A community resource in Kansas City is helping residents grow gardens, maintain neighborhoods, and tackle outdoor projects — without spending hundreds of dollars on tools they may only use a few times a year.
The Cultivate KC Urban Agriculture Tool Library, operating out of the Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council, gives community members free access to farm and garden equipment.
The program is designed for urban farmers, community gardeners, and neighborhood residents who want to grow food or improve outdoor spaces but may not have the money or storage space for costly tools.
Available equipment ranges from simple hand tools like hoes, rakes, shears, and trowels to larger power tools including weed eaters, edgers, blowers and trimmers. The library also includes specialty tools such as seeders for planting gardens and post-hole diggers for installing fences.
The idea behind the program is simple: share expensive equipment so more people can grow food and improve their neighborhoods.
Membership is free for adults age 18 and older with valid identification, thanks to support from organizations including the Hall Family Foundation and USDA Urban Agriculture Innovation Projects.
Members can borrow up to five tools at a time for as long as seven days. Tools must be reserved online and picked up by appointment on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m.
While most tools are completely free to borrow, some larger pieces of equipment require refundable deposits. Borrowers are expected to return tools clean and in good working condition.
Cultivate KC says the tool library helps remove one of the biggest barriers facing urban agriculture: access to equipment.
“A tool library is a community service that eliminates the need to buy expensive or large equipment that is only used once a season or for one-time projects,” the organization explains on its website.
The program is based in Midtown Kansas City and aims to support both home gardening and larger neighborhood growing projects as interest in local food production continues to grow.
Cultivate KC is located at 3700 Woodland, KCMO to see the complete inventory of available tools and to reserve a tool, go to https://www.cultivatekc.org/tool-library/. For questions email Emily Kovar (emily@cultivatekc.org)