On a cool spring evening in Pagosa Springs, a small group of neighbors gathers around a raised garden bed. Some are experienced growers, their hands already familiar with the rhythm of the soil. Others are there for the first time, unsure of where to begin, but curious.
A packet of seeds is passed around. Someone asks when to plant. Another shares what worked last year. There’s laughter, a few quiet moments, and the steady, simple work of preparing the ground. It doesn’t look like a mental health program. But in many ways, it is.
As May marks Mental Health Awareness Month, conversations often focus on access to care, therapy, and crisis response, critical pieces of a larger system. Yet in rural communities like Archuleta County, where distance, cost, and workforce shortages can make access to services challenging, support for mental health often shows up in different, quieter ways. Sometimes, it looks like a garden.
Following a successful biennial Food Summit that brought the community together around food, health, and resilience, Healthy Archuleta is shifting from conversation to practice, creating opportunities to support well-being in everyday life. One of those is the return of the Seed to Supper program, also known as Siembra La Cena: Grow It • Harvest It • Cook It.
Beginning on May 6, each week, participants come together not just to learn how to grow food in a high-altitude mountain environment, but to spend time with one another. They share stories. They ask questions. They learn by doing.
Healthy Archuleta invites community members of all experience levels to join the Seed to Supper program this May. Whether you’re new to gardening or returning to it, there is space to learn, connect, and grow together. Learn more and sign up:
https://www.foodcoalition4archuleta.org/garden-education1.html
In Archuleta County, the work of building health continues, rooted in community, growing through connection, and sustained by the simple act of showing up. For more information on Mental and Behavioral Health, please check out our website: https://www.foodcoalition4archuleta.org/supporting-mental–behavioral-health.html.