The climate and terrain on the Navajo and Hopi Indian reservations in Arizona, USA, and surrounding states is just as difficult as for those in Bolivia or Cape Verde. Yet after hearing about these and other food production projects, the Tuba City Stake president, Larry James Justice, felt that the members of his stake could also benefit from learning how to plant gardens. With high levels of diabetes and obesity among his members—an increasing problem worldwide—he realized that fresh fruits and vegetables could supply the vitamins and minerals that most members lack in their typical diet of corn, beans, and mutton.
In 2009, the stake launched a pilot project with the help of the Church food initiative. Stake leaders and Church-service missionaries began by planting a demonstration garden at the stake center. Leaders used the garden to teach members the techniques that would help them succeed in planting their own gardens—which vegetables to plant, how to fertilize the soil, and even how to prevent birds from eating the crops.
That year, families in the Tuba City Stake planted 30 gardens, and many experienced success. Along with the vegetable gardens, a variety of fruit trees and vines are also thriving on the reservation, including peaches, apricots, raspberries, and watermelons.
Now that members have a basic knowledge of gardening, stake leaders are teaching members other provident living principles, such as how to use and store the fruits and vegetables they grow. Using the pilot project as a model, the Church launched eight more projects in 2010 on Navajo and Hopi reservations, allowing more families to reap the benefits of home food production.