Athens Locally Grown

How to contact us:
Our Website: athens.locallygrown.net
On Twitter: @athlocallygrown
On Facebook: www.facebook.com/athenslocallygrown
On Thursdays: Here’s a map.

Market News

I got to spend some quality time out in the garden this past weekend. Last year I moved to a fairly quiet apartment complex on the west side of town, and had planned on putting in a little container garden on the back of my small patio, which is an easy way to grow a surprisingly large amount of veggies when you don’t have any land to grow in. However, I discovered a little treasure in my neighborhood — a community garden built in 2011 by volunteers with the Athens Land Trust. The garden had fallen into disuse for some reason, but I decided to take it under my wing and bring it back. There were ten raised beds, all overgrown. I planted four of them (one of which contained perennial herbs that I gave space to grow) and kept watch over them, and let anyone who wanted to share the harvest with me have what they could use. I didn’t keep track, but a lot of food went into the kitchens here. This year, some other people have joined me by adopting beds of their own, and I look forward to seeing what we can all do together.

There are a number of community gardens around town, though I suspect more than just mine have fallen into disuse. Like any project that runs on volunteers, the amount of gardening getting done will ebb and flow with the hands available. If you’d like to get involved in bringing and maintaining public gardens for Athens communities, I’m sure the Athens Land Trust and the Community Garden Network would love to hear from you. They have a website where you can find out more: http://www.athenslandtrust.org/community-agriculture/community-garden-network. They have descriptions and other information about some of their current active gardens.

Thank you so much for your support of Athens Locally Grown, all of our growers, local food, and our rights to eat it. You all are part of what makes Athens such a great area in which to live. We’ll see you on Thursday at Ben’s Bikes at the corner of Pope and Broad Streets from 4:30 to 8pm!

Other Area Farmers Markets

The Athens Farmers Market is open on Saturdays at Bishop Park and Wednesday afternoons downtown at Creature Comforts. You can catch the news on their website. The West Broad Farmers Market from the Athens Land Trust is open Saturday mornings and their farm stand is open Tuesday afternoons. They have a website too. The Comer Farmers’ Market is open for the season on Saturday mornings from 9am to noon. Check www.facebook.com/comerfm for more information. The Oconee County Farmers Market is open on Saturdays in Watkinsville. Their website is www.oconeefarmersmarket.org If you know of any other area markets operating, please let me know.

All of these other markets are separate from ALG (including the Athens Farmers Market) but many growers sell at multiple markets. Please support your local farmers and food producers, where ever you’re able to do so!

We thank you for your interest and support of our efforts to bring you the healthiest, the freshest and the most delicious locally-produced foods possible!