Last year, Jean Schwartz and Tory Elmore worked as Summer VISTAs on the Somers Middle School garden in Montana. During their term of service, they raised six beds, built a fence for the garden perimeter, built a treillis structure for the courtyard, and managed to produce about 400 pounds of food. Their experience is documented here. We, the volunteers for this summer, have a head start thanks to their hard work. Our goal is to make the garden a sustainable year long facility. This blog will serve as our journal. But who be we, the hardy workers this summer? Well...
Jordan Bryant graduated this spring with a Master's of Science in Human Nutrition & Foods from West Virginia University. She is interested in learning more about farm-to-school programs and local food systems in rural Montana.
Katie Looney is a rising sophomore at New York University where she is majoring in Drama. She is fascinated by how geography influences culture and is excited to improve the health of Somers middle schoolers through sustainable agriculture.
While we are both Americorps Summer VISTAs (Volunteers In Service To America), Jordan is employed through Montana Campus Compact and Katie is employed through the Montana Prevention Resource Center. Because of this, Jordan's focus is on education while Katie's is on health, empowering them as co-workers to evolve the garden into a classroom that can be used even if it isn't growing season (which is quite short in Montana!) and a producer of local healthy organic food that will enrich Somers MIddle School's food service all year long.
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