GIVING GARDENS

Restoring our relationship to the living world by growing and sharing food.

Growing strong gardens means growing strong communities.

Florida’s climate can make gardening a challenge. At Working Food, we tend vibrant community growing spaces, work with gardeners and farmers to spread locally adapted seeds, create opportunities for hands-on learning, and cultivate a supportive grower network. Together, we ensure our local gardens grow lots of food, teach sustainable practices, and lay the groundwork for a more connected, resilient local food system. 

We envision a resilient community of thriving gardens that give back and carry wisdom forward.


Get involved

Get involved in the Giving Gardens! Volunteer at weekly farm and garden days, purchase local seeds, join hands-on workshops, or explore our online learning resources. There’s a way for everyone to grow food and community.

Learn how to get involved

Our garden locations

Only the seed farm and urban farm are open to the public. All other sites serve as dedicated learning spaces for our youth programs.

Seed Gardens at GROW HUB

2900 NE 8th Ave.

Gainesville, FL 32609

Gainesville Giving Garden

1225 NW 12th Ave.

Gainesville, FL 32601

Florida’s hot days, sandy soils, and unpredictable seasons can make it tough to grow healthy gardens.

Industrial agriculture has pulled us away from intimate knowledge and practices that used to nourish us and our land, like saving and adapting seeds, building healthy soil, and creating homes for wildlife. Instead, many growers are pushed toward costly, short-term fixes that don’t work in our climate, wearing out wallets and patience, and harming our soil and water. 

Despite our ability to grow food, most of what Floridians eat is shipped in from elsewhere. When we rely on food from outside our community, we are more vulnerable. So at Working Food, we’re helping to bring full-circle growing practices and the power to grow food back into the hands of our community.

We cultivate gardens and farms that grow food for our community, adapt seeds, and model what’s possible.

We bring growers of all experience levels together to learn, share, and support one another through volunteer days, hands-on workshops, seed saving initiatives, and a welcoming grower network.  

Our gardens nurture the land and the people who care for it.

    • Free and low-cost hands-on classes

    • Garden demonstration days

    • Ongoing volunteer education and internships

    • Online learning opportunities

    • Sharing locally-adapted seeds through sales and donations

    • Operating a community seed bank

    • Working with farmers and researchers to test and improve open-pollinated seed varieties that grow well here

    • Modeling what’s possible at 1 urban farm, 6 youth-led community gardens, and 1 seed saving farm 

    • Providing supplies and support to gardens, farms, and community growers

    • Creating opportunities for peer learning, mentorship, and building community

Our Impact

During the 2024 -2025 garden season:

  • 10 classes and workshops educated 200 new and returning growers on sustainable practices

  • 10 community and youth gardens across Gainesville received seeds, plants, expert advice, and ongoing support. 

  • We stewarded 85 varieties of locally-adapted, climate resilient seeds, and distributed over 5,300 seed packets to growers.

  • 135+ volunteers helped cultivate bountiful gardens, gaining hundreds of hours of hands-on gardening experience and sharing the harvest with the community. 

  • Simply put, more people grow more food in Alachua County with help from our educational resources and network of support.

How It Makes a Difference

Growers who work in our Giving Gardens:

  • Gain confidence, skills, and sense of community

  • Build connections with other growers for collaboration, resource sharing, and mentorship

  • Deepen their ties to land and local wisdom

  • Preserve and share a wide variety of locally-adapted seeds that have cultural and historical significance

  • Help shape a future where fresh, local food is connected to community

When local gardens and farms grow food using sustainable methods, seeds adapted to our region, and local wisdom, our food system becomes more stable. We can handle extreme weather and supply chain issues more easily and have more control over our food. The more people who grow nourishing food in their homes, schools, and neighborhoods, the stronger and more resilient our entire community becomes.

  • "Having a community seed hub is so important because we’re growing and saving seeds that are going to feed us in the future. More importantly, [Working Food is] educating the entire community about the benefits and importance of having a seed hub, having very regionally, locally-adapted seeds. And not just educating all of us about why they’re important but then teaching everybody how to save seeds themselves. And that doesn’t exist everywhere."

    – Aviva Asher & Daniel Robleto, Nicoya Farm

Explore our other initiatives

Youth Growing Together

 We create safe, inclusive spaces where young people learn about, care for, and take part in our local food web - building confidence, agency, skills, and a lifelong investment in food and community.

Learn more

Local Food Connection

We work in partnership with farmers and the community to make fresh, local food easier to find, afford, and enjoy.

Learn more