Rolling Garden

Many Indigenous communities of Utah are located in what is considered a food desert. Within these food deserts, access to fresh produce is either unavailable or too expensive. Development of community gardens in these areas both on and off reservations would provide tribal members access to fresh produce and create an immediate solution to accessing healthy food options and establish sustainability. The Rolling Gardens is a fully equipped van with tools, seedlings, and educational tools to develop these gardens and offer ways to maintain them.

1. For many residents of Indigenous communities, long commutes to border towns are the only way to access grocery stores including fresh produce. For many, these one to two hour drives are made more than once in a week and groceries including vegetables and fruits are costly to lower income families. Not having accessible food sources locally limits food options drastically and the result is evident in the number of cases of diabetes, kidney disease, and other health ailments. 

2. Creating a food garden can be difficult and even overwhelming without the proper tools and guidance to create a solid foundation. Oftentimes the idea of maintaining a garden is overlooked as it requires experience in soil rejuvenation, planting systems, irrigation solutions, and seed storage. The manual labor, knowledge and cost to launch a community garden without the proper resources are all factors that have prevented many Indigenous communities from creating their own gardens. 

3. The establishment of Community gardens in Indigenous Communities will increase food security and sustainability while improving the health of Indigenous people.
   

   
   

Rolling Garden takes a comprehensive approach to improving food quality and creating sustainability Indigenous Communities. The program includes the establishment of community gardens, community composting, community kitchens, and promotes the transfer of intergenerational knowledge. 

The Rolling Garden will be created from a cargo van converted into a greenhouse by installing a large window on one side of the vehicle and wooden shelving on the other.  A solar-powered heating unit will also be installed. These alterations will create the ideal environment to foster the growth of starter plants that will be used to establish new community gardens. 

The mobile greenhouse will be a tool for community outreach and education. It will be used to engage the public in conversations about the environment and food sustainability. 

Community gardens and subsidiary projects that are led by our Community Partners and supported by SLC Air Protectors. SLC Air Protectors currently partners with the Goshutes Tribe for project delivery and would like to expand its services to the Ute, Paiute, Shoshone and Navajo. 

Our target population includes all Indigenous communities in Utah. Many Indigenous communities are located in food deserts and best described as geographically isolated from shopping amenities, making food inaccessible. Additionally, employment opportunities within Indigenous communities are limited, and those that do exist are often low paying resulting in increased levels of poverty. Individuals who live in poverty are more likely to experience poor nutrition and hunger. 

The Indigenous Food Movement and The Rolling Garden will make fresh produce accessible to residents and allow them to direct their financial resources to other priorities such as medicines, clothing and utilities. 

Rolling Garden takes a holistic approach to promote food sovereignty. The program supports and promotes the right and responsibility of Indigenous People to be stewards of the land while establishing systems to grow, preserve, and distribute healthy food within Indigenous communities.  

Rolling Garden will be a tool that produces starter plants for community gardens. It will also be an educational tool that demonstrates chemical-free food production. The presence of the Rolling Garden will engage community members in conversations that raise awareness about environmental issues and Indigenous Food Systems.  These conversations will challenge the public to make changes in their homes, workplaces, and neighborhoods that will positively impact the health and wellness of Indigenous people.  Rolling Garden will establish a presence at events such as pow-wows, Conferences and other cultural events. It will also be available for interactive classroom presentations.  

Rolling Garden is designed to strengthen community food options and support traditional values such as intergenerational knowledge transfer. We believe that by engaging youth and elders, we can reinforce indigenous language skills and provide a venue for youth to understand our food sources, while developing self-discipline. We anticipate that youth will develop a love for gardening. We believe that as they enter adulthood, they will begin cultivating gardens in their own homes to sustain their families and that this practice will be passed down for generations to come.

The converted cargo van will continue to operate on unleaded fuel at this time. The mobile greenhouse will host a solar-powered light system to facilitate conversations about renewable energy and rain water harvesting to help water the starter plants. 

We are adapting a model created by Compass Green. Compass Green converted a box-truck into a mobile greenhouse that hosts a miniature sustainable farm used to educate the public about sustainable farming solutions. The box truck conversion has operated as a mobile greenhouse for five years and has provided a venue for plant cultivation and education. A link to a Youtube video featuring Compass Greens mobile greenhouse is included under "additional video content."

Rolling Garden has been developed on traditional values that support the collective of Indigenous communities. The project takes a holistic approach to serve, support and engage communities in small scale sustainable farming practices in forms of gardening. While the project is reliant upon support from the community, the long term success of our venture is dependent upon successfully engaging youth and elders.

Theory of change: 

Activities: 

1) Transport starter plants and seedlings to Indigenous People to begin planting their very own gardens.

