PINE PLAINS — Ever since she started accompanying her mother in volunteering for the Pine Plains Community Food Locker last fall, Kaylee Dina, 10, a sixth-grader from the Marlboro Central School District, has been going the extra mile to give back to the pantry’s clientele. Given the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on its ability to distribute food to community members in need, she recently put together a fundraiser inviting people to share a little kindness with others by donating food and other essentials.
Having learned about the joys of volunteering from her mother, Kaylee began helping out with the food locker’s monthly distributions in the fall of 2019. Located at 3023 Church St. (Route 199), the pantry is located in the basement of the Pine Plains United Methodist Church and distributes food to all nine towns in the Pine Plains Central School District once a month, including Pine Plains, Stanford, Ancram, North East, Clermont, Clinton, Gallatin, Livingston and Milan.
As she became more familiar with the its operations, Kaylee went a step further by coming up with creative ways to brighten the clients’ day, from creating little gift bags for Christmas and individually wrapping cookies for Valentine’s Day to handing out chocolate coins and scratch-off tickets for St. Patrick’s Day.
“She absolutely loves not only being able to go there but just being able to put a smile on their faces totally brightens up her day,” said Melanie Dina, Kaylee’s mother. “She has one of the biggest, kindest hearts of anybody I’ve known for somebody at the age of 10.”
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kaylee and her mother were rendered unable to drive food over to the clients’ homes. Yet instead of being deterred by the new normal, Kaylee came up with an idea to support the food locker and the people who rely on it.
“Because of COVID-19, I decided because I can’t go, I wanted to do something else,” Kaylee said, “and I decided to donate, and it’s amazing how many people want to help.”
At the start of June, Kaylee composed a letter inviting people to remember how much kindness matters and that “caring can change someone’s life.”
Her mother sent Kaylee’s message out to family and friends via text while her grandmother, Cynthia Roe, posted the letter on Facebook.
Much to their surprise, the letter went viral, resulting in an outpouring of donations from across the country and beyond. From family members and other donors living in California to a coworker of her mother’s from Ireland, word quickly spread about Kaylee’s fundraiser, which grew larger than she had anticipated.
Raising a total of $800, Kaylee explained in her fundraiser that all donations would go toward purchasing food for the Pine Plains Community Food Locker. Given her many months of volunteering, she already had an inkling about the kind of food needed, and she created a list of what to buy.
An accountant, Dina created a spreadsheet to determine what they could afford. With list in hand, Kaylee and her mother went price shopping at local grocery stores before choosing Price Chopper as the best bargain.
Between Kaylee, her mother, her grandmother and a family friend, Michelle Roe, they managed to fill three shopping carts with food. Since they only spent $500 of the $800 during their first shopping trip, Kaylee created a list of toiletries needed — including toothbrushes and toothpaste, bars of soap, toilet paper and hand sanitizer — and shopped for those items as well. On Friday, July 24, they made their sizeable donation to the food locker.
“It’s an absolutely amazing thing that she did and it kind of goes a long way in helping others,” Dina said, “and it’s just amazing in how big her heart is to do what she did and to be able to be a part of that.”
“It’s funny because she always says to me that she looks up to me as a role model,” said Pine Plains Food Locker Community Director Patricia Nannetti, “and I say to her, ‘Young people should look to you as a role model.’ You see so many horrible things in the newspapers and the television and you see this young girl go out of her way, and she did this all by herself.
“She just really has a big heart and a lot of compassion for a young girl,” Nannetti added. “Let me tell you, that’s commendable — you don’t see a lot of that. It really makes your heart feel good knowing there are so many people willing to donate to a cause.”
Though she originally didn’t plan on hosting another round for her fundraiser, Kaylee was excited to report that round two is now underway.
In the meantime, the 10-year-old is currently writing thank you notes to send to all of the people who donated during the first round.
As a special thanks to Nannetti for her contributions to the local community over many, many years, Kaylee added, “Thank you to Miss Nannetti for all her hard work, and I think it’s absolutely amazing how kindness can go a long way.”
To donate to round two of Kaylee’s fundraiser for the food locker, email melaniehdina@gmail.com.
Leila Hawken
AMENIA — Always an annual draw, the Amenia Garden Tour, titled “Real Gardens of Amenia,” drew a steady stream of visitors to admire five local gardens on Saturday, July 12, each one presenting a different gardening vibe, but all specializing in beauty of layout and blooms. A true community feel, the event was an activity planned by the Amenia Garden Club and supported by Paley’s Garden Center in Sharon.
