The Giving Gardens is Growing
By - Emma Rauschert, University of Illinois Extension Master Gardener and Master Naturalist
The Giving Gardens, a nonprofit organization, and local treasure has taken root in Macomb, IL, and is looking to expand. What started as one garden in the lawn space of a church quickly grew to six different locations throughout Macomb. Founded by avid gardener John Curtis in April of 2022, the organization's mission is to create and maintain community gardens where everyone is welcome to connect, enjoy, and harvest fresh flowers, herbs, vegetables, and berries. The organization grows fresh produce in the McDonough County community and shares seeds, plants, gardening supplies, and knowledge.
The Giving Gardens are community gardens with a twist. There are no individual plots within the gardens. Each garden is maintained by the Giving Gardens team and local volunteers and is open to everyone. John Curtis oversees all of the gardens with the help of Americorp members from the Peace Corps/AmeriCorps Fellows Program at Western Illinois University. A handful of passionate gardeners within the community also dedicate their time and expertise to creating the cherished gardens. John Curtis, the leader and director behind the operation, works with volunteers to equip them with the knowledge to create successful, abundant gardens. He jokes that, "The Giving Gardens not only grow plants, we grow gardeners."
The real benefit of the Giving Gardens goes far beyond its physical production. Each garden provides a space for people from all walks of life to gather, harvest, and connect with the natural world. The Gardens also provide beneficial habitats for local pollinators (birds and insects).
The Giving Gardens emphasizes community connection and gardening education. The organization will be hosting a two-part, intensive gardening workshop April 19th and April 26th from 8:30 to noon at the First Presbyterian Church 400 E. Carroll St, Macomb IL, where they will be sharing all of the Giving Gardens secrets to successfully creating and maintaining a home or neighborhood vegetable garden. John will also be presenting at the April 5th University of Illinois Extension Gardener's Big Day Workshop at Spoon River College outside of Canton.
Last year, the Giving Gardens began managing a large production garden to support local food pantries and to provide for the shared space the Giving Gardens maintains at their home location at First Presbyterian Church in Macomb. The Giving Gardens team grew 3,665 tomatoes, 589 peppers, and 273 bags of green beans, among MANY other things in their production garden. They also added raspberries and blackberries to some of their neighborhood gardens and gave away hundreds of seedlings and tens of thousands of seeds.
The Giving Gardens plans to expand in 2025 by turning more lawns into gardens, enlarging existing gardens to further provide for local food pantries and neighborhoods, and growing mushrooms on oak logs, among numerous other projects. The Giving Gardens has plans to add three new locations in 2025, including one in Bushnell, IL, another in Colchester, and a third at the Wesley Student Center on the WIU campus in Macomb.
John invites everyone to get to know and regularly use the Giving Gardens and to start gardens in their own yards and neighborhoods. "Today, nearly everyone is wholly dependent on foods trucked in from other parts of the world, and the knowledge and skills that were once taken for granted as part of our local heritage have been largely lost. There is a great, untapped potential to produce more of our food right here at home and to make our surroundings more beautiful and productive. At a time when our lives sometimes feel isolated and disconnected, the gardens become places where everyone can connect with the real world. I look forward to seeing you this summer in the most welcoming, most beautiful, most abundant gardens that we can grow. We're just getting started. - John Curtis.
Interested in supporting the Giving Gardens or volunteering? Donations to the Giving Gardens can be made online at their website- www.givinggardensforall.com or checks can be mailed to the Giving Gardens at 400 E. Carroll St. Macomb, IL 61455. If you want to volunteer or start a garden in your neighborhood, email contact@givinggardensforall.com or fill out a form on their website, to view all the Giving Garden locations, visit their website at www.givinggardensforall.com.
