All aspects of green living and sustainability were on display at Sustainable Scarsdale Day on Saturday May 5. There were electric cars, ecologically responsible home products, new technologies to power your home, gardens to grow your own and more.
Here are just a few of the activities that took place at the event, which was sponsored by the Scarsdale Forum, Scarsdale Village and the Scarsdale Schools:
Tours of the Middle School vegetable garden were given by teachers Cara Forray and Meredith Rivellini and Kaleidoscope Garden Design. The garden is tended by students in all grades who dig, plant, water and weed to cultivate their crops.
From the high school, vegetables and plants were on sale, and for each plant purchased, another was donated to the large garden on the Post Road side of Scarsdale High School.
Annabelle Stanley of the Scarsdale-Edgemont Girl Scouts held a bake sale to raise funds to install a large sustainable border of native perennials and shrubs around the pond at the Scarsdale library. These plants will help to control flooding and will attract butterflies and dragon flies. The planting plan was drawn by landscape designer Beverly Isis. To fund the project, Stanley received a grant from the Scarsdale Friends of the Parks and raised the rest. She will receive a Silver Award for the project. Planting will take place this Saturday May 12 at Scarsdale Library Pond and volunteers are needed.
As part of the new Love ‘Em and Leave “Em leaf mulching initiative, landscaper Anthony Vulpone demonstrated how leaves could be mulched or ground in place, and returned to the lawn to feed it. In just a few minutes, a mountain of leaves was shredded, and became compost, a rich organic resource for the ground.
Three electric cars, the Nissan Leaf hatchback, the Tesla Roadster and the Chevy Volt were on display to demonstrate how drivers could eliminate fuel use, tailpipe pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
The Junior League of Central Westchester demonstrated their efforts to organize volunteers to clean-up debris and invasive vines along the Bronx River.
Eva from the Green Design Expo on Central Avenue displayed an array of sustainable building materials for the home and shared a sample of an earth friendly all surface cleaner made with parsley.
Lunch was provided by Lange’s as well as Andy’s Pure Food who supplied an impressive array of veggie dishes including kale salad, roasted butternut squash and quinoa.
And Middle School students who were part of the One Million Bones club demonstrated how they were making “bones” out of toilet paper and art paste that will be sent to the mall in Washington D.C. to represent those who died in genocides in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Funds from this initiative will be used to build schools in these countries in an effort to educate children and create a sustainable economy.
Pictured here are Hannah Fuehrer, Sabrina Knaack and Sarah Kurien. Nakul Srinivas and James Xu are also involved in the effort. Learn more at onemillionbones.org .
The day ended with a joyful concert by Tom Chapin and friends who sang “whole grain” songs from their album “Give Peas A Chance”, about locally grown foods, gardening, recycling and the food chain. Clever lyrics such as “a berry shipped from Chile,” and ”buy your food from a local dude,” kept everyone in the audience from toddlers to grandparents amused.
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One of the biggest mistakes homeowners make is to have an irrigation system installed before getting a garden design plan drawn up.
“If you are building a new house or renovating an old one and you plan to do something in the garden, take time to get a plan first, before the concrete is poured and the irrigation system goes in.”
