In 2016, Jennifer Zackin initiated Re:Seed Saugerties, an art and soil-building social sculpture. This project transformed a 70’ x 100’ corner lot in the village of Saugerties into a hub for community engagement and ecological creativity. Together, participants built soil, created an earth tattoo, shared food, crafted seed sculptures, and performed in Chickenarama. Over two dozen public gatherings were hosted, including workshops like sheet mulching and nitrogen-fixing planting with the Boys & Girls Club, Seed and Food Shares with the Long Spoon Collective, Seed Sculpture Labs with Adam Zaretsky, and participatory actions such as Oath of Growth and I Am the Keeper of Smallest Plant with Carrie Dashow. The initiative also featured Chicken Dancing with Linda Mary Montano and seasonal offering ceremonies led by Adolfo Ibáñez Ayerve. The project was supported by an Arts Mid-Hudson grant in its inaugural year.

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In 2017, the Underground Center continued the project, repurposing the garden as a teaching tool for local youth in collaboration with the Boys & Girls Club. A local church, which prepares meals for the Club, used produce from the garden to nourish the community. By 2018, the program focused on three goals: teaching youth essential gardening skills and fostering appreciation for locally grown organic food, creating a model garden that supports both people and the land, and addressing food insecurity by providing fresh, healthy food to Boys & Girls Club participants. Now renamed the Saugerties Free Food Program and facilitated by the Underground Center, this initiative that began as Re:Seed Saugerties continues to grow and serve the community. For more information about the current program, please contact the Underground Center.

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To watch the CHICKENARAMA VIDEOS featuring Linda Mary Montano ... please click here.