High in the hills south of Santa Fe, N.M., stands a greenhouse that Luke Reed hopes will help American Indians eat healthier.
The airy structure, on the serene campus of the Institute for American Indian Art, is producing 6 pounds of lettuce per week for the school cafeteria, with a goal of 30 pounds by Christmas. Students are starting to distinguish the greenhouse lettuce from commercially-grown greens, says Reed, U.S. Department of Agriculture land grants manager for IAIA.
But Reed also recently used the structure, completed in August, to teach a course on greenhouse management to representatives of the nearby Santo Domingo, Cochiti and Santa Clara pueblos. Near the greenhouse, fruit trees and a community garden that grows lettuce, spinach, broccoli and cauliflower have also provided fare for the school cafeteria — as well as lessons in raising healthy food.
Reed, who serves 22 pueblos and tribes in New Mexico, says the need to eat healthy hit him personally, and he hopes others see it, too.
“My reality has changed,” says Reed, who was overweight but lost 100 pounds by changing his diet. “It’s important to realize how much bad food affects our society in so many different ways.”
Many of the 37 tribal colleges are making some sort of effort to promote “food sovereignty,” a term that has come to mean ensuring American Indians’ access to and control over affordable, high-quality food.
The colleges, a multitude of agencies and community groups and the tribes themselves are part of a movement to help American Indians eat healthier that has gathered momentum in recent years and “shows no sign of stopping,” according to Janie Hipp, senior advisor on tribal affairs for U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
