Progress 12/01/14 to 11/30/17
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience most intensely impacted during the third year of the project included a total of 30 Navajo households on the Navajo Nation, 15 in the communities of Shiprock and Hogback, in the northeast corner of the Navajo Nation (in New Mexico), and 15 in the communities of Tsaile, Wheatfields and Lukachukai in the central portion of the Navajo Nation (inArizona). These 30 households had been recruited in year one to participate in an intervention in which they received a significant amount of technical support and assistance in setting up home gardens. Much of this work was continued and completed during year two. There participants were provided with a series of five workshops: soils, drip irrigation, planting,harvesting, and preserving produce. Workshops were 2-3 hours long and included demonstratons in the College garden. Additional family members were also impacted by frequent technical assistance visits to the 30 households described above. Family members were also welcome to attend the workshops, and at least a dozen did so. During the 3rd year of the project there was much less interaction with the families with the gardens, but the installations were done and the gardens were still available to them, and some continued to request support services. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Research training activities were provided extensively for one student during this gardening season in research ethics of human subject research, research methods in general, survey administration, data entry, basic descriptive statistics, in addition to more advanced analysis of data, running some Chi-square statistics and conducting hypothesis tests. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?April 6th, 2017, Diné Bich'iiyá Summit at Diné College in Tsaile, Arizona, Intervention to Backyard Gardening, Mark Bauer, Felix Nez and Linda Garcia At the well-attended Food Sovereignty Conference, keynoted by the Navajo Nation Vice President, approximately 40 people chose our session on gardening where we presented our baseline survey data on community gardening, then focused on the intervention project with the 30 families we assisted in starting gardens at their homes. There were many questions about how others can get started, and a lot of interest in the project.. October 18, 2018, Navajo Research Conference, Window Rock, AZ. An Intervention to Promote Navajo Gardening, Nutrition, and Community Wellness Mark C. Bauer, Linda Garcia, Felix Nez At the Navajo Research Conference the project staff presented to a breakout session of perhaps 20 people. Several gardening projects were presented, one on school gardens, one on community gardens, and ours on family or household gardens. Presenters and audience all agreed that we should work together and get more gardening projects going in schools across the Navajo Nation, and follow up with more community and home gardening opportunities. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
This intervention study showed that it is possible to assist families in establishing household gardens by providing some assistance in overcoming barriers in the form of poor soil, lack of fencing to protect gardens from pests, lack of time and technical expertise in soil preparation and gardening, and concerns about the cost of water. Previous studies had shown that in Navajo communities, those individuals who report that they have a garden also report that they eat significantly more fruits and vegetables than those who do not have a garden. The purpose of this intervention was to increase the number of gardeners, to increase the average fruit and vegetable consumption among Navajo people, for whom such nutrition is a struggle due to distance from grocery stores and dry, arid climate. Data collected show that the intervention succeeded in increasing the number of gardens in the communities served, the frequency of reported gardening behavior, and also increased knowledge and confidence in gardening and nutrition. However, the participants did not, after all, report that they consumed any more servings of fruits and vegetables than they had prior to the establishment of the garden. This is likely because it takes more than one season to expand on the amount of produce grown, that it takes time to change habits to incorporate such produce into the family meals, but also that it is difficult to change nutrition patterns. In the analysis of the data from baseline, to midpoint, to final data surveys of gardening participants, the key outcome variables were Gardening Frequency, and Daily Servings off Fruits/Vegetables. The key explanatory variables were knowledge and self-efficacy, in terms of how to prepare a garden, maintain a garden, harvest and store fruits and vegetables, prepare produce, and incorporate the produce into family meals. In terms of knowledge change, 13.3% of partipants at baseline felt knowledgeable about preparing a garden, and that increased to 46% by the midpoint of the study. Confidence in preparing the garden at the end was 59% somewhat confident and 38% very confident. From the data set there appears to be a strong connection when it comes to family and gardening. To start, 90% of participants