Stafford Community Garden at Lake Manahawkin

The Stafford Township Community Garden will be planned, developed, worked and sustained by the community. The garden will be grown collectively, with everyone working together to manage and maintain this “grassroots” garden. Local community groups such as ; Historical society, garden club, boy scouts, girl scouts, civic associations , along with the recreation department have already embraced the conceptual plan offering suggestions and ideas for development of the garden.
Educational programs such as the historic society’s 5th grade walking tours would benefit tremendously from the outdoor classroom space in a community garden. Living examples of water conservation “rain barrels”, composting & land conservation provide lessons that area children can actually experience, hands on, within the garden. Recreation programs would be conducted within the garden such as: Spring Work Days, Fall Mulch Workshop & Fall Clean Up & summer camp day trips would bring old & young together actively building community.
The financial cost of building the garden would be kept to a minimum by using volunteers, repurposing materials and seeking donations to develop the community garden over a period of time. Future plans could allow the community garden/existing pavilion to be rented as a place to conduct ceremonies and may provide a revenue source to help fund the sustainability of the garden.