New Community Garden Set to Blossom In Flanders

A new community garden planned for Flanders is one step closer to blooming.

Southampton Town Councilwoman Christine Scalera has organized a community garden meeting in Flanders at the David W. Crohan Center on Monday, March 3 at 6 p.m.

Community members are invited to listen to plans for the new garden, share ideas and sign up to participate.

The town, said Scalera, is working on two potential community gardens with the cooperation of Cornell Cooperative Extension. The first involves facilitating a new garden at the Phillips Avenue Elementary School, she said.

"We met with the principal there who was very excited and trying to get Cornell and the superintendent of Riverhead schools together," Scalera said. The meeting is still to come, she added.

"The second is a project I'm very excited about and hope to get the Flanders area civics involved with," Scalera said; she added that the second garden is proposed for the David W. Crohan Community Center.

While plans are still being mapped out, Scalera said the hope is that vegetables will be grown, with a portion going to local food pantries.

“One of my goals with this project is to integrate the community gardens into the town's parks, youth, and senior services programs, with an eye toward promoting intergenerational interaction, with the garden as a focal point,” said Scalera. 

Scalera has also reached out to local civic groups and the Flanders Fire Department to see if they'd like to maintain a garden bed.

“These groups are already so involved with the Flanders, Riverside and Northampton communities and it would be a wonderful addition to have them participate in the project," she said.

The project has been launched under the auspices of the Family Health and Wellness Program of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County with funding from the New York State Department of Health to implement Creating Healthy Places in Suffolk County.

“We are very excited to be working with Councilwoman Scalera and the Flanders, Riverside, Northampton communities on this project,” said Susan Wilk, project coordinator, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County. "Programs like ours across the state are working in collaborations with local governments and community members to create healthy places in communities and implement projects that will make it easier for community members to be physically active and eat healthy foods. Community gardens are a perfect opportunity for physical activity and an excellent source of nutrition and enjoyment of a wide assortment of garden fresh produce."

Also attending the meeting will be Laurie Nigro and Amy Davidson of the River and Roots Community Garden in Riverhead.