After a Decade, the Pine Plains Community Garden is Growing Strong

Garlic, shallots, chives, onions, sage, tarragon, parsley, arugula, lettuces, beets, spinach, Swiss chard, potatoes, carrots, peas, pumpkins, watermelon and three types of kale. Those are just some of the crops growing under the watchful eyes of a small crew of volunteers at the Pine Plains Community Garden this summer. It’s the plot’s most robust season ever. 

The garden has basked in the sunny field next to the Town Hall since 2012, when Samantha Sloane Cole of the Free Families Forward initiative persuaded the Town Board to host it on public property.  

Many hands contributed to its creation, with residents and businesses donating lumber, supplies and hundreds of plants. The Highway Department tilled the soil, and Town Justice Dave Humeston and Geof Talcott, a retired bank employee, did some of the heavy lifting. “We would have had no garden without them,” said Sandy Towers, one of the earliest volunteers. “I came one day, and it was like the fairy godmother had come. They fenced the whole thing.”  

The garden’s resident scarecrow is named Geof in memory of Talcott, who died in May 2022. “He is our guardian spirit,” said gardener Suzanne Ouellette, who outfits Geof every year with different clothes and a new personality. 

The Community Garden has worked to provide fresh, healthy produce to those who can least afford it. Once a month, under the sponsorship of the Council of Churches, the garden makes a donation to the food locker at the Methodist Church, which supports between 25 and 30 families, including up to 75 children.  

In 2020, the garden added twice-monthly donations to the Willow Roots food pantry. It also continues to provide direct deliveries to local families in need. This summer, volunteers are harvesting between 40 and 100 pounds of vegetables a week.  

“Our mission is to help people who don’t have access to healthy food improve their diet,” said Elizabeth White, who joined the garden in 2020. (White writes a regular gardening column for the Herald.)  

White, who grew up on a farm, studied agronomy and ran an organic food business, has become an indispensable source of knowledge for her fellow gardeners, including Ouellette, Brenda Bertin, Lenora Champagne, Tom McDermott, Nelson Zayas and others. 

White likes to harvest when the sun dips low enough for the single-story Town Hall to shade the garden. And, she said, in addition to knowing she is helping the community, she enjoys the benefits of exercise and fresh air. “I basically live here,” she said.  

A 2021 study cited in New York State’s Community Gardens Task Force found that community gardeners had significantly better physical and mental health than their neighbors who did not participate in gardening activities.  

Those benefits extend to the recipients of the fresh vegetables. The gardens offer foods that may otherwise be difficult to obtain due to high costs, distance from markets and the lack of variety of produce in stores.  

“The best thing is seeing families with children at the food pantry and knowing that they’ll be able to enjoy these delicious vegetables,” Towers said while harvesting some lettuce and spinach.  Fellow volunteers Sue Terrizzi and Alicia Pascaris said the garden added purpose and structure to their lives after they retired.  

Challenges abound. One year voles feasted on the crops until Pascaris’s dog ran them off. When vine borers invaded last year, the gardeners had to wait until the pests’ life cycle passed before planting squash this year. While insects haven’t been much of a problem in 2023, tomato blight has been. And weeding is a constant.  

On a recent afternoon, Towers scanned the garden and said, “Sometimes you get daunted by the size of the task in front of you.” White agreed: “It would be nice to have more volunteers.”  

Annie Mallozzi, a library assistant at the Pine Plains Free Library, joined the crew this summer. “I’m not an earthy person,” she said. “But when they said no experience was necessary, I said great!” Lately Mallozzi has joined White in making direct deliveries to those in need. “Locals helping locals,” Mallozzi said. “What could be better?”

To help build a larger group of regular volunteers, four years ago the Town Board agreed to let residents cultivate their own small beds within the garden, where they will be able to grow food not only for community distribution but also for their own families.

“The most satisfying thing is seeing people who are happy to have this beautiful food,” Champagne said. “And, of course, eating the food I grow myself is wonderful.”

If you’re interested in finding out more about the Community Garden, please email Elizabeth White at elizw1956@yahoo.com.