MILWAUKEE — On a patch of land just south of North Avenue, gardeners spent the spring doing your typical clean-up.
Just on a much bigger scale.
A team of volunteers and amateur gardeners are busy getting ready for another growing season in the middle of the city.
Matthew Vogt oversees the program for Groundwork MKE.
It rents out 120 garden beds to anyone who wants a little patch of land to call their own.
In a couple weeks, this place will be positively teeming with life.
"People from all over Milwaukee can come and rent and share in this garden space together, and grow food from about May to October," Vogt said.
Why a community garden?
According to Groundwork MKE, about 21 percent of people in the neighborhood around Kilbourn Park have reported skipping a meal because they couldn't afford food.
The garden is a direct result of wanting to fix that.
While the plots here cost $25 a year to rent, a portion of the land is dedicated to staple foods anyone is free to take.
"We have a giving garden bed over on the north side of the garden, filled with staple vegetables like greens and tomatoes that everyone knows and knows how to eat," Vogt said.
As the growing season evolves, we will watch this plot of land evolve from a weedy lot, to a functional, productive and beautiful part of life at the heart of the city.
"It's really a communal space in that sense, sharing resources and sharing ideas. On the weekends everyone is here gardening and stuff. It's a really cool kind of community space."
