How Did We Get Here?
In 2007, Roseann Rutherford and Peggy Clarke met after being tasked with creating a new "signature project" by a local volunteer organization. Given the social fragmentation too many of us were experiencing in this semi-rural corner of Westchester County, the primary goal was to find ways for people across generations to be in relationship with one another. Roseann had 4 children living at home and was committed to creating community life that gave her children a strong, reliable social net. Peggy had been active in the environmental justice, food justice, and climate movements for years. Together with a team of six other women, they imagined a place where people could gather together to grow food together. Community gardens were nearly unheard of in this area, but after doing a lot of researching and locating some land and partner organizations, the idea for InterGenerate was born.
But, it wasn't that easy. The volunteer organization wasn't sold on it. They didn't think people would be interested in gardening together, so they rejected the plan and started looking at alternatives. Peggy and Roseann weren't willing to let it go. The idea that people could come together across so many boundaries that keep us apart was too good an idea to walk away from, so they set about to find new partners.
First was the Bedford Audubon. The Executive Director at the time was very open to creating a vegetable garden and to teach people how local food sourcing keeps our planet healthy. In 2009, we opened an Intergenerational Garden Camp which brought together children and older adults for one day a week through the summer. It was a roaring success, letting us know we were on to something.
In 2010, Roseann and Peggy approached the board at Marsh Sanctuary. They'd never heard of community gardening and were quite suspicious, but they liked the idea of the property being used since it had largely been laying fallow for decades. With the support of a grant from the Rusticus Garden Club and the Naturalist at Marsh, the newly formed InterGenerate built the area's first Community Garden.
Since community gardening was so uncommon in the area, InterGenerate also created a Westchester Garden Network with a big kick-off event at the Westchester County Center, brining together people who were organizing gardens or who wanted to learn more about local food.
When March opened that summer, the experience was more powerful than anticipated. People from all over Northern Westchester were gathering together to grow food for themselves and for their community in our Giving Garden. Someone brought a picnic table and this garden became the Happy Place for dozens of people. There was a teenager with his own plot and families new to the area and some new to the country. It was the manifestation of a dream.
InterGenerate then set about to create a longer term plan. Peggy and Roseann sought volunteers both for leadership at the garden and for the organization. Such a small organization couldn't manage everything, so the decision was made to lean on InterGenerate heavily the first year, and then to encourage internal leadership which, over time, would take over the garden completely.
Using that model, InterGenerate started other gardens, although not always community gardens. At John Jay Homestead, we started a Teaching Garden where everyone grew the food together with the help of a teacher and then divided it up. (That garden closed after we struggled with the land for years; the plot we were given was ultimately ungrowable.) We started a Communal Garden on the property of ARC in Mt. Kisco, a community garden in Chappaqua on the property outside the Ambulance Corps., and a neighborhood garden in Millwood. InterGenerate also became a source of information and education for people around the county who were interested in promoting this model of growing together.
In 2011, InterGenerate had another idea. Not just vegetables, what if we promoted the local sourcing of eggs by raising chickens communally? To that end, InterGenerate partnered again with John Jay Homestead to build two chicken coops and bring in as many as 40 chickens, raised by 25 families for our Heritage Egg Co-op.
In 2019, InterGenerate took on a new project. Seeing that community gardens were becoming abundant, it was also clear that most of the people using this service were white and/or were economically privileged. Because this didn't fit with the original mission of InterGenerate and because the people who most needed the food didn't seem to have access, InterGenerate designed a very different kind of CSA. While CSAs were created to help farms afford to grow enough food, people prepay for their share of the harvest. Using that idea, InterGenerate partnered with Neighbor's Link, an organization working with recent immigrants whose food security is often precarious. 50 families were given the option to sign up for food priced at $2 a bag with the option of purchasing eggs for $2 a dozen. InterGenerate secured land from local homeowners, and gathered large groups of volunteers to grow and then distribute food. The program was a huge success. The $2 charge was eliminated in 2020 when so many day laborers lost the ability to work. InterGenerate delivered food (grown in our gardens), directly to the homes of families most in need.
In 2022, Roseann and Peggy, whose lives had changed dramatically since the founding of InterGenerate, wondered what the need really was now. There are so many community gardens. People know about the benefits of local food. The gardens InterGenerate started are all or mostly self-supporting. The question was posed whether InterGenerate needed to exist at all any more.
In some ways, it would be lovely if there was no more need, if the community was no longer fragmented, if we'd tapped out our capacity for local food. But, that's not the reality. Instead, we're living through an even more divisive time and climate change has reached a critical moment, requiring an even greater need to secure our food sources. InterGenerate's work is not done, but it is changing.
There isn't any more unused public land for communities to garden, but if there was, we're confident people would know how to start that on their own. Instead, InterGenerate is looking to educate and support people on their own land to build capacity for themselves and for us as a collective to increase local food production. To that end, we are focusing on three things.
