About
It began with one pool.
Garden Pool is an Arizona nonprofit organization that develops better ways to grow food — and helps others do the same.
Our story
A timeline
Sixteen years of building, teaching, traveling, and documenting.
2009
One empty pool
Dennis McClung transforms an unused backyard swimming pool in Mesa, Arizona into a closed-loop food-production ecosystem.
2010
The world notices
The project begins receiving major media attention, including national television coverage.
2012
A nonprofit organization
Garden Pool incorporates as an Arizona nonprofit organization.
2013–2017
Education, research, community
Community education, seed libraries, classes and workshops, research and development, volunteer programs, and the first national and international projects.
2018–2019
International capacity development
Major international capacity-development work, institutional collaborations, the Climate Smart Farm initiative, and international recognition.
Today
Renewal
Garden Pool is being renewed around its original mission: develop better ways to grow food, and help others do the same.
Founder
Dennis McClung
Dennis McClung is the founder of Garden Pool — a designer, educator, sustainable food-system innovator, and international capacity-development practitioner.
In 2009 he converted an unused backyard swimming pool in Mesa, Arizona into a closed-loop food-production ecosystem, then spent the following years turning that experiment into a documented, teachable method used by builders, schools, farmers, and institutions.
He is designated an IICA Goodwill Ambassador in Sustainable Development.
Garden Pool, however, is more than one person. It is a body of method, a volunteer community, and an institutional record built by many hands.
Today
A renewal of the original mission
Garden Pool is being renewed around the purpose it started with: develop better ways to grow food, and help others do the same. The next chapter continues the work of designing, teaching, and sharing — with the same insistence on practicality that started in a Mesa backyard.