Submitted by Tom Andersen on Wed, 05/18/2011 - 2:28pm
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| A group of volunteers help Doug DeCandia (standing and hoeing) plant sweet potatoes. |
Westchester Land Trust and the Food Bank for Westchester broke ground on a new garden at WLT’s Sugar Hill Farm on Tuesday, May 3, which will be used to grow vegetables to help feed hungry people in Westchester.
Doug DeCandia, the Food Bank’s food growing program coordinator, will grow sweet potatoes on a quarter-acre of WLT’s four-acre property. All of the produce will be raised for the Food Bank, based in Millwood, which will in turn distribute it to 200 hunger-relief programs throughout the county.
Pictured at the groundbreaking, above, are Dan Brady, who oversees special projects for the Food Bank; Food Bank Executive Director Christina Rohatynskyj; Doug DeCandia; and WLT Executive Director Candace Schafer, from left to right.
Sugar Hill Farm is one of five places where Doug will grow vegetables for the Food Bank. His crops will include dry beans, greens, winter squash and – at Sugar Hill Farm – three varieties of sweet potatoes.
He has set a goal of producing 500 pounds of sweet potatoes on four small plots at Sugar Hill Farm. Overall, he’ll farm two-and-a-half acres at his five locations, and hopes to harvest 10,000 pounds of fresh produce.
Doug, who is 25 and lives in Lewisboro, was one of seven farmers who participated in the first year (2010) of Westchester Land Trust’s Farmers Match program, working a section of Ryder Farm in Brewster. Ten farmers are participating in 2011.
He began working fulltime as the Food Bank in December 2010 and approached Westchester Land Trust about using part of its property.
The Food Bank has seen a 30 percent increase in requests for food in recent years. It delivers food through 204 member programs, and in 2009-2010 distributed six million pounds of food, which provided approximately 7.5 million meals to Westchester residents.
Westchester Land Trust, which moved to Sugar Hill Farm in 2008, has protected more than 7,500 acres in 28 communities. Of its 184 conservation easements, 30 protect or allow agriculture, preserving a total of 900 acres.