Cultivating Change: How Trefoil Gardens Cultivates Sustainable Communities
Cherokee County is committed to sustainability year-round, but Earth Day is a special opportunity to celebrate local businesses dedicating themselves to helping Cherokee go green – including local community garden and North Atlanta Venture Mentoring Service (NAV) venture Trefoil Gardens.
Trefoil Gardens is a neighborhood collaborative project that seeks to provide the community with fresh, sustainable food and the tools to begin their own gardens.
“We manage a neighborhood food, floral and medicinal herb cooperative – building and aggregating gardens in our neighbors’ yards and sharing the produce with our neighbors and community,” said Rob Miller, co-owner and founder of Trefoil Gardens.
Trefoil Gardens is focused on feeding the community, fostering resilience & compassion and creating opportunities for their members and cohorts to thrive. They want to grow food where people live.
Organic Growth With Community Support
Rob and Melanie Miller-Jones started Trefoil Gardens in 2016, after refining gardening techniques in their own yard. “Rob grew up helping his dad work in the gardens and orchards of old folks in his family church,” said Melanie. “When our son was born with severe food allergies, we became more focused on the food we were bringing into our house.”
Seeing the growth of their garden, one neighbor offered their yard up for more space to grow food, and Trefoil Gardens was born. “This thing sort of evolved as we were invited on to our neighbors’ land. It’s an amazing act of trust and support on the part of our neighbors that we want to honor with our work,” said Rob.
Rooted in Ethical & Historical Gardening Practices
“Our work is informed by the Permaculture ethic of ‘People Care, Earth Care and Return of Surplus,’” said Rob. “Since these gardens are in our neighbors’ yards, we are naturally offering them a way to interact with nature and the source of their food.”
Trefoil Gardens is committed to employing and teaching sustainable gardening methods. “We practice no-till ‘natural’ farming and try to never leave soil exposed,” said Rob. “Our beds are short, and the crops are varied – often in the same bed – mixing the food and medicine we grow with a habitat for pollinators and insect predators.”
Trefoil Gardens is working to show their neighbors the benefits of cultivating diverse gardens in their own communities, as opposed to traditional landscaping. “We garden in our neighbors’ front yards, confronting the unsustainable monocrop lawns of 16th century colonial aesthetics, and are actually truer to the ‘cottage garden’ tradition of working-class people of the same era,” said Rob.
Diverse ecosystems help the well-being of the natural environment and the residents alike. “We have a tremendous amount of bird and butterfly activity in our neighborhood for our neighbors to
enjoy, and since these gardens have matured, we’ve seen more and more of our neighbors enjoying our streets and have regular non-residents who walk or slow drive thru.”
Trefoil Gardens isn’t just about growing sustainable crops, it’s about supporting the community as a whole. The food Trefoil Gardens grows is available at half-price to SNAP (food stamp) shoppers through a program called Georgia Fresh 4 Less. The same opportunity is extended to Woodstock Farmers’ market vendors on Saturdays.
Beyond affordable food for the community, Trefoil Gardens practices zero waste. “Anything that is left over from week-to-week and can still be consumed is distributed to our neighbors in need through Never Alone Pantry, and anything that is past prime is fed to our chickens or worms, or composted, closing the energy loop.”
Additional Education & Event Programming
For those not interested in gardening, Trefoil Gardens has other programs to get involved in. Their spring yoga series offers a 50-minute outdoor restorative practice on Thursdays at 12:30 p.m. It follows an open workday, where people can come and practice agriculture alongside Rob and other neighbors.
Yoga is followed by an early opening of their Thursday farmstand, where they offer fresh season produce, eggs and other farm products to yogis, volunteers and neighbors.
Trefoil Gardens offers most of their projects in winter or early spring, when things in the garden are slower. “We’re hoping to add more programming throughout the year as we continue to grow the educational and outreach side of our project,” said Rob. “We’re feeling a lot better about those prospects as we work with COED and our NAV mentor team. We’re so grateful for the amazing opportunities Cherokee and Woodstock have afforded us.”
The North Atlanta Venture Mentoring Service (NAV) is a free team-based mentoring service principled and trained by the MIT Venture Mentoring Service. NAV is the first of its kind in Georgia and is led by the Cherokee Office of Economic Development.
As a NAV venture, Trefoil Gardens is served by a mentor team Sara Davis and Elliot Franklin.
Supporting Trefoil Gardens & Their Mission
If you are interested in offering further support, Trefoil Gardens is planning a fundraiser to assist them with the expenses related to the Georgia Fresh 4 Less program. “Last year, we held our first fundraiser and saw so much community support, and we’re seeking the same help this year,” said Rob. “We’d be thrilled to partner with a local not-for-profit who is dedicated to serving our neighbors in need.”
Overall, Trefoil Gardens wants to encourage people to pay attention to the food they consume and to get involved in efforts to bring sustainable gardening to our community. “We love and appreciate
the support of all the market and farmstand shoppers who buy our herbal products, teas, flowers and food,” said Rob. Learn more about Trefoil Gardens and the North Atlanta Venture Mentoring Service.