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The Beauty of the Natural
World Belongs to Everybody
Troy Community Gardens is a
model in citizen-designed open space, natural area
restoration, and community-supported agriculture.
It is also unique in partnering open space with an
affordable Co-housing Community. Friends of Troy
Gardens and partners are achieving this vision
in a neighborhood where different races live side
by side on every economic level. It is a neighborhood
of apartment complexes, duplexes, and modest to lavish
single-family homes. It is also a neighborhood of
encounters with deer, ducks, opossum, loons, canvasbacks
and sandhill cranes.
Troy community Gardens’
forty acres were formerly owned by the State. In 1995,
the State indicated its intention to sell the land.
Responding to the community’s desire to preserve
the gardens, the Madison Area Community Land Trust
purchased the land, and the Urban Open Space Foundation
purchased the development rights. Through this arrangement,
35 acres are dedicated to conservation and open space.
The five remaining acres will be developed as a Co-housing
Community. In a Co-Housing Community, residents own
their own home, share ownership of a large common
space, often eat together and decide issues of mutual
concern.
The community gardens produce
more than 90 pounds of vegetables, feeding nearly
600 people. In addition to working in the gardens,
residents are engaged in: prairie restoration, woodland
management, handicapped accessible trails and gardens,
a community supported agricultural farm, a children’s
play zone, educational programs and neighborhood outreach.
Also on their agenda are an Edible Landscape, Sensory
Garden, and the Troy Gardens Orchard
Citizens are decision makers
at Troy Community Gardens. They have formed a nonprofit
and have secured funding for a full-time director
and part-time site manager. Today, the Friends
of Troy Gardens partnering with: Community
Action Coalition of South Central Wisconsin, Madison
Area Community Land Trust, Northside Planning
Council, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and
the Urban Open Space Foundation are showing
us how harmony with nature and harmony among people
are two strains of the same symphony.
Contact: Sharon Lezberg (608)
240-0409 email:
troygardens@tds.net
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