Hortulus Garden Club Creates Community Vegetable Garden at Greenwich Audubon Center, CT.
GCA Grant Funds Partnership Supplying Local Food Pantry, While Feeding Pollinators and Birds.
April 15, 2026
By: Joni Kimberlin
In 2025, Hortulus garden club received a $10,000 GCA Common Ground Collaborative grant to team up with four local partners to create a vegetable garden in Greenwich, CT, to supply fresh, organic produce to a food pantry. The funds purchased raised beds, soil, seeds, fencing, electric fencing, irrigation, and timers. In its first year, this community garden delivered 800 pounds of fresh produce for families in need.
Four local organizations united to create the 45-by-55-foot garden. Land was provided by the Greenwich Audubon Center. Seeds came from the Greenwich Land Trust, while labor was supplied by Hortulus members, families and friends, who built raised beds and handled planting and harvesting. Finally, Neighbor to Neighbor food pantry distributed the fresh produce.
The garden, named Birds Feeding Neighbors--which refers to the cyclical nature of the biosphere --produced abundant harvests of peppers, tomatoes, and squash. The club planted a border of native plants around the beds, which they credit with supporting pollinators and birds and increasing yields.
Vegetables are distributed along with hand-painted recipe cards through Abilis, a program supporting families and individuals with disabilities.
Hortulus and the partnership found that creating Birds Feeding Neighbors has cultivated a new sense of community while generating hope and nourishing food for those in need.
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