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In 2012, the National Gardening Association estimated there were one million community gardens in the United States. Community gardens are valuable to the local food system, providing economic, public health, social and environmental benefits. Below are three such community gardens located in La Crosse and nearby La Crescent.
WASHBURN COMMUNITY GARDEN
The Washburn Community Garden, founded in 2010, is on the 900 block of Division Street in La Crosse, on property owned by Mayo Clinic Health System—Franciscan Healthcare. The Washburn Neighborhood Association manages the area, which started with 18 gardens and has grown every year. In 2014 there were 54 gardens. One hundred percent of the garden-rental proceeds are donated to St. Clare Health Mission ($1,600 in 2014), and 10 percent of the harvest is donated to charities, food banks and families in need. In 2013, 1,300 pounds of produce was shared.
The garden provides many benefits to the community: it is a neighborhood green space, a gathering place where neighbors can get to know one another, and an opportunity for the neighborhood to support the hungry in the La Crosse area. Teachers and students
from the nearby Lincoln/SOTA II/Coulee Montessori
Middle School visit the garden for hands-on learn- ing. Volunteers from the La Crosse Fire Department constructed a shed (paid for with money donated by the Lincoln PTO) where tools are stored and garden- ers can weigh their produce and record the totals. Mayo Clinic Health System—Franciscan Healthcare donated funds in 2013 for a hoop house, which was built by Hillview Urban Agriculture Center. Hillview gardens in and maintains the hoop house and offers space for Washburn gardeners. In 2015 the gardens will expand to include a rain garden/butterfly gar- den—an area of flowers and plants that will attract butterflies, bees, and birds, to aid in the pollination of plants in the garden.
Left to right: Ryan Knox, gardener, and Bob Clements,
87 years old and an ongoing volunteer for the past ten years, assist Todd Huffman, garden co- ordinator, with a variety of tasks throughout the growing season, including end-of-season mulch applications. Todd started volun- teering in 1999 and was hired as the garden coordinator in 2006. More than 1,300 volunteers help out at the garden annually. The garden is open from March 15
to October 15, Monday through Saturday.
Background photo:
Hoop house at Washburn Community Garden.
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PHOTO: Vicki Miller