Our Story
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Our Story
Ecological Culture Initiative Mission
The Ecological Culture Initiative fosters a resilient, ecology-based coastal community through advocacy and education in sustainable food production, wellness, and environmental stewardship.
OUR SYMBOL
We chose the dragonfly, Erythemis simplicicollis, commonly known as the Eastern Pondhawk, as the symbol of the Ecological Culture Initiative. Native to the eastern two-thirds of the United States, Erythemis represents self-realization, transformation, and depth of understanding. We could think of no more fitting visual metaphor for the goals ECI has set for the community of Hampton Bays.
Evolving from a water dwelling nymph, adult dragonflies eat other flying insects, particularly disease bearing pests such as midges and mosquitoes. The brief existence of a dragonfly relies upon the purity of air, earth, and water, and is connected to each by complex biological interactions that are markers of ecosystem health.
Our Mission
We are activists in that we believe working in the garden with a hand spade or shovel is the most effective way to promote environmental awareness.
The Ecological Culture Initiative was founded in Hampton Bays in 2016 to foster a resilient, ecology-based coastal community through advocacy and education in sustainable food production, wellness, and environmental stewardship.
Our Story
For the last decade our volunteers have been busy building, digging, sowing, weeding, and working together to serve that mission. We’ve built a thriving organic garden located at St. Joseph’s Villa on the west bank of Shinnecock Bay, which has grown to more than 7500 square feet and includes 24 raised beds, a greenhouse, 5 beehives, a native perennial pollinator garden and a year-round community composting operation.
The effort is rewarding. Every year ECI’s garden produces up to 1,500 pounds of fresh organic produce, all of which is donated to the food pantry at St. Rosalie’s Church to help feed our neighbors. Our composting program collects food scraps from 50 households and local businesses, returning organic compost to the garden and our members. Last year, we diverted more than 15,000 pounds of waste from the municipal solid waste stream. ECI’s beehives typically produce an annual 65 pound harvest of honey each year.
Baskets full of fresh produce and jars of honey only tell part of the ECI story. The community garden is place for meeting and growing together as a community. Local students come to learn about organic farming in our Kinder Garden program; neighbors can bring their own gardens to life with the Seed Library we stock in association with the Hampton Bays Public Library. By tending to our community, we advance the founder’s mission. We all have something to offer and something to gain and each of us has a chance to become more deeply aware of the rewards inherent in caring for this special place, Good Ground.
Good Ground
The village of Hampton Bays was originally called Good Ground by early settlers in recognition of the fertility and natural riches of the local environment. ECI’s goal is to build awareness and create a team of local residents who work together to uphold and preserve that vital natural heritage.
Our Symbol
The Eastern Pondhawk or dragonfly symbolizes self-realization, transformation, and depth of understanding. Their brief existence relies on the purity of air, earth, and water, and is connected to each by complex biological interactions that are markers of ecosystem health. There's no more fitting visual metaphor for the goals ECI has set for the community of Hampton Bays.
