Fresh Greens on the Site of Old Greens

GOLF COURSE GIVES WAY TO URBAN FARM IN APPLETON

With acres of fertile land and an abundant yield of fresh food, you might feel as though you’re miles outside of Appleton, but you’re right in the heart of it.

Riverview Gardens, a self-supporting venture on the site of the old Riverview Country Club, is the valley’s first year-round urban farm.

In addition to providing families with fresh produce, their main purpose is to offer job training for people in need.

“Our work program helps marginalized members of society,” says Kelly Nutty, Director of Resource Management. “From veterans who have difficulty reintegrating into society to single moms who’ve fl ed abuse, most of these people gain a sense of dignity and hope here. They are people who have received little positive feedback in their lives.”

Working with the earth through gardening is healthful work, explains Nutty. And this draws all sorts of volunteers.

“In farming there is unlimited work. And all our volunteers are seen as equals with the employees, we all work side by side. We aim to be part of our own solution.”

It’s easy to get a feel for the communal effort and enthusiasm surrounding Riverview Gardens just by strolling the grounds. Lawrence students, retired employees volunteering for the day- everyone seems eager to get their hands in the dirt.

The urban farm benefits not only residents of the valley, but the health of the planet too. Plus, they now have 15-acres of certified organic growing space.

“We have 20 passive solar greenhouses,” says Nutty. “We want to be as self-sustaining as possible, so we rely on the sun. The hoop houses are costly so we have them sponsored and erect them ourselves. We even bend the hoops on our own.”

An Appleton parish sponsored one of the hoop houses on the grounds and volunteered to put it up themselves, which is a full day’s worth of work- a perfect example of the communal support the gardens receive. Since the gardens are on an old country club site, the staff has been creative in utilizing what already exists there. The pool, for example, is now a hydroponic gardening site- a method of growing plants in nutrient-rich water without soil.

“It was amazing to see this erect from the pool,” says Nutty. “The floating foam pieces are literally called lettuce rafts and the beautiful lettuce heads are just lounging in the water.”

Their “Living Lettuce” can be found in nine Festival Foods stores in Wisconsin. It’s sold with the root bulb attached, so it continues to grow and stay fresh.

In addition to growing fruit, vegetables, nuts, and herbs, the gardens are also home to something sweet- a ten-hive apiary.

“We’re going to install a six-acre prairie this fall for the bees and other pollinators,” explains Nutty. “We aren’t experts in prairie installation, but we have a volunteer who is and has stepped up to the plate.” While Riverview Gardens’ main purpose is its work-training program, feeding the community is certainly a positive by-product.

They sell most everything they grow to restaurants, grocers and through their CSA (community supported agriculture) program. It runs May through October and has a robust membership.

For those who aren’t ready to commit to a six-month membership, Riverview Gardens was gifted a retail space in downtown Appleton at 513 W. College Avenue which means you can swing by for fresh produce year-round.