Zuni youth project expands garden apprenticeships to strengthen food sovereignty

Three Zuni households are getting the tools to grow food at home this spring, with 2,000-gallon water tanks, gutter systems, raised-bed materials, fencing and seeds aimed at cutting grocery costs and keeping traditional food knowledge close to home. The pilot builds on years of work by the Zuni Youth Enrichment Project and is designed to help families grow food with hands-on support instead of one-time supplies.

The new apprenticeship effort will work with three families in 2026 and three more in 2027. Each household includes a child already involved in ZYEP’s garden kits, school and after-school activities, Shiwi Chefs and Family Cook Nights, and food sovereignty coordinator Brittny Seowtewa said the young participants are ready for a deeper role. ZYEP says its food sovereignty work averages about 9,000 nutritional contacts a year, and its 2025 annual report counted 563 kids in gardening and nutrition programming, garden kits for 100 Zuni families and 112 Family Cook Nights participants.

The organization has tied the new project to cultural teaching as much as to gardening. ZYEP said its earliest nutrition lessons were held in traditional waffle gardens, or hek’ko:we, and that its Agriculture Committee guides the program’s use of historical photos, artifacts and traditional stories. On April 10, the group consulted its Agricultural Advisory Committee to shape how cultural components would be built into the apprenticeship, and cultural advisor Enric Tsalate is expected to help lead the discussion and knowledge sharing.

The spring rollout already included an April 18 workshop at Spirit Farm in Vanderwagen, where participants studied composting, soil health and raised-bed gardening. ZYEP said a late-spring planting party at Ho’n A:wan Park will give families a place to plant, ask questions and receive seeds for the season ahead, keeping the work rooted in the community rather than in a classroom alone.

The timing matters in McKinley County and nearby Cibola County, where food insecurity remains among the highest in New Mexico at about 20 percent of residents. State health officials cite USDA estimates showing more than 350,000 New Mexicans, including more than 100,000 children, were food insecure in 2023. For Zuni, the water piece is just as central: Environmental Protection Agency source-water materials say the Pueblo of Zuni is totally dependent on groundwater and relies on nine wells and five storage tanks, a reality that helps explain why each pilot household is being equipped with its own 2,000-gallon tank.