Substance Abuse
Touch The Earth Gardening Project
To many American Indians gardening is not only physically, mentally and spiritually healing and healthy, it is also considered as a relatively traditional form of Native lifestyle. As a therapeutically beneficial project to our American Indian population, Northern Valley Indian Health, Inc. is continuing on with the garden and landscaping project on their corner lot. This project is not only therapeutically beneficial to our American Indian population it will, also, be aesthetically pleasing to the eye and a pleasant addition to the surrounding neighborhood. The project is designed and landscaped to be balanced, colorful, and peaceful. It includes vegetables, ornamentals, flowers, fruit, and herbs. This garden provides an integrated platform of physical, mental, and spiritual wellness through gardening for the elders, children, and adults of our Native population.
We have designed into the project a theme of ornamental beauty. At least one of the beds will be dedicated as an herb bed and hopefully many beautiful as well as fragrant and useful plants may grow the year ’round there. This year we are turning three of the beds into permanent plantings of artichokes and asparagus. A certain amount of space will be reserved by the project coordinator to grow a general variety of vegetables to be given away to those who are unable to come and participate with us.
This garden is not only peaceful and pleasing to us. It will, also, supplement the canned and dried food provided under the USDA Food Commodities Distribution program. Here, we have created and maintained a small community garden project and we can share with each other our knowledge and skills in beginning to advanced gardening practices. This project increases our local food production, improves the quality of food consumed and promotes self-sufficiency. Additionally, the garden program promotes traditional values encouraging a direct relationship between the people and the earth by advocating families to use not only our project, but, their own land as well to grow food.
This spring will be the fourth year running for this garden. This winter has been our first winter planting. Although it is a small garden we are dedicated to giving the harvest away to Indian people in our community and anyone else we might be able to share with. It has been my great pleasure to serve in this worthwhile endeavor and hope to continue to serve for many years to come.
If you have an interest in starting a garden project of your own or if you just have any questions, please, feel free to contact the project coordinator at the Willows clinic. Thank You.
Billy Mitchell, CSAC II. (530) 934-4348 extension 1267.
