Progress 08/01/06 to 07/31/11
Outputs
The Blackfeet Community College (BCC) Extension Program has successfully managed to meet all facilities and project goals during the course of their four funded grant years. The BCC Extension Program has demonstrated visible growth in areas of grant targeted research, plant development and infrastructure in addition to increased public participation. The BCC in partnership with United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Montana State University (MSU) and the Blackfeet Tribe have worked for the last four years in Native Plant Horticulture development in areas of horticultural education, restoration, training and curriculum building capacities while teaching families to raise organic gardens on the Blackfeet Reservation. The project funded by the USDA for the past four years have been not only been productive but rewarding with many positive outcomes. The federal, tribal partnership and community, partnerships have all come together to make these last four years successful and productive for the BCC Extension Program. The BCC Program has experienced significant growth in a program that has grown from one greenhouse building with a few plants to a community greenhouse to having a fully operational shade house, compost and worm farm active with many community members, students, volunteers and tribal health programs participating. The program is without question a model horticultural tribal operation for other tribes and USDA grant State funded programs. Successful grant implementation was achieved by the BCC Extension Program staff under the leadership of the Program Director and Greenhouse technician who coordinated students and volunteers in achieving program goals and objectives PRODUCTS: To date after four years of operation, 48 family gardens were established in all seven listed communities on the Blackfeet Reservation with various garden vegetables and native plants restoration efforts implemented for by volunteer families and staff. The annual BCC Family Garden and Raised Bed Systems Conference scheduled for four consecutive years was a sucess. Annual conferences and hosted workshops on gardening and raised bed systems showed increased attendance with communities and tribal department participation in past four years the BCC Extension Program has recruited many volunteers and families that have share caretaking duties of the family gardens. Project goals were met and demonstrated by established tribal organization partnerships who played a critical roles in the success of this past years efforts. Annual workshops with community meetings were completed with the seven communities invited. Continued research and development of native plants are ongoing with propagated plants replanted back in their traditional habitat. Three students worked with program director and assistant director in garden in greenhouse propagation projects. Overall goals were accomplished in the workshop and community areas due the spearheading of the BCC Extension Program and the Blackfeet Tribal Healthy Hearts partnership. A total of 6 community meetings and cooperative partnerships meeting have taken place throughout the year. Outreach was proven by successful recorded attendance of community meetings that served to educate and teach and recruit families for the Family Garden projects. The Family Garden Project is successful due to the number of garden plants starts produced by the BCC greenhouse. The compost project continues to thrive with full bins that are producing fertilizer for the greenhouse plants. Starts of all types of vegetables have been growing since early spring; starters for the community gardens hindered by the short growing season. OUTCOMES: Based on the community meetings held each year on family gardens, compost methods, worm bins, traditional and medicinal plants, the majority of the people on the reservation have been exposed to horticulture and gardening. With the involvement of several tribal programs, this has increased participation by community members who are interested in gardens and traditional plants of the Blackfeet. Students have been key participants and volunteers for the BCC greenhouse. An emphasis has been put on those students that are majoring in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences. The compost project located BCC has been established and relocated to the new BCC greenhouse location on BCC property. The Heart Butte community has been receptive to the BCC gardening project and has donated over ten acres for a composting. Efforts to gather discarded food from the Public Schools has been successful with the Public schools being very supportive of the BCC Extension Program projects. Family gardens have been planted in each of the seven communities with selected families tending the gardens. BCC plant starts have been transplanted in each of the seven gardens and are thriving. Restoration efforts are continuing with BCC Extension Program with the BCC experimenting with several types pine trees and wild plants. Summer site visits have concluded that there are a number of vegetable starts ready for transplant. This years family garden project team and volunteers have again surpassed their goal of planting twelve gardens in 7 communities by doubling their output in gardens planted. This year's grant achieved the objectives for wellness through proper nutrition by growing gardens with active involvement. It was clear the propagation of all the garden vegetable starts were immensely valuable to the success of this project. The starts grown in the BCC greenhouse have resulted in giving the gardens a healthy head start evident by the robust vegetables, a process crucial due to the short growing season. The output of horticultural information from the BCC Extension Program is one that has attracted many types of audiences both locally and rurally. With a horticultural curriculum developed by the BCC and the Extension Agent scheduled in the fall and spring, winter semesters people are being taught the value to gardening, composting and healthy