April 13, 2024

The Gardens at Unity Village opens for the 2024 season at 8 a.m. on Saturday, May 11 at 150 NW Colbern Road and will be open Saturday mornings through September.

The three-acre farm grows vegetables and has many different fruit trees and bushes. The market offers anything from apples to zucchini. The proceeds from the market cover gardening expenses and whatever fruits and vegetables that are left over are donated to charity. Last year over 7,000 lbs. of produce were donated to local charities including Lee’s Summit Social Services and the Abundant Life Church Food Pantry.

The Gardens also works to educate others about the value of acquiring or growing fresh and locally grown food, and encourage those who want to grow their own thriving and productive garden through working in concert with the natural world. They offer an increasing number of workshops, free of charge or at a nominal cost, that promote stewardship, healthy eating and organic, earth-friendly gardening techniques.

Last season they provided workshops free for the community including from the Master Gardener of Greater Kansas City (MGGKC) Speaker’s Bureau on Vegetable Gardening and Attracting Pollinator’s to your Yard, and from Hollie Stuleman, local artist and backyard bee keeper on the importance of pollinators and her experience as a backyard bee keeper.

The Gardens invites the MGGKC to their produce stand several times during the season and they provide research-based information and resources to the public on gardening topics as well as informing the public of the free garden related services through MU Extension. The Master Gardeners provided demos on a variety of topics, including container gardening and creating a shelter and watering station for butterflies.

The following is the MGGKC schedule, thus far, for this 2024 season of the Saturday produce stand.
May 11 – Vegetable gardening and seedling give-a-way
June 22 – Composting and “How to Build Compost Bin” demonstration
July 27 – Wildflowers and Native Plants with native plants and container gardening demonstration
August 17 – Pet Friendly Gardening
Sept 14 – Pollinators with a Butterfly Puddler demonstration.

Other events as yet to be determined are a Bee Workshop/Talk, and Food and Nutrition demonstrations with local health and nutrition specialists.