New Haven Independent

Working with Urban Resources Initiative’s Greenspace program, Thompson has planted five trees in her neighborhood — three of them cedars. She told her story at the Community Garden and Greenspace Celebration, at the Lighthouse Point Park carousel on Tuesday evening.

As the sun went down on the day marking the fall equinox, more than 150 people gathered inside the carousel building for a scrumptious feast — part potluck, part offerings courtesy of Tim Cipriano, New Haven Public Schools’ head chef.

It was a night to celebrate the fruits of community labor. Community gardens large and small are thriving in New Haven neighborhoods. Some of the neighbors who tend the plots brought along the food they grow for the potluck.

Normally, promoting food prepared by the head of a school feeding program would not be a huge draw. But Cipriano, since coming on board at the start of the previous school year, is slowly revolutionizing the menu for New Haven students. Two of his biggest fans are Cheryl Barbara (left in photo) and Toni Daddio, cooks at High School in the Community and Fair Haven K-8, respectively. They served one of Cipriano’s concoctions Tuesday night — watermelon gazpacho. It was a delicious melange of sweet, tart and spicy flavors, thanks to the watermelon, the tomatoes, and the Jalapeño peppers. When a reporter asked if the kids liked the hot peppers, Barbara said the dish hasn’t been served yet in the schools, but probably would be in the future.

“The kids have been opened to a lot of new flavors since Tim came,” she added. “Before, the food was garbage,” she opined, and she was not very happy cooking it. “Now the food’s much better quality, and there’s a lot less wasted. The kids are asking for salads, and they love the whole wheat bread.”

The diners, from neighborhoods all over the city, filled their plates with all manner of food — some of it prepared directly from the community gardens that are supported by the New Haven Land Trust.

Richard Cox (pictured) gardened near his house on Starr Street in Newhallville. Asked what he grew, he responded with a medley of greens: “collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens.” Also bell peppers, hot peppers, corn, and peanuts. Peanuts? “But the ‘coons got ‘em,” he replied, in a Georgia drawl seemingly unaffected by his years in New Haven.

He said he ate some of what he grew, then took a lot of it to the Community Soup Kitchen.

As the carousel went round and round, its hurdy-gurdy music a backdrop to dozens of animated conversations, New Haven Land Trust President Chris Randall (pictured) made the rounds of the tables and handed out a questionnaire from the Community Foundation. The questionnaire sought information from gardeners on their views regarding the quality of life in their neighborhoods and what they’d like to see. More community gardens, perhaps?

The event was sponsored by the New Haven Land Trust, Urban Resources Initiative, the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven and New Haven Department of Parks, Recreation and Trees.