Gardening & Farm Fest 2024 is Sunday, April 21 from 11 AM to 5 PM at the Downtown Library!
Join us for a daylong celebration of gardening, nature, and hands-on activities! Gardening & Farm Fest features artisans and farmers selling their wares, along with representatives from local farms who offer CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture).
Learn more about CSAs and sign up for a spring and/or summer CSA onsite. Special presentations about a variety of nature-based topics will take place during the day.
2024 Schedule of Events
Vendors and Local Farms
11 AM - 5 PM | 1st Floor Lobby
Browse artisans and farmers selling their wares, along with representatives from local farms offering CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture).
11:15 AM - 12 PM | Multi-Purpose Room
Natural Area Preservation & Ann Arbor's Greenbelt Program
Natural Area Preservation (NAP) works to protect and restore Ann Arbor’s natural areas and to foster an environmental ethic within the community. This involves conducting plant and animal inventories, ecological monitoring, and stewardship projects in Ann Arbor parks. Come learn more about the work that NAP does, and hear information about the city Greenbelt program.
12 - 2 PM | Secret Lab
Seed Swap & Drop-In Heat Press Totes
Drop in to grab a tote bag and swap some seeds! You can bring extra seeds that you have harvested from your garden or just pick up something you would like to grow. Flowers, vegetables, herbs, and bulbs are welcome. You do not need to drop seeds off to take some home.
12:30 - 1:15 PM | Multi-Purpose Room
Ryan Poe of The Hungry Locavore
Ryan Poe is a local farmer and the owner and operator of The Hungry Locavore weekly 'At Will' CSA share that runs year around. Traditionally CSA models revolve around one farm's products for a set amount of weeks whereas The Hungry Locavore offers produce from multiple farms and farm to table prepared foods in the weekly share offerings, and individuals can opt in or opt out of purchase each week. This project is all about building community and sustainability with a focus on consuming local food. Learn about how Ryan his built up this project over the past 6 years and the benefits of this alternative CSA model.
1:45 - 2:30 PM | Multi-Purpose Room
Wild Spring Bees
Wild native bees are an essential part of our gardens, farms, and urban areas. Join Washtenaw County Parks Naturalist Shawn Severance for a talk on the diversity and beauty of spring-flying bees, and how to conserve them.
3 - 4 PM | Secret Lab
Tiny DIY Bell Jars
Create a lovely little natural scene inside a tiny bell jar! Pick and choose from a wide assortment of pine cones, dried flowers and other decorative materials, then combine them into a lovely little decoration.
2024 Vendor List
Ann Arbor Farm & Garden is a social and philanthropic organization. The mission of Ann Arbor Farm and Garden is to promote and support local gardens, farms, and environmental stewardship through education, community service, grants, and scholarships.
AnnOtherDay Ann Asplund has spent the last 15 years indulging in the love of fiber and history, learning, teaching, and practicing medieval, traditional, and modern techniques of sewing and textile crafts. AnnOtherDay combines Ann's knowledge of ancient crafts with modern shapes and ideas, bringing it all together in a style of her very own.
Cara’s Garden Botanical art prints, cards, notebooks, tea towels, and information on botanical art classes.
Church of the Dirt is a mother/daughter team that makes one-of-a-kind, handmade crepe paper flower earrings.
Fleur Plant Shop works out of their home selling a wide array of house plants including some exotic plants.
Fungi Revival is a woman-owned, micro-urban mushroom farm dedicated to cultivating quality gourmet and medicinal mushrooms using earth-friendly techniques, to provide to the local community.
Glass by Iman A garden of one-of-a-kind stained glass artwork from original designs, including botanical scenes, pressed flora work, and signature stained glass teaware artwork.
Happy Gardens sells seedlings (garden plants, heirloom plants, indoor/outdoor plants), indoor plants, upcycled gardening tools, and plant/gardening-related handmade jewelry.
JFSMade is a collection of brands and creations by JFS clients for their community. JFS of Washtenaw County has been resettling refugees since 1978. Through this experience. JFS' Micro-Enterprise-Development program supports refugees and others in becoming economically self-sufficient by assisting with the development, expansion, and maintenance of a micro-business.
