Cornwall’s new Youth Garden Club will meet on Sunday
Paul Stermer, James Jackson, Rokhsha Michael-Razi, Kate Krimsky, Michelle Denega, Joy Zayatz, Bill Webber, Shannon Kenney and Mara Davi Gaines.
The nine people listed above are not youth. Yet, they are the guiding hands of the relatively new Cornwall Youth Garden Club, an organization they hope is “planting seeds” in the community, both literally and figuratively!
They are the steering committee of the organization, with Stermer as chairman and Jackson as vice-chairman. Cornwall Town Councilwoman Michael-Razi, while an active club member, is also the group’s founder and liaison to the Town Board. She said having worked with Cornwall community’s youth for the past 23 years, it has been one of her goals to bring activities not previously offered to the young residents and involve them in creating gardens and becoming leaders.
“All I did,” she says, “was to bring up this plan and idea, reach out to Paul and James and the rest happened like magic.”
The Youth Garden Club is a spin-off of the town’s Youth Committee; it’s a town committee. On a recent spring Sunday morning, Stermer talked about the plans for the group, and how he envisions it growing (again, a fun pun!) in the years ahead.
He spoke from the Cornwall-on-Hudson Elementary School’s garden, a large space just waiting to be filled with the vibrant colors of an active garden.
There, and at Lee Road and Willow Ave. Elementary Schools, as well as the Hudson Highlands Nature Museum’s Wildlife Education Center and Outdoor Discovery Center, and possibly a public space in the Rings Pond/Riverlight Park area, Stermer and the others can foresee “a true community effort” that not only helps increase the beauty of Cornwall but also connects community members to one another.
To be clear, Stermer explains that none of those garden locations listed above belong to the Youth Garden Club in any way. He and other adults on the committee have reached out to representatives of the schools to create partnerships with them for the gardens, knowing that while the schools may work on gardens in the spring and fall, there is that long period in the summer where school is out of session and the gardens still need attention.
“We want to work with the ‘owners’ of these established areas, and partner with them to bring life back to these gardens and make sure they are maintained, “Stermer said.”We’re not exactly sure yet where these partnerships are going to lead yet.”
He’s heartened that there have been some seed donations, and already donations of some mulch.
“Gardens take a lot of TLC, and this summer will be our group’s first endeavor,” he said. “We will see how it goes.”
What Stermer does know is that even if there aren’t booming crops of vegetables or award-winning flowers grown, if they get kids out to “work the land” then the committee would consider it a success. As the father of two, he knows that keeping kids active is an ongoing task.
“Our hope is that we’ll get a lot of support,” Stermer said. “We will welcome all volunteers, but really want to make it youth specific.”
They’re hoping to get children ranging from pre-school through high school, and “it would be really wonderful to see whole families join us,” he said. “Or Scout groups, or church groups, or high schoolers who need to complete their service hours.”
Stermer uses the words ‘moving target’ often when speaking about this summer’s gardens specifically.
“We want to put forward our best effort and involve as many people and organizations as we can this year,” he said.
And while thinking about what to plant this summer is time-consuming enough, Stermer said maybe there are big ideas in the works too … including the possibility of a community composting project down the road. Many folks want to compost, but don’t necessarily want to do it at home.
As well, the committee’s adults have talked about reestablishing pollinators in the community, using native plants. (Birds, bees, butterflies, beetles and even small mammals like bats travel from plant to plant carrying pollen on their bodies in a vital interaction that allows the transfer of genetic material critical to the reproductive system of most plants.) There has been talk in the region of creating a ‘pollinator path’ in the Hudson Valley.
“Who knows how all this will end,” he said. “But I think we are laying the foundation of something that could be really good.”
This weekend, on Sunday, April 30, at 5 p.m. on the Bridge Street bridge, the Youth Garden Club will have a ‘launch party’ that is open to the community. “We’ll talk to anyone who comes by about our plans,” Stermer said, “and listen to all ideas.”
Among the things the group has been doing in recent weeks — leading up to planting season — is asking for donations of seeds to use in the various gardens this summer. Those can be brought to the launch party.
And one final thing. The group is established with the Community Foundation of Orange & Sullivan, under Cornwall Events Committee fund — monetary donations to the Youth Garden Club can be made there.
