Rooted in Wyoming Incubator Garden and Fall Festival

The Incubator Garden at Rooted in Wyoming is growing well. David Johnson, Executive Director of Rooted in Wyoming, explains what the garden is.

Currently they are growing potatoes, tomatoes, cabbage, cucumbers, beets and other plants, on a quarter acre. Johnson said the whole property that they have to use is 19 acres. He would like to thank Dan Reinke who has collaborated with Rooted on the property, which was a hay field.

He talked about SCSD#2 with the Fifth Street Greenhouse, and their pilot production for hydroponic gardening which grew over 590 pounds of leafy greens, and they donated a great deal of the production to the food group and other groups in the area during the summer. “That turned out quite well,” Johnson said. It will be used in the school lunch program.

He talked about some of the ideas they have for the garden.

The garden produce is organically grown, weeding is done by hand, and they used companion plantings for insect control. Johnson said there are 20 raised beds, made by rolling out cardboard on the grass that has been mowed short, then adding soil and compost on top of the cardboard.

He said they are working with SCSD#2 to provide vegetables for their school food program. “We talked to Leslie Haberkern, food services manager, and she gave a list of ten crops she wanted us to grow.” These included potatoes, tomatoes, and carrots, crops that are easy for the cooks to prepare.

Ellie Martin, chairman of the Rooted in Wyoming board, has been with Rooted for six years. She and her daughter, Evelyn, were at the garden on Friday pulling weeds. She talked about the first year at the Bridges location.

Ian Cannon-Wallace, project and outreach coordinator, talked about the teaching garden which they built in June, and the upcoming festival and fundraiser they will have on Sept. 7.

Everyone is welcome to come to Bridges on Saturday, Sept. 7 to help the celebrate Rooted in Wyoming’s first year there.

For more information and tickets for the event, go to the website, Rooted in Wyoming