Community Composting

The children each put a handful of wilted spinach leaves into the center compost bin. Gabriela Munoz, part of Roots & Wings compost team, showed them how to take dried leaves from the right bin and cover their food scraps. She also pointed out what was in the left bin: decomposed material that looked a lot like good soil. 

"That's what will happen to your banana peels, clementine peels and uneaten bagel," she told the little group from Days of Wonder, a childcare program located on South's campus. Teachers Luke and Jordi learned, too, and were tasked with sharing the news to the other classes.

The lesson was a step towards Roots & Wings' goal of having all groups that use South Church's campus compost their food scraps, rather than add them to the waste stream. The vision grew out of the recent Composting Conversations--a how-to evening that grew into a think tank of ways to move the dial on local composting. 

"This are your compost bins," Lenore, a Roots & Wings steering committee member, told the students. "They are for you and your families to use, as well as your school."

KROKA helps in the Manse Garden

Thirteen teens from Kroka Expeditions stayed at the Manse for a long weekend and, while there, volunteered in the Manse Garden.

In their words: 

"We spent much of Saturday with Greg Rosen, working in the garden behind the house to make the fence groundhog-proof and removing some of the invasive barberry. It was wonderful to talk to Greg about his time in Japan and the sustainable agriculture work he is doing here in Dobbs Ferry. We continued to put in work on improving the land for the rest of our stay, removing barberry and cleaning the yard."

Introducing ... the Manse Garden!

There's new garden in town -- for now, its name is the Manse Garden, put in by Roots & Wings newest steering committee member, Greg Rosen. 

The vision: to support community food resilience through group work sessions, workshops and food pantry donations come harvest time. 

 Greg writes, "I'd like to start by growing annual vegetables for a year. This would give us an opportunity to get to know the land, before considering planting perennials, making bigger changes and even designing a community food forest." 

 "Through hands-on education, we can support home growers in making edible gardens of plenty throughout our community. We can highlight the connection between edible "weeds" and nearby woods, incorporating "invasive" plant management and encouragement of native plants, pollinators and biodiversity. For youth engagement, I'd like to emphasize L.O.P.I. (learning by observing and pitching in). I imagine a future where the streets are greener and neighbors are sharing an abundance of fresh local food." 

 Here are photos of Greg and his mother sowing radish, carrot, sunflower, Jerusalem artichoke, amaranth, borage and marigold.

Roots & Wings provides seed money for new garden in Mount Vernon

Partnerships power community garden at First Presbyterian Church in Mount Vernon

Roots & Wings, the sustainable initiative of South Presbyterian Church, in Dobbs Ferry, has provided $2,500 in seed monies for a new garden at First Presbyterian Church in Mount Vernon. The collaboration was celebrated at a Garden Work Day and BBQ at First Presbyterian Church in Mount Vernon on April 9.

“We are thrilled to be part of this new garden,” said Lenore Person, member of Roots & Wings Steering Committee. 

The collaboration practically put itself together, she said. Dorothy Muller, a Presbyterian minister living in Sleepy Hollow, serves on the ministry team of both churches and helped make introductions. 

Roots & Wings received funding from the Hudson River Presbytery in 2011 for implementing programs that help people to care for the earth and to know its rhythms, creating community and rejuvenating themselves in the process. Written into the grant was funding for other organizations to “grow community.” 

The garden at First Presbyterian Church in Mount Vernon is a partnership between the church’s Mission Committee and Resilient Survivors, a new non-profit in Mount Vernon for survivors of domestic violence, incarceration, addiction— “any trauma that has lasting significant impact on life,” said Claire Hurst, the co-president.  

D.I.G. Farm, in North Salem, and its sister organization Westchester Local Food Network will contribute gardening know-how. Allison Turcan, the founder of both organizations, has put together a lean budget using farming connections for fencing, compost, building a compost bin, seeds and seedlings. The City of Mount Vernon contributed wood chips. 

