Enjoying the veggies of their labors

Marking a decade of existence this year, the Garden Club at Rock Hall Museum taught 10 children ranging in age from 4 to 10 how to seed, cultivate and harvest a variety of vegetables from a garden on the grounds of the historic home for the past four months.

On Thursdays from May to August, the kids spent about 75 minutes tending to the garden, learning about what insects are good or bad in regards to growing vegetables, doing crafts related to nature, and then when the vegetables can be harvested, frying and eating them.

Museum Director Linda Barreira and museum assistants Mathew Blum, Jessica Engelman and Carol Mauriello oversee the program. “What’s really funny is the parents say the kids won’t eat vegetables at home but they do here and that’s the fun part,” said Mauriello as she and Engelman heated up the small outdoor fryer on Aug. 16.

The children come from the Five Towns and surrounding communities including Valley Stream and Oceanside. In addition to gardening the kids stroll the site, which was first established as a plantation by Josiah Martin in 1767, and find artifacts including pottery, porcelain and stoneware that are added to the museum’s collection. “Our eagle-eyed kids,” Mauriello said.

Sophia Gilleeny, 6, of Hewlett, has been a club member for three years. Besides picking off the vegetables they have planted, Gilleeny said what she likes about the garden club is, “Seeing my friends and cooking the vegetables we grow.”

With all the vegetables ready to be harvested, the children run to the garden and plucked out tomatoes, zucchini and egg plant. The tomatoes, cut fresh, tasted tangy, a sensation you don’t get from ones bought in a supermarket. The fried zucchini and egg plant would make great restaurant appetizers. Parsnips — Giacomo Vacchio of Oceanside said he liked those — and carrots were planted too and the children also made pesto.

JoAnn Nickl of Valley Stream has brought her daughter Melissa to the club for the past three years. “She loves this, lives for it,” JoAnn said, “this and karate are her two favorite things.”

Whether picking vegetables, drawing a butterfly or finding pottery, Woodmere resident Olivia Sava, 9, likes her time at Rock Hall. “I enjoy the garden club,” she said.