In 2014, with a late start and a short growing season, the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center’s Giving Garden at Coogan Farm netted 1 ton of fresh produce and fed just over 3,000 people from a 1,600 square foot plot.
In 2015, the 30,000 square foot garden consists of more than 60 beds of produce to feed southeastern Connecticut’s food insecure. It is accomplished with an all-volunteer work force. From the first of March 2015 until the end of May more than 800 volunteer hours were spent in the garden.
Our daily tasks include weeding, planting, harvesting and composting.
The work is far from over! Volunteers are needed daily throughout the growing season. Our volunteers learn how to work in and develop a planet-friendly garden. We use no pesticides, no herbicides, all of our amendments are natural and beneficial to the soil. Things like seaweed, molasses, apple cider vinegar, and old wood chips all go into the soil to facilitate growth of microbes, earthworms, dung beetles and other soil-friendly creatures that Mother Nature depends on to feed the plants.
Volunteer times are:
Mondays, 8 -11 a.m. and 5:30-8 p.m.
Tuesdays, 8 a.m. till noon
Wednesdays, 8-11 a.m. and 5:30-8 p.m.
Thursdays, 7 a.m. till noon
Fridays we like to rest
Saturdays, 9-1
Some Sundays, 9-1 (call ahead)
By signing up on our volunteer form you will be contacted by the farm manager and given a personal tour of the garden and presentation of what we do and how we do it.