A Little Eden in Nyack

by Sylke Jackson
Rockland Meeting

On October 30, 2022,  a community in central Nyack celebrated fall with a Jack-o’-lantern festival in their new Pollinator Pathway Garden. Here is a report from one of the project’s coordinators, Sylke Jackson:

Thank you to all the people who gave your time or funds to make the celebration happen yesterday! We had a wonderful festival that helped spread awareness about the garden and nurtured a deeper connection between the neighborhood and nature. The whole community pitched in (there were 50-100 people who participated through the afternoon and evening), and I heard neighbors saying, “We live across the street from each other but it takes meeting up in the garden for us to catch up!”

I loved watching kids who had never carved a pumpkin before transition from hesitantly contemplating the slimy seeds and fibers inside the pumpkins to squishing the pulp happily through their fingers, pulling out seeds, and even taking some home to grow or roast. This is a personal and intimate lesson on where our food comes from and teaches the importance of the earth and the growing things. Lighting up their jack-o’-lanterns and finding a dark spot to set the glowing pumpkin, munching freshly popped popcorn, and sipping hot cider, the children can feel and taste that the earth is their mama and home.

I feel that as we work on the garden and improve our relations with the birds, and the insects and the growing things and each other, all those beings know that we are working for their good, and appreciate us. And we help make harmony. I am happy to be getting to know you all and to connect in this endeavor!