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Our volunteers built and operate an organic community garden in Downtown South Milwaukee. The garden is host to 20 rented plots and a 500+ square foot donation garden.

Community garden at 1308 Milwaukee Avenue

Join us on Sunday, Sept 22nd from 11-9 as we celebrate the end of our garden season by enriching downtown South Milwaukee with music and art. This community event not only showcases the local talent scene, but also serves as a crucial fundraiser to expand our programming. By attending, you’re helping us continue our mission to transform the community through activism.

Our youth program offers an opportunity for kids of all ages to plant, grow, and harvest organic produce that is donated to South Milwaukee’s local food pantry, Human Concerns.

The vision for this project started with a community garden concept that was launched at a public meeting in 2015. Within a few months, an eager team organized, surveyed the community for interest, and filed for 501c3 non profit status.

In 2016, the planning phase began. We were given leads for several different public green spaces for our first community garden’s home, but none of those spaces were a good fit. Our team continued searching for vacant land knowing that the perfect patch would eventually come along.

Throughout 2017, we promoted our donation incentive program, set and met aggressive fundraising goals, built a program for our future gardeners, and started searching for privately owned green spaces.

In 2018, we were introduced to 1308 Milwaukee Avenue, and fell in love! Our team immediately began negotiating a lease for use of the land. When our garden design came together, we sold out right away! The beds were tilled and organic nutrients were added to get them ready for planting.

2019 brought forth our first growing season! As the community gardened, the larger pieces of our final vision finally fell into place.

In 2020, the compost stalls were built. Now, beautiful black, nutrient rich soil is made with our green and brown garden waste.

In 2021, our forecourt was laid. The brick, a recycled plastic bench, a handmade sign, and a future planting space were installed to create an inviting rest area for gardeners and guests alike.

2023, launched our Sweet Peas Junior Volunteer club where produce from our youth garden is donated to South Milwaukee Human Concerns AND we teamed up with Art Works Downtown So Mke Mural Initiative to create the Bruce Lee mural –  the first of many murals to be installed in our downtown business district.

As we look into the future, we see sustainable gardening systems, a downtown mural tour, Milwaukee Avenue revitalization efforts, and ageless activism.