Turning a Gooey Mess into Lifelong Knowledge: A WCG Lesson in AgriCULTURE

Sowing Seeds of Knowledge

One of the most resilient crops we grow at Wasatch Community Gardens (WCG) is knowledge. Through sharing knowledge and embracing a philosophy of continuous learning we strengthen connections, grow commUNITY, and empower people to grow and eat healthy, organic, local food. You have a place in this community to learn and to teach, whether you are brand new to gardening or are a seasoned expert chef. We invite you to empower yourself and others by investing in WCG programs with a year-end donation.

Chef Wendy Juarez of Prime Corn demonstrates posole preparation during a WCG workshop.

WCG’s Education Program provides access to affordable, inclusive, culturally relevant skills for growing and preparing nutritious food. Our popular seasonal cooking classes, led by amazing local chefs like Wendy Juarez, bring our harvest straight to your table.

This year, our educators sought to share the ultimate lesson in agriCULTURE: making tortillas from the organic flour corn we grew in our Campus Demonstration Garden. When our first attempt at nixtamalizing the corn—an ancient process that improves its nutrition and flavor—succeeded in creating a gooey mess, we knew we needed help! Chef Wendy stepped in, pinpointed the issue (overcooking!) and demonstrated the nuanced, hands-on techniques of traditional cooking. From the two-step grinding process using a molcajete to the three-quick-flip rule for cooking the tortillas, her expertise transformed our failure into a success.

Donate Today to Grow Knowledge in our CommUNITY!

Together with Chef Wendy, we were able to share this essential knowledge during our posole cooking class, where students didn't just watch—they participated in every stage: nixtamalizing, grinding, and pressing the dough. The tortillas were served as a side for posole, a traditional soup dish also made from nixtamalized corn. The whole experience was a powerful reminder of why hands-on learning is so essential in both cooking and gardening!

Our partnership with Chef Wendy, like most of our community collaborations, exemplifies the ways our six programs complement one another, offering many ways to grow and share knowledge.

People at the Wasatch Community Gardens' Campus during the Sabores de mi Patria harvest.

GROWING KNOWLEDGE

Wendy learned about WCG through our Sabores de mi Patria (Flavors of my Homeland) collaboration with Artes de México en Utah while building her catering company, Prime Corn, at the International Rescue Committee Spice Kitchen Incubator. Since then she has catered meals for WCG programs, been a vendor at the Love Local Winter Market, and her children have participated in our Youth and School programming in addition to being a guest instructor for the Education Program.

“My children are an important reason for my business, and through WCG’s programs, they’ve learned about growing our local foods and connections with our culture and environment.” - Chef Wendy Juarez, Owner of Prime Corn

Support WCG Programs

Opportunities to learn and grow are everywhere at WCG, and our Education Program prioritizes free and affordable access to knowledge through workshops, events, and online resources. Your donation contributes to Education Program expenses like these, helping all of our six programs thrive:

$50 covers the cost of ingredients for seasonal refreshments at one of our free Wednesday Garden Walk-Throughs
$100 provides a reduced fee garden tour to groups with financial need
$250 funds 15 scholarships for those with financial need to attend WCG workshops and webinars
$500 purchases the seeds and supplies for our dryland farming research program, Trial Blazers
$1,000 enables WCG to hire 2-3 local experts to teach on special topics as guest instructors

Your donation enables us to deliver immediate community impact in our pursuit of healthy food access for all. THANK YOU! Learn more about our work and your impact by watching our Growing CommUNITY, Sowing AgriCULTURE film and sharing it with friends and family to deepen our collective knowledge and impact.

GIVE AND GROW

If you are considering giving for the first time, know that your gift of any size is an investment in providing connections to healthy food throughout our community.

If you have supported WCG programs for many years, know that you are the essential ingredient that fuels our recipe for impact.

If you have the capacity to increase your support, knowing that many people cannot do the same, consider adding a monthly recurring donation or increasing the size of your gift.

Watch, Learn, and Donate Here!

Please visit wasatchgardens.org/donate today to invest in your community with a donation this month. Your donation grows our collective impact, reaching more people with affordable access to the resources, knowledge, and commUNITY needed to grow and eat healthy, organic, local food.

With gratitude,

Katie Dwyer
Executive Director

P.S. Have you experienced your own "gooey mess" or struggled to keep anything you try to grow alive, making you feel like we’re not talking to you when we say everyone deserves access to grow and eat healthy local food? YOU DESERVE IT! And true, not everyone can (or wants to) be a chef or an urban farmer. We most certainly are talking to YOU, including when we say YOUR DONATION HAS AN IMPACT! Your donation, whether $10, $100, or $1,000 or any other amount, ensures our six programs can turn knowledge into food and setbacks into success stories. Invest in knowledge at wasatchgardens.org/donate.

Instructor teaching about building healthy soils.

Instructor teaching about seed starting.

Wasatch Community Gardens

629 E 800 S
Salt Lake City, UT 84102

Click here to donate online.

Unsubscribe