Allyn's Creek Garden Club

Please join the Allyn's Creek Garden Club for lunch and presentations by renowned photographer Matthew Benson.  For any questions or changes to your registration, please call 585-203-7102 or email us at allynscreek@gmail.com GROWING BEAUTIFUL FOOD Speaker Matthew Benson shows  you how to become a thoughtful  steward of your own beautiful, edible  landscape and proposes that growing  your own organic food is not only  better for you and the planet, but is a deeply transformative experience:  You will find yourself not only  creating an authentic, meaningful  connection to the land, but to all the  possibilities for growth and change  that ensue . THE PHOTOGRAPHIC GARDEN Speaker  Matthew Benson  shows  you how to become a   better, more intuitive   artist in the landscape;   helps you foster a   deeper understanding   of design and aesthetics; and   encourages you to develop your own   visual sensibility through   hundreds   of his own thought provoking  images   of landscapes, plant

Maggie Symington, Leslie Huey (ACGC President), Sue Stahl (ACGC Historian), and Autumn Haag (Asst. Director, Department of Rare Books,  Special Collections, and Preservation at the University of Rochester) On October 4, 2021, Allyn’s Creek Garden Club donated its historical meeting minutes from 1928 to 1972 to the University of Rochester for archiving and preservation. The eight leather-bound binders contain meticulously hand-written or typed pages and document the club’s early focus not just on gardening, but also activism and philanthropy. Early club endeavors included consulting on designation of the lilac as the city flower, protesting billboards in Brighton and the widening of East Avenue in Rochester, and supplying milk to needy families. The collection will be made accessible to those wishing to research horticultural history as well as women’s studies. It will complement the University of Rochester’s records from other local women’s clubs and will broaden the picture of Rochest

Our club has enjoyed a long-standing and enjoyable commitment to the Stone Tolan House in Brighton. One of the most fun annual activities is our spring “Clean-up Day,” when a team of members descends on the museum to weed and help with other garden maintenance. We missed 2020 because it was the beginning of the Covid shutdown, and volunteers weren’t allowed on the property. So the dozen plus of us were even more eager (including one dedicated member with a broken wrist!) to get to work on our designated May Monday, which turned out to be beautiful, if a bit crisp.  Before...                ...and after! Garlic mustard weed is invasive and will outlast the human race. Still, we engage in a yearly battle to beat it back, and take some satisfaction when we clear a patch, even just temporarily. It’s best picked when the ground is moist, because of its its long tap root. If you don’t pull carefully, the plant surrenders the above-ground parts easily, and the root bides its time. Even pull

On October 28, 2019, the ACGC was proud to host Sophie Glovier and Kim Haren, from C-Change Conversations , based in Princeton, NJ. Their day began with a morning presentation to members of the Allyn's Creek and Rochester Garden Clubs at the Strong Museum of Play. Later in the day, they were grateful for the opportunity to be guests and share their message on WXXI's radio program Connections with Evan Dawson. The hour-long program can be heard here: https://www.wxxinews.org/post/connections-can-climate-action-be-nonpartisan The evening presentation at Nazareth College attracted over 140 people. Glovier discussed how we know climate change is real, how we know that humans have contributed to it, and what we can do to mitigate it. C-Change is attempting to de-politicize the issue of climate change, and to encourage people to take constructive action. Representatives were on hand from several Rochester organizations providing information about sustainability initiativ

The  Allyn’s Creek Garden Club   helps fund scholarships for  Green Visions  interns, which operates  under the Greentopia organization's umbrella. In September 2019, club members visited Green Visions' expansive garden site located on  Whitney Street, in the JOSANA neighborhood. A second site, operated in partnership with The Nature Conservancy, is located on Joseph Avenue.  Morgan and Tiani explaining the program Morgan Barry, Program Director, gave an overview of the garden, and invited us to walk around and admire the beautiful flowers still in bloom in late September. Morgan graduated from the RCSD and SUNY Oswego (BA English), and although he had no gardening experience, he leapt at the opportunity to give back to the community through Green Visions. He also introduced us to Tiani Jennings, who enrolled in the program when she was 17, then obtained her GED, and now serves as Site Manager. Green Visions, which was founded in 2013, is a workforce development program targeti

The Cornell Cooperative Extension of Yates County offers a community raised bed garden to any resident who wants to grow a garden for the season. There are 60 beds available that are weeded and prepared by the Master gardeners in Yates County for the Community Garden. Beds are prepped in the spring with a layer of mushroom compost most springs + a layer of cardboard and mulch. Beds that are rented are prepped by the person who has rented them unless they sign up late in the season. Any unoccupied beds are cared for by the Master gardeners and used to grow food, herbs and flowers for the Keuka Food Pantry. Last year, they donated over 100 pounds of food to the pantry.  They get their mushroom compost from Hornings and also make their own compost at the garden with a great deal of help from volunteer Tom Gibson and Cheryl Flynn, Master Gardener Volunteer Coordinator. Volunteers collect compost from restaurants and coffee shops around the community. Water, compost and top

Curious about climate change but turned off by the politics?  Don’t miss this terrific program presented by C-Change Conversations! Monday, October 28 th at 7:00 p.m. Nazareth College Arts Center / Peace Theater (this event is free and open to the public/parking is available in Lot A) Allyn’s Creek Garden Club is pleased to host this dynamic and completely non-partisan discussion of climate change.  The  “C-Change Primer” presentation, with speaker  Kim Haren , provides an accessible overview of the science behind climate change and a clear-eyed assessment of the potential risks ahead. It frames climate change in terms of the three areas that are important to so many Americans, jobs and the economy, health and personal security, and terrorism, the refugee crisis, and geopolitical security.  Please join us, and participate in the conversation. C-Change Conversations , a Princeton, NJ-based nonprofit organization, developed the Primer in consultation with independ