Artisans Learning Garden
About The Learning Garden
Established in 2022 by Brightmoor advocate, Courtney Todd
The Brightmoor Farmway
The Artisans Learning Garden is part of the Brightmoor Farmway and is located at Brightmoor Artisans Collective. Like many of our fellow Brightmoor farms and community gardens on the Farmway, the Artisans Learning Garden is a reclamation and repurposing of two vacant lots located behind our center to grow fresh produce for the Brightmoor Community.
Garden Partnerships
BAC incubates all of our seedlings in the shared community greenhouse operated by our partner organization Neighbors Building Brightmoor. This greenhouse is a shared space for members and can be reserved for Brightmoor resident use through NBB.
Many of our seeds for our starts are supplied to BAC through our annual Seed Swap and our partner organization, Keep Growing Detroit. Our summer youth programs are also facilitated by certified Master Gardeners from MSU Extension.
Rain Water Collection
The Artisans Learning Garden is a permaculture garden where we collect rain water from the surface area of our roof and store it in our six water tanks that line the back of our building near the garden. This rain water collection system is also used to teach the community about water-smart gardening and sustainable horticulture.
Horticultural Education
The Artisans Learning Garden is the primary site for all of our horticultural education workshops and programs. Most notably in the Summer, neighborhood youth gather twice weekly to establish and maintain the garden. All our youth garden programming is facilitated by our local Master Gardeners and community volunteers.
Youth Entrepreneurial Training (YET)
As part of our Summer garden series for youth, participants engage in our Youth Entrepreneurial Training program where they harvest, package and sell the fresh produce they have grown for our weekly Farmers Market — Stop by the market to show your support for our local youth entrepreneurs!
Young Sprouts Cooking Series
Many of the youth who participate in our garden programs also have the opportunity to co-enroll in our summer cooking workshops, facilitated by MSU’s Community Nutrition Instructors.
COMING SOON
Community Composting
Anticipated to roll out in 2023, BAC is partnering with another Detroit community organization, Scrap Soils. The site of our future composting program will be located next to the Artisans Learning Garden and will be a space where residents of Brightmoor and surrounding areas can participate in shared composting. Youth participants in our Summer garden programs will also be able to utilize the Scrap Soils site to learn about composting as part of their curriculum.