diets. DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES: 32 family gardens developed and planted in 7 communities with various garden vegetables and native plants cared for by volunteer families and staff compared to 31 gardens last year. The green house grows flowers and native plants. The BCC Extension Program remains optimistic for marketing to increase revenue to subsidize extra expenses. Identification and research of newer families with diabetes, heart disease and obesity; gives statistical analysis for future funding. Family Garden and Raised Bed Systems Conferences conducted and hosted workshops on gardening and raised bed systems showed increased interest and attendance. Emphasizes of eating healthy and exercise has been accomplished thru the initiative of the Family Gardens and Healthy Hearts Program to assist with family gardens, using an effective learning process of preserving by canning or freezing to educate and train interested people. The BCC Extension Program has established a learning forum with several local schools to help coordinate field trips and schedule hands on learning. Research and gathering of traditional foods are ongoing and incorporated into packaging serve as a tool to educate and train the communities on traditional foods and forms of gathering has been developed into curriculum. Coalition made up of several tribal entities to help further coordinate and promote activities and assist in program development has been established. Overall BCC Extension Program outcomes was analyzed in the areas of feasibility and sustainability. As stated, grant project goals were successful in areas of anticipated timelines and milestones because of the staff, tribal partnerships and volunteers' willingness of participation to complete projects. Project sustainability based on the ability of the project to continue beyond the funding period and leveraging new funds. Reports shows the program projects could continue beyond the grant period. Approximately half of the program projects are volunteers to help offset costs and to help generate community involvement for future funding such as foundation grants, user fees, in-kind donations and tribal/government funding. Feasibility was evaluated using two criteria's 1) the ability of grantees to meet their proposed timelines and milestones and 2) the adequacy of a proposed budget. The majority of the grant met all of their proposed implementation timelines/milestones and followed their proposed work plans. This years program has met their proposed budget and extra special provisions were again made by having volunteers to offset any extra costs that may have evolved through community gardens set up. Although the grant met their proposed budget it is known that additional funding will be requested to offer incentives for future community involvements. Additional resources might be achieved through other grant investments and in-kind resources. Innovation and Replica. The majority of the projects were innovative, such as the style of gardens produced and how they were designed and implemented FUTURE INITIATIVES: Implement a visibility plan for community diverse and special needs populations. A visibility plan to increase awareness about the activities within communities grant program for tribal diverse communities and special needs populations would enable more participation from communities and for an uncalculated range of needs. Foster a learning community. There are numerous ways the BCC staff could facilitate activities to bring communities together for greater peer support and program improvement. Examples include convening meetings with affinity groups within the overall grant program, providing online bulletins relating to funding opportunities and technical assistance, and enriching the grant program's educational profiles and success stories; one of shared vision, creativity, innovation and mutual support. Create of a consortium of organizations interested in finding funding. Such a consortium could bring the necessary flexibility and the potential to leverage funding for the planning, technical assistance, training, evaluation and convening activities necessary for widespread, integrated and effective deployment. A committee established by the Extension could be charged with researching and establishing relationships with local, regional and national institutions interested in plants and gardens-related grant making within the this area. Facilitate a range of technical assistance, including assistance with the application process, project planning, evaluation, training and reporting. Clearly, additional funding for supporting factors outside the scope of the Community Program would contribute to project success. Examples of evaluation assistance that would help grants to improve their projects include support with: identifying and prioritizing measurable outcomes; designing and conducting realistic, cost effective evaluation plans; locating evaluation expertise, and reporting evaluation results. In addition, standardizing information gathering tools across all projects would assist BCC staff in aggregating information about best practices and lessons learned. Additional customization would require development time and ongoing BCC staff support. An emerging area for exploration is the potential for the grant program to seed activities that would bring public technologists, infrastructure providers and agencies involved in public service delivery together to work on small projects that benefit the region. In doing so they would also be creating a basis for working jointly to address larger, longer-term, boundary spanning community needs. Streamline the grant program's reporting requirements and the reporting process. Streamlining the reporting process is to prioritize success indicators with key stakeholders. An online reporting process could be developed to provide program with accessible, organized and simplified reporting tools and processes. The online system could also be used by staff to monitor project activity and to sort and aggregate the collected data across projects.
