Park district to host Sabat Meadow Planting Day

Update: Due to the weather forecast including a persistent, soaking rain, the Mattituck Park District is switching the Sabat Meadow Planting Day to Sunday, April 27, at noon.

The Mattituck Park District will host a Planting Day for the revitalization of Sabat Meadow, the district’s property at 1865 Bay Ave. Approximately 1,650 plants will transform the disused field into a native pollinator meadow with a half-mile walking trail. The event comes after the original Planting Day — slated for Nov. 17, 2024 — was postponed because of a historic drought that spurned the North Fork last fall. 

Previous reporting outlined the beginning of building berms for the project, which would be roughly two to three feet tall and topped with plantings. Alexandra Getches, a Commissioner at the Park District and co-founder of Living Lands, said that the berms will provide buffering and added texture to the otherwise flat and uniform field.  

“We are revitalizing the Bay Avenue park property,” said Ms. Getches. “It’s really a restoration of the property to native species. And we’re working on beautifying it and giving habitat [back] to birds, bees and butterflies.”

In place of the original planting date in November 2024, locally-generated wood chips were spread on the ground already exposed for planting, according to a press release found on Mattituck Park District’s official website. On planting day, volunteers will push aside these wood chips, dig holes for each plant, remove each plant from its container, cut each plant’s bound roots, and place and bury each plant.

The Park District doesn’t expect the job to be too strenuous despite 1,650 total plants needing planting. “The digging is going to be very easy; the ground is soft, and these are small plants,” said recording secretary Abigail Field.

Additionally, during the delay, Mattituck Park District was able to get into contact with local landscaping businesses to help volunteers with the event. Living Lands, Gardens by Kristin, Conni Cross Garden Design, Twin Forks Landscape Contracting, and Chris Mohr Landscaping and Masonry have all pledged to send a few of their workers to Sabat Meadow on Planting Day.

“I’m pretty confident that with the support from the professional planters in the community, anything the volunteers can’t get done will actually get done,” said Ms. Field.

The Center for Advocacy, Support and Transformation is also partnering with the Park District for the event. They will be collecting personal care items and non-perishable food to stock its pantry, which serves and supplies many community residents with essentials. CAST will also be aiding the effort by loaning out shovels to those who do not have their own, according to another press release from Mattituck Park District. 

Those interested in joining the efforts can sign up here. Printed waivers will be available on site on Planting Day, though Ms. Field said that it would be better for most people to have submitted them online when they sign up with the link. Every participating adult must submit their own sign up form for themselves, and their children. Participants should indicate if they can bring a shovel, work gloves, cultivator and/or similar tools to help with the project. 

Currently, the forecast for Saturday keeps changing, though some amount of rain is concretely expected. In the event of a heavy, constant downpour, Planting Day will be postponed for Sunday, April 27, at noon.

“We’re delaying on the decision of postponing until Sunday because of that variation in the forecast. It would be much better to just do it on Saturday,” Ms. Fields said. “It really has to be for sure, an unpleasant experience on Saturday that no one would want to participate in for us to postpone it.”