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Published: 19 June 2019 19 June 2019

NAMBÉ PUEBLO – In rural New Mexico, access to grocery stores for fresh fruits and vegetables usually requires traveling a distance.

jonathan alire planting seeds 060819 Jonathan Alire plants seeds in the Nambé Pueblo community garden. Alire is an employee of the Eight Northern Indian Pueblo Council's U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations. (NMSU photo by Jane Moorman)Several government agencies, including New Mexico State University’s Cooperative Extension Service, are collaborating with northern New Mexico pueblos to improve food access and healthy lifestyle awareness by helping to develop community gardens and providing nutrition education.

The Eight Northern Indian Pueblo Council is addressing limited food access by managing the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations, an alternative to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. 

“The program is an alternative to SNAP with a healthier choice of USDA approved items for Native American tribes, and others who live on pueblo land, who do not have easy access to SNAP offices or authorized food stores,” said Wayne Martinez, interim director of the FDPIR program for ENIPC, which includes Taos, Picuris, Santa Clara, Ohkay Owingeh, San Ildefonso, Nambé, Pojoaque and Tesuque pueblos. 

diandra media and wayne martinez 060819Diandra Media and Wayne Martinez prepare the Nambé Pueblo community garden soil for a tomato plant. Martinez is the interim director of the Eight Northern Indian Pueblo Council's U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Distribution Program for Indian Reservations that is cultivating a community garden in Nambé Pueblo. The community garden is a collaboration with New Mexico State University's Cooperative Extension Service and Ideas for Cooking, and the New Mexico Department of Health's Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities program. (NMSU photo by Jane Moorman)The ENIPC-FDPIR program serves approximately 1,400 income-eligible people on pueblo land within the boundaries of Santa Fe, Rio Arriba and Taos counties. 

Eligible participants may either receive healthy food items at the ENIPC food distribution warehouse in Nambé, or visit “tailgate sites” once a month at each of the eight pueblos. 

“We are the largest FDPIR site in New Mexico,” Martinez said. “Our warehouse is like a grocery store where participants may select a wide variety of foods, including fresh eggs and produce to help maintain a nutritionally balanced diet.”

nambe pueblo community garden teaching 050819Sally Cassady, food system specialist with New Mexico State University, talks to Isaiah Sanchez and Nick Dominguez about planting seeds in the Nambé Pueblo community garden. (NMSU photo by Jane Moorman)Once a month, while participants pick up food items at the warehouse, an NMSU Ideas for Cooking and Nutrition educator demonstrates how to prepare healthier meals using FDPIR foods. 

“I prepare a recipe that contains FDPIR produce for participants to taste,” said Renée Zisman from the Santa Fe County CES office. “I provide recipe handouts and talk about how to incorporate more vegetables into meals.” To supplement the vegetables provided through the FDPIR program, pueblos are being encouraged to have community gardens.

A garden is being cultivated at ENIPC’s food distribution site in Nambé Pueblo, with the collaboration of Tom Dominguez, NMSU’s Extension agricultural agent in Santa Fe County; Sally Cassady, NMSU’s ICAN food system specialist; Siobhan Hancock, SNAP-Ed program manager with Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities at the New Mexico Department of Health; and Martinez.

“Because fresh vegetables and fruits spoil, it’s hard to provide produce to our clients,” Martinez said. “By teaching our participants how to cultivate their own garden, they can have fresh produce right out of their garden.”

The community garden is also an opportunity to bring people together to learn how to plant a home garden. Cassady will facilitate gardening education on soil preparation, planting seeds, and weed and pest control during the summer months. 

“Community and home gardens are a way for people to improve access to fresh vegetables and fruits,” Cassady said.

Community, school and office gardens have been established at other pueblos including Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo and Pueblo de San Ildefonso through the Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities program in New Mexico’s Department of Health. 

“Promoting gardens increases opportunities for healthy eating and physical activity,” Hancock said. “Besides it’s fun.”