ROSCOMMON – The Roscommon Community Garden is a project that the Crawford-Roscommon Conservation District (CRCD), in partnership with MSU Extension, has taken on to help create a community green space for the residents of Roscommon. The garden is located at the corner of George and Main Streets where the old water tower used to sit.
While the project has many goals in mind, this year, they are focusing on creating the infrastructure needed for the garden to be self-sustaining, as well as food production for both private individuals and the community. To view the project vision, visit CRCD’ website at www.crawford-roscommoncd.weebly.com.
The infrastructure planned for this year includes a fence to keep out deer, a rain catchment system to collect rainwater, and a compost collection site. In future years, they hope to expand upon the project to include a pavilion with a picnic table, a pollinator garden, fruit trees, and planted samples of trees and shrubs that grow in Northern Michigan.
In 2015, Cole Anderson, a local Boy Scout, built 12 raised beds at the garden site for his Eagle Scout project. There are currently six 4’x4′ beds, two 4’x8′ beds, and four 8’x8′ beds. These beds are intended to be split between private individuals that wish to rent a garden space and the remaining beds will be used for donations to the local pantry. All foodstuffs grown in the gardens will be GMO free.
To be able to reach their current and future goals, CRCD is currently seeking donations and grants to help fund the projects. Financial donations to the community garden can be dropped off at the CRCD office at 500 Lake Street (inside the County Building), or visit their online funding site at www.generosity.com and search for Roscommon.
If you are interested in renting one of the garden beds for the season, or would like to participate in any of their volunteer opportunities throughout the season, please contact Brittany Mauricette (CRCD) at 989-275-3163 or email: Brittany.mauricette@macd.org.
