The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

Gardening

InterGenerate: Gardens That Give

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Butterfly drinking nectar on Coneflower
Photo by Ronni Diamondstein

In the heart of the Chappaqua hamlet, at a community garden edged with a row of blooming native plants, community members tend their little plots. This community garden on the Chappaqua Volunteer Ambulance Corps (CVAC) property is one of the original InterGenerate community gardens that does so much more than provide a space for neighbors to grow produce.

InterGenerate, a food justice non-profit was founded in 2009 by Rev. Peggy Clarke and Roseann Rutherford who recognized the need for families to have access to both sustainable food and sustainable communities. “Food security is even more precarious today than it was, but luckily more people are aware of our vulnerabilities,” says Rev. Clarke. “When we started, we had to explain what a community garden is and why it would benefit them. Today, the term ‘community garden’ is part of our national and local lexicon, and most people in Westchester have the option to join one, likely near their home.”

Suzi Novak, Vice President of InterGenerate is the Coordinator of Community Gardens and the Food Justice Programs. “Community gardens were our first project, but we always knew there would be giving gardens, and a portion of our food would be given away,” says Novak. Their philosophy was “garden together, we’ll get to know each other.”

Joan Basile tends the giving garden in Chappaqua
Photo by Ronni Diamondstein

InterGenerate began with four gardens: Chappaqua, and three others in Mount Kisco, a teaching garden and Chicken Co-op at the John Hay Homestead in Katonah and then Millwood. The only remaining are Chappaqua and Millwood. The Chicken Co-op is still in existence and operates separately.

Novak plans to retire from InterGenerate at the end of this growing season so the Chappaqua and Millwood gardens will become independent of InterGenerate. Members of the Chappaqua community garden plan to operate under the umbrella of a new not-for-profit being formed by current gardeners and led by Joan Basile, who has been with the Chappaqua garden since 2015. “The garden has thrived under Suzi Novak’s leadership for ten years,” says Basile. “This new not-for-profit will honor her efforts as the garden flourishes.”

While they no longer have the teaching garden in Katonah, gardeners of all ages are educated at the Chappaqua site. Basile runs a Kids Garden Club where the former school psychologist and teacher gives lessons on all aspects of the garden ecosystem and coaches them in garden activities. Basile also shares her knowledge with beginning gardeners, helping them learn how to grow vegetables following the “Seed to Supper” program that she was trained in at the Cornell Cooperative Extension. Basile says, “The model for donating produce has shifted a couple of times over the years as we experimented with how to achieve the best method for maximum donations.”

Four years ago, a more purposeful branch of InterGenerate began. They wanted to build a relationship with people and started a weekly Community Supported Agriculture program with Neighbors Link from mid-June through mid-October. Twenty families signed up the first year. “The idea was a subscription where each family pays $15 a month. “It was lovely, we got to know them, and then the pandemic hit. They asked us if we could now start feeding 50 families,” says Novak.

Bee drinking nectar and transferring pollen on Zinnia
Photo by Ronni Diamondstein

InterGenerate needed produce so Novak called the Westchester Land Trust and asked for more garden space. Two people associated with the Westchester Land Trust offered their private gardens and InterGenerate was able to feed the fifty families. “We delivered those two years,” says Novak. “It was a huge undertaking and we’re proud of what we did. Now we are back to the subscription model hoping to feed 25-30 families.”

Another source of produce for InterGenerate is the Town of New Castle funded garden at Wagon Road Camp in Chappaqua. In 2020 Pat Pollock, joined the town’s Council on Race and Equity and was assigned to the events team with two Greeley graduates, Dylan Marcus and Emily Nobel. The teens wanted to grow food for people who were food insecure. Gardening was not Pollock’s expertise, so she reached out to Suzi Novak for assistance. “Without hesitation, she joined us and taught us,” says Pollock. They teamed up with Vince Canziani at Wagon Road (a Children’s Aid facility in Chappaqua,) built twelve beds and recruited community members to help them. “As we prepare for our third year of distribution, we will again reach out to senior citizens and families in New Castle, as well as the families we distribute to in Mount Kisco,” says Pollock.

InterGenerate has left its mark on the concept of community gardens by creating a model for what they can be by reaching across traditional social boundaries, bringing people together to grow food locally and sharing the work while deepening ties to each other.

Novak reflects on her experience and the work of the community garden: “During the pandemic knowing that I was getting my hands dirty feeding people, it was the only thing that was sane in a world that was crazy. If you asked most of my volunteers, they would say the same thing. There is something so elemental about feeding people. It’s an honor to do it.”