Impacts
The USDA BCC Extension Program continues to flourish and expand with measurable success and is a known source of pride for the BCC and the community it serves. The BCC greenhouse Extension Program has developed into a neat, tidy and efficient program demonstrated by correspondence, conference, curriculum and a greenhouse full of various plants and vegetables. The BCC extension staff continues to excel in green house, indoor nursery, seed bank, and stratifying and propagation techniques in addition to developing outdoor gardens, worm bins, compost piles and shade houses. As a benefit of BCC staffs experience horticulture, the community has benefitted. Horticultural education and awareness and traditional plant education has been taught to students, teachers, citizens, special needs populations and community groups. The program continues to promote the ecosystem recovery by restoration and educational curriculum of native plants. In one comment by a student who participated stated that his family over the years has attended traditional plant class put on the BCC who felt that he and his family gained enough understanding of plants to have confidence needed in order to use them for food and medicine. In summery, this individual believed that his family was herbalists and was thankful for the courses. Another student stated that he was thankful for the understanding that in learning what plants were safe to eat and what plants were used for medicine.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
|
Progress 08/01/08 to 07/31/09
Outputs
The Blackfeet Community College (BCC) Extension Program has successfully managed to meet all facilities and project goals during the course of this year. The BCC Extension Program has demonstrated visible growth in areas of research, plant development and infrastructure in addition to public participation. The BCC in cooperation with United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Montana State University (MSU) and the Blackfeet Tribe have worked for the last four years in Plant Horticulture in areas of education, training and curriculum building capacities while teaching families to raise organic gardens on the Blackfeet Reservation. The project funded by the USDA for the past four years have been not only been productive but rewarding with many positive outcomes. The agency partnerships, community, public and volunteers have all come together to make these last four years successful and productive for BCC Extension Program. The BCC Program has grown from one greenhouse building with a few plants to a community greenhouse having a operational shade house, compost and worm farm active with many supportive community members, students, volunteers and tribal health programs. The program is a model greenhouse operation and should set the example to other tribes and USDA grant State funded programs. The BCC Extension Program staff under the leadership of the Program Director and Greenhouse technician have worked diligently in coordinating students and volunteers in achieving these program goals and objectives. PRODUCTS: To date 42 family gardens were tilled and planted in 7 communities on the Blackfeet with Agency partnership, volunteer and student assistance. Reservation with various garden vegetables planted by BCC Extension Program Staff, Blackfeet Tribal Program, Healthy Hearts staff and volunteers. The relocated compost operation established for fertilizer production is producing fertilizer for the family gardens and the greenhouse at 2 yards per month. The annual BCC Family Garden and Raised Bed Systems Conference scheduled for four consecutive years has been completed. Annual conferences and hosted workshops on gardening and raised bed systems showed good attendance with communities and tribal department participation. The BCC Extension Program with the Global Volunteers of America and families to share caretaking duties of the family gardens this year. Two annual workshops with community meetings were completed with the seven communities invited. Continued research and development of native plants are ongoing with propagated plants replanted back in their traditional habitat. Three students worked with program director and assistant director in garden in greenhouse propagation projects. Overall goals were accomplished in the workshop and community areas due to the commitment of the BCC Extension Program and the Blackfeet Tribal Healthy Hearts partnership. A total of 6 community meetings and cooperative partnerships meeting have taken place throughout the year. Outreach was proven by successful recorded attendance of community meetings that served to educate and teach and recruit families for the Family Garden projects. The Family Garden Project is successful due to the number of garden plants starts produced by the BCC greenhouse. The compost project continues to thrive with full bins that are producing fertilizer for the greenhouse plants. Starts of all types of vegetables have been growing since early spring; starters for the community gardens hindered by the short growing season. OUTCOMES: Based on notes and records of; community meetings, family gardens, compost methods, worm bins, traditional and medicinal plants, hundreds of people both tribal and non members have been educated in horticulture. With the involvement of several tribal programs, the BCC Extension Program has seen an increase in community members who are interested in gardens and traditional plants of the Blackfeet. Students have been key participants and volunteers for the BCC greenhouse operation. An emphasis has been put on those students that are majoring in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences. The compost project located BCC has been established and relocated to the new BCC greenhouse location on BCC property. The Heart Butte community has been receptive to the BCC gardening project and has donated over ten acres for a composting. Efforts to gather discarded food from the Public Schools has been successful with the Public schools being very supportive of the BCC Extension Program projects. Family gardens have been planted in each of the seven communities with selected families tending the gardens. BCC plant starts have been transplanted in each of the seven gardens and are thriving. Restoration efforts are continuing with BCC Extension Program with the BCC experimenting with several types pine trees and wild plants. Summer site visits have concluded that there are a number of vegetable starts ready for transplant. This years family garden project team and volunteers have again surpassed their goal of planting twelve gardens in 7 communities by doubling their output in gardens planted. This year's grant achieved the objectives for wellness through proper nutrition by growing gardens with active involvement. It