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a community garden association sprouts up

The way Andrew Werthmann sees it, creating an organic community garden is a hands-on way to help save the world, one that nicely complements what the City of Eau Claire is already trying to achieve with green legislation. “You can take votes and do legislation on the city level or state level, but really this community garden is an on-the-ground, action-oriented step. Being a part of this effort is being part of a greater effort of greening our city. In my opinion there’s nothing bigger than that.”

Although he has spent much of his adult life working in politics, city councilman Werthmann grew up working on a CSA farm, so he thinks about the importance of community-based agriculture a lot. Some time ago, he walked by the Forest Street green space in downtown Eau Claire and thought it would be great for a community garden. Dennis Eikenberry approached him a few years later to be part of what they have dubbed the Eau Claire Community Garden Association, an unofficial advisory committee that helps guide the city towards that goal.

Members include experts in agriculture and landscape architecture, and also folks just dedicated to locally grown produce and community development. Eikenberry started bringing together this A-Team of urban agriculture after Phil Fieber, director of Parks and Recreation, asked what he thought of the idea of a community garden on Forest Street. One major first step was for the association to gauge interest among residents of the North River Fronts Neighborhood through meetings and door-to-door canvassing. Enthusiasm was abundant, and the city decided to go with the idea.

The garden is still in the planning stages. Although the city owns the land and will make the ultimate decisions on how big it will be and what the land will be used for, the association has been drawing on its expertise to pass along detailed suggestions and plans for what could be built now and what could be added in years to come.