Tribal community gardens beginning to bear fruit

By B.L. Azure

The tribal community gardens are beginning to bear veggies. The four tribal community gardens located in Arlee, St. Ignatius, Pablo and Elmo provide fresh vegetables for senior citizens meals. (B.L. Azure photo)

PABLO — The four tribal community gardens on the Flathead Indian Reservation that are a part of the Field Home Community Garden Project are beginning to produce veggies.

The gardens are located in Pablo on the Salish Kootenai College campus, in Elmo behind the community center, in St. Ignatius next to the Commodity Store and in Arlee near the Indian Senior Citizens Center. The main goals of the project are to promote healthy diets and physical fitness.

The gardens grow produce that will be distributed to people who are eligible to receive commodities through the Food Distribution Program and people served by other low-income programs such as WIC program (Women, Infants and Children). Produce will also be provided to the tribal senior citizen centers for meals in the four communities.

Michael Pierre, director of the Kerr Elderly Program at DHRD said two of the gardens - Arlee and St. Ignatius - got off to a late start due to late arrival of funding and the cool, wet and sometimes snowy spring weather. However, they are producing vegetables now albeit not as many varieties as the gardens in Elmo and Pablo.

“The community garden in Pablo is going good and so is the one in Elmo,” said Patrick Murphy, DHRD community garden coordinator. Murphy, a former Americorps volunteer for the SKC Farm to College Program, was hired this spring to oversee the gardens from tilling to harvest. “We got a late start in St. Ignatius and Arlee but they are coming along well now.”

Planted in the various tribal community gardens are tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, corn, squash, Swiss chard, onions, kale, eggplant, cucumbers, beets, lettuce, radishes and potatoes.

A USDA Nutrition Education Grant Program to the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations funds the project.

The grant project is currently soliciting recipes that will be a part of an 18-month calendar. It will contain the recipes, events and other nutritional information.

For more information, contact Michael Pierre at 675-2700, ext. 1063 or Patrick Murphy at 275-4941 or farm2college@skc.edu