was clear the propagation of all the garden vegetable starts were immensely valuable to the success of this project. The starts grown in the BCC greenhouse have resulted in giving the gardens a healthy head start evident by the robust vegetables, a process crucial due to the short growing season. The output of horticultural information from the BCC Extension Program is one that has attracted many types of audiences both locally and rurally. With a horticultural curriculum developed by the BCC and the Extension Agent scheduled in the fall and spring, winter semesters people are being taught the value to gardening, composting and healthy diets. DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES: 32 family gardens developed and planted in 7 communities with various garden vegetables and native plants cared for by volunteer families and staff compared to 31 gardens last year. The green house grows flowers that are sold to the public that assist in subsidizing the operation. The BCC Extension Program remains optimistic for expansion to increase further increase marketing to subsidize expenses. Identification and research of newer families with diabetes, heart disease and obesity; gives statistical analysis for future funding. Family Garden and Raised Bed Systems Conferences conducted and hosted workshops on gardening and raised bed systems showed increased interest and attendance. Emphasizes of eating healthy and exercise has been accomplished thru the initiative of the Family Gardens and Healthy Hearts Program to assist with family gardens, using an effective learning process of preserving by canning or freezing to educate and train interested people. The BCC Extension Program has established a learning forum with several local schools to help coordinate field trips and schedule hands on learning. Research and gathering of traditional foods are ongoing and incorporated into packaging serve as a tool to educate and train the communities on traditional foods and forms of gathering has been developed into curriculum. Coalition made up of several tribal entities to help further coordinate and promote activities and assist in program development has been established. Overall BCC Extension Program outcomes was analyzed in the areas of feasibility and sustainability. As stated, grant project goals were successful in areas of anticipated timelines and milestones because of the staff, tribal partnerships and volunteers' willingness of participation to complete projects. Project sustainability based on the ability of the project to continue beyond the funding period and leveraging new funds. Reports shows the program projects could continue beyond the grant period. Approximately half of the program projects are volunteers to help offset costs and to help generate community involvement for future funding such as foundation grants, user fees, in-kind donations and tribal/government funding. Feasibility was evaluated using two criteria's 1) the ability of grantees to meet their proposed timelines and milestones and 2) the adequacy of a proposed budget. The majority of the grant met all of their proposed implementation timelines/milestones and followed their proposed work plans. This years program has met their proposed budget and extra special provisions were again made by having volunteers to offset any extra costs that may have evolved through community gardens set up. Although the grant met their proposed budget it is known that additional funding will be requested to offer incentives for future community involvements. Additional resources might be achieved through other grant investments and in-kind resources. Innovation and Replica. The majority of the projects were innovative, such as the style of gardens produced and how they were designed and implemented. FUTURE INITIATIVES: Implement a visibility plan for community diverse and special needs populations. A visibility plan to increase awareness about the activities within communities grant program for tribal diverse communities and special needs populations would enable more participation from communities and for an uncalculated range of needs. Foster a learning community. There are numerous ways the BCC staff could facilitate activities to bring communities together for greater peer support and program improvement. Examples include convening meetings with affinity groups within the overall grant program, providing online bulletins relating to funding opportunities and technical assistance, and enriching the grant program's educational profiles and success stories; one of shared vision, creativity, innovation and mutual support. Create of a consortium of organizations interested in finding funding. Such a consortium could bring the necessary flexibility and the potential to leverage funding for the planning, technical assistance, training, evaluation and convening activities necessary for widespread, integrated and effective deployment. A committee established by the Extension could be charged with researching and establishing relationships with local, regional and national institutions interested in plants and gardens-related grant making within the this area. Facilitate a range of technical assistance, including assistance with the application process, project planning, evaluation, training and reporting. Clearly, additional funding for supporting factors outside the scope of the Community Program would contribute to project success. Examples of evaluation assistance that would help grants to improve their projects include support with: identifying and prioritizing measurable outcomes; designing and conducting realistic, cost effective evaluation plans; locating evaluation expertise, and reporting evaluation results. In addition, standardizing information gathering tools across all projects would assist BCC staff in aggregating information about best practices and lessons learned. Additional customization would require development time and ongoing BCC staff support. An emerging area for exploration is the potential for the grant program to seed activities that would bring public technologists, infrastructure providers and agencies involved in public service delivery together to work on small projects that benefit the region. In doing so they would also be creating a basis for working jointly to address larger, longer-term, boundary spanning community needs. Streamline the grant program's reporting requirements and the reporting process. Streamlining the reporting process is to prioritize success indicators with key stakeholders. An online reporting process could be developed to provide program with accessible, organized and simplified reporting tools and processes. The online system could also be used by staff to monitor project activity and to sort and aggregate the collected data across projects.
