Community Garden and Educational Workshops
Badger Johnson, AmeriCorps/ComCorps Service Member, Community Garden and Workshop Coordinator
badger@communityfoodinitiatives.org
Gardens yields more than food. They also foster creativity & community.
The Community Garden and Educational Workshops Program has the following goals:
- Increase access to fresh foods through development and support of community gardens.
- Improve community resiliency through education and sharing of gardening and culinary skills, including food preservation.
- Support leadership development through garden and food-based entrepreneurial opportunities.
Community Gardens help people weather economic storms, inspire resilience and enhance health through increased access to whole foods, good nutrition and physical exercise. They also provide a common space for community interaction, knowledge sharing, and strengthening community.
CFI manages the following Community Gardens: Athens City Eastside, Chauncey, Nelsonville, Glouster, Stewart and Hope Apartments Garden. If you’re interested in a garden plot, call 740-593-5971.
The Athens City Westside Community Garden is now independent! If you are interested in a plot there, contact Kathy White iamkcw@yahoo.com for more information.
Watch a video about the Westside Garden:
Educational Workshops
CFI offers a variety of workshops throughout the year to provide hands-on opportunities to build knowledge and skills for gardening and in the kitchen. Check out the Events Calendar in the sidebar for upcoming workshops!
SEED SAVING
Local seed savers work with CFI to produce an annual Seed Saving Directory that identifies growers in Southeastern Ohio who save open pollinated heirloom fruit and vegetable seeds. Each January, the group hosts a Seed Swap that is open to the public. Our work with seed saving provides education and strengthens our local food supply.
Download the 2012 Seed Saving Directory.
Youth Entrepreneurs At Hope (YEAH!) Program
Funded by the Athens Metropolitan Housing Board, the Youth Entrepreneurs At Hope (YEAH!) program Youth coaches low-income youth (8-18 years old) in production garden maintenance, money management, and professionalism. The YEAH Kids grow and sell their produce at the Athens Farmers Market as a summer job experience.
pawpaw tree
Edible Athens
Fruit trees create a pretty landscape and are a source of nutritious and delicious food. In 2010, Athens resident or then graduate student Lori Gromen, partnered with CFI and the City of Athens to identify and map fruit trees on public property to generate community support to care for the trees and harvest their fruits. Lori created an online map with locations, types of fruit trees and harvest times. Now community members can find peaches, mulberries, pears, cherries, apples and paw paws all around them!