Green River Star -

The Rock Butte Apartments community garden is in bloom with the summer season. Roughly a year and a half ago, the Rock Butte Apartments' residents and volunteers worked to build a garden on the property.

However, due to lack of soil, seeds and the weather, nothing was planted.

After finding out about this garden, Wendy Neilson, who works with the Cent$ible Nutrition program at the University of Wyoming, took interest in getting the garden planted and flourishing. Neilson had worked with residents and their children at the apartment complex before and believed that this would be a great opportunity to benefit everyone.

Neilson met with the apartment manager and the volunteers who built the garden over a year ago. Cent$ible Nutrition would seek funding for seeds to fill the garden so long as the 15 yards of empty space is filled with soil. About 20 volunteers agreed to help fill and plant the garden.

So far, there has been about 15 pounds of produce harvested from the garden. The garden contains tomato, zucchini, acorn squash, peas, and more. The produce from the garden is given to residents of the apartment complex who need it.

This garden has become a great benefit to the residents as the apartments serve lower income residents. Some residents may not be able to buy things that are less cost-efficient, such as fresh fruits and vegetables. With the garden located on the property, this food is much easier access.

The garden has gotten a great amount of positive feedback from both residents and employees. The garden gives to those who need it and also offers great educational purposes regarding caring for plants, harvesting produce and learning about healthy meals.