lifestyle / CO Community
From Grassroots to Mountaintops Localized Food Systems Create Solutions
M LAURA MILLS YOGA + Life Community Engagement Manager + Contributor @l.millsy
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ountain Roots is a nonprofit food system initiative driven by the community of the Gunnison Valley and spearheaded by executive director Holly Conn. Conn moved to Gunnison Valley back in 2010 to raise her young daughters in a mountainous landscape. At the same time, the K-12 school in Crested Butte had just undergone expansion and was leaning towards the community on how to redesign the school lunch program. Conn, with a background as a personal chef and a love of her new home, ran with the opportunity. This was the birth of Mountain Roots’ original Farm to School program. The grassroots team pushed through Colorado’s short growing seasons to produce 600-plus pounds of food from a 2,100-square-foot plot in the first year. This food was spread across the county to various food pantries, schools and as trade for volunteer work.
THE CURRENT FOCUS Mountain Roots has five areas of focus: education and culture, food protection, food security, food economy and policy. These five pillars are woven into everything that Mountain Roots touches. When discussing what Mountain Roots is focusing on right now, Conn simply explains, “We are a food systems initiative. By design, when you work as a system, you are working on multiple pieces at the same time, because everything intersects.” At any given time, the Mountain Roots team has their hands in educating future generations, running their community farms, moving excess produce around the state where it is needed and pushing forward on future goals. Mountain Roots, in unison with Gunnison County, has been focusing on understanding the economic position of the community post-pandemic. Gunnison County implemented a comprehensive study and, from that, were able to identify a substantial group referred to as the “missing middle.” This group is just above the poverty line but below the Self Sufficiency Standard.
YOGALIFELIVE.COM
Photos Courtesy of Mountain Roots
THE START After a successful four years of building the foundation for food security in the Gunnison Valley, in 2014, Mountain Roots implemented a fully comprehensive community assessment to gain information on the needs of the community and how to best strategize their efforts. Two years later, Mountain Roots launched a multi-farm CSA that has completely taken off and now provides fresh local goods to over 140 households. This system not only helped farmers sell their produce and improve access to healthy food in the community, but it also kept $95,000 in the local economy. In the years following, Mountain Roots established multiple fully-functioning farms throughout Southwestern Colorado to further educate the community on regenerative farming practices and production, while simultaneously including biodiversity.
