The Equity Garden Incubator Plot is Coming to Life!
The Just Good Food project is building a long-term home for its efforts at our new Equity Garden Incubator Plot in Paonia, CO. Currently, we are stewarding a two acre pollinator and vegetable garden, featuring both perennial and annual food crops for people and wildlife. To support the development of this space, we’re hosting a farm to table dinner in October. Learn more about the project and event below!
Now well into its second year, the Colorado Farm & Food Alliance’s Just Good Food project is growing into its new space. The Equity Garden Incubator Plot at the Perennial Farm School will serve as a convening and workshop space, a model for conservation-minded practices, a source for food-sharing, and as a plot to grow future farmers.
To support the expansion of the Equity Garden Incubator Plot and celebrate the arrival of autumn, we are excited to announce our upcoming Equity Garden Farm Dinner on Thursday, October 14, 2021 from 5:30 - 8 PM at the Historic Midway Schoolhouse in Hotchkiss, CO. It's going to be a wonderful evening filled with good company and a locally sourced farm to table dinner, including a four-course meal curated and prepared by the Forage Sisters, wine pairings from Qutori Wines, and a musical selection from local favorite Steve Clisset.
The Just Good Food project focuses on encouraging and supporting our community to donate excess produce from their gardens, glean unpicked fruit, and to learn and help with growing perennial and annual foods at our new community plot. In 2020, we donated 8,000 lbs of produce to food banks, school programs, Tribal nations, and senior centers and we’re planning to double that this year. This campaign also offers workshops on the gift model on topics such as waterwise irrigation, biodynamic agriculture, pollinator gardens and more.
More About the Equity Garden Incubator Plot
Thanks to the help of countless volunteers, seeds have been sown at the Equity Garden Incubator Plot and there’s already a vibrant and bountiful garden producing fresh and nutritious crops for regional food-sharing programs. Not only is the future bright for this plentiful green space, but our vision for the entire space is just getting started.
We have plans to build a timber frame classroom to serve as a workshop and event space, in addition to new all-ability gardens. The classroom space will host a full 2022 workshop schedule with additional opportunities for young and elder farmers to meet and find ways to work together to build a more regenerative and abundant agricultural future. This plot will also include demonstration and hands-on community garden spaces designed for a range of ability and mobility needs. Pathways will be wheelchair accessible and a raised all-ability garden will be constructed to accommodate this need. Other gardens will be designed for children of all ages.
In addition, starting next year, we will offer four ⅛-acre farm-incubator plots for young farmers to grow a small farm business alongside peers. This opportunity offers new farmers a chance to actually manage an enterprise, learn, grow and decide how they would like to move forward.
We have been hard at work fundraising to support this programming, to offer workshops and continue our work to support food equity. But we need YOUR help to complete this community space. Please consider contributing to this project below!