News

Edible garden takes root at AVOL's headquarters

WUKY | By Clay Wallace

Published March 26, 2026 at 3:04 PM EDT

Photo of two people walking away from the camera. They are outdoors in a wooded area. It's very early spring, so there is more brown than green, though some small new leaves are visible on some tree branches.

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Project manager Jonathan Hall and AVOL CEO Jon Parker walk through the green space behind AVOL's facility at 1824 Hill Rise Drive.

Clay Wallace

A creek runs through a lightly-wooded area on a sunny day.

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Vaughn's Branch runs along the back end of AVOL's property, separating it from Pine Meadow Park.

Clay Wallace

A more typical grass lawn in the foreground, with young trees growing from mulch circles. The lawn drops off sharply in the background, showing the top halves of more densely-spaced trees.

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The backyard of AVOL drops off sharply into the riparian buffer "wildscape" containing Vaughn's Branch and the Anderson Meadow Food Forest.

Clay Wallace

A food forest - a garden of edible and medicinal plants - is being planted behind AVOL's headquarters off Versailles Road.

Vaughn's Branch is a creek in Lexington. It feeds into Wolf Run in Valley Park but, before it gets there, it spends time on the other side of US 60 in the green space behind AVOL Kentucky's facility at 1824 Hill Rise Drive.

"Last summer, some interested folks from Friends of Wolf Run came over and took me on a tour," said AVOL CEO Jon Parker. "They said, 'You know you have a creek, right?' And I said, 'Creek? Question mark?' I had no idea."

AVOL has been serving Lexington since the 80s, providing medical care, screenings, prevention, and social supports for individuals living with, or at risk of, HIV. In 2022, AVOL bought the land housing their current headquarters and 26 of their affordable housing units. That space came with the acre-and-a-half of green space which will soon house the Anderson Meadow Food Forest Initiative. Edible and medicinal plants like blackberry, elderberry, and the city of Lexington's official flower, echinacea, will cover the walking path down to the creek and back. The space will be open to all, allowing anyone to harvest freely.

"As we work with helping people find resilience in themselves, we also understand that the land needs to be resilient," said Parker. "Now, we own this place, so we're responsible for it."

Anderson Meadow is a partnership between AVOL and Geomancer Permaculture, the landscape company which established the state's largest food forest in nearby Cardinal Valley. AVOL is hosting a series of free community classes the first Saturday of every month to teach regenerative agriculture and help build the food forest. Two weeks ago, community members planted elderberry along the creekside.

"Food is medicine, and we are really focused on getting people who have chronic health conditions feeling well," said Parker.

Community members are invited to attend the following sessions at AVOL Kentucky (1824 Hill Rise Drive):

March 28 | Creek Walk (Lexington Water Week Activity) at 10 a.m.
April 4 | 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
May 2 | 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
June 6 | 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.