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When Candace Schafer looks out her office window at the Sugar Hill Farm headquarters of the Westchester Land Trust in Bedford Hills, she sees row upon row of sweet potatoes. She can sit back and smile, knowing that the crop is headed for families in need.
We tore up our lawn, Schafer says as the sun shines. The buckwheat planted as a distraction for the deer is overtaking a field of sweet potatoes. Volunteers plan to clean up the rows and hopefully get that part of the crop back on track. We're realizing that farming is really not that easy.
The land trust's crop will head to the Westchester Food Bank after the harvest. There the locally grown tubers will feed families all across the county. As executive director at the land trust, Schafer says she was happy to donate land to the project.
Every year the land trust coordinates with local farmers to offer lots in the county. Eleven matches were made this summer, but this is the first time the trust has donated a piece of land specifically for the food bank.
Schafer sees helping local farmers as another duty of the trust: protecting open space in a way that benefits the local population and is environmentally friendly. Schafer says the trust is also the steward of the water supply for the county and the city.
Before settling in as the Westchester Land Trust's executive director, Schafer was a LEED-certified architect in Connecticut. She lives in Norwalk and helped shape several of the buildings in South Norwalk. She became interested in land use in Westchester and Fairfield counties and was asked to apply to the Westchester Land Trust.
Using portions of the Westchester Land Trust's 7,552 acres for farming seems natural to Schafer. We really enjoy working with the agricultural industry. In Westchester County, there has always been a strong agricultural history."
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