Clare Gardens
As a resident of one of our senior living communities—Milwaukee Catholic Home or Trinity Woods—you become a part of Trinity Senior Services’ sustainable farm-to-table program, sourced by Clare Gardens. This land in nearby Dodge County produces food for several senior living and retirement communities. It includes an orchard and perennial fruits, vegetables, hens, beehives and the composting of food waste from share partners and provides over 30,000 pounds of produce annually.
Clare Gardens also is a resource for our educational and social programming. For example, residents have opportunities to learn about composting, no-till farming practices and the effective use of cover crops. These common and proven farming methods eliminate the need for herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers.
This program, a partnership between Trinity Senior Services and the Catholic Ecology Center, is modeled after Community Supported Agriculture farms, or CSAs, which provides customers with regular deliveries of locally grown products. Beyond Milwaukee Catholic Home and Trinity Woods, produce from Clare Gardens is available to the public at the Catholic Ecology Center’s seasonal farmstand and farm-to-table events.
As of April, 2024 we are producing our own solar energy thanks to partnership with the Catholic Ecology Center and Enphase Energy. The data we’re gathering will allow us to quantify even more of the positive impacts we’re making in the spirit of environmental stewardship.