Vista Lake Park
Vista Lake Park is a collaborative local agriculture/local food project of the FSFE-Food Coalition and PLPOA, where community members are meeting together on a regular basis, since this past summer 2021 through summer of 2022 to generate a shared vision for a community garden and neighborhood park space located behind the PLPOA administrative buildings.
This Vista neighborhood project — like other projects of the FSFE-Food Coalition — aims to advance nutrition security so that everyone in Archuleta County has access to affordable and nutritious fresh foods.
Through this process, the FSFE-Food Coalition and PLPOA are again inviting Vista residents and neighbors to a gathering this Sunday, December 5 from 4:00 – 6:00pm at the PLPOA Clubhouse. Activities will include a tour of the site of the future garden and park. Afterward, the community will gather at the PLPOA clubhouse for pizza, drinks, and guest speaker Cameron Parker, a landscape architect with Divine Designs International, who will seek to inspire residents about the real possibilities of growing food in their neighborhood, and the role that permaculture can play in the design and programming of this future community asset and resource.
The Colorado Health Foundation is providing funding support for this effort. All participants must RSVP to ensure adequate supply of food. For more information and to RSVP, please visit our website at https://www.foodcoalition4archuleta.org/ and please contact community@fsfearchuleta.org or call 401-371-3227.
New Book Club
The FSFE-Food Coalition wrapped up our first book club project this past November, that featured author Mark Winne’s text called Closing the Food Gap: Setting the Table in the Land of the Plenty. Community members gathered weekly during late October and early November to meet and discuss the food gap across the U.S. and potential solutions for addressing local food insecurity issues right here in Archuleta County.
A local community member who participated in the book club shared: “I had the privilege of meeting with a group of like minded folks, who are concerned about providing healthy food options to those in need in our community. While reading Closing the Food Gap in a group, we were able to come up with some great ideas on how we can accomplish these healthy food goals as we move forward in our volunteer work with the FSFE-Food Coalition.”
The book club ended with a virtual group discussion with author Mark Winne who provided insights to participants’ questions and suggested a variety of other books as potential fodder for discussion at a future book club meeting.
For more information and to donate to the work of the FSFE-Food Coalition please visit https://www.foodcoalition4archuleta.org/. You can also email us at fsfearchuleta@gmail.com or call 401-371-3227.
Rose Chavez is Executive Director for Archuleta Seniors, Inc. and Public Health Consultant at Archuleta Food System/Food Equity Coalition.