Backyard Growers Program

To cultivate healthy, connected, environmentally sustainable communities and fights for food justice by teaching people to grow their own food.

We welcome everyone from teen interns to corporate teams to local avid gardeners to help with a range of tasks like building a new community garden, leading a weekly community garden harvest, leading a school taste test, mentoring our gardeners, watering and weeding school or community gardens, working at our pop-up shop, and helping us with a community workshop.

• Individuals, Corporate Teams
• Formal

A garden mentor is a gardener, a trainer, a volunteer, and an invaluable part of the Backyard Growers team. To be a mentor, you must be over 18 and have experience gardening or farming. Mentors should be a part of the Cape Ann community and committed to helping ensure access to fresh vegetables for community members in Cape Ann.

• 55+, Adults
• Individuals

Volunteers are essential to the work we do! Over 300 individuals a year engage with our community gardens and garden programming.

Backyard Growers began in 2010 as a program of the Cape Ann Farmers’ Market as part of their strategic approach to connect residents with healthy food. With support from The Food Project, we provided backyard gardens to families in downtown neighbors. Our program quickly grew to include new backyard gardens every year, community gardens, and school garden. Since 2010, we have built gardens for and trained 142 families in Gloucester.

That’s over 300 adults and 165 children!