With the exception of the manicured beauty of Wethersfield, one of the five stops on the tour, the remaining four gardens were spectacular showings of gardens in progress, evolving from season to season, under the informed care and dedication of their owners, assisted by their bright green thumbs.
“Anyone can garden,” said Michael Peek as he greeted visitors to Wethersfield, pleased that the grand showcase gardens were part of the tour. He expressed amazement that so many local residents are not familiar with that “most beautiful place.”
Cobbler n’ Cream
5 to 7 p.m.
Freund’s Farm Market & Bakery | 324 Norfolk Rd.
Canaan Carnival
6 to 10 p.m.
Bunny McGuire Park
Canaan Carnival
6 to 10 p.m.
Bunny McGuire Park
Cocktail Party
5 to 7 p.m.
Douglas Library | 108 Main St.
Canaan Carnival
6 to 10 p.m.
Bunny McGuire Park
Boot Drive
8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
North Canaan Fire Co. | 4 E. Main St.
3rd Annual Fly-In
8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Triumph Airfield | 547 W. Main St.
Canaan Railroad Station Museum
10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Canaan Union Station
New England Accordion Connection
9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Canaan Union Station
Canaan Carnival
3 to 10 p.m.
Bunny McGuire Park
Berkshire Resilience Brass Band
5 to 8 p.m.
Canaan Union Station
Barbecued Chicken Dinner
5 to 7 p.m.
St. Martin of Tours | 4 Main St.
Canaan Fireman’s parade
6 p.m.
Rosa setigera is a native climbing rose whose simple flowers allow bees to easily collect pollen.
After moving to West Cornwall in 2012, we were given a thoughtful housewarming gift: the 1997 edition of “Dirr’s Hardy Trees and Shrubs.” We were told the encyclopedic volume was the definitive gardener’s reference guide — a fact I already knew, having purchased one several months earlier at the recommendation of a gardener I admire.
At the time, we were in the thick of winter invasive removal, and I enjoyed reading and dreaming about the trees and shrubs I could plant to fill in the bare spots where the bittersweet, barberry, multiflora rose and other invasive plants had been.Years later, I purchased the 2011 edition, updated and inclusive of plants for warm climates.
On the cover of the new edition, a quote from Adrian Higgins of The Washington Post boasts, “Michael Dirr is the oracle of ornamental horticulture. I trust his judgements implicitly.”I heartily disagree with Mr. Higgins:I blame this book — and my poor use of it — for some of my worst tree and shrub choices.
I realize some readers might find this declaration inflammatory. The book still occupies a place of high regard among experienced and novice gardeners alike, so please allow me to explain.
In addition to giving the reader his opinion on the aesthetic worthiness of the woody plants included in the book, Mr. Dirr makes good on the book’s title with a review of each species’ hardiness. What makes a tree hardy?It thrives in its intended site, resisting disease with leaves and bark not readily eaten by insects and other critters.
Non-native plants make up the majority of the recommended hardy plants in the book.And here is why:Native trees and shrubs are, by evolution’s design, food source and host to our native fauna — critters large and small. There is no substitute equal to the fauna’s co-evolved flora.A native caterpillar cannot eat a kousa dogwood leaf, as it has not evolved to digest it.Non-native plants seemingly have the advantage if the lens we look through values pristine, uneaten leaves.
In the days when there were sufficient thriving ecosystems to maintain local habitats, a non-native specimen tree here and there was just fine.But where we live in Northwest Connecticut, our woods, meadows, marshes and other natural areas have, for a couple of decades, been severely compromised by invasives that have almost entirely removed the food sources for native insects. It is up to us — now — to plant native plants to save the food chain.Without insects, not only will native animals die, but human food sources will also be at risk.
The security of our food pipeline seems a worthy exchange for some caterpillar-eaten leaves — and to be clear, we’re not talking about non-native infestations such as spongy moth, but rather native caterpillars, which are the singular food source for nesting birds.
My issue is that, in being a trusted source for plant selection, Dirr’s book should give equal — if not prioritized — space to information on ecological impact.For example, it would be good to know when selecting a tree, that a native oak provides food and other ecosystem services to more than 400 native animal species, while a native tulip poplar supports fewer than 30 — though that includes the Eastern tiger swallowtail. Including information on the birds and insects attracted to a given plant would enable reader to weigh these factors in choosing what to grow.But this information is not mentioned at all.
Dirr makes no mention of the role some of these plants have played in the degradation of our natural areas — an omission that is highly relevant, as many of the plants featured in his book are, in fact, invasive culprits. Plants like barberry, porcelain berry and tree of heaven are showcased for consideration alongside native plants without recognition of the devastating infestations they can manifest. Tree of Heaven is now responsible for hosting the spotted lanternfly, which is devastating crops.
