As the core of our solution proposal, students would receive an educational booklet that provides information on crop selection, the impacts of individual crops to the grower and environment, sustainable farming techniques, optimization of water usage, as well as a “calculator” that predicts the unit cost of common garden items to aid in budgeting. The booklet will provide a guide suitable for elementary school age children through high school age students to not only construct a custom garden suitable for their environment, size, and monetary constraints, but will also provide several project ideas designed for older students to learn about more complex agriculture related topics such as nitrogen fixation, phytoremediation, and solar distillation that are necessary to the continued survival of crop production on the Navajo Nation. A sample page on pole beans is provided below, the easy to read text and fun colors makes it engaging for younger students, while also providing necessary scientific information such as planting depth, average size, and water needs. In an effort to honor Dine’ culture, help younger generations connect to their heritage, and promote the overall physical wellbeing of the inhabitants, a variety of recipes (with an emphasis on traditional and culturally significant recipes) using crops grown in the garden would also be included.
