Editor’s note: Following publication of this story, TSS shared that the community garden project is funded by the Teton Conservation District.
WILSON, Wyo. — With a spring like this, who can help but think about their summer garden?
Teton Science Schools (TSS) and Slow Food in the Tetons have announced a forthcoming community garden located at the TSS Wilson Campus on WY390. According to a news release from TSS, the garden will be called the Mad Dog Community Garden, a friendly nod to the Mad Dog Ranch, which was purchased by TSS in 2001 and turned into the Wilson Campus. Construction on the garden began last year with a perimeter fence completed in the fall of 2025.
“This new garden site expands access to growing space and provides a unique opportunity for hands-on, place-based learning,” reads the statement from TSS. “The garden also reflects Teton Science Schools’ mission of connecting people, place, and nature through education, offering a space for the community to learn, collaborate, and deepen their relationship with the natural world.”
The spring schedule includes installing garden plots, irrigation systems and a garden shed. The finished garden will be part of the Slow Food in the Tetons Community Garden Program, and will include 46 individual plots that will be 5 feet by 10 feet. A representative with TSS told Buckrail that the plots are expected to be ready for planting in May for the upcoming growing season.
“This is more than a garden,” TSS Executive Director Wayne Turner said in a statement. “It is a space where people can reconnect with their place, with their food, and with each other.”
The Community Garden Program allows over 175 households to garden, and it supports education and gardening experience for local youth. The Mad Dog Community Garden will increase the program’s capacity by 19% from 2025, per TSS. The new garden will serve TSS employees as well as community members who are on the Slow Food’s long garden plot waitlist.
