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Vote to Bring a New Fruit Orchard
to the Santa Fe Indian School
your vote really will count!
Vote before July 31st
One Island has a sister program alliance with the Santa Fe Indian School - a high school serving Pueblo tribal youth in Northern New Mexico. We are voting every day to help them win a much needed fruit orchard grant as a step towards learning about self-sufficiency in their high desert setting.
Please help us help these greatly deserving students to add a fruit orchard to their garden and green house program. Our partner there, Mark Ericson, is an innovative science educator, always leading the way from GIS mapping to school gardening. We've done online exchanges with his students and hosted teacher trainings in Santa Fe.
How to Vote: Please go to Communities Take Root and scroll down to the map. There is a yellow fruit icon in Northern New Mexico that you can click on to read about the School's programs. Open the box about the school, and then click on VOTE for this LOCATION. You can do an easy log in to then cast your vote.
The competition for this orchard grant is heating up and they've sent a call our for our help. Let's help these native students enjoy the bounty of a fruit orchard as a step towards reclaiming their local food system.
VOTE Today at Communities Taking Root
WHY THEY NEED YOUR HELP: In establishing the orchard as a part of the Santa Fe Indian School (SFIS) community garden and greenhouse / outdoor classroom project, the school will illustrate both the traditional and current importance of a balanced, local, food system and its impact on learning. The act of planting and caring for the fruit trees will bring the community together and the harvested fruit will benefit the health of Native youth for generations to come. Because SFIS serves many different Native Communities, many community members visit the school for various activities.
The school agriscience program, greenhouse, and developing farmer's market have become increasingly important in establishing agriculture in the curriculum. In addition, an orchard would provide fresh fruit for the healthy living culinary arts classes, which work with the school's cafeteria food program, and allow students to learn different methods of fruit preparation and preservation.
Another important aspect is that the soil at the site, which is compacted construction soil, represents many sites in the pueblo communities and its conversion to a productive orchard is an important learning opportunity for students and community members. With its growing community based agriculture relationships, in which students help and learn alongside community members in the pueblos, and including the post-secondary Institute for American Indian Arts, a community orchard at SFIS would impact thousands.
Green is a Verb - Let's do it together -
all the way to Santa Fe!
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