Gardening Resources for the Monadnock Region
Monadnock Grows Together is a free local resource for gardeners and small-scale urban farmers looking for advice, information, and support. Workshops and events provide a place to connect with other like-minded growers.
As part of this project, local growers in Keene, NH and surrounding towns gain access to valuable gardening resources such as:
-
1-on-1 technical assistance from our Urban Ag & Gardens Coordinator, Rachel Brice
-
Free gardening workshops through the remainder of 2019
-
A Garden Tool Lending program at the Keene Public Library Makerspace
-
Free seeds and seed saving resources at Keene Public Library
Take advantage of free gardening workshops with Monadnock Grows Together!
For more information on each of our workshops, including links to register, visit our Program & Events Page
(Event are also listed on the CCCD Google Calendar, available on our Program & Events Page)
Meet our Urban Ag & Gardens Coordinator!
Rachel Brice is a current Environmental Studies Doctoral student at Antioch University New England; she relocated to the Monadnock region from Austin, TX. Rachel has more than ten year of experience as an environmental educator in a wide variety of educational settings, from outdoors to the classroom full-time, working with youth grades K-12, as well as adults. She serves as Cheshire County's Urban Ag & Gardens Coordinator, and works as the Garden Educator for the C&S Workplace Organic Gardens Project, both of which are a great fit with her small-scale organic growing and permaculture design experience. Rachel's interests intersect with food systems/food justice, environmental justice, sustainable agriculture, community work, organizational leadership, and program planning/design and evaluation.
Rachel is available to answer questions, provide 1-on-1 technical assistance, and will even come out and visit you and your garden to provide advice!
Reach out to Rachel via email: Rachel@cheshireconservation.org
.png)
Check out Garden Tools from the Tool Lending Library!
Visit the Kingsbury Makerspace at the Keene Public Library to check out any of our garden tools for 1 week intervals! Free of charge & no library card needed to participate!
Click any of the images below to learn more information about each garden tool.
This is a tool used to manually break up hard soil, to improve aeration and drainage. It's indispensable when creating new beds or when trying to turn lawn/turf into a garden. This is a hefty tool, as it weighs 15 pounds.
This battery-powered seeder is great for any seed you wish to broadcast, from lawn grass, to cover crops, or baby greens.
A spade has a flat edge (not a rounded or pointed edge). It is most useful for cutting. For example, if you need to line the edge of a garden bed.
A garden fork is also sometimes called a digging fork. It is useful for loosening soil. For example, to prepare a garden bed or to loosed large weeds before pulling them out.
Garden rakes can be used to rake soil smooth and break up clumps, before planting in a seed bed. They can be used to spread compost or mulch, and can be used to "tamp down" the soil after planting. They are much sturdier than a leaf rake, and are better for use with soil for that reason.
This is a great hand weeding tool! Really versatile in small spaces.
A hand fork is a tool used for weeding and for loosening soil, on a smaller scale than a garden/digging fork.
A hand rake is used for loosening soil in a garden bed. They are small, like garden trowels, and are really handy for tight spaces. They can be useful when prepping small areas for seeds, or digging out weeds.
A hoe is a tool for removing weeds. It is best used when the soil is dry, and the blade needs to be kept sharp. You should stand as upright as possible, and aim to cut off the weeds just under the surface of the soil.
This seeder is great for row crops. It has interchangeable plates, so it can be used with seeds of different sizes.
A shovel has a rounded or pointed edge (not a flat edge). It is most useful for digging and moving soil.
Garden trowels are used for digging small holes in the garden. For example, to transplant seedlings. They can also be used for digging out small weeds.
Monadnock Grows Together
Thank you to our partners & funders!
Monadnock Grows Together is funded by the Urban Agriculture Conservation grant Initative. The National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) established the Urban Agriculture Conservation Grant Initiative in 2016 to help conservation districts and their partners provide much-needed technical assistance for agricultural conservation in developed or predominantly developing areas. Since July of 2016, NACD and NRCS have awarded three rounds of grants, totaling $4 million to 81 conservation district projects across 34 states.
The CCCD is working in partnership with Antioch University New England's Community Garden Connections (CGC), the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT), and the Keene Public Library within the city of Keene, NH to offer technical assistance, education, and gardening equipment to small-scale urban farmers and gardeners for growing their production capacity while conserving natural resources such as soil health, water quality, and pollinator habitat.