Fairfield Garden Initiative Program

What is FGI?

The Fairfield Garden Initiative (FGI) is a program by the Sustainable Living Coalition aimed at improving food security in our community by supporting low and moderate income households in growing their own fruits and vegetables. We offer resources, including plants starts, seeds, tools, materials, and education, to help community members grow healthy and nutritious produce.

Launched on Earth Day 2022, the FGI program received a $85,000 Community Development Block Grant to support its first year, April 2022 through May 2023, of development and help achieve its mission and objectives grant and is open to gardeners of all skill levels, with direct support reserved for qualifying low to moderate income households in Jefferson County, Iowa.

The Fairfield Garden Initiative Program 2022 Review & What to Expect in 2023

Get Ready to Grow – 2023 Season Update

Thank you for your interest! The FGI program is full for the 2023 garden season. Please stay tuned for way that you can support the program.

Some of our resources like the free plant starts are limited to LMI households, check to see if you qualify below.

2022 CDBG Median Income Levels (MFI) Income Limits effective June 15, 2022 FY 2022 CDBG Income Limits

1 person 80% MFI	2 person 80% MFI	3 person 80% MFI	4 person 80% MFI	5 person 80% MFI	6 person 80% MFI	7 person 80% MFI	8 person 80% MFI
$44,200	$50,500	$56,800	$63,100	$68,150	$73,200	$78,250	$83,300

Example of the Income Survey

Support the FGI Program by making a donation today.

The Fairfield Garden Initiative (FGI) is a one-year grant-funded program that empowers low and moderate-income households in our community to grow their own healthy and resilient food. FGI’s current funding will end in May 2023, but we are committed to continuing our support for local gardeners beyond that point. Your donation can help us achieve this goal and provide ongoing resources and assistance to our community. Please consider making a donation today to support the Fairfield Garden Initiative.

Donate

Upcoming FGI Program Events

FGI Events

April 1st, 2023

Upcoming Workshop: Preserving the Taste of Summer: Pressure Canning and Freezing

Registration Required

Reserve a spot

Garden Educational Modules

Basic Gardening Tips – From quick garden bed preparations and transplanting to pest management and harvesting. Use the form below to comment or ask questions about the video modules.

Updates Tips

Fairfield Garden Initiative Program Performance Updates

2022 Program Summary Recent Update

Resources mentioned in the video modules

Garden fertility and inoculants

Soil and plant feeds

Thorvin kelp info https://www.midwesternbioag.com/products/thorvin-kelp/
1. A simple DIY Kelp foliar prep https://buildasoil.com/blogs/news/11759569-diy-instant-kelp-meal-tea-coots-hydrated-kelp-meal-trick
Plant-Sure info https://www.agri-dynamics.com/_files/ugd/18d20e_885023237764460bb739108befa0410b.pdf
Forage Blend info https://www.advancingecoag.com/store/Forage-Foliar-Blend-c20204104
Meso Alfalfa info https://rodaleinstitute.org/blog/diy-alfalfa-fertilizer-for-higher-yields/

Seed and transplant inoculants

Spectrum with Myco info https://www.tainio.com/product/spectrum-myco/
BioCoat Gold info https://www.advancingecoag.com/store/BioCoat-Gold-c20998048

What to plant now

What we can still plant now

Fruition Seed offers great reminders https://www.fruitionseeds.com/learn/

Garden task reminders

Check back soon

Tips for a happy garden

Check back soon

Garden Tool Lending and Seed Library

Contact Faith for more details.

FGI Participant Testimonials

It was an incredible boost to receive the healthy, vibrant free plants from the Fairfield Garden Initiative. Even more helpful was the free consultation with Faith, who pin-pointed problem areas in my garden and gave me natural, non-invasive solutions for the Japanese beetles. I am thrilled to receive a soil test and learn exactly which nutrients my garden needs to thrive. Faith’s knowledge and expertise is taking my gardening to entirely new level. Thank you, Tiffany and Faith and everyone in the Fairfield Garden Initiative! I hope this program can continue as it has helped so many people and is revitalizing the Fairfield garden community.

The FGI and the grant they provided this year gave me the opportunity to truly dive into having a garden and growing our own food. It is giving us experience to learn and become more well versed in supplying healthy home grown food forour families. I have come to love growing my own food and don’t think I would have gotten to this place without them! I am so grateful for the plants and the ongoing resources they continue to offer and hope this program continues to be offered to families who would not otherwise be introduced to growing their own food. Thank you!!

Dear Friends, Thank goodness Faith and her team came to our rescue this spring and summer and into the autumn!! With their help our gardens got off to an early start in the spring with heirloom organic seedlings and knowledge of how to keep the garden growing abundantly even though the temperatures were very high. Thank you very much Faith and Tiffaney for your continued support throughout the growing season. We love gardening with this kind and very generous and extremely knowledgeable team who know a lot about sustainable life-supporting agriculture and enjoy educating us in so many sustainable ways about gardening. We hope that their support will continue next year and the years to come. It’s a blessing that the younger generation is helpful in creating a healthier future for all of us. Enjoy!! Charlotte Judge

I’ve always wanted my own garden. This program gave me the motivation and resources to actually do it. Now, I will have more confidence in the future. Thank you

Even though my husband had a stroke and the garden was largely untended, our plants were hearty enough to survive. We got lots of help from Faith for our garden expansion planning and the soil testing and amendments. We were so grateful for the plants and seeds as we wouldn’t have been able to afford them otherwise. The lending library for tools was another great part of our experience! All of these things helped to provide us with good, fresh vegetables and herbs to eat. When you’re on a fixed budget, fresh food is too often not affordable. Being able to feed ourselves fresh, organic food was heaven sent!

Please Support FGI with a Testimonial Here

Stay updated on the FGI Program by joining our email list.

We appreciate your interest in the Fairfield Garden Initiative program. By filling out this form, you will opt-in to our email communications. Because this program offers resources and knowledge, we will need to communicate with program participants via email for workshops, activities, and resource coordination. We will aim to send emails relating only to program-specific details. Please opt-in to this email list if you want to join the program.

Stay tuned and keep an eye on your inbox. We will send emails with updates about filmed educational modules, workshops, tool lending library, and other resources.

Fairfield Garden Initiative Program

What is FGI?

The Fairfield Garden Initiative Program 2022 Review & What to Expect in 2023

Get Ready to Grow – 2023 Season Update

Thank you for your interest! The FGI program is full for the 2023 garden season. Please stay tuned for way that you can support the program.