Building community through Garden Club at UCS

Garden Club offers participants in the Developmental Services (DS) division at United Counseling Service (UCS) a place to learn new skills, spend time outdoors, connect with others, and contribute to a shared community project.

Run by UCS’s Community Supports program, the group welcomes gardeners of all skill and comfort levels to grow fresh produce. The group meets weekly and is led by Direct Support Professional Roxy Iskowitz.

The group got its start during the pandemic with just a few participants and limited meeting times. Interest has grown steadily since then. Today, individuals tend their own garden plots while also helping maintain the garden’s shared herb bed through weeding, watering, and other tasks.

Garden Club attendees are encouraged to be as involved as they wish to be, from digging in the ground, planting and weeding, to simply enjoying fresh air among friends. For some, what they enjoy the most is helping others grow their plots. One participant loves to do the weed whacking. Everyone has a place at Garden Club.

The group is structured to provide engaging instruction and significant hands-on experience growing vegetables and herbs that can thrive in Vermont.

“Each year, I add new information,” says Roxy, “From annoying pests, essential pollinators and different diseases that can affect the garden to spacing and beneficial plants that can be planted with different vegetables.” This year, the gardens are home to zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes, yellow squash, carrots, and even more gourds than last year. Individuals are interested in growing pumpkins, and one participant is excited to see how her eggplants do this year.

We’re grateful for the many community organizations who have provided support for this program. Local gardeners and Clear Brook Farm have started donating plant starters to UCS’ Garden Club at the beginning of each growing season, and the Bennington Rotary Club recently helped to improve accessibility for gardeners by donating raised beds. Support and engagement from within the local community enriches the Garden Club experience and helps to make the project possible.

Sharing what they grow is also an important part of Garden Club. Participants take home produce they would like, and extra produce is donated to a Free Produce Stand or used by UCS’ own Cooking Class, another group offered by the Community Supports program.

“Some of what we grow transfers over to cooking class,” says Roxy. “Fresh vegetables and herbs are used in our recipes and knowing where they come from and how to use them is important. It’s pretty comprehensive.”

Ultimately, Garden Club thrives because of the individual interests, abilities, and contributions each participant brings to it.

United Counseling Service (UCS) is committed to helping individuals and families in Bennington County live healthy, meaningful lives. Our work spans mental health, substance use treatment, intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), and early childhood development. UCS is a private, non-profit community mental health center that has been an essential part of Bennington County’s integrated healthcare system since 1958. For more information or to access our services, visit ucsvt.org or call (802) 442-5491.