Butler County Local Foods Initiative/Community Garden

Have you thought about how nice it would be to have a successful community or neighborhood garden?

We are able to help groups or individuals who are interested in starting gardens in Butler County.  The concept of safe, locally grown foods is becoming very popular in light of recals in the food industry and the high food prices. 

A garden presents an opportunity for great family interaction, learning about science, eating great tasting, healthy foods, and giving back to the community by taking the extra harvest to local food pantries.

Ohio State University Extension is helping start the Middletonw Community Garden at 514 Garfield and we're planning on a Hamilton City Garden as well as gardens in subdivisions or park areas in Butler County. 

Contact our office for more information.

Health Benefits of a Community/Neighborhood Garden:

• Community gardeners consume more fresh vegetables and less sweet food and drinks compared with nongardeners.
• Children who participate in gardening are more likely to incorporate vegetables in their diet than their peers.
• Gardeners save an estimated $250 per season on food by eating produce from their gardens.

Building Community:

• Gardening gives people from from different cultures and socio-economic groups the opportunity to interact and facilitates imporve social networks between neighbors.
• Having a community garden in the neighborhood imporves the attitudes of residents towards their community, teaches leadership skills and raised organizational capacity in the communities where they are located.
• Community garden may lead to other maintenance issues in the neighborhood being addressed, a greater sense of responsibility for shared public places and the development of other neighborhood activites such as crime watches, tree plantings, and beautification projects.

For more information about currently established community gardens, a list of farmers' markets, and the OSU Ohioline website, click on the links below.