WASATCH COMMUNITY GARDENS

The mission of Wasatch Community Gardens (WCG) is to empower people to grow and eat healthy, organic, local food. Since 1989, WCG has provided children, adults, and families in Salt Lake County with access to land and education for growing and eating fresh produce, while building and nurturing community connections through gardening and healthy food. Annually, more than 10,000 community members are served by WCG’s programs, gardens, events, and produce donations, and the majority of program participants are from low- and moderate-income households. Volunteer support is critical to our gardens, programs, and events. In 2022, 1,730 volunteers contributed 8,380 hours of service to WCG.

We accomplish our mission through the following sites, programs, and events:

Productive Urban Green Spaces: WCG plays a critical role in preserving productive green spaces in Salt Lake County through our gardens and programs. In 2022, we officially opened the 1.2-acre Wasatch Community Gardens’ Campus - our new headquarters and an urban agriculture center to serve Salt Lake County community members. Located at 629 E 800 S in Salt Lake City, the Campus features uniquely designed demonstration and teaching gardens, indoor teaching spaces, commercial and outdoor kitchen spaces, and signage to educate program participants and the public about organic gardening techniques.

Since 2016, our 1.4-acre Green Phoenix Farm has hosted our Job Training Program for women experiencing homelessness and has also served as a safe resource for other unsheltered individuals, veterans, at-risk youth, and a wide cross-section of the community. The farm is 100% solar powered and serves as a demonstration site for regenerative agriculture and permaculture techniques. The farm is currently certified Organic under the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food.

With the lease on our Green Phoenix Farm site ending in 2023, we will transplant our job training farm to Cannon Greens, a 0.98-acre, contaminated, city-owned parcel with a long-term lease option. WCG and the City will work together to organically remediate the site so that it is safe for growing food. In fall 2024, we plan to relocate the farm to a permanent location on Salt Lake’s West side. This new site will be a hub for instruction, free food for the community, and resources for people experiencing homelessness. We will transition the Cannon Greens site to an incubator space, with new WCG programming that will teach best practices to small urban farmers.

Community Garden Program: WCG helps community members grow their own organic produce by providing garden space, resources, and education. We manage 18 community gardens through partnerships with Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, and the City of South Salt Lake. In 2022, these gardens enabled 557 households, 62% of which qualified as low- to moderate-income, to grow their own food. We also provide support to independent garden projects, including one-on-one consultation, open source garden development materials, reputable educational resources, and seedlings during the spring to community gardeners and partner organizations.

Education Program: WCG empowers community members with the skills, knowledge, and confidence they need to successfully grow and eat healthy, delicious food through classes and hands-on workshops and virtual learning opportunities. Annually, we offer 20+ workshops taught by expert WCG staff and community instructors on a variety of organic vegetable gardening topics. We also partner with Artes de México en Utah to offer a Sabores de Mi Patria (Flavors of My Homeland) bilingual workshop series centered around traditional, culturally significant growing and eating practices
that can be traced back to Indigenous groups. In 2022, the program served 800 community members.

Youth & School Garden Program: WCG connects children, teachers, and families to healthy, local food through hands-on, garden-based learning. The program includes weekly classes, field trips, and summer camps, as well as support for onsite school gardens. We also offer Family Garden Gatherings to engage families at our Title I partner schools in gardening and healthy eating. Through these programs in 2022, we served 2,403 children and families.

Green Team Job Training Program: WCG provides paid employment, work readiness training, job placement assistance, and mentoring for women facing/experiencing homelessness at an urban, organic farm. Program participants grow the plants sold at WCG’s Annual Plant Sale, and produce from the farm helps to feed thousands of low-income individuals and families each year. In 2022, 10 women participated in the Green Team Program; 80% of participants had reliable employment within 30 days of program completion, and 70% achieved stable housing within 60 days of program completion. Certified organic produce grown by participants, valued at $13,571, was donated to low-income individuals and families through WCG programs and community partners.

Community Events: WCG hosts annual events to educate community members about gardening and healthy food and build community. In 2022, we served nearly 5,000 community members through these events, including our Spring Plant Sale, Tomato Sandwich Party, Día de Muertos/Day of the Dead Event in partnership with Artes de México en Utah, and Love Local Holiday Market.

Research Projects and Partnerships: WCG is continually involved in a number of informal and formal research projects related to food production, plant diseases, beneficial and pest insects, invasive species monitoring, water-wise gardening, and other aspects of improving and sustaining urban food production. Our staff engages with academic researchers, students, and science professionals by hosting, and participating in, numerous research projects at our various farm and garden sites.