History

In 1998, Capuchin Friar Brother Rick Samyn felt a calling to start a garden at his workplace, the Capuchin Soup Kitchen. Inspired by his relationship with neighborhood youth (whom he witnessed getting their groceries from the gas station), he decided the youth of the neighborhood needed to understand what good food was and where it came from. The garden was created to connect people to each other, the land, and their food.

Over time, this simple, humble garden greatly expanded. A large plot of land was added behind our partner, Gleaner’s Community Food Bank, we had an apiary that swelled at one point to be as large as 40 hives, and we added a greenhouse for transplant production, a hoop house for year-round production, and a community orchard. It’s not just the gardens that have grown though, our work has as well. We now host countless volunteers, provide tons of produce to the Capuchin Soup Kitchen, host a seasonal market stand, provide tours for visitors around the world, and grow transplants for thousands of community gardens throughout the city. Over the course of our history we have tried all kinds of other programs as well. We've tried a mobile market, CSA, markets at churches and clinics, weekly discussion groups, and much, much more. We are constantly evolving and changing.