Community garden on the grow

Worland Community Garden is looking to grow, expanding both its physical footprint and its services through an $8,000 grant from the Wyoming Community Foundation.

President of the Community Garden Board and Washakie County Conservation District Education Coordinator Janet Hofmann said the proposal for an expansion north into an unutilized portion of Newell Sargent Park was presented by the City of Worland "years ago." Now, that idea is becoming a reality. The latest grant money, facilitated through fiscal sponsorship by the Conservation District, will add to an additional $5,000 grant for fencing reported earlier this year.

Through the expansion, Hofmann hoped that more opportunities for learning and community involvement would emerge. "The garden is a great educational resource for people who are just getting into gardening or wondering about gardening," she said.

"Right now, we're pretty much straight-up agriculture, so we'd like to have some buildings and some other types of growing and systems to show soil health and how to maintain good soil," AmeriCorps volunteer and Lead Garden Manager Ivy Asay said. "We really would like to have more community outreach programs so that we can be benefitting the community not only with our food production, but also with education."

Asay explained that education could mean teaching about irrigation, or alternative gardening practices. Hofmann added that signage throughout the garden would provide additional information for visitors.

"We've toyed with the idea of maybe charging a small fee so that people can have weddings in the garden, because it's actually going to be very beautiful when we do the expansion," Hofmann said.

About six months ago, the Community Garden transitioned from operating under the University of Wyoming Extension Office to becoming its own nonprofit organization. This year, the garden has secured two AmeriCorps volunteers – Laura Muse joining Asay – to work in the garden and manage other volunteers.

"In the future, we would really like to have that position be something we can support ourselves, because AmeriCorps is a little unreliable on when those positions are available," Hofmann said. She explained that the AmeriCorps program, while a help to the garden, offered relatively low wages for workers and garden funding would allow for better payment. "It still is our goal to be financially independent so that we can run that position without the AmeriCorps fund."

Hofmann explained that currently, donations to the Community Garden go directly to operational expenses. Moving forward, Hofmann has considered an endowment through the Wyoming Community Foundation as a way to fund the garden in the long term.

"My goal would be to start this endowment fund and grow it to the point where maybe 20 years down the road, we actually have substantial funds coming in from that investment," Hofmann said. The Wyoming Community Foundation can start an endowment with an investment as small as $1,000. However, Hofmann predicted that would not be a project completed this season.

Current garden operations include partnerships with 4-H, the Cloverbuds recently planted some flowers among the veggies; Kiwanis, which sponsors student volunteers, and the Wyoming Boys' School, who recently helped install weed barriers through the Learn and Work Education Program.

"It really is just a way to help the boys there gain some skills that they can hopefully use in the future," Asay said of the Learn and Work program. "Whether they go into agriculture or just end up having a home garden someday, it is just meant to be an opportunity for them to learn some really practical skills that hopefully they can use throughout their lives."

The Community Garden is able to supply local entities with an estimated 2,500-3,500 pounds of food a growing season. Produce is coupled with donations from the Grow a Little Extra program, gathered at the UW Extension Office. Fresh fruits and vegetables are then distributed throughout the community, at organizations such as O.W.L. Unlimited, the Worland Crisis Prevention and Response Center and Worland Senior Center.

"I do love our mission," Asay said. "Our mission is really to help people in the community that have food insecurity. Most community gardens, people rent a plot and produce their own food and take it away, and I really love that we are focused on the community aspect of it and trying to support people in our community and provide them with fresh produce that they may not have access to regularly."

Hofmann said that last year, with grocery prices soaring, she received reports of the garden as a "super blessing," a place where people could get healthy supplemental food with no chemicals, raised in a sustainable, regenerative way. On top of that, teaching people how to grow their own produce and preserve it in the event of a food shortage has innate value, according to Hofmann.

"I think it's a place that builds community," she said. "I've made friends at the garden that I wouldn't have had otherwise run into in my normal life, so it's been very enriching for me to meet people from different walks of life and make those friendships."

As for when the garden will complete its expansion, the timeline is unsure. Conversations with the City of Worland are ongoing to determine the best path moving forward. "We're hoping sometime mid-summer, we will be able to start on our fence," Asay said.

Community Garden hours are Tuesday and Wednesday 8 a.m. to noon, Thursday 8 a.m. to noon and 7-8 p.m., and Friday 6-7:30 p.m. A weekly volunteer meeting is held every Tuesday at 7:30 a.m. at the garden.

"Everyone is welcome," Hofmann said. "If you have an interest in volunteering, you can come in and volunteer, then when we do have produce, people are welcome to come in and get food at those times, but that won't be until later in the fall."