Land Trust Opens its Greenhouse to Abilis Gardeners

glt-opens-greenhouse-to-abilis
The Abilis greenhouse renovation provided a unique opportunity for the Greenwich Land Trust (GLT) to form a community partnership, opening its home to a special group of Abilis volunteers who worked on their microgreen and specialty herb business, as well as lent a helping hand with a variety of other gardening projects at the Mueller Preserve.

The renovation of the Abilis greenhouse has provided the Greenwich Land Trust (GLT) with a unique opportunity to strengthen a community partnership with Abilis, an organization that advances abilities for people with special needs. This fall, GLT opened its home to a special group of volunteers who worked on their microgreen and specialty herb business, as well as lent a helping hand with a variety of other gardening projects.

Greenwich Land Trust’s Louise Mueller Preserve, features a newly restored greenhouse that is utilized for GLT’s native plant propagation as well as partner projects with Greenwich Community Gardens and Audubon Greenwich.

“We are thrilled to have the Abilis volunteers share our beautiful property and continue their gardening business without interruption,” said Will Kies, executive director of the Land Trust. “It’s great to partner with such a wonderful organization that contributes to our community in a such a meaningful way.”

Abilis provides state of the art services for over 700 people of all ages with a wide range of intellectual, developmental, social, emotional, and physical challenges, as well as education and advocacy support for their parents.

Abilis greenhouse has been a hub of activity, nurturing plants and linking the Abilis community to meaningful job training and work experiences. The newly renovated space will allow Abilis volunteers to expand Glenville Greens, a thriving microgreen farm, which provides area restaurants with culinary greens and specialty herbs, grown organically and delivered fresh — in most cases within a few hours of harvest. Seasonal sales of mums, poinsettias and bundled firewood also occur throughout the year.

The newly renovated Abilis Gardens & Gifts shop will opened with a ribbon cutting ceremony on Nov. 16. It will become a job training site for individuals interested in developing retail skills.

“This partnership with the Land Trust has gone above and beyond all of our expectations,” commented Chris Hadin, who manages the project for Abilis. “We came here to plant our microgreens, but the Land Trust has lined up a variety of great jobs that are ability appropriate and have broadened our horticultural experience significantly…it’s been an awesome match.”

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