The Ute Mountain Ute Senior Center grows more than just food in this dome
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TOWAOC, Colo. — “Oh my god, look at those carrots!” Rufina Weeks exclaimed, holding up three freshly plucked carrots from the Ute Mountain Ute Senior Center’s grow dome.
The senior center built the dome in its backyard two years ago. The San Juan Basin Area Agency on Aging led the project, which also established domes at senior centers in Ignacio, Pagosa Springs and Silverton in an effort to provide fresh produce for more remote communities.
The agency said the project was made possible by Denver’s State Unit on Aging and funding from former President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act.
The dome in Towaoc features seven growing beds, a temperature-regulating pond and a dozen koi fish that swim on the surface.
“When the dome was built, we had our community driving down this road, asking, ‘What is that? Is aliens coming?’” said Weeks, the Ute Mountain elder care program director. “Some of the elders told me, ‘I don’t think you’re going to get anywhere growing because nothing grows here because of the soil.’”
The soil on the Ute Mountain Ute reservation is mostly clay, making it difficult even for grass to grow. With no grocery store on the reservation, people depend on trips to Cortez or Farmington for fresh produce, but transportation is not accessible to everyone, especially for the elders.
“It’s hard to keep fresh vegetables in the house when you have to drive so far to get them,” Weeks noted. The produce grown in the dome offers a small-scale solution, but challenges persist.
Todd Gunter, a professional gardener from Cortez, was hired to manage the dome’s planting operations.
“I’m here to grow what the elders want to eat and what we can actually use here,” Gunter explained. He currently grows 11 types of fruits and vegetables, including tomatoes, cabbages, strawberries, cucumbers and a lemon tree.
“I got the first lemon!” Weeks laughed. “When Todd told me he was planting a lemon tree, I said, ‘A lemon tree don’t go around here, you know?’ Before the fall, he harvested it and gave it to us. I can’t eat lemons, but it was pretty good.”
Over the course of three growing seasons, Gunter has learned what the elders prefer.
“I don’t grow kale. People don’t know how to use it. They don’t eat it raw. I grew beets, and nobody liked it either,” Gunter said.
But favorites like tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, and peppers are always in demand. “They went as fast as I could pick them,” Gunter added.
"Growing here is tricky," he said. "The temperature drops drastically at night, so we have to be selective about what we grow." Crops like tomatoes and cucumbers thrive in warmer months but struggle when temperatures drop, limiting the variety of produce that can be cultivated.
Last year, the San Juan Basin Area Agency on Aging withdrew its support from the dome, leaving the senior center to seek new funding sources, including working with the tribe’s economic development director to secure resources for the dome’s continued operation.
Despite these challenges, their biggest concern is engaging the community.
Gunter hosted a gardening class at the senior center, but no one showed up.
“I have a lot more success being casual about it than trying to have an organized class,” Gunter said. “People don’t come and sit down for a class. But people will come in and ask questions about growing something. They might be growing tomatoes on their front porch.”
However, both Gunter and Weeks remain hopeful.
“The more we grow, the more people will see the benefits,” Weeks said. “We’re just starting to build that understanding.”
They aim to make the dome a community hub where both elders and younger generations can learn about gardening.
“The best time is when the grandkids come in,” Gunter said. “Last spring, I had a bunch of carrot seeds, so the kids came in, and we were planting carrots. I hate to say it, but that’s the future.”
The Ute Mountain Ute tribe is also planning to build a grocery store, and Gunter envisions growing enough produce to sell there. He’s also expanding the variety of crops in the dome and outside it. A nearby field will soon be planted with corn, a traditional food for many Indigenous communities.
As Gunter and Weeks walked around the dome, they stopped in front of a bed of flowers. Weeks ran her hands through the rosemary bush and sniffed the tip of her fingers.
“Wow!” she said, surprised by its strong scent.
Type of story: News
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
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