Gardens for health, self-sufficiency and rooted friendships | Pamela’s Food Service Diary
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STATEN ICELAND, NY – The pandemic has permanently drilled a few lessons into my mindset. There is the importance of self-sufficiency with the security of having a steady supply of food. Even during COVID, especially during the quarantine days, the only reliable thing in our home-bound state (and beyond) was our garden. Flowers bloomed and nature went on, even when the world seemed to have stopped.
I would like to emphasize the importance of garden maintenance. And on many levels, the district’s four gardening clubs exemplify this great cause in their work around Staten Island. Think of them as calm, helping hands that keep the Borough of Parks beauty going.
Susan Marretta, left, with Bernadette Sullivan in the States. (Staten Island Advance / Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri
“Gardening is my mind. I love watching things grow and eating healthy, ”said Susan Marretta, a member of the Richmond Ever-Green Garden Club, founded in 1985. Incidentally, this group is involved in community beautification projects – to name just a few – Garibaldi-Meucci Museum, Ms. Capodanno Chapel at Fort Wadsworth, St. Nicholas Chapel and a monument protection project and garden restoration at Silver Mount Cemetery, Silver Lake.
At a recent lunch in the states for the four organizations, these mothers of nature were connected with faces.
– Garden club members gathered for their largest annual fundraiser for the first time in nearly two years. The speaker for the day was Christine Donck-Guelton, right, Sogetsu School Instructor and board member of NY Chapter Soghetsu School and Ikebana International. (Staten Island Advance / Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri
The Castle Manor Garden Club is headed by Lucille Bauer and Evelia Foster, a crew who loves gardening and protecting the local environment. They run dozens of community projects – the Blue Star By-Way Memorial Garden in Fort Wadsworth and the Manresa Council 9/11 Garden.
Graceann Morawek runs the Great Kills Garden Club, founded in 1954. Your colleagues maintain the entrance to Bloomingdale Park. Their monthly meetings include conversations about nature, flower design, and hands-on make-it-and-take-it workshops.
– Garden club members gathered for their largest annual fundraiser for the first time in nearly two years. Pamela SilvestriPamela Silvestri
And here’s another interesting tidbit: The Isle of States’ oldest club – the Staten Island Garden Club – was founded in 1914 by Alice Austen herself. This modern group of 34 members takes care of the Alice Austin House Museum of “Clear Comfort” in Rosebank and the grave of the famous photographer in the Moravian Cemetery. Among the many projects around the North Shore, this club is committed to frogs. Efforts to raise awareness of declining bug-eating frog and amphibian populations.
“We encourage inexperienced gardeners with our ‘moments’ and non-competitive flower arrangement workshops. The only requirement for membership is an interest in gardening, a love of flowers and an appreciation of natural beauty, ”says SI Garden Club president prez Josephine Fedele.
Enjoy a day gardening in the states. (Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri
Then there is the Richmond Ever-Green Garden Club.
President Suzanne Quinn said: “We are creating wreaths for the women who have completed the program at Amethyst House. We keep up to date with speakers on horticulture, island history and garden tours. This is a small part of what we do. We support each other and the camaraderie is wonderful and we are always looking for new members. “
Quinn is a native of Staten Islander who grew up on the South Shore with a garden that her father tended.
“It was just a way of life as we were [living among] the courtyard of the parish. My father’s parents had turkeys and chickens and my mother had rabbits and chickens. She’s from the Westerleigh area, ”Quinn said. Her mother is a sprightly 100 and she attributes the longevity to the self-sufficient house – preserves, shocks and preservation of the natural treasures from the garden.
– Garden club members gathered for their largest annual fundraiser for the first time in nearly two years. (Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri
“I just love it. It’s outside. We enjoyed watching things grow during the pandemic in my father’s garden who had been vacant for a few years. My husband, who never really grew vegetables, took over that and it was nice to see my father’s garden being revitalized, ”Quinn said.
Long live the garden clubs on our island for the next generations!
Here you will find the contact information and the schedule for the four garden clubs. Hopefully you will be encouraged to join one of them in keeping the gardening community rooted, so to speak:
Castle Manor Garden Club
Co-Presidents: Lucille Bauer and Evelia Foster
Meetings: every second Wednesday of the month at 1 p.m.
Contact: lucillebauer@hotmail.com
Staten Island Garden Club
Chair: Josephine Fedele
Meeting point: fourth Wednesday of the month
Contact: jofedele@yahoo.com
Great Kills Garden Club
Chair: Graceann Morawek
Meeting point: third Tuesday of the month at 10 a.m.
Contact: 917-992-9719
Richmond Ever-Green Garden Club
Chair: Suzanne Quinn
Meeting point: the second Monday of the month at 6:30 p.m.
Contact: suzanne@tquinn.com
– Garden club members gathered for their largest annual fundraiser for the first time in nearly two years. (Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri
Suzaannne Quinn of the Richmond Ever-Green Garden Club, left, and Evelia Foster of the Castle Manor Garden Club. (Staten Island Advance / Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri
Pent-up demand at the garden talk (Staten Island Advance / Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri
Chocolate Halloween cake was one of the goodies sold for the gardening club’s annual big fundraiser. (Staten Island Advance / Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri
– Garden club members gathered for their largest annual fundraiser for the first time in nearly two years. (Staten Island Advance / Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri
Some of the helping hands in the community taking care of the Borough of Parks beautification. (Staten Island Advance / Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri
Garden club members gathered for their largest annual fundraiser for the first time in nearly two years. (Staten Island Advance / Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri
Left to right: Carol Boylan, Graceann Morawek, Josephine Fedele and Suzanne Quinn. (Staten Island Advance / Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri
Garden club members gathered for their largest annual fundraiser for the first time in nearly two years. (Staten Island Advance / Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri
A fabulous carrot cake donated to the counter at The States for a fundraiser for the four Staten Island gardening clubs. (Staten Island Advance / Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri
Garden club members meet at The States. (Staten Island Advance / Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri
Selling raffles for the district’s horticultural community. (Staten Island Advance / Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri
Carol Berardi addresses the room. (Staten Island Advance / Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri
Left to right: Betty LaFemina and Carol Boylan. (Staten Island Advance / Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri
Suzanne Quinn, left, and Evalia Foster (Staten Island Advance / Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri
Garden Club members enjoy a community lunch and fundraiser. (Staten Island Advance / Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri
Garden club members gathered for their largest annual fundraiser for the first time in nearly two years. (Staten Island Advance / Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri
At lunch with the district’s gardening groups. (Staten Island Advance / Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri
The county’s most avid gardeners met for lunch in The States on Thursday, October 21, 2021. (Staten Island Advance / Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri
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