Ron Barnes, well-known throughout the Prescott non-profit community, had the idea of setting up community gardens in our quad-city area with an eye to feeding our area’s hungry kids. So in 2008 he helped to form Prescott’s YMCA Community Garden. Wanting to expand to Prescott Valley, he approached Brad Fain to see if The Fain Signature Group had an available plot. They generously offered the 2.5 acre lot at the corner of Lake Valley and Florentine Roads.

Thereafter, the Town of Prescott Valley approved a yearly water allocation for the garden. Donations from Ron and aps provided the money we needed to purchase drip irrigation materials. Aalt Brower, who oversees the Y Garden, secured monies from NACOG which paid for us to rent a construction fence, and that’s when the volunteers took over – clearing the land, leveling it, installing the drip system, and staking the plots.

An Executive Committee was formed and it was decided that half of our garden would be rented to individuals and the other half would truly be a garden for the community – with all the food harvested from it going back to those in need. In our first year of planting, we are happy to report that we were able to donate 2,686 pounds of food to the Yavapai Food Bank.