Since 2020, TVCGCoop has been working to grow strength in the Treasure Valley community through gardens.
Inspired by the Victory Garden era and driven by the challenges of the COVID pandemic, we built a network of over 40 gardens in just two years.
Our mission has been twofold
To increase food security and cultivate community connections.
By empowering individuals and neighborhoods to grow their own food, we promote sustainability and create a stronger sense of togetherness.
Our Work & Related Things 👀
Overwinter Trial to Grow More Food!
At the Grow More Good Garden, we’ve been quietly experimenting with how far a community garden can stretch the growing season — not just to grow food, but to significantly shorten the seasonal food gap and strengthen shared knowledge. This winter, with help from One Stone High School and Youth Climate Action partners, we began our first trial using the Eliot Coleman two-layer method. Working from success stories shared with us by area community and home gardeners, and some farmers.
We’ll be observing and tracking how plants grow, and what’s involved in tending to them, in order to share findings broadly. Educational partners and folks who are staying connected to TVCGCoop happenings are invited to observe this along with us. You can email us at tvcgcoop(@)gmail.com to line up a visit this winter!
Community First: A November Centered on Food Access
Much of our work in early November shifted toward our first priority as an organization: increasing access to food. With SNAP benefits withheld for several weeks, many households across the valley felt the strain. What stood out, though, was the remarkable community response — food drives, benefit events, neighborhood collections, and mutual-aid efforts across the Treasure Valley. It was compassion in action on a broad scale.
For our part at the Grow More Good Garden, and in partnership with St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, volunteers organized an open-to-all, interfaith food-boxing effort that brought people from many backgrounds together — including Mayor Lauren McLean — with one shared purpose: ensuring neighbors could eat.
Launch Collection: Seasonal Guides & Limited-Run Prints
We’re excited to share the launch of a small collection made with care, rooted in the seasons and in community. Each piece reflects the spirit of local collaboration—whether through hand-pulled prints on vintage presses or the practical guidance of our Fall Gardening & Prep Zine.
This collection includes:
Fall Gardening & Prep Zine — a guide to seasonal preparation and resilience for the garden.
Many Hands Make Light Work — a limited-run letterpress print celebrating the power of working together.
Gifts From Our Garden — hand-crafted prints combining letterpress and screenprinting, each with its own character.
Every purchase supports the Treasure Valley Community Gardens Cooperative and its efforts we hope to scale sustainably each season.
Click this image for a detailed list of gardens seeking gardeners in 2025!
Our food system is deeply interconnected.
For at least a few generations, most of us in the Treasure Valley have been able to count on full shelves and fresh produce at local stores. But the people and processes that make that possible — especially in farm and food-processing work — are under increasing strain.
Idaho Familias Assistance Fund
A fund dedicated to supporting Idaho families who have been separated from loved ones due to the recent immigration-related situation in Wilder, ID and are facing financial hardship (rent, utilities, medical bills, gas, etc).
Organized by Idaho Organization of Resource Councils. 501(c)(3) Public Charity · EIN 46-5310102
admin@iorcinfo.org
The “Labor & Food Systems” link leads to a Guardian article from June 2025 that illustrates how recent raids, labor shortages, and policy shifts are rippling through the food system. These events reveal not only how far-reaching the impacts are — touching families, small growers, and consumers alike — but also how our communities have long functioned on unseen and often undervalued labor.
This moment calls us to pay closer attention, to ask how our communities might adapt with greater fairness and care, and to engage with curiosity rather than fear. We’re sharing this to plant seeds of understanding — and to encourage compassion as we learn and respond together.
We’re honored to share that TVCGCoop was featured on KTVB Channel 7
The segment highlights the spirit of community growing across the valley. Thanks to everyone helping cultivate opportunities to connect, share, and find affinity as community gardeners!
Gardens Can Provide the Following:
Food and Nutrition security, from fresh, nutrient-dense food
Green spaces in the city!
Places to connect with others and find solace!
Feelings of empowerment from growing some of our own food!
Reconnecting with nature and developing an understanding of what all goes into growing good food!
Compassion for who grows the majority of our food!
A place for sharing good ideas, struggles to overcome together, and hopes!
Music-making has also been known to happen in garden spaces!