Community gardening gives volunteers green thumbs

For avid gardeners who don’t have the space to exercise their green thumb, organizations like the Hughes Charitable Foundation and Slow Food in the Tetons are creating solutions. 

• The nonprofit called Slow Food in the Tetons has two community garden locations in Jackson: one in May Park in East Jackson and one in Blair Garden near the Jackson Hole Middle School.
•  Locals in Casper, Wyoming can now volunteer to weed and maintain community garden plots. These community gardens are open to everyone for free, and community members are encouraged to drop by and even harvest some of the fruits and vegetables that the gardens produce.
•  The gardens function based on how much support and work the community puts into them. The Hughes Charitable Foundation also provides garden plots that individuals can rent for only 10 dollars a summer.
• The garden spots are currently full, but you can join the waiting list at tetonslowfood.org/community-garden/. 

Why Volunteer? 

 Community members who contribute to the garden in any way, from donating seeds to monetary contributions, are encouraged to improve their diets by harvesting the food the gardeners produce. It’s also a great opportunity to meet people in your area through gardening and to become better at cultivating fruits and vegetables. 

History of the Gardens

The Jackson Hole Community Garden 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 landscape artist, Allison Fleury, to begin work on site selection and design. Through working with 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 4th growing season. Much of the initial construction of the May Park Garden was led and funded by the Teton County Parks & Recreation Department. During the winter of 2019-2020, the Jackson Hole Community Garden program decided to merge with Slow Food in the Tetons.