have said that members of their family have assisted them in their gardening and in a later question, of 29 responses about 90% have said that their current interest in gardening is to produce food for themselves including family, there is also a similar connection displayed in a later qualitative question. When asked about how their gardening changed the way their family was eating there was two different categories that stood out; the first being no change at all with 38% while the second was a health related change at 38% as well. As for attending workshops, over half of the participants have agreed that they were able to use what they learned in workshops to help them in gardening for a total of 55%. When asked what kind of gardening workshops or classes they attended this past growing season, 79% of them have responded with additional workshops other than what listed in the survey; of the 18 who also responded "other," about 28% of them attended workshops about pruning trees, 39% attended workshops about soil, 17% attended harvest festivals and 11% attended workshops on irrigation. The rest of the "other" responses consisted of small classes, personal research or they couldn't because they were busy working. With the project assisting them in their gardening, 41% of participants felt that the most important thing the project helped them with was soil preparation and 31% said the second most important thing was providing the fencing. For their gardening experience, a majority saw wildlife as their biggest barriers to gardening with 48% saying insects or pests and 24% saying animals and when asked about what would make them less likely to garden the following year, about 34% of them said it would be because of the lack of time due to work or school. But over 55% of them choose the "other" response, the responses listed under this varied from watering issues, weather changes and relocating, however of the 55% who chose this option, most of them took it as the option to say they will want to plant next year. Not to mention, when asked, 83% of participants agreed that they know someone who would be interested in participating in this kind of project. Benefits of participating in the gardening intervention, according to participants, ranged from a variety of possibilities such as; Improving healthy lifestyle with communities and allowing outreach extension to develop health improvement plans. Creating potential to lower risk of obesity, diabetes and risk of some cancers in addition with the gardening promoting good health through exercise. Increase social interaction between families, and community. Based on the findings and staff observations it is recommended to investigate additional methods to help participants expand their knowledge with a focus on reinforcing and retaining information on the importance of maintaining their garden along with information on storing their garden produce. Ideas include providing workshops that feature traditional gardening methods like the use of indigenous seeds as part of "master gardening," encourage the use of drip irrigation, water collection, and dry farming methods in areas where irrigation infrastructure is non-existent or not functioning. Next would be correcting any of the barriers or obstacles they may have faced and paying attention to the items they felt were important. In the case of obstacles, participants felt that insects, pests and animals were hindering their gardening experience; it also seems that soil preparation proves to be difficult for them as not only was it the item they felt was most important in gardening but also a common topic shared among the various other gardening workshops they attended within the growing season. Another thing to consider is continuing to deliver knowledge on the topic of nutrition, because from the analysis it can be seen that there was a minimal effect on their eating habits, such as detailing the benefits of having a garden that can potentially positively influence one's health, along with how it can affect family. One last item would be to seek additional partners (chapters, community groups, other programs) to work on broader infrastructure issues like water access (ditches, pumps, areas around other sources), assistance kits for new gardeners and equipment for loan.
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Progress 12/01/15 to 11/30/16
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience most intensely impacted during the second year of the project included a total of 30 Navajo households on the Navajo Nation, 15 in the communities of Shiprock and Hogback, in the northeast corner of the Navajo Nation (in New Mexico), and 15 in the communities of Tsaile, Wheatfields and Lukachukai in the central portion of the Navajo Nation (in Arizona). These 30 households were recruited in year one to participate in an intervention in which they received a significant amount of technical support and assistance in setting up home gardens. Much of this work was continued and completed during year two. There participants were provided with a series of five workshops: soils, drip irrigation, planting, harvesting, and preserving produce. Workshops were 2-3 hours long and included demonstratons in the College garden. Additional family members were also impacted by frequent tecnical assistance visits to the 30 households described above. Family members were also welcome to attend the workshops, and at least a dozen did so. