As many residents know, it can be difficult to garden in West Milford.  The ground is too rocky and most yards don’t get enough sun.  This same experience prompted Sustainable West Milford members to explore their options.  The idea was to find a sunny piece of land and create a Community Garden where residents could gather to garden & learn   Soon after the search began, Anne Thornton, owner of Apples Acres on Union Valley Road, generously donated ½ an acre of her property to Sustainable West Milford for their Community Garden.

The Community Garden is an organic garden.  No chemicals allowed on or in the soil.    While members are welcome to purchase organic seeds from any source, we are fortunate to have several local farms that sell organically grown seedlings to the members too.   Fertilizer (horse manure) is donated by local stables.   Thirty West Milford families (including some youngsters in scouting groups) utilize the plots in the garden, growing vegetables, herbs and flowers.  Members are comprised of master gardeners and novice growers, children, retired folks, and every one in between.    The food they harvest is for their own enjoyment.    Any harvest in excess of what they can use is donated through our Ample Harvest program to local food pantrys.

In addition to members growing in their own individual plots, the Community Garden has a few communal garden areas.  Strawberries and potatoes are grown and shared by the garden members.    All members are expected to not only care for their own plots, but as a community, also participate in the tasks needed to keep the garden as a whole functioning.

Sustainable West Milford also creates educational opportunities for the garden members through the Garden Monthly Meetings.  Each month there is a different topic and a guest speaker.  Meetings are open to the public, so please join us!

Learn how the Community Garden transformed from a fallow, former cow pasture into a thriving vegetable garden!  Look at pictures of the 2007 Grand Opening or the cornucopia at harvest time, 2007.  See how the Community Garden expanded in spring of 2008. Check out the photo album from the 2008 season.   On April 18, 2009 we had a "Get the Garden Ready" day.... 27 people worked on a beautully sunny day to get the garden ready for its opening.  Take a look at the photo album for before and after pictures.    Two weeks later, we opened the garden.  See photographs from the 2009 opening of the West Milford Community Garden   Click here to find out more about the SPUDS Club 2009 (a group of gardners growing potatoes together)   There will be food, entertainment, local farmers selling seedings, and of course, the individual and collective effort needed to turn an ordinary plot of dirt into a bountiful garden.   To get ready to start gardening, please visit our FAQ page first... it contains important information about the joining the garden, as well as guidance on what to grow and how best to do it.   Then, going foward, check out what is new at the Community Garden on the Message Board - this is the forum used by garden members to share information with each other.

If you have any questions or comments about the Community Garden, please contact the garden director, Gary Oppenheimer at gary@SustainableWestMilford.org   Special Note... if you are already a West Milford Community Garden member and want to know where you plot is, please visit www.sustainablewestmilford.citymax.com/f/Community_Garden_Map1.pdf

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