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John Hollenhorst ReportingA lush garden is growing in just about the last place in Utah you'd expect to find one, and it's beginning to draw national attention as a way for Navajo kids to get in touch with their roots.
It's a landscape famous for red dirt and red-rock monuments, but look what some school kids are coming up with. It may be barren desert, but it's veggies by the armload.
Leshanria Teeasyatoh, Student: "I just do it for the community."
Kids at Monument Valley High School sell the produce at bargain prices to their elders. They've been growing stuff for a quarter-century in a place where that's a challenge.
Ellysa Holiday, Student: "Yeah because there's not much of that rain that comes down here."
It's the brainchild of Jack Seltzer. He recently won a national award for teaching on the Navajo Reservation.
Jack Seltzer: "Everything that's grown in the garden is of cultural value."
His goal is to help students bring back vanishing native plants. Tribal elders say Monument Valley used to be much greener.
Jack Seltzer, Monument Valley High School: "That would have been belly deep in grass for the horse. And that's not the case anymore."
Many plants they're bringing back were important to the Navajos for making rope, blankets, baskets, colorful dyes, medicines. Students often start with little interest in native crafts.
Jack Seltzer, Monument Valley High School: "They're more interested in Gameboys and games and stuff like that. So part of that is, yeah, it's disappearing because it's just not happening."
Elders have been teaching the kids, using good things from the garden.
Jack Seltzer: "It's going to be a very slow process, but we've got some kids that are very good at this stuff and they will be the future of this art trade."
Even the food crops have a cultural resonance. This isn't just corn. It's an old variety called Navajo corn.
Jack Seltzer: "We plant Navajo squash, we plant Navajo melons. Sustainable agriculture is still a viable option for people if they want to do it."
It's the next generation getting in touch with their roots in the garden. Monument Valley's drier condition in recent decades is thought to be caused by a combination of climate change and over-grazing by livestock.