Lost Fern Goods Nicole Miazgowicz is a visual artist based in Detroit, Michigan. She draws inspiration from her theater background, the natural world, travel, and memories. Primarily a traditional artist, Nicole aims to create softness and beauty in the gloomy and nostalgic. Lost Fern is her illustrated product line offering goods that will inject a little magic into one's everyday life.
Lyndon Street Farm is part of the Grown in Detroit/Keep Growing Detroit collective, selling plants, fresh produce, dried herbs, and plant extracts.
Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum Educational interactives about the importance of native plants.
Project Grow's core focus is facilitating organic community garden sites throughout Ann Arbor. Each site offers a variety of plot types that accommodate diverse gardeners. All of Project Grow's sites use sustainable practices, enriching the land through natural soil improvement, organic growing methods, and careful stewardship.
Secret City Natural Gardening Reciprocal landscape care and natural garden solutions.
Spare Pots makes pottery that is fun and functional. Artist and owner Rebecca Sweeton decided to pursue making pottery full-time after she realized her love for making things, but lack of room in her house for everything she created.
The Houseplant Guru is all about helping you find success in growing beautiful, thriving houseplants.
This Little Universe Macrame plant hangers & flower crowns.
Treehouse Block Prints Ann Arbor artist Carissa Van Heest takes inspiration from her daily life and the natural world for her handmade linocut prints, beginning the process by working from her original photographs. Carissa has been a printmaker for almost ten years and especially loves the sharp visual contrast that printing in a single color allows.
Wander & Gather is a line of products and fine art prints featuring the pen and watercolor illustrations of artist Maia Hausler. Her work focuses on species native to the Great Lakes Region.
Washtenaw County Parks and Recreation Information about native plant habitat value, gardening, and volunteering.
Washtenaw Master Garden Volunteers Information on Smart Gardening with handouts on topics like Smart Lawns, Smart Soils, and Smart Plants, to connect people to earth-friendly gardening practices and encourage the protection of Michigan’s vast water and natural resources. They will also provide information about the Master Gardener Volunteer Program and other resources for the community.
Wonder Fool Art & Design Handmade wooden and hanging Plant propagation stations, plant themed jewelry/terrariums, handmade wooden plant stakes.
Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs):
Argus Farm Stop Year-round produce boxes, meat boxes, and flower subscriptions.
Country Valley Farm is a small, Organic, family farm located on the northeastern edge of Ann Arbor. Established in November 2017, they follow traditional regenerative agriculture practices with a focus on growing healthy food and being good stewards of the land.
Good Neighbor Farm is a labor of love, working to bring the best vegetables grown with organic practices to your families and communities through CSA and farmer's markets.
Jacob’s Fresh Farm Information and signup for all three CSA seasons, spring plant sale information, plant availability list, and U-pick information for our strawberries, raspberries, sunflowers, and lavender.
Kapnick Orchards CSA information and sign-up sheets.
Pride & Produce Farm was founded in 2021 and provides fruit, vegetables, herbs, and flowers to the people of Washtenaw County. Their growing methods are No-Till, regenerative, and All-Natural. Pride & Produce does not use pesticides or herbicides of any kind, relying instead on plant and organism biodiversity and substantial compost.
Slow Farm is a biodiverse and USDA-certified organic U-Pick farm and farmstand devoted to the principles of Slow Food, agroecology, and justice in the food system. Slow Farm grows mainly heirloom produce and flowers, and provides an organic farm experience, demonstrating “closed loop” practices that benefit social and ecological well-being.
Tantré Farm is a small, bio-intensive, produce farm in Chelsea, MI. They have been providing a variety of ecologically-grown vegetables, herbs, flowers, mushrooms, and fruit to the surrounding communities since 1993. The owners, Richard Andres and Deb Lentz, and several seasonal workers or interns join them for various parts of the year, living and working together.
The Farm at Trinity Health is a regional program that connects thousands of people annually to the healing power of cultivating and eating nutritious, local food.
The Hungry Locavore is a hyper-local food project with a mission to connect the people of southeast Michigan to locally grown and sourced food via weekly curated boxes of fresh produce from local market farms and delicious prepared foods from farm-to-table restaurants, bakers, and artisanal makers. Owned and operated by Ryan Poe, a local farmer and foodie who is passionate about regenerative agriculture and stewarding the land, building community and a circular economy, removing fossil fuel miles from our food, and connecting neighbors to sustainable and healthy food.