Earn a Hillsborough Community Garden tee during our Annual Giving Campaign!
what is the HCG?
The HCG Project
Hillsborough Community Garden began as an urban garden with individual plots. In 2023, several volunteers implemented a plan to transform the garden into a service organization, donating food to those in need. As a 501C3 non-profit, we rely on grants and donations to keep our work going. Come by for a visit next time you are strolling the river walk and find out what we are all about!
We Seek to Nourish and Support Our Local Community
A nonprofit organization with 501C3 status, the Hillsborough Community Garden donates its produce to local families in the Orange County area through PORCH Hillsborough. We rely on a steady team of volunteers and our part-time manager to keep the garden going. Our goal is to provide a variety of organically grown vegetables and greens to families in need. Each vegetable harvested represents hope for healthier meals
shared around family tables.
HCG's primary mission is simple...feed our neighbors
During September '26 alone, the HCG's garden has grown, harvested and distributed over 236 pounds of produce including cherry tomatoes, sweet peppers, jalapeno peppers, butternut squash, crowder peas and okra.
To date, the HCG has donated over 1700 lbs of produce to support our neighbors.
What's next in the garden?
Our garden is constantly evolving as the seasons change. Despite cooler weather arriving, volunteers are busy prepping for our next bountiful harvest. Click on the link for more info...
Autumn
With summer's harvest almost complete,
the garden prepares for its wintry pause...but there is much to do before the first frost!
Winter
Brrrr it's cold out but the garden is still active. Ground cover replenishes the soil and the frost refreshes the earth.
Spring
As the earth awakens from it's wintry sleep, the garden emerges from its brief sleep to welcome the sunshine and warmth of spring.
our volunteers are the roots of our success!
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HCG's staff
John (Team Leader)
John, a landscape painter and native of North Carolina, returned to the charming town of Hillsborough a decade ago. When he's not painting, he enjoys biking around town and gardening with others, finding joy in knowing that the food grown in the HCG nourishes the community.
Abigail (Garden Manager)
Abigail works as the lead garden manager at the garden. With advanced degrees in environmental systems and sustainable agriculture, she also has considerable experience working on a number of community and educational garden projects, as well as market gardens. She joined the steering committee at HCG in 2023 to help facilitate the growth and vitality of the garden, and thus the community that it is intended to support.
Bartow (HCG Engineer)
Professor F. Bartow Culp, having eagerly shed his academic robes from the department of Chemistry and the school of Information Science at Purdue University, retired to Hillsborough in 2010, where he immediately fell in with its public spirited citizens. After serving as a Commissioner with the Historic Hillsborough Commission, aka the Burwell School, he joined the nascent organization which became known as the Hillsborough Community Garden. He currently serves as the HCG Engineer, but also excels in his role as weed puller and mulch spreader.
Chris (Grant Writer)
Chris is the grant writer for HCG, and he delivers the garden produce to the distribution sites in his reliable old pick up truck! After a professional lifetime as a researcher in the field of substance abuse prevention, Chris is largely retired. In addition to supporting the vital mission of PORCH Hillsborough through his involvement in the Hillsborough Community Garden, he is actively involved in the affairs of inmates
both prior to and following their release from Orange Correctional Center.
Peter (Treasurer)
Peter has been a Hillsborough resident for the past 18 years and is retired from Duke University Clinical Research Finance. Peter became interested in the Community Garden 3 years ago after learning about volunteer opportunies. Peter commented that “connecting to the community and helping local families in need of fresh vegetables is personally rewarding. Working with fellow gardeners, learning about growing vegetables and being outdoors are healthy post- retirement actvites."
Anne (Volunteer Coordinator & Secretary)
Anne has, after a lifetime of wandering (having moved 23 times on three continents) finally made her permanent home in Hillsborough. She volunteers for Porch in the garden and during distribution, and is active with the Hillsborough Climate Challenge and Green Team, the Persisters, as a Precinct Co-chair for OCDP, and you will find her walking the river walk on most days, as an avid hiker - except in July when she escapes to her home country of Norway. Anne is a retired nurse and Health Coach, and loves digging in the dirt.
for every season there is a reason to support our neighbors
