Rooted in Wyoming

10/16/2026

This month, we're excited to highlight Rooted in Wyoming board member Carrie Holst!

Originally from North Carolina, Carrie made her way out west after earning degrees from Wake Forest University and the University of Washington. Today, she lives in Story with her husband, two sons, and two dogs. She also works for the Yellowstone Valley Food Hub in Billings, a farmer-rancher owned cooperative that sells local food year-round.

Carrie first heard about Rooted through friends and family who thought she'd be interested in getting involved because of her passion for connecting local food and community. Through her work with local food systems and her experience becoming a mother, she's grown increasingly passionate about supporting the health and well-being of both her family and the broader community.

"Helping build resilience for local food security is incredibly important to me. I believe communities thrive when everyone is taken care of and has access to quality nutrition."

Since joining the board, Carrie says she's felt incredibly welcomed by Rooted's staff and fellow board members and has enjoyed learning from their knowledge and experience.

One of her favorite Rooted memories so far was helping with a Garden-to-Cafeteria class for the first time this year. She loved spending time in the greenhouse and seeing students get excited about compost and planting seeds!

Outside of work and Rooted, Carrie and her family enjoy hiking, biking, skiing, and tending to their home garden. This year, she and her boys are also taking on the "1000 Hours Outside" challenge, spending time outdoors whenever possible, no matter the weather. With just 100 hours to go, she's hoping they'll reach their goal before the new year!

We're grateful to have Carrie on Rooted's board and appreciate the passion, experience, and perspective she brings to our work. Thank you, Carrie, for being part of Rooted in Wyoming!

10/14/2026

Want to spend your time doing work that makes a difference?

As a Rooted in Wyoming AmeriCorps member, you'll help grow food and support community gardens, inspire youth through hands-on education, and build leadership and teamwork skills along the way.

You'll also earn an AmeriCorps Education Award through your service that can help support your next step.

If you're ready to get your hands dirty, learn something new, and give back to your community, we'd love to have you on the team.

Visit our website to learn more and/or apply: https://www.rootedinwyoming.org/riw-americorps

10/12/2026

Our Program Director, Kylen Holt, joined ServeWyoming and other AmeriCorps programs in Austin, TX, last week for a few days of learning, connecting, and sharing experiences!

We're grateful for opportunities like these to connect with others doing great work through AmeriCorps. Thanks to ServeWyoming for a great week!

10/09/2026

FREE EVENT: TOMORROW

Rooted in Wyoming is proud to sponsor Grit & Grace! This project is especially meaningful to our team because producer Jordan Carroll served as Rooted's Program & Outreach Coordinator during the summer of 2025. We're so excited to see his passion for agriculture and land stewardship grow into a project like this and proud to support both Jordan and Nick!

About the Documentary:

Grit & Grace is a student-led documentary. Produced by Sheridan College Rangeland Management student, Jordan Carroll, and filmed and directed by Nick Siegel of The Human Intersection, LLC. This visual storytelling brings audiences into working Wyoming landscapes to meet women raising cattle and sheep, moving goats across invasive-plant infestations, pairing working-ranch care with bird conservation, and carrying agricultural knowledge into the next generation.

Built around the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists and its October theme, Pastoralist Women, the film makes a global idea local. The project gives Wyoming women room to explain their work in their own voices. It is designed to educate without flattening complex lives into slogans—and to create a gathering event for agricultural producers, students, natural-resource agencies, and the broader community.

The free Sheridan College premiere pairs the film with a pre-show reception where visitors can meet organizations working in agriculture, conservation, rangeland management, and education.

This event is sponsored by Sheridan College and free for all to attend. Bring yourself, family, friends, neighbors, and spread the word to everyone you know! Let’s pack out the entire Kinnison Hall at Sheridan College and celebrate these amazing women in agriculture!

For more information on this ambitious project and those who created it, visit www.GritGraceWY.com

Rooted is so proud to support Jordan and Nick and the work they've put into bringing these women's stories to life. We hope to see you at the premiere!

10/07/2026

Good food starts with good soil, and fall is one of the best times to give your garden a boost for the season ahead!

Rooted in Wyoming is partnering with Dirt Works Wyoming for our Compost Fundraiser, offering high-quality compost for $20 per bag. Adding compost this fall helps replenish your soil with nutrients, setting your garden up for a strong start next spring. Best of all, every bag purchased supports Rooted in Wyoming and our work connecting communities through local food!