Impacts
The BCC Extension Program continues to flourish and expand with measurable success and is a known source of pride for the the community it serves. The productivity and commitment of the program director and staff was evident. As a result, the BCC greenhouse Extension Program has developed into a neat, tidy and efficient program demonstrated by correspondence, conference, curriculum and a greenhouse full of various plants and vegetables. The BCC extension staff continues to excel in green house, indoor nursery, seed bank, and stratifying and propagation techniques in addition to developing outdoor gardens, worm bins, compost piles and shade houses. Horticultural education and awareness and traditional plant education has been taught to students, teachers, citizens, special needs populations and community groups. In one comment by a student who participated stated that his family over the years has attended traditional plant class put on the BCC who felt that he and his family gained enough understanding of plants to have confidence needed in order to use them for food and medicine. One use stated was the use of Oregon grape to antibiotics to people who are immune to conventional antibiotics. They also use Sage to help their children with colds and congestion. They use Mullan to break up bronchial mucus. In summery, this individual believed that his family was herbalists and was thankful for the courses. Another student stated that he was thankful for the understanding that in learning what plants were safe to eat and what plants were used for medicine.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
|
Progress 08/01/07 to 07/31/08
Outputs
The grant achieved the objectives for wellness through proper nutrition by growing gardens and active involvement. The Extension Program sought out to find extra funding because of the awareness of demand and need for more community gardens. Outreach is proven by successful attendance of Community meetings. Total of 31 family gardens developed and planted in 7 communities with various garden vegetables and native plants cared for by volunteer families and staff compared to 12 gardens last year. Developed an ongoing collection of data; involving people with a predisposition health problem on the reservation. Extension Grant helped with multiple families requesting gardens and can only supply so-much for the increasing demand of gardens per season. Researching future funding will help supplement the health and wellness of more families needed to be accommodated. The programs courses immerges the knowledge and education to help provide resources to train the people to raise successful gardens within the communities of the Blackfeet Reservation. Found numerous cases that show the majority of diseases claim the lives of so many tribal members tracing back to unhealthy diets and lack of exercise. The Program planned workshops, conferences were a success with attendance. Brochures and pamphlets were developed and distributed. PRODUCTS: Evaluation methods included a comparative review of grant project documentation, interviews with public, focus groups, current and potential students and local communities. The documentation reviewed and analyzed past grant activities by objectives, accomplishments, communities served, public benefit, and funding provisions. The review offers insights into the program impacts based on factors such as program sustainability, feasibility, innovation, replica and reporting compliance. Interviews with public is documented, additional insights into the impact of garden projects, barriers and supporting factors, lessons learned, and the garden making processes. In addition, meetings and workshops were conducted with feed back from program and focus group participants, during this time participants were asked to identify health-related needs for the communities they serve gives a surveyed number of gardens needed for active involvement. Some of the types of products produced within the gardens are native plants that include: peppermint, horse mint, wild roses, June berries, choke cherries; all wild vegetables such as onions, carrots, celery, potatoes, turnips and tomatoes. OUTCOMES: Feasibility and Sustainability. Written reports were recorded accordingly, overall outcome were analyzed through feasibility and sustainability. Although grant projects were successful by and large, anticipated timelines and milestones can only be met because of the volunteers' willingness of participation to complete projects in the regular annual grant. Some minor delays were recorded due to unforeseen circumstances and others recorded incremental and realistic plans. Project sustainability was reviewed based on the ability of the project to continue beyond the funding period and leveraging new funds. Report shows the program projects could continue beyond the grant period. Approximately half of the program projects are volunteers to help offset costs and to help generate community involvement for future funding such as foundation grants, user fees, in-kind donations and tribal/government funding. Feasibility was evaluated using two criteria's 1) the ability of grantees to meet their proposed timelines and milestones and 2) the adequacy of a proposed budget. The majority of the grant met all of their proposed implementation timelines/milestones and followed their proposed work plans. The grant met their proposed budget and extra special provisions were made by having volunteers to offset any extra costs that may have evolved through community gardens set up. Although the grant met their proposed budget it is suggested that additional funding be requested to offer incentives for future community involvements. Additional resources might be achieved through other grant investments and in-kind resources. Innovation and Replica. The majority of the projects were innovative, such as the style of gardens produced and how they were designed. The projects were detailed and planned accordingly. The replication of the projects such as the gardens, are due to the amount of communities served and health issues addressed. During the reports it clearly defines the funding issues are an issue to serve on a larger scale for more active community members. During the evaluation of reports it proves the creativeness from the past experience gives an outstanding rating for a powerful source of learning for future success. Most of the interviews are documented and mostly states they are pleased with the projects along with the needed changes, they were given the opportunity to give in detail any suggestion or comments if they were given the