The Mission of the Alan Day Community Garden is to cooperatively create an educational demonstration garden using organic, sustainable methods to support an enduring community food system. The ADCG is located at: 26 Whitman Street, Norway, Maine 04268. This summer (2012) we will have regular community volunteer workdays every Sunday afternoon from 3-6pm.
Please click here to download a garden plot signup form, and you can email us at AlanDayCommunityGarden@gmail.com with any questions.
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2012 Summer Workshop Schedule
(all workshops will be held at the garden and are free and open to the public)
April 22, 10 a.m. to 12 noon, Earth Day Celebration
May 20, 3 p.m to 5 p.m., Composting 101 workshop with Brian Lenburg
June 3, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., Gardening 101- An Introduction to Planting, Watering, Mulching and Maintenance
June 10, 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., Herb Garden workshop with Deb Soule of Avena Botanicals
June 24, Scything workshop with Jessie Cottingham
July 1, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., Mapping workshop with Alex Miller
July 14, Norway Arts Festival- Stop by the Garden for a visit!
July 22, 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., Introduction to Permaculture Principles workshop and orchard preparation with Scott Vlaun
July 29, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., Garden to Table Cooking workshop with Anna Sysko and Kim Hamlin
August 9, 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., Seed Saving workshop with Scott Vlaun
October 21, 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., Food Forest workshop with Scott Vlaun
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Summer 2011
This summer at the ADCG began with a tremendous amount of energy and interest from our community. We could barely keep up with the number of people who wanted plots at the garden, and our work days had a great turnout. We also had a number of very generous donations from the community. Three different senior projects at the OHCHS were devoted to improving the garden. One student designed and built an arched footbridge over the stream that runs through the land. Another student built a very sturdy bench that has been well-enjoyed when people need to take a break. And another student built an excellent bike trailer to assist us in collecting compost buckets around town. Many tools and materials were donated as well, which are available for all community gardeners to use. We expanded our water-catchment system to a 900 gallon capacity, though we still had to haul water in because of the dry spell.
We have had 4 workshops so far this summer: land mapping, permaculture basics, composting basics, and scything. These workshops were free and open to the public, and all of the presenters generously donated their time and knowledge to help us understand these topics better. We also hosted a potluck dinner for the community, and had a wonderful turnout of folks with a good variety of recently harvested food. The ADCG provided food straight from the garden and cooked a few dishes on site. We also enjoyed hot pepper jelly and basil pesto, both of which were canned using produce from the garden. They are being sold to help support youth internship positions at the garden.
In July, three local youths and the garden coordinator attended a 5 day youth-led leadership conference in Philadelphia, PA. They met with other community gardeners and leaders across the nation, exchanged ideas, and learned about food justice issues in our country. Over one hundred youths worked together to create and present a Youth Food Bill of Rights, designed to impact leaders in our country to think about food policy and the current food system. The ADCG sponsored our local youth to attend the conference, with the hope that they will continue their work at the garden with an expanded awareness of its importance and significance in our community.
