End-of-Year Giving

A generous person in our community believes that the mission of Gathering Ground is worth investing in. For this reason, they have offered to match all donations that Gathering Ground receives between Giving Tuesday Nov 28, and Dec. 31, up to $15K. This means if you give a gift of $50 it will turn into $100! A gift of $100, will turn into $200.

If you’ve been considering giving to Gathering Ground, now is the time to do it.

We believe that when people partner with the land, the whole community benefits. Therefore our mission is to educate youth and adults about how to partner with their environment through sustainable agriculture. Our educational programs will promote opportunities for economic development and will strengthen the health of our community.

A gift to Gathering Ground is a gift to support educational programs in sustainable agriculture, including the creation of a garden for use by the Island School students, teachers, & community members. In 2018, we will also begin pioneering a low-impact vineyard management program for Northern Hybrid vineyards in the Midwest. With the help of experts from around the region, we believe our pilot program for sustainable grape management will prove to be resource for grape growers across the midwest who wish to to grow grapes, but don’t want to use so many devastating fungicides and pesticides.

We are excited by what this end of the year giving campaign will mean for Gathering Ground. If we receive $15,000 in gifts from individuals, and $15,000 from our matching donor, we will be able to jump start our programs in meaningful ways in the next year.

With these funds we will work toward:

building a community garden for use by Island School students, teachers, and community members at Gathering Ground
starting a summer internship program for college students from around the region
beginning our low-impact vineyard management trial
starting a research-oriented orchard for hybrid chestnuts

Send gifts to:
1402 Mountain Road, Washington Island, WI 54246.

“People often ask me what one thing I would recommend to restore the relationship between land and people. My answer is almost always, “Plant a garden.” It’s good for the health of the earth and it’s good for the health of the people. A garden is a nursery for nurturing connection, the soil for cultivation of practical reverence. And its power goes far beyond the garden gate–once you develop a relationship with a little patch of earth, it becomes a seed itself.

Something essential happens in a vegetable garden. It’s a place where if you can’t say, ‘I love you’ out loud, you can say it in seeds. And the land will reciprocate in beans.”