Meet Grace Foulk, our Summer Gardens Intern
Hi everyone, my name is Grace Foulk, and I am so excited to be the new gardens intern for the 2022 summer season!
I was raised outside of a town with a population of about 15. McLeod, MT consists of a schoolhouse and post office. That’s it. But I was raised 30 minutes further out at the base of Boon Mountain. Because of who my father was, our family of 5 crammed together in a small log cabin for 15 years. And that’s maybe why I prefer plants to people.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I love people too. They just scare me sometimes.
I grew up outside and then moved to the slightly larger town of Big Timber, MT in 2017.
My family had to uproot everything in the face of tragedy.
The loss of my father to suicide.
This is how I fell in love with social work and became who I am today.
In 2020, at the start of the pandemic, I found myself with a lot of time on my hands. I’m sure this is an experience that no one else can relate to. My high school was shut down and my senior year dreams were replaced with quarantine and rough online versions of my classes. I was filled with anxiety knowing that I wanted to do something about what was happening. And so, I called up the local food bank and asked if I could volunteer.
I remember how discouraged I was by the number of people slipping through the cracks. It seemed that no matter where I turned, toward mental health services, the justice system, or the food distribution systems, Covid was showing the cracks. The cracks were showing before the pandemic. It is my belief that they were a part of the foundation. That is why I concluded that it would require, in Angela Davis’s words, “a constellation of alternative strategies and institutions” to achieve real change.
There happened to be a like-minded woman in my town who was starting a nonprofit, and I reached out to her to see what else I could do to help. That’s how I ended up as the executive assistant at the non-profit, Catalyst for Change. I also became the community health worker for Sweet Grass County and got a job working for a plant nursery to stay sane through all of it.
All and all, this busy year taught me so much I am excited to share with Missoula and sent me on my way to college with a plan. My plan? To study social work with a focus on helping people holistically. I want community services and government systems to be interconnected so that when people need help, we look at the whole person instead of isolating the issues and treating them separately. I want mental health services to address the whole person within the context of their surroundings. I want people to be able to eat as much nutritionally diverse food and to live comfortably without worrying about making ends meet. ends meet. I don’t even know all the ways I intend to help people yet, but I’m sure excited to get started.
Now, having survived my first year of college, I am working as the UM Food Pantry gardens intern for the 2022 growing season. What this means is that I will be growing and harvesting vegetables right here on campus and supplying them to the food pantry. At the UC, every Wednesday from 11–1, I will be handing out a fresh array of veggies harvested that week, as well as directing people to the pantry, providing educational materials, and giving out the occasional plant or two. I am also hoping to offer a couple of brief educational opportunities focusing on how to grow plants from anywhere, how to get started on hydroponics, and canning, and how to prepare better meals for less money.
Everything at my table will be free for anyone and everyone, so please spread the word to whoever you think could benefit.
If you have any questions or special requests for educational materials or courses, please email me at emily.foulk@umconnect.umt.edu
Thank you!
Grace Foulk
