Invasive Species Removal
Three Village Garden Club Arboretum, East Setauket, NY
Saturday, May 28th

These volunteers will never look at a patch of plants the same way again! We started the event thinking that all greens were equal, but a knowledgeable member of the Three Village Garden Club quickly taught us the evils of garlic mustard, English ivy, Asian honeysuckle, devil's walking stick, multiflora rose, and other villains. Once educated, the volunteers couldn't resist their urge to help those poor native plants by ridding the arboretum of these life-sucking, rapidly-spreading invasive aliens. The battle ended with nearly a dozen bags full of non-native plants, and we could hear the natives cheering as we left the arboretum.

Arcadia: This, That, and the Other Thing
Avalon Park And Preserve Barn, Stony Brook, NY
Thursday, May 26th

For the first time, the volunteers swept all the tasks off of the to-do list before time ran out— impressive! First, we thinned a few of our crops, like arugula, lettuce, and radishes. Then we moved on to construct the may pole trellises that will soon be engulfed by pole beans and peas; they were already grabbing on before we were done stringing the twine! After taking a little recreational hike around the park, we returned to transplant a few new arrivals, water all of the beds, and then spray a garlic/onion/hot pepper/dish soap tea (yummy!) on our nightshade plants-- eggplant, tomato, radish— because the flea beetles have been threatening to leave us eggplant-less. Lets hope it keeps those buggers away! Lastly, we puttered around, weeding the beds and counting the days until summer break. Nine more, I believe?

A Day at Hobbs Farm
Bethel Hobbs Community Farm, Centereach, NY
Sunday, May 22nd

What a show the A-team put on! Our super-productive day at Hobbs Farm included (but is not limited to): prepping the soil, planting potatoes, and placing a tire around them for future filling; digging holes and installing posts, along with a cord, to finish the child's play area fence; building and tidying two new compost areas; edging a few beds; mowing the pathways; and moving some hay. Bravo, bravo! Aside from basking in the glory of so many jobs well done, we rewarded ourselves with the sweet tastes of broccoli flowers and tasty clove petals— right off the plants. Talk about fresh!

Spring Cleaning at Flax Pond
Flax Pond, Old Field/Setauket, NY
Saturday, May 21st

It was another sunny seaside adventure for our STATE volunteers as we walked along the shores of Flax Pond and the Long Island Sound picking up whatever wasn't naturally occurring. We found scores of little pieces of plastic, deflated balloons with their ribbons, and fishing equipment, along with some other stuff that I'd really just rather not list. Marine clean-ups are never dull days! Of course, we found time to unwind and skip rocks, as well as adding all the buoys we found to the rare and exotic Buoy Tree there beside Flax Pond. Brilliant work, all!

Arcadia: Planting By The Moon-Part Two
Avalon Park And Preserve Barn, Stony Brook, NY
Sunday, May 15th

Talk about racing the rain! The seedlings weren't going to stand one more day in those little seedling boxes— they were ready to root deeper, grow taller, and start producing veggies, herbs, and flowers. With the forecast predicting 5 days of rain, we knew the time was now, so we swapped the afternoon program to the morning and our heartiest volunteers dodged a few raindrops while carefully transplanting our seedlings. And oh, did we get our hands dirty! Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, basils, poppies, marigolds, and spinach are just a few of the many sprouts we put into the boxes today. Just as we were wrapping up, the rain began to move in on the garden to give the new residents a good soaking. Now, how many days to harvest???

Instant Barn: Just Add Volunteers!
Historic Old Field Farm, Old Field, NY
Saturday, May 14th

This morning, we arrived to find a skeleton of a barn, and by 3:30 PM, we were looking at a fully functional six-stall horse barn. It was no cakewalk, but with the help of another team of volunteers, we cleared debris, filled stall floors with sand and stamped it down, painted doors and walls, and with a few finishing touches— and a delicious lunch in the middle of all that— we had ourselves a barn! It was our pleasure to put in a day of work to help Historic Old Field Farm get back to its original state of beauty and functionality. We're already excited to go back in June to do some fence work!

Arcadia: This, That, and the Other Thing
Avalon Park And Preserve Barn, Stony Brook, NY
Thursday, May 12th

We sure do feel accomplished after "This, That, and the Other Thing" programs! Our team of six knocked out projects one after another today, beginning with filling the largest raised bed and planting our young blueberry bushes. After that, we divvied up the praying mantis egg cases that our volunteers had gathered back in March and redistributed them throughout the fields so that they'll have plenty of room to roam when they hatch. Returning to the garden, we filled the FINAL raised bed (woo-hoo!) and planted it with two types of zucchini, cantaloupe, and nasturtium. After giving everything a good soak, we gathered stones to place around our sunflower mounds, making them more beautiful and less apt to erode. Rock on, volunteers!

Arcadia: This, That, and the Other Thing
Avalon Park And Preserve Barn, Stony Brook, NY
Thursday, May 7th

Our volunteers sure can get a lot done in very little time! In three hours, the students assembled four huge raised beds, filled two of them, dug one into the ground, planted cucumbers, watered sprouting seeds, and investigated the very large root that they found while digging! It was a fun afternoon bouncing between this, that, and the other thing. As summer approaches, we'll see this program held more often, as there are always projects to be tackled in a garden. Arcadia is looking most superb so far, and I know it's only going to get better and better!

Arcadia: Planting By The Moon-Part One
Avalon Park And Preserve Barn, Stony Brook, NY
Monday, May 2nd

This was yet another first for the S.T.A.T.E. volunteers' garden: getting some seeds into its soil. We planted the seeds that wanted to go right into the ground: radishes, carrots, peas, lettuce, arugula, watermelon, and sunflowers. With the last part of the afternoon, we transplanted three types of strawberry plants into our fabulous three-tier strawberry box. Harvest time can't come soon enough!!!

Arcadia: Ground Soil Prep And Raised Bed Construction
Avalon Park And Preserve Barn, Stony Brook, NY
Sunday, May 1st

Goodness, did we all get a workout! We all spent our Sunday afternoon aligning boards and supports, holding them still, drilling them together, and as they were completed, filling them—wheel barrow after wheel barrow— with soil and compost. This might not sound so rough, but our bulging arm muscles speak for themselves: we rocked it. Our garden is now looking like, well, a garden! The raised beds are just begging for some plants, and we won't make them wait long. Spring has sprung, and STATE is ready to make ideas into reality.