Denver Urban Gardens Hits Major Milestone with its 200th Community Garden

The largest independent community garden organization in the country just reached a significant milestone this year. On October 13th, Denver Urban Gardens (DUG) transformed an orphaned plot of city-owned land that sat vacant for more than 60 years into The 48th & Julian DUG Community Garden— making it the network’s 200th community garden across seven counties in the Denver Metro area. This is a monumental achievement not only in Colorado but in the U.S

For 45 years, DUG has worked towards its mission: build a garden in every neighborhood, create community and cultivate food and climate resilience. “When people hear about community gardens, they think “that’s sweet” or that it’s a hobby. What they don’t realize is that they are extraordinary constructs for a city,” said DUG CEO Linda Appel Lipsius. “It’s a way for people, especially city dwellers, to grow organic,

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Atwood Community Garden provides fresh produce, resources to Madison

As the demand for urban garden space in Madison rises, the waitlist for renting a plot at the Atwood Community Gardens becomes longer. The supply for garden spaces is small, resulting in a three-year wait and limited accessibility for Madison-area residents.

The garden inhabits space along a bike path that runs from Waubesa Street to Jackson Street, parallel to St. Paul Avenue. The city of Madison leases the land to the Goodman Community Center, and the garden contains 115 rentable plots of land.

Dewayne Powell, Goodman Community Center vice president of financial and business services, told The Daily Cardinal Goodman’s initial reason for creating the Atwood Community Garden was to provide opportunities for urban gardening on Madison’s east side.

“The waitlist for Atwood Community Garden is so long because the supply for urban garden space is so small in Madison and the demand is so high,” Powell said. “Another factor

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As hospital farm expands, Cox and garden nonprofit aim to improve habits and food supply

CoxHealth and Springfield Community Gardens are working together to cultivate a healthier community.

A recent grant from the Timken Foundation will allow Amanda Belle’s Farm to establish propagation houses and a vegetable packing facility. The farm, located near Cox South, currently supplies employees (and sometimes the cafeteria salad bar) with fresh produce, according to Jesse Baedke, system director of food services with CoxHealth.

But physical health isn’t the only thing the farm is aiming to fortify: Maile Auterson, executive founding director for SCG, sees it as a path toward remedying social ills as well, and for building a better future.

“We are surrounded by persistent poverty, counties that are struggling with food insecurity. To me, that’s a travesty, because my dad grew up and lived to be 100, and he said, ‘During the (Great) Depression, we all ate like kings,’ so I’m like how, why aren’t we eating now?” Auterson

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Sudbury news: City welcomes accessible community garden


A fully accessible community garden is now open at Ryan Heights Playground in Sudbury.


Those involved in the project say they have removed a number of barriers to accessibility to ensure anyone with a green thumb can join.


“This was a huge need in the community,” said Kryslyn Mohan, youth program co-lead with Sudbury Shared Harvest.


“After multiple years of vandalism, this space was not only uninviting, it was inaccessible, it was unsafe.”


Mohan said they have installed accessible pathways that have the right width and appropriate turning space.


“We also have raised beds for a diverse number of needs for community residents, such as those who use wheelchairs, those who prefer to garden from a standing position and those with small kids who need beds that are closer to the ground,” she said.


Mohan said there are between 30 and 40 community

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