Madison FarmWorks Year in Review

The 2011 season was the third year of Madison FarmWorks and once again was filled with a diverse array of projects.  Here are some of the things we worked on this year!

One of our customers from last year asked us to help her and her daughter reorganize the large garden they share in her daughter's backyard.  Their busy lives led them away from  garden work in the past few years and the garden got overtaken by weeds and aggressive plants like mint and strawberries.  We brought a crew of 5 people to completely clean out the garden and lay out new beds and paths.  It was one of our biggest jobs of the season and the results were dramatic! 

Before our work began

Right after installation

The garden in August after much planting by the gardeners!

Two super organized and motivated employees at American Family Insurance created a proposal for an employee garden at their campus.  We were hired for the design and install and also to teach some of our classes to their employees during three lunch sessions.  The garden contains 56 10'x10' plots and they filled up right away.  Along with the plots we installed a small orchard area and they hired a carpenter to build them a small gathering area with a roof.  A huge transformation to an abandoned field!

   Claire tilling the garden early in the season      Install day: plots laid out & paths mulched

Two shots of the garden in summer

The following photos are of a raised bed garden we installed at the beginning of the summer season.  The owner had a tidy yard and beautiful deck.  He wanted to stain the raised beds the same color as his deck before the install.  I dropped them off a few days early and they were stained and dry when we arrived for the installation!

We were fortunate enough to be invited back to create a vegetable garden at the Capitol again this past summer.  They have been so happy with the garden and the public's response to it that we will have a garden there again next season as well.  We design and maintain the gaden for free as part of our educational mission so I want to send out a big thank you to all of the donors who gave money to CGW to support the garden!

Thank you to all of our customers for helping make 2011 such a great year for Madison FarmWorks!  We'll see you in the spring!