Summit Community Gardens and EATS connect Summit County residents, and especially kids to what it really means to live in the Central Wasatch. For the second consecutive year, they have been awarded a grant through CWC's short-term grant program for their environmental education program where they connect kids to the process of growing food in rocky clayey soil at more than 6,600 feet above sea level.   The result? The next generation of Central Wasatch stewards with a deep knowledge of soil health, weather, climate, native vegetation, firewise planting, and how to grow things in the Central Wasatch. It's undeniable that increased local knowledge results in care for place. When people care for the place where they live, as Wallace Stegner once told us, they tend to stick around. And there's almost nothing more beneficial to the Central Wasatch--or any place--than a population who is invested and therefore wants to stay, through thick and thin.  

We met Summit Community Gardens' Executive Director Helen Nadel at the garden and she walked us through bee-laden flowers, collaborative areas where kids were harvesting sugar snap peas, the La Milpa plot, and even her own garden plot. Come take a walk with us and learn how the Central Wasatch is benefiting--now and in the future--from the short-term grant Summit Community Gardens received from the CWC.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to the Central Wasatch Commission

02:48 The Mountain Accord and Environmental Stewardship

05:55 Summit Community Gardens: A Community Hub

09:05 Connecting Kids to Food and Agriculture

11:53 Adapting to High Elevation Gardening

14:38 Soil Health and Sustainable Practices

17:25 Education and Community Engagement

20:26 Conclusion and Future Directions

Mountain Accord

Short-Term Projects Grant Program

Summit Community Gardens & EATS