Resilient Survivors plans to run healing circles in the new garden. First Presbyterian Church envisions gardening classes and cooking programs using their home-grown produce.  “The excitement continues to build,” said Marcia Morgan, member of First Presbyterian Church’s mission committee. “We are thankful for everyone’s hard work and input!” 

pop-up native plants sale August 8

There'll be a native plants pop-up sale at Roots & Wings CSA this Sunday, August 8, 9 - 10 am, in the parking lot behind South Church.  

Check it out! 

Variety	Common Names	Quantities	Container Type
Anemone canadensis	Canada anemone	12	Plug
Bouteloua gracilis	Blue Grama	50	Plug
Ceanothus americanus	New Jersey Tea	3	Plug
Chelone lyonii 'Hot Lips'	Turtlehead 'Hot Lips'	15	Plug
Conoclinium coelestinum	Blue Mist Flower	17	Plug
Coreopsis lanceolata	Lanceleaf tickseed	8	Plug
Coreopsis lanceolata 'Baby Gold'	Lanceleaf tickseed 'Baby Gold'	12	Plug
Elymus Hystrix	Bottlebrush grass	20	Plug
Eupatorium fistulosum	Joe Pye Weed	16	Plug
Geranium maculatum	Wild geranium	1	Plug
Geum triflorum	Prairie Smokeflower	4	Cup
Liatris spicata	Dense Blazing Star	1	Plug
Lonicera sempervirens	Coral honeysuckle	32	Plug
Packera Aurea	Golden GroundSel	1	Cup
Phlox stolonifera	Creeping phlox	17	Plug
Pycnanthemum tenuifolium	Narrow Leaf Mountain Mint	41	Plug
Rudbeckia fulgida var. fulgida	Orange Coneflower	7	Plug
Schizachyrium scoparium	Little BlueStem	18	Plug
Scutellaria incana	Hoary Skullcaps	88	Plug
Solidago flexicaulis	Zigzag goldenrod	12	Plug
Sorghastrum nutans	Yellow Indiangrass	38	Plug
Symphyotrichum novae-angliae	New England Aster	10	Plug
Symphyotrichum novae-angliae 'Purple Dome'	Aster ‘Purple Dome’	12	Plug
Thermopsis villosa	Aaron's rod	14	Plug

$3 each for plugs

$5 each for cups

Dobbs Ferry Pollinator Pathway medallion

Get your Dobbs Ferry Pollinator Pathway medallion at Roots & Wings CSA on Sunday, August 8, 9 - 10 am behind South Church! 

This 5 1/2 inch medallion is now available for you to display in your Dobbs Ferry native garden. The medallion has two small holes so it can be attached to a stake or a fence. For the immediate future, medallions are available from Kathy Dean at kathydean64@gmail.com. The cost is $10 per medallion. The Sustainability Task Force is in the process of adding content to the Sustainable Dobbs Website regarding the pollinator pathway project  We hope to have that info available in September 2021.

How do I qualify to be a Dobbs Ferry Pollinator Pathway Garden?

Any pesticide-free garden that provides food and habitat with pollinator-friendly native and non-native plants is a pollinator garden. Get started with just a plant or two! You can grow your garden gradually. This is not about size - it is about a commitment moving forward. Residents can add anywhere from one pollinator-friendly tree or plant, to a small pollinator garden, to a full meadow.

We only have three requirements to purchase and display a medallion:

1.       Go pesticide/chemical free

2.       Plant native plants

3.       Rethink your lawn (consider organic fertilizer; leave grass clippings on your lawn/mulch mow leaves; convert some lawn area to native plants; leave some leaves in beds/non-lawn areas for overwintering insects)

Special thanks to our pollinator pathway friends in Hastings-on-Hudson and Ardsley who supplied all the know how we needed to design and implement this project.

Happy Planting!

CSA season 5~

We're delighted that it's fresh, local and organic veggie season again! The below pix shows one of our members growth over the years : )