We are in our first year of establishing a demonstration garden in Idaho Springs, Colorado, which is at 7,500 feet above sea level and considered the “banana belt” of our county. The garden was formed by a cooperative relationship between Scraps to Soil (an established non-profit community garden organization) and the United Gathering Place (the UGP, a community center based in a circa 1900 home in the historic center of town).
Our goal is to help build a food culture in our community, generally considered a very difficult region to grow food due to altitude, unpredictable weather and geography. We will do this by providing an example of a production kitchen garden that is publicly accessible and provides opportunities for experiential learning. As well we will develop a seed bank, pushing plants to adapt to cool, short growing seasons and high altitude (low oxygen).
This blog is an extension of those efforts and we hope it will help you, in the city or the country, the mountains or the plains, to create a garden that allows you to live a healthy and sustainable lifestyle.
We are grateful for the support of the many local individuals, businesses, schools and churches that are helping to make our dream a reality.
Enjoy!