
Wind River Grow Our Own 307 received funds from The Wyoming Hunger Initiative back in December of 2020. Those funds were used to build 100 garden boxes made from lumber purchased through local stores in Riverton, Wyoming.
Through additional donated funds, 50 more boxes were built by community volunteers. With a total of 150 garden boxes, the Grow Our Own organization plans to begin distributing garden boxes and garden supplies to the first 20 participants who have signed up beginning March 1, 2021.
The garden box distribution will continue throughout the month of March to those who have signed up. Serving on the Board for Wind River Grow Our Own 307, Jacqueline White, Northern Arapaho is grateful to also work for the Food Banks of the Rockies. Her passion is in helping to find ways to feed the people of the Wind River Reservation.
With Wind River Grow Our Own’s continued passions in gardening and ceremonial and medicinal plant revitalization, Co-Founder Darrah Perez-Good Voice Elk says, “Now is an important time to be involved with this important work….planting trees, growing food, building garden boxes, having greenhouses, and growing foods that can be taken as a medicine.”
Sharon Wagon is a member of the Eastern Shoshone Tribe. She is the mother of Wind River Grow Our Own 307 Co-Founder Darrah Perez-Good Voice Elk. Sharon works for the Eastern Shoshone Recovery Program in Fort Washakie. “Gardening has helped me to find peace in watching the flowers grow and the plants grow and also a place to free my mind by talking to the plants.” Sharon said, “I want to be more aware of what I eat in a way to help my health and to teach my grandchildren how to garden so they can be healthy.”
Healing through gardening
Connecting through gardening
Christy Black is one of the volunteers who recently built the garden boxes for Wind River Grow Our Own 307. She said, “I was able to teach my son a skill that he wants to continue. He wants to build garden boxes. Anyone can learn. We learned it from Grow Our Own. I am grateful to have had a moment with my son and glad that we both learned how to make garden boxes. Something he will remember.”
If you would like to donate to Wind River Grow Our Own 307 you may do so by clicking here: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=99L6EDQ5R5DQE&Z3JncnB0=