Chappaqua Pollinator Garden

A glorious rainbow of native flowers and plants welcomes you to the Chappaqua InterGenerate Community Garden on the Chappaqua Volunteer Ambulance Corps property on North Greeley Avenue in Chappaqua. This pollinator habitat was started by Chappaqua community gardener, Joan Basile in 2021.

“I’ve wanted to build a pollinator strip on the grass outside the garden fence on the street side,” says Basile. “In addition to providing food and habitat for pollinators and other native critters, I wanted to create a demonstration garden to show home gardeners how to include native plants in a landscape while still enjoying favorite non-native annuals.”

Basile was helped by fellow community gardeners Lisa Johnson and Ajaib Hira. Hira dug out the space and cleared and terraced the back of the garden, where they have established a native shade garden which they will be dedicating to the Chappaqua Volunteer Ambulance Corps. Johnson helped plant the garden and tends it with Basile. A community member also donated peonies and a variety of bulbs including tulips, daffodils, and crocus to bloom in the spring.

They have been able to end the spraying of herbicides on the nearby grass to show how beautiful and pollinator friendly the white clover, dandelions, and creeping Charlie are when they bloom. They also provide food for insects in the spring when there are very few food sources available for native pollinators.

“I wanted to create a place of beauty and discovery for passers-by. Every day there is something new blooming, and we’ve become a neighborhood destination for many who come by on their daily walk,” says Basile. “I hope to eventually get permanent signage–a kids’ version and an adult version–to help explain what we’re doing at the garden and how it restores the land.”

Fun Fact FYI: The Town of New Castle is an affiliate of BEE City USA and encourages residents to create and enhance pollinator habitats.

–Ronni Diamondstein

Lifelong Learning Through Chappaqua’s Continuing Education Program

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For more than 40 years, Chappaqua Continuing Education has created a unique community for ongoing learning. As one of the only community-sponsored, school district run programs in Westchester County, Chappaqua’s Continuing Education program invites Chappaqua residents to come together and take enriching classes on the campus of Horace Greeley High School.

Every year, about 1,200 people take classes through the Chappaqua Continuing Education program, which is a nonprofit organization run in conjunction with the Chappaqua Central School District. “Originally, the program was designed to be a give back to the community and a thank you to empty nesters for sticking around. Their children graduated, but they still lived here, and we wanted to keep them involved in the community,” states the Director of Continuing Education, Maura Marcon. The program evolved into a community-oriented opportunity that spans all ages and crosses over to people in nearby communities who do not have access to this type of programming.

An Array of Options

“The Chappaqua program is unique because it’s community based and supportive, providing a wide range of classes for just about everything,” notes Katie Goldberg who has taught art and Mahjong classes through Chappaqua Continuing Education for the past 25 years. Goldberg is right about the range of classes. This fall, Chappaqua Continuing Education will offer 90 classes in everything from art, cooking, and dance to gardening, exercise classes, finance, and foreign languages.

According to Marcon, the 10-week Spanish, French, and Italian language classes are extremely well-attended. Many people who take Spanish joined the class as beginners and have taken all four levels of Spanish together, developing friendships with one another and with the instructors. “They even socialize outside the class, going out for drinks or dinner with the instructor.”

The most social classes, the games classes, which include Canasta and Mahjong, often bring groups of friends together who want to learn something new. And the finance classes, covering topics from retirement planning and Medicare to understanding estate taxes and financial planning for women, are particularly popular with empty-nesters.

Empty-nesters and people in their late 50’s and 60’s are the most frequent participants in the program. Senior citizens from Chappaqua can receive up to a 50 percent discount on certain classes, and Chappaqua Continuing Education even offers some free classes. The single session, 90-minute classes are favorites of many 30- and 40-something residents, who take advantage of these $30 classes as a plan for an entertaining, educational night out.

Artist and art teacher Quincy Egginton isn’t only a teacher in Chappaqua’s Continuing Education program, she is a 35-year resident who raised her two daughters here. “It feels like home when I go to Greeley to teach,” says Egginton, who enjoys running into her daughters’ teachers and credits the Greeley custodial staff with supporting the work of the program.

Egginton, whose favorite class to teach is watercolor painting, is one of several local residents who teaches in this program. Even the Chappaqua Volunteer Ambulance Corps runs a class on American Heart Association Family and Friends CPR. Marcon encourages any interested residents to submit proposals for classes, as she encourages the community to get involved in any way possible and is always open to new ideas and creative classes.

