Help Celebrate Community Garden's First Harvest

A Harvest Day event is set for Thursday, Sept. 16 at the Haverstraw Community Garden, sponsored by the Rockland County Department of Health and Rockland County Plant a Row for the Hungry in cooperation with Catholic Community Services, the North Rockland Garden Consortium, Village of Haverstraw/Haverstraw Center, and the Haverstraw Community Garden.

The 4 p.m. event will occur rain or shine. It celebrates the first harvest at the garden. The event is free and open to the public, however, participants are asked to bring a food item to donate to a local food pantry.

Activities include harvesting the Plant a Row plot, seed planting for kids. and food demonstrations. The event also features information on healthier cooking, nutrition, recipes, scissor salsa making and more. 

Haverstraw's Union Restaurant chefs will conduct food demonstrations and provide samples using harvested produce. 

Plant a Row is a national program started in 1995 by the Garden Writers Association that encourages gardeners to grow an extra row of produce for the needy.  Rockland County Plant a Row was started by the Master Gardener Program at Cornell Cooperative Extension in 2009 and urges community members in Rockland to donate their extra produce to local food agencies and soup kitchens.

The Haverstraw Community Garden is located between the Haverstraw Middle School and The Haverstraw Center at 50 West Broad St. and is made possible by a network of Community Partners including Cornell Cooperative Extension, North Rockland Central School District, North Rockland Garden Consortium, Rockland County Department of Health, and Village of Haverstraw/Haverstraw Center.  The garden was funded by the Rockland County Department of Health through the Healthy Communities Capacity Building Initiative from the New York State Department of Health.