Growing in Dillon

Amy Bump is an MTCC AmeriCorps Summer Associate VISTA serving with the FoodCorps team in Dillon.

We have a short gardening season here at 5,100 feet elevation, and the UM Western Campus Community Garden looks a little rough at this stage, as weeds and bare ground are the most visible aspect of the garden.  Quack grass is our nemesis, a vigorous grass that spreads by underground rhizomes.  We’ve been battling the quack, digging it, sieving it out of the beds, bit by bit.  Our vegetable seeds are planted, and we’ve been setting out greenhouse-grown seedlings in protective tents called “Walls of Water.”  We’ve been improving the garden paths, lining them with the locally abundant cobblestones. 

           

This summer I am serving as an MTCC Summer Associate VISTA at the UM Western Campus Community Garden in my hometown of Dillon, Montana.  The UM Western Campus Community Garden is in its third year of operation, on a small piece of land overlooking the UM Western campus.  This summer we are hoping to reach out to more of the community and involve the public in programs at the garden.

So, we have been busy since the first of June ridding the garden of grass and weeds, planting the beds, landscaping, and preparing for a summer of exciting programs.  We are planning to host gardening workshops, a possible cooking class, kids’ camps, and a kids’ corner at the local farmer’s market.

We have a number of dedicated volunteers (students, faculty, community members, an MTCC VISTA, and a PRC Summer Associate) that help operate the garden.  Most of the produce that we grow this summer will go to the college dining facilities, and we are even considering putting an herb garden by the main entrance to the dining hall.

We are still working out the quirks, and there is always room for making the garden better.  Overall, the work is great.  I enjoy being outdoors and learning from new people, and I’m happy to work toward bettering the community where I grew up.  The seeds are planted…I can’t wait to see what the summer holds!

Summer Fun!

Anne McHale is an MTCC AmeriCorps VISTA serving with the FoodCorps team in Glendive.

With school out for the summer, the only way to garden with kids is to… find kids! Here in Glendive, summer options are limited for school aged kids and with an influx of families looking for energy- related work in the oilfields of Eastern Montana and Western North Dakota, childcare centers, the Boys and Girls Club, and preschools are pretty overwhelmed and thrilled to offer any programming we can put together.

Snacking on pomegranate seeds

 The MTCC Summer Associate, Allison, and I are excited about a full summer schedule that will include gardening and food classes three times per week at the Boys and Girls Club, gardens at two area preschools and two, two-week “Food Class” sessions with the Glendive Parks and Recreation Department.  With a great deal of creative license, we have WAY too many ideas to be practical, but luckily teaching kids about food is very conducive to quick, diverse lessons that incorporate physical movement, interactive learning and, of course, snacks.   

Testing radishes

My host site, Farm to Table, is also very conducive to teaching kids about food with a dry food packing facility (Western Trails Food), a local/organic/allergy sensitive food store, and a community garden in the works at a vacant downtown lot. Any one of these projects compliments the others and together they begin to paint a picture of the complexity our food system entails. 

Training peas

 Here are some of the lessons we have planned: stay tuned to hear how they go!

-   Planting

Sprouting pomegranate seeds

-  Garden planning
-   Identifying wild foods
-   Native food traditions
-   Cooking- pizza, sushi
-   Sprouting seeds
-   Planning a meal
-   Farm to Table Store scavenger hunt
-   Eating seasonally
-  Weeding
-   Harvesting
-   Composting
-   Farm Field Trips
-  Grain Elevator field trips

Summer Associate Reporting for Service: Day 1

Jordan Bryant is an MTCC AmeriCorps Summer Associate VISTA serving with the FoodCorps team in Somers, MT.

Ahh, the to-do list. Though the list itself takes on a different form for each of us, they seem to be one of those universal truths to which we all can relate.

Heading north out of Missoula to my summer work site I felt a bit like a blank sheet of paper, a pen hovering over my surface, about to start frantically numbering out that list.

Reporting to Somers Middle School for our first morning of service, we were given the formal introduction to our site. First stop on our tour were the raised beds that were constructed by last summer’s VISTA volunteers. The pen dropped and the list began…

                1. Weed raised beds

                2. Weedwhack grass in garden area

                3. Transplant garlic

Up next was the greenhouse.

                4. Identify plant starts

                5. Determine which plants would

                    need to be started from seed a 

                    second time

                6. Organize tools and clean workspace

The last stop on our introductory tour was the hydroponic shed, a new addition to the Somers Middle School food system.

                6. Clean and sterilize donated pumice

                7. Hang grow lights

                8. Add fresh water and minerals to the 

                   system

As our first day went on, the list grew. It filled a whole page and then spilled over onto a second. It had rained all day and we hoped out loud that the weather would improve so that we could get started in the garden. I left the first day feeling a little dizzy as I thought about all the work that had to be done.

The next morning the sky had cleared and the sun was shining off the Mission Mountains. The to-do list was just as long, and that second day it grew even longer, but with the sun on my face, I felt ready to take on the challenge.