Howdy! My name is Jesus Antonio Caicedo, and as president of the Organic Gardening Club, I am starting this fundraiser to spearhead the rehabilitation of the Old Garden at Rockland Community College. WE are going to be making it into a native pollinator sanctuary for the local species, as well as making a solar powered bog filter for the pond.

If you are local to the campus, you will know that there is a garden right by the main campus. While it is very popular with staff and students, there is another, much older garden that was the original locus of the club.Roughly 20 years ago, the club decided to begin a new garden in the massive field to the left of the college. The garden was located on a decline of that plain (more on that later). Through a year of hard toil, grit, and filth, the land was made incredibly fertile for all the crops we grew there. It was a place of abundance and peace; a wonderful compromise with Man and Nature in a time where we do nothing but plunder and take from her. We even built a pond filled solely by rainwater, and this provided a haven of clean, pollutant-free water to the native frogs in the area, including the Spring Peeper (Pseudacris crucifer), the Northern Cricket Frog (Acris crepitans), and numerous other species that complete their entire life cycle within our small pond.

This was our pride and joy, the apple of our eye! How proud we were to give back to the community, to reap and sow, to fall into the season's rhythms, rising and falling with the dawn and dusk of our tender green shoots; carrots and onions winking from the ground; mint lazily draping itself over any patch of soil it could. But a problem arose in this paradise, a foreign invader, Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris).

The Mugwort we found was tolerated due to its medicinal properties, but what we did not realize was how much we had let it spread. Hard, knotted rhizomes spread to every inch of soil, and before we knew it, the garden was coated with woody stems and green fingerlike leaves, strangling anything else we planted. By the time we had tired to address it, its foothold was too strong. We had to abandon our Old Garden and leave it to the mercy of the wild.

When I saw that tick-ridden, spider-filled, fenced-off patch of land oozing with snakes and hornet nests embedded into the rusty chicken wire fencing, I knew exactly what kind of treasure had been passed down to me; a lost paradise, dense with potential and life. That land was rich, and every organism flew to it because of the fact. They, especially the mugwort, had a grip on the land that was fierce. But I refuse to yield this treasure to the wild. It was the peak of June, in those sweltering, sunny days that my dream sprouted; the Old Garden restored to heights unseen.

The days were usually 5-7 hours, consisting of my sole person hacking, pulling, and tearing away all of the invasive growth. It was a month of solid work, spent under the fury of a July sun, but it was accomplished; the mugwort had been decimated on the surface, and I tilled the soil to destroy the roots.

You might not be here yet to pick our sun-kissed tomatoes or feel the dirt split between your fingers as you deweed, but you are still here. Your donations mean more to us than the world, because you are kinder than it. We ask for any donation. Small or large, your contribution can do nothing but move us forward! Seeing that we will have two gardens, what we plan to do is restart the Old Garden as an oasis for native pollinators. Not just butterflies and bees, but the dozens of other insects that work ceaselessly to ensure that the next season of greenery is ensured; and I would be remiss to not mention the biggest part of this project. The pond we built 17 years ago is abundant in wildlife, but its clarity and oxygenation are lacking, as no natural filtration exists to comb through the muck and excess nutrients or disturb the surface of the water. Working with Beitals Aquarium, we are going to make a bog filter, powered entirely by solar energy, and self-contained within the Old Garden. This would clear up the water and create even more niches for the local wildlife, which they are in desperate need of.

I have said much and asked for even more, but I believe in the kindness that brought me to this club. I believe in the hopes and dreams that have been passed down to me. And I believe in your charity, dear reader. I believe that if you have read to this point, you see what I do; the resplendent beauty of this place; its untapped potential. Your donation does not even have to be money. If you cannot donate, spread the word. If you are on campus, join us in our work. Renovations are still ongoing and will be for some time. Thank you for your time and patience. Stay in good spirits, and fight the good fight. n