Editor’s Note: After Flagpole‘s print deadline, Flagpole learned that the UGArden would be losing two full-time AmeriCorps employees and four other federally funded positions that help supply produce from the farm to community partners like the Athens Community Council on Aging, which operates Meals on Wheels, and Our Daily Bread soup kitchen. The cuts have forced UGArden to halt field trips and stop scheduling volunteer opportunities, according to director Ty Brooks. Two upcoming fundraisers listed below are still going on as scheduled. Check next week’s issue for more.
When Ty Brooks first attended UGA as an undergrad (class of 2006), the UGArden wasn’t a reality yet. He first worked at the UGArden when he returned to the university for his master’s degree in 2015.
“I just really loved it,” Brooks said. “I loved the work and the mission and everything about the UGArden.”
Brooks now works as UGArden’s director and is helping organize the program’s 15-year anniversary celebrations this year.
A group of students striving to learn more about sustainable farming started UGArden in 2010 with a 50-foot-by-100 plot near the State Botanical Garden down South Milledge Avenue. “These days the farm is about 10 acres in size,” Brooks said. “We’ve grown a lot over these 15 years.”
UGArden’s mission is twin-fold: to educate students and support the community. The farm educates through internships and volunteer opportunities as well as providing a site for student classwork and research projects. UGArden supports the larger Athens community by donating much of the food it produces, and by serving as a collection point for area farms to donate any extra produce. In the last 15 years, UGArden donated more than 145,000 pounds of food to the community—more than half a million servings of fresh fruits and vegetables.
About 20% of the county’s residents live below the poverty line, according to statistics from the 2021 Census American Community Survey. “We as a community are not food secure until every one of our neighbors is food secure,” said Wholesome Wave Georgia Director of Programs Abigail Darwin, a UGArden alum who is helping plan the 15th anniversary festivities.
Darwin spent her last year of undergrad at UGArden. She held the position of volunteer coordinator, a job which blended communications and farm work. “You need to be able to lead a volunteer group through every activity on the farm, and that took a huge huge amount of learning,” Darwin said.
She knew a little about farming before she worked at UGArden, but one of the lessons she took away was how much there was to learn, she said. “How little I knew when I first stepped into that space,” Darwin said.
The former Athens Farmers Market manager discovered a love of working around food and agriculture, but decided she didn’t want to become a farmer herself. “It was so transformative to my career,” Darwin said. “I really think that UGArden set me on my path now.”
Other UGArden alumni include Gently Soap founder Kristen Dunning and Camp Twin Lakes Farm manager Emma Courson. Camp Twin Lakes in Rutledge is a camp for children and families affected by serious illnesses, disabilities and life challenges.
“Not only did I learn sustainable farming practices, but I gained valuable community through my time at UGArden and am grateful for the lifelong friendships and professional network that was seeded there,” Courson said. “I use the practical farming, leadership, record keeping and community engagement skills I learned via UGArden daily in my current farm management position. I would not be where I am today without the people and plants of UGArden.”
UGArden will hold two anniversary events. The first this Saturday, May 3, will be a community day at the farm. From 9 a.m.–1 p.m., the farm will host activities, crafts and games with a number of their partner organizations. Shell to Shore, a nonprofit oyster shell recycler based in Athens, will have an indigo-dyeing demonstration, and groups like Campus Kitchen, UGA Bee Club, Concrete Jungle and the UGA Trial Gardens will be represented. Attendees will be asked for a $10 donation and can choose to participate in crafts, a scavenger hunt and other activities. UGArden will have herbal products and some plants for sale as well.
The garden will celebrate with a farm-to-table dinner on Saturday, June 7 at Flinchum’s Phoenix in Whitehall Forest from 6–10 p.m. The dinner will feature UGArden produce, cooked by local chefs. Proceeds will go towards funding the Friends of UGArden Endowment to help ensure the sustainability of the program. Tickets are $120 per person.
“This event is about celebrating the incredible journey UGArden has had while also securing its
future,” Brooks said. “We want to honor the people who have made UGArden what it is today, and engage with our community as we look towards the future.”
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