At the Walden Community Garden, the types of vegetables we grow each season is subject to some variability depending on the wishes of the Walden Project student body and the Garden Manager. We always grow lots of garlic, kale, onions, and potatoes. For the 2007 season, we plan on additionally cultivating tomatoes, peppers (hot and not), chard, carrots, beets, sunflowers, culinary herbs, winter and summer squash, corn, celery, and many more vegetables. We try to purchase all of our seeds and plants for the garden from Vermont producers.

 

 

In 2004, with support from Monkton, VT herbalist Julie Mitchell and the Weed Farm of Lincoln, VT, an extensive medicinal herb garden was added to the Walden Community Garden. We grow only safe, perennial herbs, which we donate to herbal clinics and community members.

 

Education Initiatives

 

Farm

 

 

 

 

 

“I once had a sparrow alight upon my shoulder for a moment, while I was hoeing in a village garden, and I felt that I was more distinguished by that circumstance that I should have been by any epaulet I could have worn.”--Henry David Thoreau

Founded in 2002 by Walden Project alumnus Tasha Ball and other interested students, the Walden Community Garden has grown from a few raised beds to a half-acre no-till plot that provides local, organic (though non-certified) produce to Walden Project student lunches, local public schools including Vergennes Union High School and Ferrisburgh Central School, other non-profits including the Common Ground Center of Starksboro, and local food shelves such as the Addison County Community Action Group (ACCAG), the John Graham Shelter of Vergennes, and the Committee On Temporary Shelter (COTS) in Burlington.

 

 

In keeping with our mission to sustainably and ecologically use the Willowell Land for education and outreach, the Walden Community Garden is a no-till, no-spray project. Our use of machinery is restricted to small rototiller cultivation and hand-held tools. We fertilize only with our home-made compost and manure donated from organic farms. While we are not certified organic, our produce is grown using ecologically-sound practices.

Our Current Projects

 

Walden Community Garden

classrooms throughout Addison County. Students at the Walden Project are required to work in the Walden Community Garden during the fall and spring months as part of the community service component of their studies. Visiting instructors and Walden staff provide workshops in medicinal herbs, permaculture, preserving the harvest, composting, and other key topics.

 

Starting in 2007, the Willowell Foundation will support two paid interns who will work full-time in the Walden Community Garden over the summer months. Both Walden Project alumni, the interns will assist the Garden Manager in garden cultivation, farmer’s market sales in Vergennes and Bristol, greenhouse management, and harvesting. This unique work-study internship will provide these youth with the knowledge and skills to run their own market-garden.

 

 

 

There are many ways for the larger community to connect with the Walden Community Garden. These include:

 

 

 

 

 

In addition to functioning as a working organic garden, the Walden Community

Garden is a locus for agricultural studies for

both Walden Project students and teachers/