Sarah Legg keeps the growing going at CRMS By Barbara Dills Sopris Sun Correspondent When Linda Halloran retired in January after 15 years as the Director of the Garden Program at CRMS, she did so feeling confident that the program was in good hands. CRMS conducted an extended search that included advertising the position both locally and nationally. In the end, it was through a website, GoodFoodJobs.com that 2013 University of Wyoming graduate Sarah Legg heard about the opening and was hired. A native of Laramie, Sarah got into gardening in high school when she started volunteering at A.C.R.E.S, the University’s student farm. For her, gardening represented the perfect merger of environmental sustainability, frugality, and the DIY (“do-it-yourself”) approach, which had always attracted her. In college, she was studying molecular biology when she had the opportunity to take a twoweek trip to Kenya to study small-scale subsistence farming. Her experiences in Africa convinced her she wanted to make agriculture—and particularly food production—her focus. She changed her major and graduated with a degree in agroecology. By the time Sarah saw the listing for her current position, CRMS was not the only one who’d been searching. She wanted to stay in the intermountain west and since graduating had been looking for a job in the Rockies that combined agriculture and education, a tall order for someone just out of school. She was thrilled to come across the posting and considers this her dream job. After just four months in her new position, she’s settled into her routine and life in Carbondale. And judging from how full the greenhouse is, she’s done an admirable job following in Linda’s footsteps.
a busy time May is an especially busy time of year for the garden program. Sarah leads student work crews four afternoons a week for two hours each day, even as she is getting ready for the garden’s biggest public event of the year, the annual plant sale on May 17-18. She says she couldn’t pull the plant sale off without her student helpers. In addition to
starting, tending and transplanting the dozens of varieties that will be for sale, the students help outside the greenhouse with weeding, soil preparation, spreading compost, building garden beds, and harvesting any cool weather crops that are ready. “For me, my number one priority is the students,” says Sarah. “That’s why I’m here.” She would like to find ways to engage all the students, not just those who sign up for her work crews. “Every student does interact with the garden indirectly, because they all eat at the Bar Fork [the CRMS student dining hall]. I’m looking for ways to help them see it as an essential thing, and even a hip place to spend their time.” To that end, Sarah and Whitney Will, a Carbondale native working as the 2014 Garden Assistant, have set up an Instagram feed where Whitney is posting garden and work crew photos. Readers are invited to follow on Instagram @crms_gardens.
Plant sale Much like in prior years, this year’s selection of organically grown plants is extensive, and all varieties have been chosen for their suitability to the local climate. Offerings in the fruit and vegetable department include: more than 36 short-season tomato varieties including 15 heirlooms (over 1,000 tomato plants in all!); 21 types of peppers, both hot and sweet; artichokes; arugula; cucumbers; lettuces; squashes; melons; raspberries; sorrel; and much more. Pie makers will find rhubarb and Italian alpine strawberries. For folks with limited space, there will be a great selection of vegetable varieties bred for container growing. Herbs include 26 different culinary varieties and 10 types of basil. Annual flowers, onion plants and seed potatoes will also be available. The perennial section will feature native and adapted plants, all of which do well in our arid mountain climate. The full list of varieties can be found online at www.crms.org/plantsale. The sale runs Saturday, May 17 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Sunday, May 18 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Boxes for transporting plants will be available, but shoppers that have their own trays and boxes are encouraged to bring them.
Colorado Rocky Mountain School Garden Program Director Sarah Legg brings a degree in agroecology to her position. She hooked up with CRMS through GoodFoodJobs.com. Photo by Barbara Dills
New CMC educator looks beyond degree programs By Denise Barkhurst Sopris Sun Correspondent Recently, Colorado Mountain College announced that Jim Green has accepted the position of Continuing Education Coordinator for the Roaring Fork Campus (Glenwood, Spring Valley, Carbondale) and Glenwood Center Director. The announcement from the college states that Green “has consulted for the Equity Assistance Center at the Metropolitan State University of Denver. He previously served as Continuing Education Coordinator for the BUENO Equity Assistance Center based at the University of Colorado-Boulder. In both positions, he provided training and outreach to a multi-state region dedicated to assisting states and schools close the achievement gap and promote high standards for all students. He also worked with the University of Alaska in Anchorage to design Continuing Education and Core Curriculum courses for rural and Alaska Native paraprofessionals in K-12 schools.” Green told The Sopris Sun that his motivation for accepting the CMC job is “the enticement of getting out of research-based projects and looking at learning from a different perspective of continuing education beyond degree programs.” In his interview with The Sun, Green
enthusiastically addressed as Continuing Education the idea of lifelong learning Coordinator leading him to as having intrinsic value. He learn each community’s discussed that “The percepown distinctive aspects. tion of continuing educa“The college can act in tantion is easy to stereotype as dem to each community’s either GED classes or extraidentity” when looking at curricular activities. We class interests. For Carbonhave to get past the notion dale, a community with a of continuing education as large volunteer and nonsomehow less important or profit base, Green believes less serious than degree that, “The college can coincourses. Classes not within cide with that sense of servJim Green a degree discipline have ice to community.” their own special place and importance.” However, drawing students in is a key In other words, Green believes that these factor for success. According to CMC’s classes should instead be viewed as having public information officer, Debra Crawinherent educational value that “improves ford, “The number of noncredit classes one’s quality of life.” He expands on the scheduled at Colorado Mountain College concept by stating, “Whether a person al- in Glenwood Springs and Carbondale ready has a higher education degree or varies widely, depending on the time of not, society is changing enough that con- year, community demand and other factinual learning is required. Continuing Ed- tors. At the two locations combined, anyucation can give us confidence that will where from 80 to 175 classes per semester transfer to the workforce and in society. are typically scheduled, and the number of There is more than just survival involved; classes that actually run depend on enough continuing education contributes to our students registering for each.” More stuquality of life.” This was an idea he reiter- dent interest correlates to more classes and more diversity in class offerings. ated throughout the interview. Diversity is a familiar theme in Jim Though his office will be located in CMC’s Glenwood Center, he sees his role Green’s life. When asked about what in-
spired him to become immersed in Native American and rural Alaskan communities, Green explains his life path. “I grew up in northern Minnesota and headed to Alaska after college. I was playing hockey at the time, so Alaska wasn’t a stretch. I became impressed with how Alaska Natives found a balance between work and play. They approached work with a sense of creativity. After I received my Master’s in Education, I took a job on the Pine Ridge Reservation teaching high school. Again, I was impressed by how important creativity is in Native societies. People find a balance in their daily lives and integrate play into work so that work becomes more than just a method for survival.” Language has played an interesting role in Green’s value for communication. Among Green’s list of talents is his ability to speak Lakota and Dakota. He learned to speak Native American dialects in order to communicate with his friends and colleagues at Pine Ridge and Sisseton more effectively. When questioned whether any particular concepts in these languages surprised him, he explained that “the words ‘Wolakota’ and ‘Wodakota’ actually mean ‘to be peaceful’ or ‘peacefulness.’ In tribal terms, a real Lakota is defined as ‘someGREEN page 9
THE SOPRIS SUN, Carbondale’s community supported newspaper • May 15, 2014 • 7