Stewardship Teams

Each garden member must sign up to be a part of a Stewardship Team. This is an integral part of keeping the gardening functioning. Teams work to maintain community areas and other essential components of the garden.

Accessibility

Our Accessibility Team works to enhance the gardening conditions for all. This is especially important for elderly gardeners and gardeners with physical disabilities. The team’s main functions include improving access conditions within the garden, providing education and raising awareness about accessibility issues, and recruiting volunteers to assist gardeners with special needs. Just this past year, the Accessibility Team helped get the garden a grant from the City of Austin to create accessible areas and organized construction of a paved walkway and accessible garden beds.

 

Communal Gardens

The Communal Gardens Team maintains designated communal garden areas. They also work to provide fresh produce to low-income/food- insecure populations, such as residents of the adjacent Rebekah Baines Johnson Center. Tasks include planting, fertilizing, mulching, cultivating, weeding, watering, harvesting, and delivering produce.

 

 

Compost

The Compost Team is the foundation of our garden. Members that are on this team collect and process compostable materials to provide compost resources for gardeners and the wider community. They also help provide education on composting and sustainability to the community.

 

Grapes and Berries

This team has a unique role in beautifying the garden. Members are responsible for cultivating and maintaining the grapes and berries along the perimeter fence of the garden. They also provide education on maintenance and culture of grape and berry vines. Tasks include mulching, weeding, watering, pruning, planting, and harvesting.

 

 

Habitat Areas

Sustaining biodiversity is one of the garden’s most important missions and this team has a direct role in doing just that! The Habitat Areas Team works to develop, enhance, and maintain designated habitat areas in the garden to provide a natural environment for beneficial wildlife (including birds, butterflies, frogs, toads, and other creatures). They also help provide education on habitat preservation, development, and maintenance.

 

Herb and Teaching Garden

Education is a cornerstone of the garden, which is why we have a special stewardship team dedicated to educating our gardeners and members of the community interested in gardening. We are especially interested in teaching our youth practices that will pave the way for the next generation of sustainable gardeners! In addition to teaching opportunities, this team also works to plant, mulch, cultivate, weed, water, and harvest designated herb garden areas.

 

 

Orchard

The Orchard team works to maintain more than ten types of fruit trees in designated orchard areas, to provide fruit to be shared with low-income/food- insecure populations, and to provide education on planting, pruning, disease prevention, and maintenance of fruit trees. Tasks include planting, pruning, fertilizing spraying, mulching, weeding, watering and mowing.

 

Perennial Beds

The Perennial Beds team works to plant, cultivate, weed, water, and maintain perennial flower garden areas, and to provide education on perennial plant and flower cultivation and maintenance.

 

Rain Garden and Swales

The Rain Garden and Swales team works to create and maintain designated water catchment and infiltration areas in the garden, to cultivate habitat for butterflies and hummingbirds, and to provide education on water run-off, infiltration, groundwater, water quality, and habitat. Tasks include earth shaping, planting, weeding, mowing, and pruning.