Making Lifelong Learning Accessible and Fun

“I love the positive feedback that I get from people about our teachers, classes and wide array of class offerings,” says Marcon, who loves her creative, people-oriented position. Goldberg and Egginton agree that their students are extremely positive about their experiences. “Many of my students have told me that I’ve made complicated, intimidating subjects easy and fun by breaking things down into enjoyable ‘bite-sized nuggets,’” said Goldberg.

Chappaqua Continuing Education offers classes from September through December, January through February, and March through June. Classes meet Monday through Thursday evenings for one to two hours. For more information about Chappaqua Continuing Education, visit their website, ccsd.ws/district/departments/chappaqua-continuing-education, or check out one of the seasonal catalogs that are regularly distributed throughout Chappaqua, Millwood, Armonk, Bedford, Briarcliff, Mount Kisco, and Pleasantville.

Chappaqua Garden Club, Sophie Odrich and Ann Herrero Honored by Rotary

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Article and Photos by Grace Bennett

The gifts of beautifying through gardening, and of community sharing, were celebrated during a warm and lively Rotary Club of Chappaqua Awards dinner and ceremony. The event took place this past Saturday at Crabtree’s Kittle House.

The Chappaqua Garden Club and Horace Greeley High School Senior Sophie Odrich received the Rotary’s Community Service Awards. Chappaqua’s Ann Herrero received the Rotary’s Paul Harris Award for “Service Above Self.”

Rotary president Don Roane, and Rotarians Edward Melvin, Eileen Gallagher and Executive Secretary Peter Davidson presented the awards, after which each of the award recipients received separate honors from: Westchester County Board of Legislators chair Mike Kaplowitz; State Assemblyman David Buchwald; and Robert Greenstein, Town of New Castle supervisor. State Senator Terence Murphy, who was not able to attend, sent his commendations as well.

In explaining the Rotary’s choice of the Chappaqua Garden Club, Melvin spoke to the Club’s Margaret Federici and Melanie Smith Klein, who had stepped up to accept the award on behalf of the club’s membership: “The idea of a garden, has always been important in the imagination, as a metaphor for human activity and as the cradle for creation, going all the way back to the original garden, the Garden of Eden.” The Chappaqua Garden Club’s members volunteer year round to beautify green spaces throughout New Castle; annual projects includes work at the 9/11 Memorial in Gedney Park and at the intersection of Route 120 and Hunts Lane. The Club received the County Legislators proclamation declaring March 6th, Chappaqua Garden Club Day.

Chappaqua Garden Club members
Community Service Award Honorees: Chappaqua Garden Club members
State Assemblyman David Buchwald (right) with the Chappaqua Garden Club's Club President Margaret Federici and Melanie Smith Klein
State Assemblyman David Buchwald (right) with the Chappaqua Garden Club’s Margaret Federici (left) and Melanie Smith Klein

Next, Eileen Gallagher explained the honor to Sophie Odrich for ‘Kittle Kares,’ a weekly effort packaging and delivering food from the Kittle House (following a Sunday brunch) to Neighbors Link Community Center in Mount Kisco. “It was started by Sophie’s sister, Natalie, approximately two and a half years ago. Sophie started helping her about one and a half years ago and has been doing it solo or with friends since then,”said Gallagher.

“The individuals at Neighbors Link look forward to an excellent Sunday dinner every week, as a result. Chef Jay and Mr. Crabtree have been enthusiastic helpers since the day of its inception. Jay estimates that nearly 2000 pounds of food have been donated since it started,” she added.

Kaplowitz proclaimed March 10th, Sophie Odrich Day in Westchester.

Sophie Odrich (right) with her parents Karen and Steven Sidel and friend Shail Highbloom who helped along with another friend, Gianina, with 'Kittle Kare' efforts.
Sophie Odrich (right) with her parents Karen and Steven Sidel and friend Shail Highbloom who helped along with another friend, Gianina, with ‘Kittle Kare’ efforts.
Sophie Odrich with New Castle Supervisor Robert Greenstein
Sophie Odrich with New Castle Supervisor Robert Greenstein

Finally, Peter Davidson, bestowed the Paul Harris Award on Ann Herrero, a 22 year Chappaqua resident and director of Financial Planning at Hudson Peak Wealth Advisors in Pleasantville. He cited her long time service to the Rotary in various roles, including vice president and president of the Club. “The Club wants to recognize her in appreciation of that and the outstanding job she has done in addition to her many other achievements in our community.” Those include service on the League of Women Voters, Chappaqua PTA and on the board for 16 years for the Chappaqua Summer Scholarship Program. And finally too, March 17th was proclaimed Ann Herrero Day by the County Legislators.

