Community Garden Updates

The Grow Food Northampton Organic Community Garden thrived this year, with 271 plots in production. This included almost 50 new plots and a large number of new low-income gardeners. Pat James took on the title of Garden Manager, and we fostered growth in multiple Teams (Garden Education, Mowing, Community Plantings, Outhouse, and Giving Garden) and “rebooted” our leadership team, formerly the Garden Steering Committee, now the Garden Advisory Team.

We worked hard to attract and support Spanish-speaking gardeners, including professional translation of garden newsletters and registration materials. Jim Foudy wrote an excellent Gazette column on this effort. We are pleased that many of the Latino gardeners and others connected with Families with Power are working collaboratively with us to further enhance the sense of community and empowerment that the garden can provide.

We are excited about many new possibilities for 2016, including pre-orders of seeds and vegetable starts! A gardener survey is in the works that will help guide our plans for the coming year.