ABOUT THE KITCHEN GARDEN The Kitchen Garden is a new community garden wedged between
South Church’s parking lot and Oak Street in Dobbs Ferry. While community gardens
are on the rise in most urban and suburban areas, The Kitchen Garden stands
apart because of its purpose. It’s meant to grow food and grow connections. It began as a joint program between Roots & Wings, the sustainable initiative of
South Church, and Cabrini Immigrant Services, a Dobbs Ferry-based agency for newcomers
to the United States.
The gardeners were several families and individuals from
Cabrini Immigrant Services and from South Church. “We’re
celebrating our first harvest,” says Kathy Dean, garden organizer for Roots
& Wings, “tomatoes, peppers, more Swiss chard than we knew what to do with,
basil, carrots, potatoes and more.”
“It has been amazing to have people from
Brazil, Peru, Mexico, Korea, and Pakistan garden with those from Hastings and Dobbs,”
adds Robin Larkin, Director of Cabrini Immigrant Services.
When I first heard of the kitchen
garden, it really resonated with me. I looked at it and thought, “This is it.”
I think it was meant to be that I became involved with it.
My parents and I moved from
Argentina when I was seven. It was hard for all of us. When we came we didn’t
know the language. We didn’t have anyone. What saved me was that that my dad
and I became homesteaders in the south Bronx with another six families and
individuals. For those who are not familiar with homesteading, it was a
movement to rehabilitate living spaces with some city support and sweat equity.
We met as a group every Saturday for the next six years organizing a plan of
reconstruction as well as working within the building in order to try to
preserve its deteriorating structure. This was in the mid 80’s and it took us a
total of nine years to compete the project as we say many members come and go
along the way. The last people standing developed a very strong bond and we
will always identify ourselves as homesteaders.
It was through another homesteader that
I discovered community gardening. The Cherry Tree Association, a community
group made up of squatters, had taken control of a large plot of land on Willis
Ave, about four clocks from our homesteading site. This group was made up of an
eclectic and diverse set of individuals who had the common goal to transform an
ugly plot into a sustainable and productive garden. It took a couple of years
but at the end we were able to grow almost any kind of vegetables, we built a
casita for meetings, and even raised chickens. During this time we visited
dozens of gardens all over the city. We compared gardening methods, admired
each other’s productions and spoke about ways of protecting our gardens from
the city urban plans. We were constantly under the threat of having our gardens
taken away from us but through petitions, rallies and community meetings we
were able to fight city hall and save almost all of our gardens. I’m proud to
say that this garden at Willis Av, after over 25 years, is still thriving with
new and old members. The same is true for 272 Alexander Ave, our homesteading
project where my dad still lives today.
Like the kitchen garden, just takes
resilience, transformation and community.--Marc Taiano, at South Church Celebrates Roots & Wings, April 2013
The gardeners were several families and individuals from
Cabrini Immigrant Services and from South Church. “We’re
celebrating our first harvest,” says Kathy Dean, garden organizer for Roots
& Wings, “tomatoes, peppers, more Swiss chard than we knew what to do with,
basil, carrots, potatoes and more.” 
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