Slow Food Community Gardens Program
The Slow Food Community Gardens program provides gardening opportunities for people without home gardens, cultivates green space, builds community, increases access to fresh and healthy food, and acts as a living classroom for growers of all ages. The 2024 Community Gardens program includes a total of 150 plots and over 175 gardening households at May Park Garden, Blair Garden, and the Garden at the Grove.
Impact
The Slow Food Community Gardens program is committed to engaging participants and community members in growing, learning, and enjoying the benefits of a healthy local food system. The impacts of recent programming have included:
– Over 2000 volunteer hours per season to help maintain equipment, facilities and shared planting areas
– Weekly garden to table donations to Hole Food Rescue, Sage Living Center and additional community organizations and neighbors July – September
– Seasonal workshops, presentations, and garden gatherings are offered at no cost to gardeners and the community to build upon the interests, skills and sense of community at the gardens
– Multiple seed swap and plant exchange opportunities to increase access to new and native plant varieties to encourage biodiversity and ecosystem health.
Garden Plot Availability and Waitlist Information
Garden plots are currently full. If you are interested in a future plot, please sign up here for the waitlist so that we can keep you informed and invite you to garden workshops and other programming. The wait time is 2-3 years. While we know this is a long time, we are encouraged by the enthusiasm for this program and are communicating this growing interest to Town of Jackson/Teton County officials in the hope that community gardening space can be expanded as soon as possible.
You may also wish to sign-up for the Slow Food newsletter on our website and follow us on Instagram and Facebook to learn about our local food initiatives!
Garden Guidelines
Community gardens are open April 22 through October 31
Hours of Operation: dawn until 9:00 p.m.
Plots must be planted by June 15 and cleared by October 31. Garden coordinators will provide further information on plot clean out prior to the deadline.
Gardeners must participate in volunteer hours organized by monthly sign up. Additional information to be provided via email and at opening day orientation.
Plant only in your plot.
Weed your plot and surrounding walkways regularly.
Place weeds and all green waste in labeled bins for off-site composting.
Compost bins are for garden material only – do not bring household/kitchen/lawn material from home.
Turn off water spigots completely and coil hoses to keep walkways clear.
Keep structures in your garden under 5’ tall.
Community gardens are maintained organically. The use of insecticides, fertilizers, soil and compost made from synthetic chemical materials are prohibited.
Pack it in, pack it out! All personal garbage goes home.
Wear headphones if listening to music.
No smoking.
No dogs.
Jackson Hole Community Garden Program History
The JHCG began as an idea in the fall of 1999. Ginny Mahood, the 4-H / Horticulture agent for the University of Wyoming Cooperative Extension Service in Teton County partnered with a newly arrived landscape artist from Toronto, Canada, Allison Fleury, to begin work on site selection and design. Several locations were explored throughout the county and finally, working in conjunction with the Teton County, the current Blair site was selected. This half-acre triangular piece of land is owned by the Town of Jackson and was designated as a site for a park or open space.
The May Park community garden was built in 2015 on Town of Jackson land donated by the May family and is now in its 10th growing season. Much of the initial construction of the May Park garden was led and funded by the Teton County Parks & Recreation Department.
The community gardens were run by a talented and extremely dedicated group of community garden volunteers during the 2018 and 2019 seasons. Over the winter of 2019/20, the Jackson Hole Community Garden Project team began conversations with Slow Food in the Tetons about a potential collaboration. Through several months of working together, the decision was made for the community gardens to merge with Slow Food in the Tetons. As a program of Slow Food, the community gardens will continue to flourish under the unified vision of good, clean and fair food for all.
The Hub Bicycles is the 2024 Presenting Sponsor for the Community Gardens.