opportunity to re-do their projects. During the interviews the public also expressed their appreciation for the out look of health and wellness. An evaluation of reports shows they incorporated project planning with staff and public, got a lot of involvement with the communities more often, conducted research or training integration, and they showed encouragement to the communities to start small and build incrementally. There were numerous recorded workshops and meetings to gain support of community efforts and involvement. DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES: 1. Outreach is proven by successful attendance of Community meetings. Total of 31 family gardens developed and planted in 7 communities with various garden vegetables and native plants cared for by volunteer families and staff compared to 12 gardens last year. 2. BCC Extension seeking out potential funding sources and the development of revenue. The green house grows flowers and native plants to market for revenue and to subsidize extra expenses. Identification and research of newer families with diabetes, heart disease and obesity; gives statistical analysis for future funding. 3. Hosts annual Family Garden and Raised Bed Systems is scheduled for 4 consecutive years with 2 years completed. Conferences conducted and hosted workshops on gardening and raised bed systems shows increasing attendance with communities. 4. Compost operations of the worm bins show the vermaculture operating for 1.5 years, worms are growing rapidly with multiple amounts of compost developed for fertilizer. Community members save biodegradable food wastes to feed the worms' growth population. Bins grow in greenhouse then transplanted to outlying communities. Heart Butte has a composite site on a section of identified land establish to expand at 10 yards per year. 5. Emphasizes of eating healthy and exercise is accomplished thru initiative of the Family Gardens for preventative health involving Healthy Hearts Program to assist with family gardens, using an effective learning process of preserving by canning or freezing to educate and train interested people. Relationships established with several Schools to help coordinate field trips and schedule hands on learning. Courses are being developed to offer effectiveness and efficiency with an innovative way of emerging curriculum towards knowledge of health, nutrition and natural resources. 6. Continuing education of native plant identification gives knowledge about the medicinal uses and to cultivate native plants within distinctive plots. Research and gathering of traditional foods are ongoing and incorporated into a package serving as a tool to educate and train the communities on traditional foods and forms of gathering. 7. Ongoing processes of several projects utilizing staff and volunteers for the stratification, propagation techniques, preparation of seedlings, starts and knowledge of the native plants. Shade-house is well utilized and provides a controlled climate which is needed to grow seedlings. Starts of all types of vegetables have been growing since early spring; starters for the community gardens hindered by the short growing season. Native plants of many types are planted. 8. Development of coalition with several tribal entities to help coordinate activities. Meetings are continuously held from 2007-2008. Issues discussed family gardens, waste products and efforts to recruit volunteers. 9. Knowledge of nutrition and health coincides with keeping active; important concept by incorporating healthy exercise and nutrition together improves a healthy diet with energy. FUTURE INITIATIVES: Implement a visibility plan for community diverse and special needs populations. A visibility plan to increase awareness about the activities within communities grant program for tribal diverse communities and special needs populations would enable more participation from communities and for an uncalculated range of needs. Foster a learning community. There are numerous ways the BCC staff could facilitate activities to bring communities together for greater peer support and program improvement. Examples include convening meetings with affinity groups within the overall grant program, providing online bulletins relating to funding opportunities and technical assistance, and enriching the grant program's educational profiles and success stories; one of shared vision, creativity, innovation and mutual support. Create of a consortium of organizations interested in finding funding. Such a consortium could bring the necessary flexibility and the potential to leverage funding for the planning, technical assistance, training, evaluation and convening activities necessary for widespread, integrated and effective deployment. A committee established by the Extension could be charged with researching and establishing relationships with local, regional and national institutions interested in plants and gardens-related grant making within the this area. Facilitate a range of technical assistance, including assistance with the application process, project planning, evaluation, training and reporting. Clearly, additional funding for supporting factors outside the scope of the Community Program would contribute to project success. Examples of evaluation assistance that would help grants to improve their projects include support with: identifying and prioritizing measurable outcomes; designing and conducting realistic, cost effective evaluation plans; locating evaluation expertise, and reporting evaluation results. In addition, standardizing information gathering tools across all projects would assist BCC staff in aggregating information about best practices and lessons learned. Additional customization would require development time and ongoing BCC staff support. An emerging area for exploration is the potential for the grant program to seed activities that would bring public technologists, infrastructure providers and agencies involved in public service delivery together to work on small projects that benefit the region. In doing so they would also be creating a basis for working jointly to address larger, longer-term, boundary spanning community needs. Streamline the grant program's reporting requirements and the reporting process. Streamlining the reporting process is to prioritize success indicators with key stakeholders. An online reporting process could be developed to provide program with accessible, organized and simplified reporting tools and processes. The online system could also be used by staff to monitor project activity and to sort and aggregate the collected data across projects.
