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Sophia Garden and Learning Center grows in Amityville
Celebrating its 10th year, Sophia Garden embodies the Dominican Sisters' concept that the human and natural worlds are one. The garden also takes the sisters back to their roots, when members of the religious order arrived in Amityville in 1876 to farm the land and take care of German immigrant orphans. Self-sustainability was a key concept then, as it is now. The premise of a CSA requires its members to support the farm - the farmer, seeds, and all other expenses associated with running a farm - in return for the farm's yield, which supports the members. Members must also work the farm by contributing 15 hours of labor during harvesting season. Everyone harvests for everyone else. Pick-ups occur every other week, or weekly, and what members receive depends on what is in season.
However, Homes says sustainability of these farms is difficult, because members are asked to take a risk - they put money forth before getting the food - and because we are all so used to cheap food from the supermarket. Vegetables grown on CSA farms, of which there are now more than a 1,000 in the United States, are incomparable in their freshness and chemical-free properties to supermarket produce. CSA foods are locally grown without pesticides or herbicides. CSA projects, like Sophia Garden, also help the water systems and protect wildlife. There are no harmful by-products of processing, packaging, or transportation. "People walk away from the garden and understand how a potato grows," said Holmes. "It comes out of the land."
"It is so peaceful out here," said garden member Sonia Kutzin, whose basket of green beans overflowed. Recently, the Sisters began cultivating a larger parcel of land on their property to accommodate the growing interest in organic farming. Sophia Garden currently hosts 110 families who pay either $700 for a full-share for the season with weekly pick-ups or $350 for a halfshare, allowing for pick-ups every other week. Come the next growing season, this larger parcel will be farmed by Caroline Fanning, an Amityville native and resident who happened upon the career of farming by accident. While attending Vassar College, she took a job as a farm educator at a nearby CSA farm to pay her rent, but fell in love with the "land" and farming.
In fact, such earthly knowledge is how Sophia Garden was named, in part. Sophia in the scriptures means wisdom, and it was a Sister Sophia, who passed away in 1984, while residing at the motherhouse in Amityville, who offered further inspiration. Sister Sophia came from a farm family and had a keen interest in taking care of the congregation's land. She very much enjoyed gardening and agriculture, says Sr. Jeanne. And interestingly, Sister Sophia, before entering the Dominican Sisters novitiate, worked for the Amityville Record from 1914 to 1916. Many area residents may also remember her from her days as a teacher at Our Lady of Perpetual Help School in Lindenhurst from 1951 to 1968. "The key reason Sophia Garden was begun," said Sr. Jeanne, "was to connect the land, the garden, and the food. It's all about relating in a whole new way to the land." For more information about Sophia Garden and Learning Center, which offers programs for children and adults, call 631-842-9000 ext. 307 or e-mail: sophiagarden@aol.com.
In photo right, Sr. Jeanne Clark, director of Sophia Garden and Learning Center, in the garden's root cellar. An historic structure on the motherhouse grounds that dates back to the turn of the century. Here, vegetables and herbs are stored in the same manner in which the sisters stored produce decades ago. Sr. Jeanne is surrounded by an abundance of squash, pumpkins and garlic - all produce from Sophia Garden.
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