A small but mighty grant is helping a beloved community space in Mokelumne Hill put down deeper roots, blending history, education and a healthy dose of hands-in-the-dirt learning.
The Mokelumne Hill Community Garden has received a $3,200 grant from the Calaveras Community Foundation to support improvements at the garden, which is located in the historic Marredda Gardens and owned by the Mokelumne Hill Veterans Memorial District. The funding will be used to purchase and install a 10-by-10-foot wooden shed – a practical addition that organizers say will make a big difference in the garden’s day-to-day operations.
The shed will feature a gable roof, a solid floor and double doors, providing a secure home for tools, supplies and equipment that until now have lacked a permanent storage space. Once the shed is installed, the grant will also cover shelving and hardware for hanging tools and neatly storing gardening essentials.
“It may sound simple, but having a secure place to store tools changes everything,” garden organizers said. “It allows us to focus more energy on growing food, learning together and welcoming the community.”
That sense of shared learning is already flourishing at the garden, particularly on Wednesdays, when students from Mokelumne Hill Elementary School’s after-school program make the short walk to the site. There, they work side by side with volunteers, learning how to plant, tend and harvest a garden while building teamwork and problem-solving skills along the way.
For many of the students, the garden is a living classroom – one where lessons are rooted in soil rather than textbooks. They learn how vegetables grow, why healthy soil matters and how cooperation helps projects thrive.
The garden also carries deep historical significance. As part of the Marredda Gardens, the site continues a legacy dating back more than a century. Once known as the Upper Italian Gardens, the land was cultivated by immigrant Italian farmers beginning in 1867. For decades, those gardeners grew fruits and vegetables that were sold to local residents and miners throughout the region.
From the late 19th century into the 1920s, fresh produce from the gardens was delivered to surrounding communities by horse-drawn wagons – a reminder of a time when local food systems were not a trend, but a necessity. Today’s community garden seeks to honor that history while adapting it for modern needs.
“With this project, we’re acknowledging the gardeners of the past while creating opportunities for the next generation,” organizers said.
The new shed will play a key role in that mission, helping protect tools and supplies so the garden can continue expanding as a shared community space. Volunteers say the addition will also make it easier to host educational activities and maintain the garden throughout the seasons.
Students from Mokelumne Hill Elementary and community members alike expressed gratitude to the Calaveras Community Foundation for its support.
“This grant is an investment in more than a structure,” organizers said. “It’s an investment in education, history and community.”
With sturdy walls to shelter tools and a long legacy guiding its growth, the Mokelumne Hill Community Garden is poised to keep blooming – one lesson, one harvest and one generation at a time.
Comments are closed.