Ann Herrero (middle), Paul Harris Award recipient, with County Legislator Mike Kaplowitz (right) and his wife Jane, and friends.
Ann Herrero (middle), Paul Harris Award recipient, with County Legislator Mike Kaplowitz (right) and his wife Jane. To left of Ann, friends Nancy and Barrett Silver
Ann Herrero with Rotarian Peter Davidson
Ann Herrero with Rotarians Executive Secretary Peter Davidson (left) and President Don Roane
Ann Herrero with Eileen and Michael Gallagher
Ann Herrero with Eileen and Michael Gallagher
Sophie and her dad
Sophie and her dad
Rotarian Edward Melvin presenting the award to the Chappaqua Garden Club
Rotarian Edward Melvin presenting the award to the Chappaqua Garden Club
(L-R): Robert Greenstein, Majid Eshghi, Rosemary Eshghi, and David Buchwald.
(L-R): Robert Greenstein, Majid Eshghi, Rosemary Eshghi, and David Buchwald.
Theresa and Sandy Bueti and their daughter.
Theresa and Sandy Bueti and their daughter.
Patti and Eric Nicolaysen with the Chappaqua Garden Club's Melanie Smith Klein (right)
Patti and Eric Nicolaysen with the Chappaqua Garden Club’s Melanie Smith Klein (right)

Our Gardening, Ourselves

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Digging for Information on How We Tick

By Dr. Rachel Levy Lombaragardengestalt5

Grab a pen, a fingertip, or whatever you typically use to write (eyeliners are acceptable). Answer this question: How do you garden? Don’t think, just respond. There are no wrong answers. I promise.

I am not asking how one gardens (i.e., with a shovel) but how you personally garden? Your answer may be anything from“with delight” to “only at gunpoint.” (Worry not if the closest you get to gardening is the fake ficus in your foyer, you can still play. Choose any activity and write down three adjectives that describe how you (insert it here) train squirrels, craft whiskey or make shoes for elves.

Got it?

Okay, what did you write down? Look at it carefully and see if what you wrote about how you garden (snowshoe, make gummy bears) doesn’t bear an uncanny resemblance to how you do almost everything.

Amazing, right?

This parlor trick works because the way we do one thing is the way we do everything.

I asked my accountant, Rose, how she gardened. She tapped a few keys on her computer and swivelled the screen toward me. On it was her “garden” spreadsheet, rows and columns of numbers that indicated the dates she planned to seed, transplant and harvest the dozens of vegetables she grew. She clicked to a computer generated map-to-scale of her garden; it was a virtual planned community of vegetables. The photos she then pulled up showed Rose in her glory wearing high rubber boots, knee pads, gloves and what appeared to be a beekeeper’s hat and veil. I asked and no, she doesn’t keep bees. I could only assume that she was as cautious as she was prepared in her gardening.

When I asked Rose if organized, meticulous and safe described other things she did, the question was largely rhetorical; I had marvelled at how the crumpled, stack of receipts, bank statements, tax forms and errant candy wrappers I dropped off each year were returned to me in the form of a pristine completed tax return. I think she may have ironed the pages.

I have a tendency to place people who garden like Rose on a pedestal. Her methodical approach is a complete foil to my kamikaze one, marked by vision (minus preparation), (over) confidence, single-mindedness and (blind) optimism. I never wear a hat or gloves, instead sporting a colorful array of insect bites, rashes, cuts and bruises. Compared to Rose, I grimace at how quick I am to “go out on a limb.” Still, I wonder, how else would one set up a tree swing in a jiffy?

Which reminds me of this important rule; do not let yourself fall into the comparison hole; it is dark, low and unpleasant. You can never win. Yank yourself by the scruff of your neck out immediately, sit yourself down and remind yourself of all the great things you have done. For example, after seeing Rose, I say to myself, “Rachel, your unique combination of moxie and madness may worry your family and annoys emergency room personnel, but no one has ever called you boring and look at all the awesome things you have done!

“You are a maverick,” I continue, knowing that I am not yet convinced. “You have run marathons, accumulated degrees, played guitar in a rock and roll band and made two complete human beings from scratch, all by yourself, and without even thinking. If that isn’t amazing, then I don’t know what is!”

