Esther and Lisa harvesting the garden at Rensselaer Falls IRA
OGDENSBURG If
you’re cooking for a lot of people, it’s not always easy to please everyone. If
you ask Lisa Alberto how she manages to please her more than a dozen diners,
she will tell you to keep things as fresh as possible and to use what you have
to spice things up a bit.
As a cook for United Helpers Mosaic
in Rensselaer Falls, Ms. Alberto is able to get much of her inspiration from
the garden that she and other staff and residents have grown and maintained.
“We try to use as much of what we
grow as possible,” Ms. Alberto said. “We’ve made homemade spaghetti sauce from our
tomatoes, basil and oregano, eggplant parmigiana and stuffed peppers. With the fresh
spices we’ve grown, we are really able to create some great flavor without
added salt or fat.”
This year, the garden featured
zucchini, varieties of squash, peppers, eggplants, tomatoes, sunflowers, pear
trees, and many different types of herbs. Plans for a larger garden next year
to include beans, peas and onions are already in the works and the team is
looking to transplant some of the herbs and move them inside for the winter. “We’ve
had a good year and have been able to freeze some of our vegetables,” Ms.
Alberto added.
Mosaic and the entire United Helpers
organization strive to conduct business and life in a more sustainable manner. In
addition to gardening efforts, many of the United Helpers sites practice composting,
have photovoltaic and solar systems and active Sustainability Committees looking
for new and innovative ways to reduce the carbon footprint, both at work and at
home.
