Get Ready to Get Your Veggie On

The Bedford Garden Club will host its first Vegetable Garden Tour at the John Jay Homestead and 10 other participating local gardens, on July 14 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

The event will feature 10 vegetable gardens, a farmer's market, boutique and educational expo for green thumbs and plant-assassins alike. 

Garden Club President, Mimi Lines, hopes that the garden tour will encourage locals to think about creating a garden of their own. 

"We're so involved with the environment and creating better use of our natural resources," she said. "We want to get everyone in this town at least unafraid of having a vegetable garden, to de-mystify the whole vegetable garden movement."

The gardens open for touring range from personal to community and school gardens. They are all different and offer varying philosophies and ideas. 

The expo will offer demonstrations on everything about gardening, and a representative from Cornell University Cooperative Extension will be in attendance. Lines hopes this will offer community members the education they need to run their own successful gardens. 

"The expo is where people can learn about composting, beekeeping, raising chickens, and various things that will help them in establishing a garden," she said. 

For those more accustomed to spending green and less about growing it, there will be a boutique offering garden-inspired items. These include sterling silver vegetable charms, berry bushes and garden books. 

The farmer's market will feature scones and cookies from Mrs. Larkins Bakery and homemade soaps and lotions from the Clean Ridge Soap Company. There will also be a fresh and vegetarian organic lunch available for purchase.

Tickets range in price: $25, $50 and $100. The Bedford Garden Club also accepts donations. The money from ticket sales will go towards the cost of the event, and for two community initiatives spearheaded by the club. 

The first initiative is the coming centennial of the Garden Club itself. To celebrate, the club will work with the town to establish a tree planting plan. Similar to the Casey Tree planting project in Washington, the Bedford planting project will involve local residents planting trees on public roads. 

The second is funding for a vegetable garden for Mount Kisco Elementary School. Not only will the garden be added to the school's curriculum and be used as a learning tool, it will also be included in the food students are served in the cafeteria. 

"Every time we have a fundraiser, we never keep the money for our own benefit," Lines said. "We are raising money to give gifts back to the community." 

Ticket orders and donations can be placed online at http://www.veg-out.org/