THANK YOU for making this support possible!

Since 1947, Ann Arbor Farm & Garden has raised and distributed more than $660,000 for community gardening projects and educational scholarships. Your participation in the Garden Walk makes our funding possible.

Our annual grant cycle opens in September. Non-profit groups with a focus on gardening are eligible to apply. Visit www.annarborfarmandgarden.org/giving for the application process.

The Jones Community Garden at Community High School has reaped abundant benefits for CHS students, staff and the wider community.

The garden’s goals are to:

• Bring students, teachers, and community members together. 
• Grow good food in healthy soil while helping to beautify our school grounds.
• Make connections between the garden, school curriculum, and the community.
• Spread knowledge about sustainable practices and ways to help the environment. 
• Share ways to improve health through outdoor activity and healthy living.  
• Create a beautiful garden that is a pleasure for everyone who sees it!

On most every day, the garden and that area on the side of the school that was ignored for years has become the favorite spot for many forums and classes to gather. “Our own little oasis in the heart of downtown Ann Arbor!” 

To date, Ann Arbor Farm & Garden has provided CHS with approximately $6,000 in grant funding for raised beds, soil, plants, mulch, equipment and other improvements. 

Ann Arbor Farm & Garden has been part of the Growing Hope story since 1999, when we awarded the first of two scholarships to the future founder of the nonprofit, Amanda Edmonds. Her vision has grown exponentially over 22 years into a vibrant community partner and resource. Growing Hope fosters an equitable and sustainable local food system where all people are empowered to grow, sell, buy, prepare, and eat nourishing food.

Growing Hope offers a wide range of programs at its Urban Farm, a community-based garden education site in Ypsilanti for gardeners of all levels, volunteers, and youth of all ages. Produce is grown to sell at the Ypsilanti Farmers Market and to donate to program participants, a free community produce cart, and local food pantries. 
Growing Hope also provides an Incubator Kitchen for local farmers and food entrepreneurs, a Home Vegetable Garden service, and a Teen Leadership program. 

Ann Arbor Farm & Garden has provided Growing Hope more than $42,500 in grants over the years. Projects have included hoophouses, irrigation systems, soil, plants and equipment.

Ann Arbor Farm & Garden has a long and special relationship with the Botanical Gardens. Not only because our organization’s founding mother was Mildred Matthaei, but because the Gardens and Arb exemplify AAF&G’s mission – growing and stewarding green places, lifelong learning, and serving the greater environment. More than 300,000 people visit the gardens, grounds, trails, and Conservatory each year. 

We’ve provided grants and special gifts totaling more than $135,000 over the years. The list is long, and includes major gifts to the Gaffield Children’s Garden, the Upjohn Peony Garden, and a Centennial Shrub collection at the Arb as well as funds for the Great Lakes Gardens, Campus Farm, and more.

In addition, we’ve supported MBGNA’s student internship program, special events such as the Peony Garden Centennial, and many other smaller projects.

Since 2011, a Michigan 4-H project led by Master Gardeners and dedicated volunteers at the Washtenaw County Youth Center (WCYC) focuses on guiding incarcerated high school-age students to garden in enclosed courtyard space.

Students at the Washtenaw County Youth Center are placed there by the courts. Individual, group, and family therapy is provided in conjunction with community and recreational opportunities, including the gardening program. 

The gardening project consists of lessons, demonstrations, hands-on work in the garden, and discussions throughout this process. Students learn how to plant vegetable seeds and seedlings, and care for them with frequent weeding and watering. When they cook with the fresh vegetables and herbs that they harvest, they experience the advantages of eating local produce and the satisfaction of enjoying food they’ve grown. They learn about the importance of native plants in attracting pollinators. The courtyard features other flowers to create a cheerful and peaceful space. 

Ann Arbor Farm & Garden has supported this project with multiple grants since its inception, funding more than $12,300 for program supplies and equipment, seeds, plants, fruit trees, soil and more. Project volunteers have also enhanced the building entrance with flowers, native plants, and edibles. 

The Friends of Greenview and Pioneer Nature Area is a nonprofit organization committed to maintaining and improving this unique resource near Pioneer High School as an ecologically functional open space. The Nature Area, owned by the Ann Arbor Public Schools includes meadows, woodlands, pond, demonstration gardens and a Project Grow community garden. The site provides a great variety of habitats for native plants and animals. 

Over three decades, Friends volunteers have cleared invasive buckthorn, planted native trees and shrubs, established edible and pollinator gardens, conducted meadow restoration, maintained trails and more. The Central Meadow is now a vibrant habitat of native wildflowers, humming with butterflies and other pollinators. 

Reclaimed from invasives and replanted with native species, Greenview Pond and surrounding wetland is now a critical refuge for wildlife, especially frogs. The area has been recognized as an important stopover for migratory birds. 

Ann Arbor Farm & Garden has provided more than $30,000 in grants to the Friends through the years.  These funds have supported controlled burns, purchases of plant material including trees, shrubs, plants and plugs, the Pond restoration and more. We particularly enjoy supporting the delightful goatscaping sessions!

The Ypsilanti District Library (YDL) builds community through discovery, education, and partnerships. YDL offers gardens to improve community health and provide hands-on learning in a social, intergenerational setting.

In November 2022, YDL opened the brand-new Superior branch in Superior Township. In Spring 2023, a Learning Garden was installed with grant funding from Ann Arbor Farm & Garden. This garden is used to teach children and families about growing food, cooking with fresh produce, and maintaining a garden. Garden-to-Table programs were taught every week in the summers of 2023 and 2024. Program attendees helped harvest from the Learning Garden and then prepared a variety of snacks and meals. Two years of these programs has sparked a large interest in different styles of gardening and has brought many people to the library seeking more information and interaction. The branch welcomed more than 62,000 visitors in 2024.

In 2025, YDL-Superior was awarded another AAF&G grant to install a rain and pollinator garden next to the Learning Garden. This will solve existing drainage issues, collect runoff and create a showcase for plants that are rain garden specific, native to the area, and good for pollinators. Signage, resource materials and expanded programs will provide learning opportunities for all ages. 
Ann Arbor Farm & Garden’s support for YDL gardening programs and projects totals nearly $8,000 to date.