Impacts
Impacts of the objectives are in area of health and wellness throughout the reservation-wide communities this continues to promote horticultural development through large community participation and in producing an output of a number of organic gardens throughout the 7 communities on the Reservation. The Extension Program has met it goals of outreach and assistance for 12 families. Program Projects involves a wide range of impacts on plant and botany technology utilizing diverse knowledge, including students, teachers, citizens, special needs populations and community groups. Enhancing the projects combined involvement includes educational, nonprofit and local programs within the Blackfeet Reservation. There is an existing coalition with the Blackfeet Tribal Programs; report shows they have active participation in the community garden projects. The program promotes the ecosystem recovery by restoration and educational projects and rejuvenation of native plants. The program supports distance education initiatives, school and community-based garden facilities, planting equipment and installations, meeting rooms, access to television and internet communications for distant education. The written reports shows impact of course development through areas such as: improved access to community college courses, access to higher education, second language for instruction of the Blackfeet Language, media education opportunities for high school and BCC students with youth development, improved access channels, internet connection for public data communication.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
|
Progress 08/01/06 to 07/31/07
Outputs
Program Goals The Blackfeet Community College (BCC) Extension program director Wilbert Fish continues to expand the horticulture program as a nutritional resource center, community horticultural training facility and in producing a number of organic community gardens throughout the seven community villages on the Blackfeet Reservation. The BCC Extension program has also promoted ecosystem recovery by restoration and educational projects through the rejuvenation of traditional Blackfeet plants used for medicinal and food purposes. Community meetings have been conducted in communities that have been staged at village community centers with many local people participating. The BCC Extension service compost operation has expanded to include the compost being used to house the worm farm that creates high quality fertilizer. Browning Public Schools and with several food businesses have an agreement that allows the college to use left over and waste food materials. An existing
Partnership with the Blackfeet Housing, Blackfeet Environmental Office, Blackfeet Tribal chemical dependency center and the Health Hearts program have been very active in the community garden projects. The community garden project has been very successful in meeting their goal of completing spring gardens with a total of thirty five gardens tilled and planted surpassing the goal of twenty gardens. The Blackfeet Community College has been working on developing a compost site in Heart Butte with a section of land identified to establish a large plot with a goal of expanding at ten yards per year. In the Spring of 2007, BCC has hosted the second annual Family Garden and Raised Bed conference and workshop held at the student commons area and with demonstrations and trainings conducted in the greenhouse yard. In interviewing Mr. Fish, BCC Extension Program Director, the program has established partnerships with Browning Public School District, Blackfeet Headstart, Blackfeet Academy the
effort to educate, coordinate field trips and schedule hands on learning at the geodome greenhouse. Seedling starts of tomatoes, carrots, rhubarb, peppers, melons have been growing since early spring and have been used as starters for the community gardens. Native plants inventoried were peppermint,horse mint, wild roses, june berries, choke cherries, wild onions, wild clover, wild garlic, and wild carrots.
PRODUCTS: Outreach, training and assistance from the Blackfeet Community College (BCC) greenhouse extension program staff in gardening techniques for twelve families have produced several community gardens on the Blackfeet Reservation in the communities of; Browning, Starr School, East Glacier, Heart Butte and Babb. The BCC Extension program has been hosting community meetings every fall with tribal entities in effort to promote and coordinate the summer garden activities. The BCC Extension program has recently conducted and hosted a workshop on gardening and raised bed systems and composting and with vermaculture. The BCC extension program continues to maintain the curriculum in the area of Blackfeet traditional plant identification and restoration projects. Planning continues with the development of worm bins to be placed in the outlying communities to work in the development of fertilizer for community gardens. According to the BCC Extension Agent, Mr. Fish these worm bins will be
started at the greenhouse and then transplanted to the individual communities. Seedling starts of tomatoes, carrots, rhubarb, peppers, melons have been growing since early spring and have been used as starters for the community gardens. Native plants inventoried in the Blackfeet Community College greenhouse were peppermint, horse mint, wild roses, june berries, choke cherries, wild onions, wild clover, wild garlic, and wild carrots. Propagation activities have been conducted successfully in the Geodome greenhouse that have resulted in excellent plant starts. The Blackfeet Extension Program has been coordinating greenhouse activities with the Partnerships of several tribal entities including: the Blackfeet tribal program, Healthy Hearts Program, Blackfeet Housing, Blackfeet Diabetes Program, the Tribal Health Program and the Community Hospital and others. Issues of focus were family gardens, waste products and efforts to recruit volunteers to help in planting of the gardens. The study,
research and data gathering of traditional foods is ongoing with the BCC Extension program working a compiling traditional foods sites into a database. A family garden workshop was held at the BCC campus in the spring of 2007. This workshop hosted a variety of topics in horticulture and instruct people in the different disciplines. Presenters included many tribal entities including the Organization titled Growing Power, Montana State Extension Service, Blackfeet Housing and the Blackfeet Environmental Office of the Blackfeet Tribe.
