Over the last several years, the Friends of Van Cortlandt Park have expanded our Garden and Compost Site making it a vital component of our programming efforts.  Currently, we have over 800 square feet of raised beds where we donate the vast majority of the produce we grow, two 3 bin compost systems which can handle weeds from the garden and limited food scraps and 3 closed compost bins for food scraps.  Our first 400 square foot raised bed was built in 2008 and the wood is starting to rot and fall apart.  In addition, we have been using the same tools and wheelbarrows for over ten years now and they are breaking at a rapid rate.  We are asking for funding to revamp and our Garden & Compost Site and bring it to level that our community deserves.

Our garden programs strives to 1- introduce students to social environmental topics such as composting, gardening, and healthy habits 2- provide a place for community service opportunities, and 3- provide a hands on work site for our interns to grow food for us to sell at our summer farm stand and donate to local food pantries.  Each year, we work with hundreds of school children teaching them about gardening and composting and have hundreds of volunteers help us maintain our site.

Funding from this project will be used to purchase new high quality lumber and brackets to rebuild our 400 square foot bed, replenish soil in our bed, purchase new tools and wheelbarrows and purchase new storage container to keep our tools out of inclement weather.