Salud y Vida Community Garden (Chaparral)

History
The Salud y Vida Community Garden was founded in March 2008 at the Chaparral Family Development Center, a facility managed by the Colonias Development Council in Chaparral, New Mexico. During this first year, the garden was little more than three raised beds maintained by CDC staff and women from the Yucca Creations group.  In the fall of 2008, CDC staff and a few dedicated community members began the process of converting a half acre overflow parking lot into the current community garden. The hard work of these dedicated volunteers paid off and during the summer of 2009 twelve families and six youth grew more than 1600 pounds of produce that was consumed, given away to friends and neighbors, and sold at the Chaparral Farmers’ Market.

Current Status
There are currently 12 families with garden plots, a youth garden area, a communal garden area, a fully functioning greenhouse, shed storage, a large compost project, and food forest.  The garden is watered with drip irrigation and maintained by garden members. YCC youth are in the process of creating edible native plant garden areas surrounding the community vegetable garden and building an adobe shade structure in the garden. They will also build a traditional adobe oven in the garden in 2010. In addition, community garden members have created the [Chaparral Home Garden Program: link to a page about the program] to assist an additional 10 families and senior citizens develop home gardens for the 2010 growing season.

Location
250 S. County Line Drive in Chaparral, New Mexico

Size
0.6 acres

Contacts
Mary Meghan Daly, Youth Educator

Resources
Salud y Vida User Agreement            Garden Map

Photos
[2010 Gallery]                      [2009 Gallery]                      [2008 Gallery]