May 4, 2026

Judea Garden, a community project that supplies food banks across Litchfield County, has grown from a small plot in 2008 to a full half acre of vegetables. It began when the economy crashed and residents of Washington wanted to help their neighbors.

“They encouraged people to get the shovels out of their sheds and plant seeds,” says Denise Arturi, volunteer coordinator, garden manager, and head gardener. The project started with Ann Burton and Marlene Smith at St. John’s Episcopal Church before finding a permanent home at Steep Rock Association. “I had just finished the Master Gardeners certificate, and they reached out to me,” Arturi says. The garden officially became part of Steep Rock in 2014.

Now, after 17 seasons, Arturi is ready to hand the project to a new manager, Blair Granum. “I feel good about leaving this in Blair’s hands,” she says. “You have to have passion first, and that’s what Blair has.”

Granum, who is from Worcester, Mass., owned a gardening business for several years and was also a competitive rower. She was looking for her next chapter when she came across a quote by Pope Francis: “You pray for the hungry, then you feed them, and that’s how prayer works.” The next day, she saw the listing for Judea Garden. “It was very serendipitous,” she says.

The garden currently distributes to the Washington-Warren Food Pantry and welcomes anyone in need to come on Monday mornings. Food Rescue picks up surplus and delivers to additional food pantries, with plans to expand to senior centers for special programs and lunches.

A new initiative called Harvest to Home addresses a practical gap. “We give all this food away,” says Arturi, “but people don’t always know what to do with it.” The program now distributes recipes and prepared samples to food banks, with several area restaurants participating.

Granum hopes to install an irrigation system and establish a working compost pile. Steep Rock already has plans to build a greenhouse, which will help increase production.

The garden runs on volunteers. A core group of ten comes every week, with roughly 100 people contributing throughout the year, including school groups. Monday and Wednesday mornings are harvest days, Thursday is traditionally weed and wine day, and interns are hired each summer. Annual workdays in spring and fall draw additional help. Granum plans to keep the same schedule.

“We hope to get more volunteers, and young people who can stay for years,” Granum says.—steeprockassoc.org