Similarly Euonymous alatus (winged euonymous) and Actinidia arguta (hardy kiwi) — two highly invasive plants touted in the book — have been banned or are close to being banned for sale from nurseries in the state of Massachusetts. To his credit, Dirr does point out the invasive nature of Ligustrum sinense (Chinese privet), calling it “a terrible and devastating escapee that terrorizes floodplains, fencerows and even open fields, reducing native vegetation to rubble.” Yet Japanese honeysuckle gets an understated warning, with Dirr describing this massively invasive shrub as “bullying their way into understory and open areas.”
The latest edition of Dirr’s book devotes seven pages of copy and photos to various Berberis species, about which Dirr waxes poetic. He notes the addition of “30 new cultivars” in the latest revision and complains that “this species is under assault for its aggressive invasive nature.” He refers to Berberis thunbergii — Japanese barberry, the most invasive of them all — as “the species of major importance in garden commerce.” This plant has already been outlawed for sale in New York, Pennsylvania, New Hamphsire and Maine.A few weeks ago, a bill was passed in Connecticut recognizing the harm of a broad group of invasive plants. Under this new legislation, barberry will be phased out from sale or transport by October 2028.
In understating the invasive nature of many non-natives and de-prioritizing the importance of native species, Dirr’s widely used reference may be partly responsible for many a devastated woodland, forest, meadow and marsh in New England — if not across the U.S.Certainly, the evolution of species, and scientific knowledge about the environment, is changing faster than new editions of books can be printed. I can only hope that if a new edition of Mr. Dirr’s reference book is in the works that it will account for this criteria we now know to be vital in plant selection.
Which brings me back to that quote on the cover from The Washington Post and the larger issue it suggests:Should “ornamental horticulture” get a pass when it comes to ecological survival?I think we can agree — it should not.The consequences are simply too destructive.
Dee Salomon ‘ungardens’ in Litchfield County.
Foxtrot Farm & Flowers’ historic barn space during UAW’s 2024 exhibition entitled “Unruly Edges.”
Art lovers, mark your calendars. The sixth edition of Upstate Art Weekend (UAW) returns July 17 to 21, with an exciting lineup of exhibitions and events celebrating the cultural vibrancy of the region. Spanning eight counties and over 130 venues, UAW invites residents and visitors alike to explore the Hudson Valley’s thriving creative communities.
Here’s a preview of four must-see exhibitions in the area:
1. Wassaic Project (37 Furnace Bank Road, Wassaic)
“So It Goes” is a powerful group exhibition curated by Eve Biddle, Bowie Zunino, Jeff Barnett-Winsby, and Will Hutnick. The title, drawn from Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse-Five,” signals a reckoning with how we process the horrors of the world. Through play, reflection, and immersive scale, 43 artists respond with urgency and imagination. Installations can be seen throughout the town of Wassaic at Maxon Mills, Gridley Chapel, and Luther Barn, each space transformed by this deeply thoughtful show.
2. Foxtrot Farm & Flowers (6862 Route 82, Stanfordville)
“Queer Bestiary,” a group show curated by Charlotte Woolf, is inspired by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian’s book “Forest Euphoria.” The exhibition investigates queer ecology and human relationship to land through the work of 10 artists using painting, sculpture, textiles, and photography. The exhibit is accompanied by a variety of interactive experiences including tattoo pop-ups, karaoke, book readings, and pick-your-own flowers.
3. ChaShaMa North/ChaNorth (2600 Route 199, Pine Plains)
ChaShaMa North (ChaNorth) will have open studios all weekend and has partnered with Paradice Palase, a platform for emerging artists, to mount a site-specific sculpture exhibition featuring 20 artists entitled “Alone, You Are Heard.” On Saturday evening, July 19, stop by for Weird Music Night for an audio-visual synthesis of experimental music, performance art, and unexpected happenings. Don’t miss this opportunity to experience an eclectic lineup of acts that redefine the boundaries of performance.
4. Millbrook Arts Project(3 Friendly Lane, Millbrook)
The Millbrook Arts Project is hosting a curated exhibit entitled “Generated Utility” at the newly renovated gallery at the village library. The exhibit will feature the work of artists Natalie Beall and Kathy Greenwood. Additionally, visitors will have access to 12 open artists studios across town. The weekend culminates in a free outdoor concert on Saturday evening at 6 p.m. at the Millbrook Bandshell. Enjoy the Indie-Folk sounds of Strawberry Runners and She Keeps Bees.
For more information and a complete list of participating artists and locations, visit: upstateartweekend.org
