Work on a new grow dome is underway in southeast La Plata County.
Working toward getting the Allison Area Community Grow Dome on its feet – which will serve the Allison-Arboles-Tiffany area – has been a community effort, according to a news release from the dome’s president, Peggy Duggan.
The dome was donated by Arboles resident Bob Walkinshaw in memory of his wife, Jane Amundson; Pine River Shares donated soil and helped work on planning; Mount Allison Grange members are lending a hand; and Ignacio High School students are building raised beds for planting in Molly Turner’s wood shop class with donated materials from Builders FirstSource in Durango.
The dome’s mission is to “promote food security and facilitate community members in growing their own fresh produce by providing gardening education and a venue for starting plants for transplant, growing produce and extending the growing season with an indoor growing space,” the release said.
The dome is a community nonprofit that operates under People Improving Communities and Kids, the Colorado State Grange’s 501(c)(3).
The Allison-Arboles-Tiffany area is about 30 minutes from the nearest grocery store, Duggan told The Durango Herald, and the area’s growing season is short, making the zone something of a food desert. The dome aims to combat that.
“It will give people the opportunity to plant things ahead of time and then put them in their own gardens,” she said. Community members will also be able to pick up food grown in the dome at a local food pantry, she said.
For more information
For more information, contact Grow Dome President Peggy Duggan at (505) 690-5396 or Angelica Marquez Lucero at 317-5233.
Some hard work is still needed to get the grow dome up and running, the release said.
Volunteers are needed to assemble the beds, fill them with dirt and add plants, and the dome still needs an irrigation system and an aerator, the release said. Water-based plants and fish also are needed to fill an interior pond that will help maintain the humidity in the dome and act as a water source for plants.
A plant sale will be held 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday at the TARA Community Center, 333 Milton Lane, Arboles, to help with costs.
The dome will likely be fully completed in September, Duggan said.
epond@durangoherald.com