OUTCOMES: The Blackfeet Community College has been hosting community meetings every fall with tribal entities involved that has led to promote and coordinate the summer garden activities. Several families have shown great interest in cultivating and maintaining the gardens. The BCC Extension program has been working to educate and train these people and maintains a point of contact with a select individual from each community. BCC Extension program has recently conducted and hosted a workshop on gardening and raised bed systems and composting and with vermaculture. This area has been very popular with the community and college students who are eager to learn about gardening traditional agricultural practices. The BCC extension program continues to maintain the curriculum in the area of Blackfeet traditional plant identification to educate the students about the medicinal uses and the sources of where they grow. Planning and implementation continues with the development of worm bins
at the Blackfeet Community College greenhouse yard and those to be placed in the outlying communities to assist in the development of fertilizer for community gardens. According to the BCC Extension Agent, Mr. Fish these worm bins are started at the greenhouse and then transplanted to the individual communities. Propagation activities have been conducted successfully in the Geodome greenhouse that have resulted in excellent plant starts. This process continues to be success with the plant propagation schedule that is refined and continually developing. The shade house has been destroyed due to a wind storm that occurred last winter 2006. An alternate shade house is now being utilized that provides the controlled climate needed to grow the seedlings and after they have been hardened off. The Blackfeet Extension Program has been coordinating greenhouse activities with the Partnerships of several tribal entities including: the Blackfeet tribal program, Healthy Hearts Program, Blackfeet
Housing, Blackfeet Diabetes Program, the Tribal Health Program and the Community Hospital and others. Meetings were held in the Fall of 2006 and continued into 2007 with Partenships, and community members. Issues discussed were family gardens, waste products and efforts to recruit volunteers to help in planting of the gardens. The study, research and data gathering of traditional foods is ongoing with the BCC Extension program working a compiling traditional foods sites into a database. The plan will be to incorporate this into one package that will serve a tool to educate and train the young people on traditional foods and forms of gathering. At this time the staff and volunteers have been working to gather seeds for propagation. A family garden workshop was held in March of 2007. This workshop hosted a variety of topics in horticulture and instruct people in the different disciplines. Presenters included many tribal entities and including the Organization titled Growing Power,
Montana State Extension Service, Blackfeet Housing and the Blackfeet Environmental Office of the Blackfeet Tribe. A list of topics included in the Brochure titled Family Gardens with Raised Bed Systems. (see brochure).
DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES: Blackfeet Community College Extension program has been widely acceptqable and embraced by the communities of the Blackfeet Reservation as resource for gardening techniques, known for thier knowledge of greenhouse plants, progation, stratification techniques and traditional Blackfeet herbs and medicinal plants. It has been noted by through the evaluation, the BCC Extension Program has been promoting and disseminating information in the areas of; Greenhouse techniques Nutritution and proper diet essentials composting techniques how does this play into gardening (fertiliizering) traditional Blackfeet plants and medicine gathering techniques preperation techniques properities of plants worm farm with the purpose to create more ferteral soil In summery the Blackfeet Community College Extension program gardening to promote self sustainable living
FUTURE INITIATIVES: The Blackfeet Community College has recently purchased land adjancent to the existing BCC college campus with the plans to further expand the BCC Extension program. The Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) has determined that there were no potential liabilities attached to site and plans and schedule are now being implemented. The projected time to transit to the new site is projected at fall 2008. The new area is ideally suited with plenty of acreage to further develop the BCC agricultural program immensely. Extensive planning is now in process by the facilities committee to develop a master plan for the new additional acreage projected at approximately 80 acres by the Facilities Committee. Plans are to include a Elders and Handicap Garden site that will allow those individuals access to gardening as opposed to being unable to participate due to restricted access. An outdoor classroom has been planned to complement and enhance horticultural experience and
education. A new shade house will constructed to replace the one destroyed from the wind storm occurrence in mid winter.
Impacts
Blackfeet Communities are becoming more educated in areas of gardening resources. In this they are encouraged to eat more organic foods that is healthy for their diets and they wouldn't normally have access to them because of the high cost associated with chemically cleansed vegetables. Students that have participated in the BCC Blackfeet traditional class have gathered traditional plants of the Blackfeet consisting of; peppermint, spearmint, Bear root, (osha root), wild strawberries, dandelion, planteen. The 2007 BCC family gardening workshop generated community interest, cooperation, response and involvement. The workshop seminars provided information on composting, worm bins, recycling and aqua fertilizing. Students at the Browning High School year received a tech assistance in the construction of a greenhouse that included plant bedding and proper plant care. The BCC Greenhouse program has participated in the restoration of a forest fire that occurred on the
Blackfeet Reservation in 2006. The BCC Extension program developed approximately 5000 lodgpole and spruce seedlings that have been propagated and set for stratification. The green house continues to grow flowers and native plants to market to the Reservation Businesses, street corners and floral arrangements for Glacier National Park. The revenues from these sales go to subsidize the green house expenses thus playing a part in subsidizing the program.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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