ReWild / Cow Neck Chapter
Where we are
Cow Neck is ReWild's founding chapter — born right here in Port Washington and covering Manhasset, Roslyn and nearby areas. Whether you're curious about native plants or ready to roll up your sleeves, there's a place for you with us.
Who we are and how to contact
Chairs: Raju Rajan and Kathy Coley
Coordinator: Emma Diaz
Email us at Cowneck-Leads@ReWildLongIsland.org
What we do
Most of our activities happen from April through November. A great time to be outdoors with like-minded neighbors while giving back to our local ecosystem.
Cow Neck is the hub for ReWild's Native Plant Sale. Each spring and fall we receive, sort, and distribute thousands of beautiful, ecologically beneficial plants — available to shop online with local pickup. Helping us sort is one of the best ways to learn about natives, connect with kindred spirits, and do real good for the environment.
We maintain a living showcase at the Thomas Dodge Homestead in Port Washington — a model of thoughtful, sustainable yard design. Come see what's possible, and join us every Saturday from April through November, 9–11 AM. All hands welcome.
Long Island's first sustainable garden tour started right here in Port Washington as a partnership between ReWild and the Port Washington Water District. Would you like to open your yard to visitors? Or help us run the event? Reach out — the tour takes place the second weekend of June each year.
🌱 Youth Summer Program To Fight Hunger and Climate Change
Our hands-on internship program invites 8th graders and high schoolers to spend the summer doing meaningful environmental work — planting native perennials, removing invasives, growing food, and protecting our waterways. Across a dozen outdoor sites, youth and adult volunteers work side by side between July and October. Email us if you'd like to join us.
📣 Tabling, Education & Outreach
We show up throughout the season at local events to share the story of native plants with our neighbors. If your school, library, or community organization would like a speaker or a tabling presence, reach out — we'd love to come to you. And we always welcome more voices to help us spread the word.
What You can do
Sign Up To Be a Volunteer: Fill out this short form to tell us about how you’d like to help us. It also has the link to our volunteer portal where you can easily create an account and sign up for any volunteer opportunity.
Join ReWild / Cowneck by filling out form at the bottom of the page, and selecting “Cow Neck Peninsula” as your nearest chapter. This puts you on our mailing list. If you have any questions, drop us a note.
Upcoming Events
Rewild Garden @ dodge
Help us embodying ReWild’s Sustainable Landscaping C.R.O.W.N. principles at the Thomas Dodge Homestead in Port Washington.
What are our C.R.O.W.N. principles?
Composting
Reducing, Reusing, and Recycling
Organic Practices
Watering Wisely—and of course—
—Native Plants!!
This garden is the beloved home-base of the Cow Neck Chapter. Here, we steward native plants, organic vegetables and a community compost. We meet at the garden every week (starting from April 11 onwards) on Saturdays, from 9 AM to 11 AM.
Cow Neck Chapter 2024 Accomplishments
We Grew our Summer Program
Partnering with 12 organizations in the Cow Neck area: Greentree Foundation, Adult Activities Center - Plant a Row Garden, Helen Keller National Center - Plant A Row Garden, ReWild Garden @ Dodge, Sands Point Preserve - Vegetable Garden, Sands-Willets House, Science Museum of Long Island Preserve and Native Plant Garden, Coalition of Save Hempstead Harbor Oyster Gardening at Town of North Hempstead Beach Park, Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Shelter Rock, Monarchs Matter Raise, Tag & Release Program, Port Washington Water Testing Project.
Partnering with 9 organizations on the South Fork: ReMap the Sound, Town of East Hampton, Surfrider Bioswales, South Fork Sea Farmers/EH Shellfish Hatchery, Share the Harvest, ReWild/East Hampton Compost @ Amerber Waves & Springs Farmers Market, ChangeHampton, EHHS Pollinator Garden, LongHouse Reserve.
We had 54 students participating in our Summer Program, totaling to over 2,500 hours of community service hours with our partners. The Summer Program offers stipends of $300 to new youth interns (who complete over 30 hours of work) and $500 to returning Youth Leaders (who complete over 60 hours of work) in a mentoring/organizing role so that youth of all economic backgrounds are incentivized to join the program.
We Grew our Community Gardens Program
Established 21 new Gardens: Bridgehampton School, City of Glen Cove, Elmont Memorial High School, First Universalist Church, Great Neck Synagogue, Half Hollow Hills High School East, Harborfields Public Library, Johanna’s Hope, Manorhaven Elementary School, North Fork Audubon Society, Oldfield Middle School, Patchogue-Medford High School, Peconic Community School, Port Washington Water District, Queens Metropolitan High School, Rain Garden @ Dodge Garden, River and Roots Community Garden, Sweetbriar Nature Center, The Vine Church, Third House Nature Center, Three Village Historical Society.
Developed a Youth-Design course for designed for high schoolers drawn from the 6 Community Gardens and Summer Program students. 45 students learned about ecosystems, garden design principles, native plantings, and scientific research principles. They then worked together to create, present & obtain approvals for garden designs for their schools.
We Added a new ReWild chapter in South Nassau
The South Nassau chapter has started to develop the Valley Stream Community Garden project which may include the development of a composting system and a summer program for local high school students where they can learn to grow vegetables to be contributed to our local food pantry.
Through our ReWild Gardens and Summer Program, we have welcomed over 3,000 volunteers and passersby to the concept and benefits of rewilding. Each garden has become a valued local asset and a “recruitment ground” for sustainable landscaping and gardening activities in its community.
Thank you for your support & encouragement
rewilding is about sustainable landscaping for thriving communities, from pollinators to people
To help rewild Cowneck, whether you are a beginner or an expert rewilder, join us by filling out the form at the bottom of this page.
Got questions?
Email us at Cowneck-Leads@ReWildLongIsland.org