1. Planting Trees and Bushes that yield fruit or nuts
2. Planting Pollinator Gardens
3. Tapping Maple Trees
It is our most sincere hope that neighbors will work together to support the elimination of lawns in favor of gardens that fill our need to become self-sustainable communities.
But, it wasn't that easy. The volunteer organization wasn't sold on it. They didn't think people would be interested in gardening together, so they rejected the plan and started looking at alternatives. Peggy and Roseann weren't willing to let it go. The idea that people could come together across so many boundaries that keep us apart was too good an idea to walk away from, so they set about to find new partners.
First was the Bedford Audubon. The Executive Director at the time was very open to creating a vegetable garden and to teach people how local food sourcing keeps our planet healthy. In 2009, we opened an Intergenerational Garden Camp which brought together children and older adults for one day a week through the summer. It was a roaring success, letting us know we were on to something.
In 2010, Roseann and Peggy approached the board at Marsh Sanctuary. They'd never heard of community gardening and were quite suspicious, but they liked the idea of the property being used since it had largely been laying fallow for decades. With the support of a grant from the Rusticus Garden Club and the Naturalist at Marsh, the newly formed InterGenerate built the area's first Community Garden.
Since community gardening was so uncommon in the area, InterGenerate also created a Westchester Garden Network with a big kick-off event at the Westchester County Center, brining together people who were organizing gardens or who wanted to learn more about local food.
When March opened that summer, the experience was more powerful than anticipated. People from all over Northern Westchester were gathering together to grow food for themselves and for their community in our Giving Garden. Someone brought a picnic table and this garden became the Happy Place for dozens of people. There was a teenager with his own plot and families new to the area and some new to the country. It was the manifestation of a dream.
InterGenerate then set about to create a longer term plan. Peggy and Roseann sought volunteers both for leadership at the garden and for the organization. Such a small organization couldn't manage everything, so the decision was made to lean on InterGenerate heavily the first year, and then to encourage internal leadership which, over time, would take over the garden completely.
Using that model, InterGenerate started other gardens, although not always community gardens. At John Jay Homestead, we started a Teaching Garden where everyone grew the food together with the help of a teacher and then divided it up. (That garden closed after we struggled with the land for years; the plot we were given was ultimately ungrowable.) We started a Communal Garden on the property of ARC in Mt. Kisco, a community garden in Chappaqua on the property outside the Ambulance Corps., and a neighborhood garden in Millwood. InterGenerate also became a source of information and education for people around the county who were interested in promoting this model of growing together.
In 2011, InterGenerate had another idea. Not just vegetables, what if we promoted the local sourcing of eggs by raising chickens communally? To that end, InterGenerate partnered again with John Jay Homestead to build two chicken coops and bring in as many as 40 chickens, raised by 25 families for our Heritage Egg Co-op.
In 2019, InterGenerate took on a new project. Seeing that community gardens were becoming abundant, it was also clear that most of the people using this service were white and/or were economically privileged. Because this didn't fit with the original mission of InterGenerate and because the people who most needed the food didn't seem to have access, InterGenerate designed a very different kind of CSA. While CSAs were created to help farms afford to grow enough food, people prepay for their share of the harvest. Using that idea, InterGenerate partnered with Neighbor's Link, an organization working with recent immigrants whose food security is often precarious. 50 families were given the option to sign up for food priced at $2 a bag with the option of purchasing eggs for $2 a dozen. InterGenerate secured land from local homeowners, and gathered large groups of volunteers to grow and then distribute food. The program was a huge success. The $2 charge was eliminated in 2020 when so many day laborers lost the ability to work. InterGenerate delivered food (grown in our gardens), directly to the homes of families most in need.
In 2022, Roseann and Peggy, whose lives had changed dramatically since the founding of InterGenerate, wondered what the need really was now. There are so many community gardens. People know about the benefits of local food. The gardens InterGenerate started are all or mostly self-supporting. The question was posed whether InterGenerate needed to exist at all any more.
In some ways, it would be lovely if there was no more need, if the community was no longer fragmented, if we'd tapped out our capacity for local food. But, that's not the reality. Instead, we're living through an even more divisive time and climate change has reached a critical moment, requiring an even greater need to secure our food sources. InterGenerate's work is not done, but it is changing.
There isn't any more unused public land for communities to garden, but if there was, we're confident people would know how to start that on their own. Instead, InterGenerate is looking to educate and support people on their own land to build capacity for themselves and for us as a collective to increase local food production. To that end, we are focusing on three things.
1. Planting Trees and Bushes that yield fruit or nuts
2. Planting Pollinator Gardens
3. Tapping Maple Trees
It is our most sincere hope that neighbors will work together to support the elimination of lawns in favor of gardens that fill our need to become self-sustainable communities.
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