Community gardens open house Nov. 15

The Airport Community Gardens is hosting its annual open house at the garden grounds on Sun., Nov. 15 from 2-4:30 p.m. The gardens are located at 640 Airport Rd., just past the Fernandina Municipal Airport, adjacent to the Nassau Humane Society. There are 36 individual “allotment” type gardens, farmed by nearly 65 local residents. The garden is a volunteer-driven affiliate of Keep Nassau Beautiful and works closely with the airport staff.

Started in the late 1980s with just a few gardens on jungle property allocated by the city, today’s manicured lots are a vast array of vegetable and flower gardens ranging from 150 to 1500 square feet each. “Any full-time Nassau County resident is welcome to garden here,” says Dan Groth, Head Gardener. “The fees are low and we offer many benefits such as irrigation, picnic tables and lounge areas, free compost and garden tool use and lots of free advice.” However, he notes that the waiting time for an available lot can be several months.

In addition to bountiful personal harvests of fresh, organic vegetables, the gardeners donate a portion of their harvests to charities that distribute food to hungry local folks. Donations exceeded 2000 pounds in 2025 and more than 1700 pounds so far this year. Recipients included Barnabas, Salvation Army Hope House, Micah’s Place, Authentic Impact, Gracie’s Kitchen, Coalition for the Homeless and several others.

“That’s a lot of lettuce, beans, squash and greens,” says Jef Bohn, one of the ACG gardeners. “It works out to almost 40 pounds per week. That makes a difference to a lot of food-insecure folks.”

Over 200 visitors to last year’s open house enjoyed vegetable and pastry snacks made by the ACG members and soft drinks as they wandered the grounds and chatted with the gardeners. The Community Garden hopes to increase its number of active gardens in 2027, so if you are interested, send a note to GardenGroupFB@gmail.com.