Learning to Start a Vegetable Garden for Food Security and Healthy Lifestyle for the White Mountain Apaches in Cibecue, Arizona

Abstract

According to food advocacy groups, Apache County children had the least reliable access to healthy food in the nation in 2014. Forty-one point five percent of children are considered “food insecure;” however, this is just the most extreme example of a problem seen throughout the state where more than one in four children are food insecure. The Trust for America’s Health has recently stated that food insecurity contributes to obesity. “We know children who don’t have access to fresh nutritious food have lifelong problems,” said David Martinez an advocacy outreach specialist for St. Mary’s Food Bank in Phoenix. According to Martinez, who also has worked to deliver free nutritious meals to Apache County, families with low incomes tend to opt for meals that are more affordable, and these are often less healthy. The problem of food insecurity affects both urban and rural areas, but in remote rural areas like Apache County, the problem may be compounded by sheer distance to a grocery store (Scalise & Cronkite News, The Arizona Republic, 2016).