GOOD SEED for Good Gardens

The 10% for Good fundraiser continues! We’ve raised money for many wonderful organizations throughout the Hudson Valley and are now adding the Hudson Community Garden to the list.

Hudson is a little city across and up the Hudson River from the Seed Library. Although it’s surrounded by farmland, not all residents are able to access fresh, local veggies either because of transportation or economic limitations. The community garden has been giving Hudson residents an opportunity to save money on food, and for some, a sole outlet for fresh produce for the past 19 years.

Before becoming a garden, the property was abandoned after three houses burned down there. In 1994, Christina Malisoff took it under her wing and decided that it would be a great space for the people of Hudson to grow food. Through a huge community clean-up effort with countless hours of volunteer work and much-needed donations of a shed, fence, and tilling service, the land turned into the Hudson Community Garden. It has gone through many incarnations over the years, but has always been used primarily for food production at an extremely low cost ($10 per plot for the year). The land is located on a side of town that has the largest population of children as well as the highest amount of low-income housing. The mission of the garden is to provide a healthy environment for everyone in the community to grow.

Design Build Grow Eat kids getting ready to plant bulbs

There are 27 individual plots, a few communal areas for flowers and herbs, a tool shed, a compost area (open to non-members too) and a picnic area. This year, the gardeners hope to install permanent raised beds for all plots, add 13 new plots, set up a separate area for squash and other vines, put down wood chips in pathways to reduce weeding, repair the shed roof and build a bigger compost bin system (they have outgrown the current one). There will also be a seed-saving demonstration plot, where Hudson Valley Seed Library heirlooms will be grown for gardeners and visitors to learn about seed saving in action and so that the garden can start their own community seed collection.

The garden also serves as the outdoor classroom for Design Grow Build Eat – a free weekly workshop where children learn projects in those four skill areas from a rotating group of instructors. This season, the kids will be helping to build raised beds, care for the seed-saving bed, cook garden-grown veggies, and much more!

If you'd like us to donate 10% of your order to the Hudson Community Garden - make sure to use code HCG when you check out!