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Research training activities were provided extensively for two students during this gardening season in research ethics of human subject research, research methods in general, survey administration, data entry, and basic descrioptive statistics. One of the students was able to go further in the analysis of data, running some Chi-square statistics and conducting hypothesis tests. Both students presented their work at the November 2016 FALCON Conference in Albuquerque, NM. Staff, faculty and students all attended that conference and were able to learn quite a bit about what other researchers were doing on the Navajo Nation and other Native Nations. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The project was well-represented at the annual meetings of FALCON (First Americans Land Grant Consortium), November 4-7, 2016 in Albuquerque, where all the tribal colleges present the work they do with USDA funding. Faculty and student presentations (all approved at the previous month's NNHRRB meeting) were: An Intervention to Promote Gardening in the Navajo Natio, By Student Katrina Tom, Shiprock Campus The Impact of Residential Gardening on Food Choices and Dietary Intake, By Student Davin Paul An Intervention to Promote Navajo Gardening, Nutrition, and Communithy Wellness, By Mark C. Bauer, Felix Nez, and Linda Garcia, of Diné College What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?During an extension year of the project final analysis will be done of the baseline, midterm and final assessments of nutrition, physical activity and self-efficacy of participants. Recommendations will be developed after this further analysis.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
By March 2016 the recruitment and garden installation in the Tsaile/Wheatfields and Lukachukai areas was complete for 15 participants and baseline surveys had been done. In the Shiprock and Tse Daakahn communities recruitment was complete but some gardens were still in progress, although baseline surveys were done. The fencing materials, soil improvements, drip irrigation supplies were still in progress for three participants. Gardening workshops were held to prepare the new gardeners for the growing season: March 16, 2016 Pruning & Planting fruit trees - 8 participants attended, two students and two staff March 23, 2016 Soil Sessions/learning about soil -3 participants attended, two students and two staff April 6, 2016 Irrigation systems - 4 participants attended, two students and two staff April 13 Pest and Weed Control - 4 participants attended, 5 community members attended, two students and one staff. Staff meetings were held twice a month on the gardening project. Beginning in June, 2016, through August 2016 the gardeners at all four sites, Shiprock, Hogback, Tsaile, and Lukachukai ,were implementing their gardens. Participants planted corn, melons, squash, beans and other vegetables of their choice, like radishes, peas, snow peas, pumpkins, sunflowers, flowers, herbs and gourds. We set up one 50 gallon barrel at one participant's home for drip irrigation because she didn't have running water. We have had three gardening meetings to update where were at on our progress of our surveys and work. We've been in contact with Dr. Rolston St. Hilaire of NMSU, our project evaluator, to do a site visit in October 2016. A midpoint survey questionnaire was developed and approved by the NNHRRB, and administered to all participants during the month of July to gather information about gardening activities, changes in nutrition and activity, and in knowledge and confidence levels in gardening. The student researchers did follow up on the participants gardens to see how they are being maintained, to observe progress, and to answer any questions and provide any needed support. In September 16, 2016 a Workshop on Canning & Freezing Produce was provided for 9 participants, one student and two staff. On October 20, 2016, the project's official evaluator, Dr. Rolston St Hilaire of New Mexico State University, spent the entire day with the project staff reviewing our methods, survey instruments, and progress to date, also interacting with the student interns. He will be providing a written report that we will include in our next quarterly report. All final surveys with the 30 program participants were conducted in the Shiprock, Hogback, Tsaile and Lukachukai communities during the month of November. The data was entered into a computer database, and our colleagues at the University of Washington led by Dr. Shirley Beresford, are currently working on the data analysis with us. Shiprock participants have six sites who have fencing, and gates put up. Four of the Shiprock participants have drip tubing for watering put in. One new participant in Shiprock is needing interview, and fencing, gate. There are five Tse Daa Kahn participants who have fences and gates installed. Two sites are going to require a tractor, and bucket to complete. Introduction of a new participant is scheduled to be completed when weather has cleared up.
