Located in beautiful Philip Lauter Park, Willimantic, these include our own youth-led Thread City Family Garden, and support for the WAIM Community Gardens.
Thread City Family Garden
Our new garden, established in 2016, grows fruits, vegetables, and edible fungi for the Windham community. Through a variety of methods–some experimental, some time-tested–the Windham Youth CORE, GROW Windham,and many volunteers all provide opportunities for the community to prep, plant, and take root. A garden coordinator facilitates the participation of groups from local schools, universities, places of worship, organizations, and individuals in order to maximize networking and the community of urban farming practice.
The food produced at the Thread City Family Garden benefits many in the area, donated to the Covenant Soup Kitchen, sold to local vendors and value-added businesses, and used by the Windham Youth CORE in their Sofrito and hot sauce production.
WAIM Community Garden
The Windham Area Interfaith Ministry (WAIM) Community Garden was “created” in 1993 as a communal organic garden space for people who had no other place to exercise their growing heritage, or simply produce vegetables as a supplement to their diets or income.
Today, it consists of two sections: the “Upper Half” (90’ x 175’) is divided into twenty-four 20’x20’ plots for individual gardeners to cultivate. The individuals have full control over where the yield from their plots goes.
The lower portion of the garden (70’x100’) is the “Communal Half” — a large vegetable garden maintained by volunteers, the produce from which is donated to the Covenant Soup Kitchen and the ACCESS food bank.
For more information on the garden, access to the gardeners plots, or interest in volunteering, contact Neenah Shafer at: (860) 456-7270 x13.