Proving that there's more than one way to promote growth in Ellenville, Dyami Nason-Regan and Ashley Surprenant of Family of Woodstock, Inc.'s Ellenville branch are beginning their work on the Aiyana Community Garden in the vacant lot on Center Street, near the area reserved for the summer's Farmer's Market. Aiyana means "ever blooming," which is a Native American word of unknown origin, and the project is a way for 16 to 20 year old clients of Family to do something proactive and positive in their neighborhood. Nason-Regan, the Adventure Based Counselor for Family of Woodstock, believes it's important for people to know where their food comes from — and she doesn't mean the grocery store.

"We're in a time when fuel availability is in question, and for the most part, our food comes from really far away," says Nason-Regan. "It's a skill to learn how to grow your own food." Part of the project's purpose is to help the kids "understand our place on this earth," she says.

"We're not just isolated humans needing to grow food; we're part of an ecosystem."

While the two work together to make the community garden a reality, they've each taken on specific roles and tasks in order to get the job done. Nason-Regan reaches out to the community to get people in the area involved, such as her appearance at a village board meeting on January 28 and her working with Ellenville's high school, youth court, and youth commission. Through these efforts, the project has given Ellenville's younger generation a chance to start effecting a positive change in their community.

Meanwhile, Ashley Surprenant, a sociology major with a concentration in human services from SUNY New Paltz working as an intern at Family of Ellenville, works to secure resources for the garden, help that Nason-Regan says is "crucial to the project."

According to Surprenant, she's been working at "finding a source for compost, picking up cardboard, because we're going to be doing raised beds, and figuring out where we're going to be getting different supplies for the garden."

The work they're doing is paying off; just this week, they have begun to plant their cold-weather bed, consisting of sugar-snap peas, spinach, and lettuce. As the project continues, they plan to grow tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, basil, carrots, and more, all of which will go home with the kids who participate, while any extra may get sold at the farmer's market.

Nason-Regan and Surprenant, Rondout Valley and Albany natives, respectively, have learned a great deal about Ellenville while working in the community to get the project moving forward.

"Ellenville's a really special place; it's kind of like this tucked away corner of Ulster County," says Nason-Regan. Surprenant agrees.

"I've met some great people in Ellenville that are really inspired and supportive of our program, and that's totally the reason why this is able to happen," she says. If you know someone who should be featured in one of our Good Neighbor Files, let us know! Send us an e-mail at goodneighbor@ellenvillejournal.com.

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