Local gardens win props for their crops at Kitchen Garden Tour
Chester. Warwick gardens earned top awards at the ninth annual event.
By Molly Colgan
More than 100 locals ventured out to explore the 17 bountiful food gardens on Dirt mag’s ninth annual Kitchen Garden Tour Sunday, Aug. 13.
Garden peepers were excited to find roaming chickens and homemade peach cake at Mike and Erin Andersen’s Warwick garden, and learned how to start building an organic garden at Kiki Medina’s Goshen, N.Y., home.
The “mix of veggies, herbs and flowers inspired me,” said attendee Sheri VanHouten after seeing Klaas Vogel’s backyard crops in Monroe.
Another attendee expressed gratitude for Heaven Scent Community Garden, which is also located in Monroe and donates much of its produce: “Heaven scent – no kidding. Great volunteers, wonderful community spirit and service.”
Tour-goers left Karen and John Bower’s organic garden in Tuxedo with tips on how to create an oasis for pollinators, and toured the flower-filled “potager” garden tended by Christina Stephens, of Vernon Valley Farm. “That’s the fun of a garden,” said Stephens. “You’re not just growing vegetables. You’re creating something.”
After a day of garden-hopping, attendees joined the gardeners at Meadow Blues Coffee in Chester N.Y. for an after party, where they voted for their favorite gardens while kicking back to live music.
Multiple Orange County gardens took home awards.
Aysha Venjara of Warwick, N.Y., won Best Garden, taking first place for the second year in a row. Tour-goers were excited to learn how Venjara grows shiitake mushrooms on logs. “Gardens, bees, livestock, and even mushrooms inspired us,” said one attendee. “I love that Aysha donates a lot of her crops to a food pantry,” added another.
Common Ground Community Garden in Greenwood Lake took the top prize for Best Community Garden. Apple Acres Community Garden in West Milford took second place in the same category.
Bob and Kathy Linguanti’s garden tied for second in the Best Garden category this year. Peepers left the couple’s Warwick garden with creative companion planting and trellis tips “to keep order to our wild gardening obsessions,” added one attendee. “Bob and Katy have such a beautiful garden on the most spectacular piece of property,” said another. “I felt like a was at a retreat.”
April and Rocco Perciballi of Lafayette, N.J., tied with the Linguantis for second place. Megan Curry of Sparta, N.J., took third place for Best Garden.
The event, now in its ninth year, is hosted by Dirt magazine, and was made possible by this year’s sponsors: Meadow Blues Coffee, Greenwood Lake Discount Wines and Spirits, Village Hands Cafe, Elite Auto Works, Scheuermann Farms and Greenhouses, Harrison Regen, Maggie’s Celtic Cottage, Gray Barn Farm, Grow Local Greenwood Lake, Sarah May Special Occasion Floral Designer, and The Dirt Foundation, a newly formed nonprofit committed to helping people live closer to the earth through eco-conscious journalism, diverse community-building and advocacy of a resilient local food system.
To make a contribution to The Dirt Foundation, visit: donorbox.org/the-dirt-foundation