Children plant and harvest in Lawrence

About a dozen children are participating in the Rock Hall Museum’s Children’s Garden Club in Lawrence this summer. The program, which runs from May 22 to Aug. 28, gives the youthful participants a taste of what developing and maintaining a garden is like.
Analiese Mastantuono, 8, said she is enjoying her first year with the garden program. “I like planting everything,” the Lawrence resident said. “I’ve learned to plant lots of new things. I’m having a lot of fun.”
“We have a garden at home and I help with the garden here, too,” Zuriana Sayeg, 7, of Woodmere said: “I eat and adore radishes. I eat them like apples. I love coming here because gardening is magical.”
With donations from the supermarket Stop & Shop, the children were able to give some of the produce from their garden to local senior citizen group, the Cedarhurst Senior Center.
Arlene Putterman, a public relations and community relations manager for the supermarket chain, said that they do community outreach programs like this venture with the children’s garden club to introduce them to planting produce.

“With the kids, we teach them the importance of growing local vegetables,” she said. “Stop & Shop supports local farms. We are giving back to our community. With healthy kids, they have a healthy future.”
Senior center President Mary-Ann Barsuaskas said she was grateful for the donated produce from the children. “It’s very nice to get to come out and see the garden,” she said. “It’s also great to interact with the children. It’s important for us to get these vegetables, in all the different colors. All the colored produce has different nutrients that are good for us.”
Town of Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray and Councilman Bruce Blakeman also visited the children on July 23. “When Rock Hall was built back in 1767, there were no supermarkets to shop, so colonial food sources became the fruits, vegetables, herbs, fish, livestock and dairy products found on or near a typical 18th century Long Island home,” Murray said. “Two and a half centuries later, many of us still enjoy tending our own backyard gardens to grow the fruits, vegetables and herbs that contribute to a healthy life-style.”