church Garden, for which the Greenwich Interfaith Youth Group will be responsible for. This Garden will be available for anyone who needs food in the Greenwich Community.
Many have felt this Community Garden would be an exciting community effort. It offers a great opportunity for people to meet and to talk "gardening", to share different ideas and tips, and of course, it provides a place to grow your own food. For now, we would just like to get the Garden in and get it going. If it becomes popular enough we can see if we want to make any changes after the first year and see where we want it to evolve. Sounds good to me, about mid February, to get focused on gardening and the spring.
As the leader of the youth group I plan to provide some leadership to help start the "Ecclesia Garden". But we are looking for some other folks to provide some leadership and form a work team for the other aspect of the Garden. Maybe you would consider sharing leadership at different phases of the project?
So please come and share ideas, get involved, and eventually sign up for a plot . Hope to see you there.
Sue Cox
Planning Meeting
A public meeting will be held for those interested in participating in and helping to plan the community garden on September 23th at 7:00 pm in Village Hall.
Soil Results
The Cornel Nutrient Analysis Laboratory report on the soil analysis stated that the samples were high in nutrients, so the garden is a go. During July the Village DPW will be running water into the garden area. Once that's done, the garden will be ready to be tilled.
Tour of neighboring community gardens
Free Public Tour of Salem and Cambridge Community Gardens on July 14: Learn how to help start a community garden where you live
With so much heightened interest in vegetable gardening and tight family budgets making it harder to afford fresh produce, it's a very good time for community gardens.
This year people in the villages of Salem and Cambridge have come together to start community gardens – thought to be the first in southern Washington County in a long time. Community gardens provide a common space for people to grow vegetables (and herbs, flowers, fruit and more) in the company of others. Some have individual plots, while others don't. No two community gardens are alike, and these two gardens are as distinct as the personalities of the groups of people that organized them.
If you are curious about community gardens – and perhaps wanting one in your community, come to the free public tour of the new Salem and Cambridge gardens on Tuesday evening, July 14. The organizers will walk us through the gardens, tell us their gardens' stories, and answer questions. The tour starts at 7 PM at the new gardens (at 58 East Broadway) behind the Salem Courthouse Community Center, with the second stop at around 7:45 PM at the new gardens in Cambridge, on Washington Street, a short distance south of Hubbard Hall.
The Courthouse Community Garden is Salem has vegetables and herbs growing on 80 garden beds on almost a quarter-acre adjacent to the Courthouse. The volunteer-run garden is designed to teach children and youth to grow, process, and market food. Besides producing vegetables, the garden aims to nurtures intergenerational relationships.
Many of the vegetables are donated to the local food pantry, while some are used in seasonal cooking classes at the Battenkill Kitchen. Vegetables are also sold at local farmers market by local teens and agriculture students who help grow them and learn how to run a business.
Garden coordinator Annette Nielsen, a food writer and community organizer, will lead the tour of the Salem garden at 7 PM.
The Cambridge Community Garden describes itself as "a welcoming organic garden where we grow healthy food, create beauty, share knowledge, nurture relationships, and have fun."
The new garden occupies roughly half of a two-acre lot on Washington Street in the village of Cambridge. The land was previously used as a trial garden for the Asgrow Seed Company, and has been fallow for more than thirty years.
The garden has eleven plots tended by individuals and several larger plots of vegetables planted for community use. There is also a shared herb garden as well as large plantings of flowers, rhubarb, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, four fruit trees and a couple of grape vines. This year the volunteer-run garden has had the luxury of a college student who is staying with the McIntosh family for two months while she works in the garden and helps people with their plots.
Garden organizer Bliss McIntosh, a master basket maker and avid gardener with many community involvements, will lead the Cambridge tour, slated to start around 7:45 PM.
For more information about the tour, contact ML Healey at 692- 9539 or ML.Healey@verizon.net or Tracy Frisch, 692-8242 or tracyf@fastermac.net
Community Garden
On May 18th, eight community members met in the village-owned circle in Mill Hollow and decided to go forward with a community garden. Before turning over the land, soil samples will be taken to Cornel Cooperative for a complete analysis. Results should be back in early June.
If you're interested in participating, please contact David Doonan.