Mission Statement

The Courthouse Community Garden (CCG) includes an enthusiastic group of individuals that have come together under a larger 501 (c) (3) organization, the Historic Salem Courthouse Preservation Association, Inc. (The Courthouse Community Center) to plant a garden on a parcel of land adjacent to the Courthouse Community Center campus in Salem, New York, a rural community in Washington County.

The CCG program, in its broadest definition will offer opportunities to teach youth of all ages to grow, process, and market food, developing intergenerational community relationships. The CCG working group has included the following objectives for our 2009 season:

• grow vegetables that will be donated to our local food pantry;
  
• provide a business venture for local teens and agriculture students, where they would learn how to grow and sell at our local farmers’ market, take any season’s profits and roll over into next season;
  
• teach the science of gardening to include soil testing and the plant cycle;
  
• serve as an activity/provide opportunities for education through the Courthouse summer Lunch-n-Learn program;
  
• dovetail with seasonal cooking classes at the Battenkill Kitchen (a shared-use licensed facility for start-up food businesses and culinary education);
  
• provide multiple entry points for volunteers to include teaching, tending, etc.;
  
• offer opportunities to partner with other organizations like the Salem Central School, Cornell Cooperative Extension Master Gardener program, Ag Stewardship Association, neighboring community gardens;
  
• provide a source for herbs and flowers for our annual Courthouse Al Fresco dinner (a community dinner sourced completely from local farms that serves over 400 people); and
  
• speak to broader issues of sustainability in our community.