2007 - 2009 Garden was started by a handful of gardeners in Ridgway, and a small percentage of the land was under cultivation.
Use of the private property at N. Laura and Charles was donated by Liza Ortman. She also very generously put in the water tap and erected deer fencing around the property. Liza, a passionate gardener herself, continues to be an avid supporter of the garden and it's efforts to bring organic gardening to the Ridgway Community.
The town of Ridgway approved the Community Garden and agreed to pay for all summer water usage!
Tomten Farm & Institute of Telluride is the umbrella non-profit that has sponsored the garden from the start and holds the 501(C)(3) status for the garden. Tomten is also the main source of grant monies each year, which keeps the garden running.
2009 - 2015 Colorado State Extension Service and the Master Gardener Program got involved with the garden and started organizing. The garden moved from 6 members in 2009 to 40 in 2010. This is both a Share garden and a Rental Garden, which means that any community member can join the garden for a nominal fee of $25 per season and garden collectively with other knowledgeable gardeners. We also provide a few Rental plots at a higher fee of $50 and $100 per plot.
Summer 2017 We lost our lease on the Laura street plot but we have been working with the town since summer of 2016 to submit a GOCO grant to start our NEW 1 acre garden as part of the Green Street Park. Stay tuned for updates on the home page as we hope to have news late fall on the acceptance of our grant submission to break ground in 2018!