Vote for Pitney Meadows’ Children’s Exploration Garden Expansion in Saratoga Springs’ 2026 Participatory Budgeting Cycle!

Pitney Meadows Community Farm’s Children’s Exploration Garden Expansion has been selected to move forward in the City of Saratoga Springs’ 2026 Participatory Budgeting (PB) cycle!

Our design for Saratoga’s first public natural play landscape is officially in the running for city funding, and we need your help to make it a reality. Voting opens December 6 and runs through December 12.

What is the Exploration Garden Expansion?

If you’ve visited Pitney Meadows, you may already know and love our public Exploration Garden, a welcoming corner of the Community Garden where kids can dig, wander, smell, taste, and play their way into a deeper connection with nature. It’s also home to many of our children’s programs, like our Sunflower Sprouts Society youth reading group, after-school programming, and school field trips that bring hundreds of young learners and explorers to the farm each year.

This expansion will transform underutilized land into a larger, interconnected public landscape to grow curiosity and connect with the environment through:

• • Multisensory exploration
  • Child-led play and learning
  • Hands-on learning about food, soil, plants, and ecosystems
  • Environmental stewardship for climate resilience

• Collective gathering spaces and accessibility improvements

Our goal: to create a public and accessible natural play and discovery garden to connect with the natural world in Saratoga, open to kids of all ages and abilities.

Who Will Benefit?

The expanded Exploration Garden will:

• Provide free, unstructured outdoor play in a safe, inspiring setting for children and families
• Offer caregivers and educators a new resource for nature-based learning, field trips, and community connection
• Expand equitable access to green space, especially for families who don’t live near traditional parks
• Strengthen our Community Farm that supports child development, health, creativity, and climate-smart agriculture

It’s an investment in the health, joy, and future of Saratoga’s children and a commitment to building community, sustainability, and connection.

A Tour of the Future Garden

With guidance from landscape designer Cevan Castle and input from local families, teachers, and kids, the Expansion will feature immersive, interactive zones:

• Mixed‑Species Hedgerow & Berry Paths: native plants, pollinator habitat, berry harvests, and wildlife observation
• Tool Cabinets & “Little Free Library”–Style Stations: child‑friendly exploration tools like magnifiers, field guides, and bug viewers
• Music & the Natural World: outdoor instruments and natural sound features for playful, sensory engagement
• Winding Paths & Informal Play Spaces: for free play, quiet contemplation, and imaginative adventures
• Living Willow Pavilion: a natural, shaded gathering spot for story time, classes, and community events
• The Commons: a central hub for families to meet, rest, and connect within the garden and broader farm
• Living Soil & Fungi: hands‑on learning about soil health, fungi, and microhabitats in a dedicated space
• Youth‑Friendly Food Production Beds: kid‑accessible gardens to plant, care for, and harvest food using climate‑smart growing practices
• Plant Story Zones & Decomposition Investigation Areas: to learn about culturally or culinarily significant plants and the vital processes of decomposition and soil life

Everything is designed to be sensory-rich, accessible, inclusive, and open to the public, promoting curiosity, intergenerational play, and community connection.

About Our Design Partner: Cevan Castle

Cevan Castle is an architectural and landscape designer who specializes in collaborative planning and interdisciplinary methodology, co-creating dynamic environments that integrate education, community engagement, accessibility, and organizational values with climate and environmental stewardship practices.

An artist and educator with more than 20 years of experience, she works frequently in public engagement, including the intergenerational Youth Climate + Art Summit in 2024. She produces the “Farm Voices” podcast, an agricultural policy resource from the Climate Reality Project's Regenerative Agriculture Coalition. Cevan is co-founder of the design partnership Kinderpublic, which was formed during her time at the NEWINC residency at the New Museum.

Her background includes work as an artist in Detroit's urban agriculture movement and in historical agriculture. Cevan holds a Master’s degree in Architecture from Columbia University and a B.F.A. in Fine Art from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan.

Why This Matters Now

As Saratoga Springs celebrates the “Year of the Child,” this project offers a concrete way to honor that commitment: by creating a place where children can build resilience, confidence, and a lifelong love of nature right in their community.

The Exploration Garden expansion creates something more than a playground or outdoor classroom. It’s a living, evolving landscape where kids can:

• Grow food and learn where their meals come from
• Observe and appreciate birds, insects, fungi, and plants
• Cultivate care for shared spaces, one another, and the environment

In short, this is an investment in childhood, community, and a greener future.

Mark Your Calendar & Vote: December 6th - 12th, 2025!

Voting opens December 6th! Cast your vote for the Exploration Garden Expansion and help bring Saratoga’s first public natural play and discovery garden to life! Every vote matters, and your support can make this vision a reality for children and families across our community.

Thank you for helping us grow something truly special for Saratoga’s kids.