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Progress 12/01/14 to 11/30/15
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience most intensely impacted during this first year of the project included a total of 30 Navajo households on the Navajo Nation, 15 in the communities of Shiprock and Hogback, in the northeast corner of the Navajo Nation (in New Mexico), and 15 in the communities of Tsaile, Wheatfields and Lukachukai in the central portion of the Navajo Nation (in Arizona). These 30 households were recruited to participate in an intervention in which they received a significant amount of technical support and assistance in setting up home gardens. Navajo community members reached at chapter houses (local government and community meeting sites in those communities were also impacted by presentations and information distributed in the course of recruiting the 30 households described above. Navajo Nation and IHS professionals serving Navajo health needs were reached by a presentation at the Navajo Research Conference in which the basic information and concepts involved in this study and the study design were presented. Changes/Problems:One notable problem was that the labor involved in assisting homeowners to install gardens of 20 by 30 feet, with fencing, gates, soil amendments, drip irrigation and connection to water supply was more extensive than anticipated or budgeted. The Shiprock/Tse Daa K'aan area of the project was the most impacted, since there are not any land grant office staff available there to assist, and most of the work had to be done by the project coordinator with several students. Work went more quickly at the Tsaile/Wheatfields/Lukachukai sites close to the College's Land Grant Office where they have more experience with these kinds of projects. This caused a notable delay in implementation in approximately one half of the home sites. Other unanticipated delays were caused byunusually rocky areas by homes where it was difficult to work the soil, sites that were within established housing areas where permission to plow and fence were required, and sites that were far from water utility lines and required additional setup of large water storage barrels to connect to the drip irrigation lines. The delays mean that many of the home gardens, particularly on the eastern side of the study area, will only have one growing season (summer 2016) in which to demonstrate the impact of increased gardening on nutrition, activity and other outcomes of interest. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Research training activities for 8 undergraduates and 1 high school student included human subjects and other research ethics topics, research methods, survey administration, data entry and basic descriptive statistics. The College Extension Agent participated in research and research presentations. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The project design and progress during the summer of 2015 was presented at the Navajo Research Conference, Window Rock, AZ, October 21-22, 2015 to an audience of students, health professionals from the tribe and IHS, and other researchers, including some community members. The project results to date were also presented at the FALCON Conference, Denver, CO, November 2015. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?For the second year of the project, the following activities will be carried out: During the spring of 2016, completion of the technical assistance phase in helping participating households to complete work on their gardens, including several fencing issues, drip irrigation set-up, plowing, and soil improvement. During the spring of 2016, at least four workshops will be organized and conducted for participants on topics of watering, pest control, soil amendment, planting, and pruning. A midpoint survey will be conducted with each participant, to assess progress in gardening, any changes in nutrition and physical activity, change in confidence and self-efficacy measures, and collection of input on barriers to address with further technical assistance. During the fall of 2016, a final workshop on harvesting and food preservation will be held, and a final survey will assess gardening activity, any changes in nutrition and physical activity, and change in confidence and self-efficacy measures. In late fall, 2016, data analysis will be completed and presentations prepared to FALCON and to numerous Navajo Nation venues for project dissemination. Workshops FALCON Conference, Albuquerque, NM, November 2016 Publication of findings
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
During this project year the main accomplishment was to recruit 30 households from two distinct regions of the Navajo Nation to participate in the intense technical assistance to establish home gardens for each household, and to gather baseline data on each partipant's gardening experience, gardening self-efficacy and confidence, nutrition behavior, and physical activity measures. Of those households, the following progress was made during the growing season of summer 2015 in these communities: Shiprock: 6 of the 7 household gardens have been completely fenced and most have gates installed; most do not have soil improvements or functioning drip irrigation yet Tse Daa K'aan (Hogback): 6 of the 8 gardens have been fenced, but most do not yet have gates installed, soil improvements provided, or functioning drip irrigation Tsaile/Wheatfields: 9 household gardens were completed (fencing, gate, drip irrigation, soil amendments) Lukachukai: 6 household gardens were completed (fencing, gate, drip irrigation, soil amendments) Beginning in June, 2015, the Office of Dine Youth-Shiprock Agency provided six students to work with the Gardening Project; in addition two students from Diné College, Shiprock Campus were recruited to assist at that site. At Tsaile Campus, the Land Grant Office recruited four students to assist with the project activities at that site in coordination with Felix Nez, the Extension Agent. Both sites held weekly meetings with the staff and students to plan and coordinate the activities of the gardening project with partners at NMSU. By June 29, 2015, most of the interviews were completed at the Tsaile/Wheatfields and Lukachukai chapters, and six interviews were completed at the Shiprock chapter. After the baseline interviews are done with a participant, the fencing and gates are installed, plowing is done at sites that require it, soil amendmets are provided and the drip irrigation system is installed. We also explain the nature, procedure and process of putting up the fencing, gate and tubing for the drip irrigation to the participants. Staff visit the participant's home and see where the participant wants to put their garden. They survey a gardening area of 24'X34' at each site. Before we put up the fence some of the chapters (local governance units) helped plow each site so the soil could be mixed with soil improvement materials, like vermiculite, and to move barriers like old tree stumps and big rocks. Seeds were given to all participants who will be planting, with some provided by New Dawn, and some purchased from Home Depot. Most of July and August were spent putting up fencing, completing baseline interviews, mixing soil and putting tubing together for drip irrigation. Additional materials were ordered in September 2015.
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