STANDS BY ME APP
The idea for the Stands By Me app took root during a bike ride through the back roads of the Finger Lakes. Many farm stands have wonderful things for sale, says app creator Brent Bivona, but often they only have homemade signs to try to bring in customers. Many stands have no online presence at all, or they advertise through social media posts that easily get buried. “We want people to discover farm stands, roadside stands, markets, community pantries, and local growers they may have never known existed. The more people shop local, the more we can help support families, small businesses, and local agriculture.”
Stands By Me helps users find farm stands and small local producers close to them. The search feature helps locate locally grown produce, eggs, honey, cut flowers, meat, baked goods, and more. The app covers much of New York State and is expanding to other states and into Canada.
Bivona has become passionate about helping people discover ways to support local food, and to connect with the people growing it. He hopes that the app will have a broader impact. Community food pantries are being added to the app and supported, he says. “That’s something that means a lot to me because it’s such an important way for communities to help each other,” he says. He’s also happy that young entrepreneurs running stands are using the app to attract business. “There’s a strong community layer building around it, not just a marketplace,” Bivona says. You can use the app to follow your favorite stands and send them messages to confirm what’s available before you go.
Bivona and his team have plans in the works for Farm Stand Hops and other community challenges, and they have already added some fun engagement features. The app is accessible instantly on iPhone and Android with no app store download needed.
GARDENING HELPLINE
If you need experts to help you tackle your gardening problems, a friendly team of Master Gardeners are a phone call—or an email—away. At the Gardening HelpLine, Cornell Master Gardeners of Monroe County help answer garden questions and solve problems using up-to-date and evidence-based advice. Master Gardener Laura Harder has worked on the helpline for eleven years, and she loves helping people with their gardening challenges. “Give me a good bug question and I’m on the case.” The HelpLine gets a huge range of inquiries, from questions about grass and lawn care to vegetable gardening, flowers, pests, and plant diseases. Callers sometimes want help identifying plants, or recommendations about what plants to grow in their garden, and the Master Gardeners are happy to help. As for the people calling in, the gardeners are as varied as their gardens. “Some folks are beginners, some more advanced. I often get questions for confirmation of what they heard or found on the web,” Harder says. She values being part of the team at Cornell Cooperative Extension, which people can rely on as a trusted source.
Reach the helpline by phone or email:
(585) 753-2555; mo******@co*****.edu April through October, help is available Monday–Friday 9 a.m. to noon.
November through March, you can call Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9 a.m. to noon. monroe.cce.cornell.edu/horticulture/gardening-helpline
Each county’s Cornell Cooperative Extension office supports and provides resources for gardeners in its own way. To find Master Gardeners near you please check our calendar or yearly directory. To learn even more about what’s available locally, check out your local office here: cals.cornell.edu/cornell-cooperative-extension/local-offices
THE FLOATING GARDEN
Medina, NY is currently the site of a very special exhibit. The Floating Garden, built on a repurposed industrial barge, is docked for the summer on the Erie Canal behind the Medina Triennial Hub. Created by artist Mary Mattingly and building on her “Swale” public art project in New York City, the Floating Garden is both and a work of art and a community garden. It is intended to serve as a free, accessible community resource where visitors can forage for herbs, fruits, and vegetables. Visitors can board the floating platform to harvest fresh, free food, but also to learn about ecology and waterway access, and see pollinators like butterflies enjoying the plants. “A food forest on water is a sanctuary,” says Mattingly. “Philosopher Michel Foucault says the garden is ‘the smallest parcel of the world and then it is the totality of the world.’”
Medina was chosen for many reasons, but partly because Orleans County is “in the heart of a region that grows food for much of the Northeast but where residents face some of the highest rates of food insecurity in the state,” Mattingly explains. She would like visitors to re-envision the Erie Canal as a food corridor and hopes that this project will lead people to ask “why free public access to food is still so rare, and what it might look like if it weren’t.” She has enjoyed her experience working with the people in Medina, she says, and she appreciates the relationships she’s built with the many people who have worked hard to bring this exhibit to life.
Find the Floating Garden docked behind the Medina Triennial Hub at 345 N. Main Street.
The exhibition runs as part of the inaugural Medina Triennial from June 6 through September 7. Admission is free, but visitors are encouraged to register in advance for a time to visit the Floating Garden and other Triennial exhibits. zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/daily-admission-3
Carolyn Sperry is a freelance writer in Rochester. She has published nationwide, won the Gotham Writers Stories Everywhere competition, and writes poetry featured in several journals.
This article originally appeared in the July/August 2026 issue of Upstate Gardeners’ Journal.
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