Ann Arbor is home to the longest-standing community garden in the country. Project Grow (Community Services, Environment) started with a few dozen gardeners at a handful of sites. Now, says part-time managing director Kirk Jones, they have “about 370 members and nineteen sites”—both records.
A full garden plot is about twenty-five by thirty feet, Jones says, “and we also have half plots. It’s $130 for a full and $80 for a half. That’s how we support ourselves. We get no more money from the city or county. And we have a plant sale the day before Mother’s Day. It’s 15 percent of our income, but our whole budget is under $60,000. We have a lot of volunteers and a very active board.”
Jones has been with Project Grow since 1985. “A friend said, ‘Do you want to share a garden at County Farm?’ and I tried it and I loved it! I was a site coordinator and on the board when I applied for this job. I started in August 2011.”
All kinds of folks join, Jones says, “from people in Burns Park with lots that’re too small or too shady to low income housing folks to students who live in apartments. The great thing is that everybody talks together, and you meet people you don’t usually meet. It’s really a grand social experiment.”
Local artist Kathy Amaru Titus joined in 2013 and has a half plot at County Farm Park. “I’d created a 100 square foot vegetable and herb garden in my backyard and I wanted to expand,” she says. “I’m nearing retirement age, and I’m interested in subsistence living, possibly on a farm, and I wanted a community garden as a first step to see if I could do it. If I’m strong enough for 750 square feet, I’ll expand to 1,500 square feet … The funny thing is, I’m a vegetarian, and before this I didn’t know what a bean plant looked like!”
What does she get out of it? “A combination of things,” Titus replies. “It’s practical, tastier, and healthier, and it’s a community. I meet people who share the same interests, and they’re all very friendly, a little nonconformist, and very diverse. I have a neighbor who’s a Russian refugee and other neighbors who are a couple from the Middle East.
“I’d definitely recommend it to others,” Titus concludes. “It’s really good for the environment, and it’s a really good workout!”
