Gardening Project Enhances  Sense
of Community

An NCAT community gardening project reaped a bounty of rewards for the Butte community this past summer.  The Continental Garden was organized by NCAT, in partnership with local organizations, to encourage young people to help others in their own community while learning sustainable gardening practices.

Located directly behind NCAT's headquarters, the project raised more than 800 pounds of vegetables for the local Food Bank through the efforts of a number of volunteers, primarily local high school students. 

The garden could be called a working laboratory, as volunteers actively learned much about sustainable gardening, organic pest control, companion crops, and more.  But perhaps the best lesson was summarized by 18-year-old volunteer Jeremy Juarez: "Just doing something for the community, for people who aren't so lucky." 

Organizers plan to continue, and perhaps even expand, the project next summer.

Success highlights

In June, working under a grant from Montana Department of Environmental Quality, Dale McCormick organized and held a community workshop in Missoula to explore opportunities for glass recycling.  The workshop connected Missoula entrepreneurs and interested parties with agencies and companies successfully using recycled glass for construction in other states.  The workshop helped lead to a new agreement for the City of Missoula to use recycled glass collected in the community for road construction.  Higher-value uses are a long-term goal for the community.