2) Provide training and resource guides such as how to build your very own garden, how to care for it, how to expand it, and more.

3) Outreach to chapter houses and reservation schools to teach about Indigenous Food Systems and the importance of food sovereignty. 

Outputs: 

1) Indian Country has needs for Indigenous Food Systems, Rolling Gardens is a mobile Indigenous Food System.

2) A tangible solution for engaging Indigenous peoples health and wellness.

3) Communities have an easier time starting garden because they are being brought into the community half grown.

4) Plants/small gardens will have a greater chance of growth because they are being installed close to homes and near schools.

Short Term Outcomes: 

1) Immediate access to healthy alternative food options.

2) Introduction of traditional growing tactics that are native to the area and will help restore traditional knowledge.   

3) Rolling Garden becomes a transport unit for healthy food options on the Navajo Nation.

4) Rolling Garden building 20 gardens within four months within the Navajo Nation.

 Long Term Outcomes: 

1. Tribal communities within Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico form a support system with Rolling Gardens to be the number one Garden Starter in their communities.  

2. The chance to expand and have multiple vans rolling through the reservations and offering employment to Indigenous People.

3. Planting the seeds of change and restoring Indigenous Food Systems within each community we visit.

4. An increase to healthy food options  for Tribal communities and Indigenous People in the States of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona 

5. Indigenous People moving towards food security and becoming more self sufficient.  

Our initial partnership with the Goshutes allows us to create food security for a total of 539 people. We are working to establish community partnerships with the Ute, Paiute, Shoshone and Navajo for the 2020 growing season, and we will begin establishing partnerships for the 2021 growing season. By the end of 2025, we look forward to having partnership agreements for service delivery within the borders of every reservation in Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona. We anticipate that Nations with large landmasses and populations, such as the Navajo, may require multiple Rolling Garden Vans operating within their communities.  

• To promote the establishment of gardens in rural Indigenous communities

• To promote food sustainability and sovereignty within rural and Indigenous communities

• To ensure residents of rural Indigenous communities have access to fresh produce and a balanced and healthy diet

• To produce food utilizing ecologically sound practices

• To ensure community residents know how to prepare healthy, well-balanced meals utilizing food grown in their community's Garden.

• To reinforce and strengthen local communities

• To ensure all Community Gardens are community-led initiatives

• Establish community partnerships with the  Ute, Paiute, Shoshone, Navajo Nation

• To celebrate Indigenous culture while reinforcing and responsibility of Indigenous people to be stewards of the land

• To build the capacity of Indigenous people to preserve food stores for winter months

The most significant barriers facing Rolling Garden in achieving our goals is financial. Financial restriction limits our ability to purchase equipment required to support the community to which we wish to serve. Currently, we need equipment such as shovels, hoes, wheelbarrows, starter plants, travel, etc. There is a need for this equipment on-site for planting purposes. 

Growing gardens from seed can take a significant amount of growing time. Cultivating starter plants within the Rolling Garden will speed up production and maximize the yield produced in each Garden. The conversion of the cargo van into a mobile greenhouse will be a critical component of program delivery,  but it's conversion and operation also comes at a cost. A shortage of financial resources is a significant barrier in completing the conversion. 

SLC Air protectors have had significant success in accessing grants and hosting crowdfunding campaigns. We also benefit from private donations. We will continue to seek financial support through these avenues. We will also explore the possibility of generating revenue through membership fees. 

We currently have four people working on this solution.   

SLC Air Protectors are well-positioned to deliver this solution because:

• We are an Indigenous-led organization

• We are familiar with Indigenous culture, values, traditions and protocols

• We are connected to and part of our target population

• We are passionate about food sovereignty

• We are passionate about empowering Indigenous people to reclaim their power through food

• We have already successfully established a partnership with the Goshute Tribe

• We are committed to driving change.

We currently have a partnership with the Goshutes Tribal Council. The Goshutes have two greenhouses designated to host a community garden. The first greenhouse is 24x48 feet, and the second is 24x84 feet. In 2020 the Air Protectors provided starter plants and labor to prepare for facilities for the growing season. The SLC Air Protectors will continue to provide support to the community garden on a needed basis. Additionally, an adjacent field is available to expand the garden.  Although the field garden will not operate in 2020, the Goshutes and SLC Air Protectors intend to expand this project to include the field.

Additionally, the Air Protectors are working in conjunction with the Goshutes to develop and test subsidiary programming. All programming that is developed in conjunction with the Goshutes will be made available for implementation in other Indigenous communities. 

The Goshutes community garden will be our "flagship learn site," and a model for all other communities to learn from.