2022: A Festive Year in the Making at CommonWealth Urban Farms

Garden School 2022!

  • Garden School attendees gather in the Food Forest
  • Instructor Stephanie Jordan leads a class
  • Allen holds a handful of compost during a class
  • A young Garden School attendee plants seeds during a class
We are excited about our new offerings this year, including CommonWealth Fests! In collaboration with some of our newer and younger volunteers, we are mixing up the garden school schedule to provide three free, family-friendly, educational festivals starting with our Wildcrafting & Herb Fest on May 14. In addition to providing a new format and activities to the community, we are excited to provide leadership development to our volunteers who are stepping up in the organization and execution of the events. Here’s our class schedule and keep an eye on our website’s Garden School Page for detail updates. 

2022 Garden School Calendar

March 12th  How to Grow a Vegetable Garden Even If
You’ve Never Planted a Seed in Your Life – Elia Woods

 March 26th  Birding for Beginners

April 9th Community Gardening & Garden Construction Part 1
LaTasha Timberlake + hands-on workshop 

April 23rd
Garden Construction Part 2 – Hands-on workshop 

April 30th Planting the Path for Monarchs – Stephanie Jordan

May 14th  Wildcrafting & Herb Fest

June 11th  Bug Fest

July 9th  Beekeeping

Aug 13th  Plant a Fall Salad Garden – Elia Woods

Sept 10  Raising Butterflies
Jennifer Plato, Holly Hunter, Stephanie Jordan

Sept 24th Soil & Compost & Recycling Fest

Oct 8th  Backyard Fruit Production 

Oct 22nd Potluck in the Garden

Nov 26th The Great Pumpkin Smash  

2022 Partner Farmers

Ryan Smith, Alana Stuart, Tesa Linville,
Jenn Mabry, Sylvia Yego, Lia Woods
The Giving Garden OKC
2022 is going to be quite the change for Giving Garden OKC as we transition to our new location on NW 23rd Street. But we are still planning on growing food at CommonWealth. Currently we have beets, carrots, radishes, turnips, chard, kale, lettuce germinating under the tunnels. We built trellises for peas and fava beans—both nitrogen-fixers. Still in discussions on how best the space can be used for us as we move into the growing season. We will donate the produce or market it to bring in much-needed cash flow to support our non-profit. We are looking forward to our continued partnership and support with CommonWealth Urban Farms.
Jenn Mabry

Lia’s Garden at CommonWealth
I took a bit of time-off over the winter to recharge my batteries, including lots of long walks in the woods. Now I’m starting hundred of seeds every week, and our compost-heated greenhouse is keeping my baby plants warm and happy through these up and down temperatures. Even after decades of gardening, I still get a thrill every time I see that first tiny sprout emerge from an even tinier seed. My seedling sales will start in mid-March with broccoli & cauliflower, followed by a slew of other vegetables, herbs and native perennial seedlings. Restraint is not my forte when browsing through seed catalogs, so expect to see some new varieties on my seedling tables this spring!
Elia Woods

Sabou
This is Tesa’s third year growing cut and edible flowers both in the field and in the hoop house at CommonWealth. She has expanded her growing operation at her Oklahoma City home as well and already thousands of tiny plants are keeping warm in her compost-heated greenhouse. Once warm weather is here to stay, transplanting will begin, joining flowers wintering over in the field. This winter she also has successfully experimented with flowering plants in her greenhouse. Imagine: Dianthus, calendula and pansy harvesting all winter! She sells her cut flowers to florists and you can reach her about purchasing edibles by contacting her through the Paseo Farmer’s Market.
Tesa Linville

Elgon Gardens
This season at Elgon gardens we will be planting kale and spinach. 
We are awaiting seven rows of spinach to germinate that was planted late last year; five rows will be for kale. Later we will have five short rows of tomatoes. All these will be for family consumption.
Everlyn, Sylvia, Veronica

Ryan Smith and Alana Stuart
Alana Stuart is a new Partner Farmer at Commonwealth. Growing up in a food desert in Chicago, Alana was determined to understand how our food systems operated.  This led her on a quest to travel and work on permaculture communities to learn about regenerative farming.Landing in our nation’s main food hub, California, she tended land and worked on a no-till, bio-diverse, women-owned, agroecological farm. Now in Oklahoma City, she hopes to continue to care for land that nourishes the neighborhood while building community around it. This year she will work alongside Ryan to help create a community garden space at Commonwealth, where volunteers can come to learn more about growing annual vegetables on a no-till plot, making compost teas and other ferments that help rejuvenate the soil. When her hands are not working with the land she loves to homestead, preserving bounties from the garden, making ferments and cooking for loved ones. Alana Stuart