Patterns of behavior, like the roots of plants, run deep. The quote I chose, seemingly randomly, for my high school yearbook was this: “Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.” It strikes me as uncanny that some part of me knew, over thirty years ago exactly how I would live my life. There is genius in all of us, even if it isn’t always immediately apparent.

Bud is quick to undertake big projects in his yard, throwing in time and money before deciding that the project is over his head and bailing. When I asked him if this mirrored how he did other things in his life, his face went ashen. He made the connection that his approach to dive in first and assess later had left him in a precarious financial state. He decided to try pausing before leaping at the next business deal. This tiny change minimized his misfires, while, capitalizing on his willingness to take risks, dramatically improved his bottom line.

Unearthing our root patterns is, in psychology speak, a process of making the unconscious conscious. Doing so gives us a freedom and creativity to behave and respond in ways that we weren’t aware existed. It allows us to tweak and prune.

But put away your machete. The key is small change. Each root holds an innate wisdom. As any gardener knows, you never want to damage a plants’ roots.

Gardening offers us glimpses of the invisible strands that weave the various parts of our lives so seamlessly together into a stunning whole. Marvel at nature, appreciating the tiny things for the huge lessons: tiny blades of grass that manage to poke through concrete.

Dr. Rachel Levy Lombara is a clinical psychologist in Chappaqua. She has been described as “down to earth” and full of useful tools for gardening and life. She prefers to work quickly and effectively.

Contributing to the Beauty of our Town

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Many factors contribute to the charm of our town. Friendly shopkeepers, delicious eateries and cultural events are but a few. Next time you’re downtown, view the area through a different lens, that of nature. Concentrate on the greenery and blossoms which truly enhance the wooded landscape. Several of these commercial area focal points reflect the vision and dedication of one exceptionally talented member of our community, Julie Greco.

We caught up with Julie Greco, independent landscape designer and the proud creator of the beautiful Pocket Park On North Greeley Avenue in downtown Chappaqua.
We caught up with Julie Greco, independent landscape designer and the proud creator of the beautiful Pocket Park On North Greeley Avenue in downtown Chappaqua.

After moving here at age five, Ms. Greco’s passion for nature began to flourish. The strong interest in gardening imparted from her mother and grandmother helped create the foundation of her livelihood today as an independent landscape designer. Flower and vegetable plots were an integral part of her childhood. Extended family nurtured her passion, stopping by laden with plants from their own 
gardens as gifts.

Donating her time and expertise is her way of giving back. During her 13-year tenure in the Chappaqua Garden Club, she served as chair of landscape design and chair of civic improvement. In addition, the Beautification Advisory Board has been graced by her presence as an active member.

When the town asked Ms. Greco to redesign the Pocket Park (the term connoting a space closed on three sides, open on one), she felt “honored” by the request. As a volunteer, she designed and developed the project from “inception to dedication” and continues to do so, maintaining the look and feel. The space harbors a special place in her heart, especially when she sees a mother pause to show her child, “the tile that mommy made,” in the mosaic on the southern wall.

The Pocket Park, nestled to the left of the row of buildings that includes Susan Lawrence on North Greeley Avenue, is to Chappaqua what the stately clock is to Grand Central. “Meet you at the Pocket Park,” is a common refrain.

Appreciation of the Pocket Park is accessible in any season. This is a reflection of Ms. Greco’s eye for elements that provide “texture and color, even when nothing’s in bloom.”

“Rhythm and contrast” are the omnipresent keys to year-round beauty. Foliage on the PJM rhododendron turns burgundy in winter. Spring brings soft hues of blue and yellow from flowering bulbs.

Residents linger, savoring the sanctuary. Birds perch in the birch tree and bunnies scamper underneath the shrubbery. Appreciation of the park is not limited to the aforementioned; it is also listed in the esteemed Garden Conservancy Catalog.

Evidence of her touch also appears in the triangle at the intersection of routes 117 and 120 at the top of King Street. This patch features extremely hardly plants, capable of withstanding the heat of the sun and the salt on the roads in wintertime. Ornamental grasses, waving in the breeze, are interspersed with red carpet roses and perennial salvia, adding vivid color.

To contact Julie Greco write to gardenkeeperjg@earthlink.net. For more information about beautification projects around town, contact the New Castle Recreation and Parks Commission at 238-3909.

Sarah Ellen Rindsberg, who very much admires great landscape design, is a frequent contributor to Inside Chappaqua and Inside Armonk magazines.