The People’s Garden
A Program of The U.S. Department of Agriculture & The Rhode Island State Conservation Committee
The simple act of planting a garden can have big impacts -- from building a more diverse and resilient local food system to empowering communities to address issues like nutrition access and climate change.
This program has empowered local partners to install community gardens or high tunnels within each of the Rhode Island Conservation Districts (Eastern, Southern, & Northern). Check out some success stories lower on this page.
This project has previously been funded by an agreement between the RI State Conservation Committee (RISCC) and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA NRCS).
Funding has been used for items such as tools, soil, seed, fertilizer, soil additives, irrigation materials, garden materials, lumber, high tunnels, pollinator plants, etc. Although funding cannot be used to maintain existing gardens, it may be used to create new garden beds at a site where other gardens already exist.
Funding may be available for your organization to build a People's Garden. To learn more about The People's Garden and how to build one in your community, click here.
Success Stories
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Aquidneck Community Table
Island Community Farm was established in 2012 when local residents banded together to make a difference in their community.
Community garden plots allow people to grow their own fresh produce. A pollinator garden provides food and habitat for local insects.
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Norman Bird Sanctuary
The Good Gardens is an organic teaching garden that on average provides nearly 2,000 pounds of produce, cut flowers, and culinary herbs to the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center Food Pantry in Newport, RI each year.
Visitors can find native pollinator plants, a colonial-inspired herb garden, a vegetable garden, and more.
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Aquidneck Land Trust
Located at Spruce Acres on the Middletown/Portsmouth line. The pollinator garden serves as an educational garden for local residents to learn how to implement pollinator best-practices in their home gardens.
There are twelve community gardens beds available to the community. A 1.5 mile trail is open to the public.
Join us on a virtual tour in this video to explore these three People's Garden Programs in Rhode Island!