This compost is already being put to good use throughout our community. 150 bags have been delivered to 15 local school and community gardens:

🌱 Ram Harvest Garden at Big Horn Elementary
🌱 Henry A. Coffeen Elementary Garden
🌱 Highland Park Elementary Garden
🌱 Garden of Isadore at Holy Name Catholic School
🌱 Meadowlark Elementary Garden
🌱 Garden of Pride at Woodland Park Elementary
🌱 John C. Schiffer Collaborative Geodesic Dome & Garden
🌱 SCSD2 5th Greenhouses
🌱 Garden of Grace at Grace Anglican Church
🌱 Bob Giurgevich Victory Garden
🌱 Eagle's Nest Garden at TRVCC
🌱 Tongue River Elementary Garden
🌱 Sheridan Food Forest
🌱 Sheridan Memorial Hospital Garden
🌱 Who's Blue Garden at Easterseals

Interested in purchasing compost for your own garden or buying in bulk? Reach out to [email protected] for more information.

A big thank you to Dirt Works Wyoming for partnering with us to support local gardens and Rooted in Wyoming!

10/02/2026

September gave us plenty of reasons to get out in the gardens and around our community! 🌱

At Coffeen Elementary, students harvested and tasted cucumbers and yellow watermelon, which was a first for many of them! They also hand-pollinated squash and explored the garden using all five senses.

Over at Bridges, an awesome crew from First Interstate Bank helped us fill, sew, and prepare around 160 bags of compost for our fundraiser with Dirt Works Wyoming. The compost will be available to our partner gardens for $20 a bag, with all proceeds coming back to support Rooted.

We also joined Sheridan County FFA and many other local participants for this year’s Ag Expo! Around 300 fourth graders from schools across Sheridan County spent the day learning about different parts of agriculture. Rooted’s Kylen Holt talked with students about nutrition and the importance of eating real food, and we sent each student home with a packet of seeds of their own. Students joined us from Woodland Park, Coffeen, Sagebrush, Highland Park, Meadowlark, Arcadia-Clermont, Story, Tongue River, Big Horn, and Holy Name!

A full September, and a great way to head into October. Thanks to everyone who was part of it! 💚

09/30/2026

Rooted in Wyoming is proud to sponsor Grit & Grace, a new documentary celebrating the women whose hard work, knowledge, and dedication help shape Wyoming's agricultural landscapes!

Produced by Sheridan College student Jordan Carroll, who is studying Rangeland Management and Plant Sciences, and directed by Nick Siegel of The Human Intersection, LLC, the film takes viewers across Wyoming to share the stories of women working in agriculture and caring for the land.

Jordan is a familiar face to our Rooted team! During the summer of 2025, he served as our Program & Outreach Coordinator, working closely with Executive Director David Johnson and gaining hands-on experience with everything from community programs and partnerships to outreach and events. Jordan has shared that what he learned during his time with Rooted helped give him the confidence and experience to take on a project like Grit & Grace and coordinate its upcoming public premiere with Sheridan College.

Jordan teamed up with his friend and former coworker, Nick, who served as the documentary's director, videographer, editor, and storyteller. Nick has dedicated countless hours to capturing and carefully bringing these women's stories to life, creating a film that celebrates their work and contributions to Wyoming's agricultural communities.

We're so proud to support Jordan and Nick and can't wait for our community to experience the stories they've worked so hard to share!

Join us for the FREE community premiere of Grit & Grace!
Friday, October 9, 2026
6:00 p.m.
Kinnison Hall, Whitney Center for the Arts, Sheridan College

The evening will include a pre-show reception where you can connect with organizations working in agriculture, conservation, rangeland management, and education, including Rooted in Wyoming, followed by the documentary screening and a community Q&A.

Bring your family, friends, and neighbors for an evening celebrating these incredible women and the people who have worked to share their stories!

Learn more at www.GritGraceWY.com

09/25/2026

A huge thank you to the First Interstate Bank team for joining us at Bridges last week! 💚

We are so grateful for their generosity, enthusiasm, and willingness to jump right in and get to work! Their team helped us fill and prepare bags of compost for our upcoming fundraiser, along with adding fresh compost to our raised garden beds.

We're also excited to give a shoutout to Dirt Works Wyoming for partnering with us on this compost fundraising program! Thanks to their generosity, we'll be selling bags of compost to our partner gardens for $20 per bag, with all proceeds going directly back to Rooted in Wyoming to support our programs and continue connecting communities through local food.

Thank you to First Interstate Bank and Dirt Works Wyoming for supporting our mission and helping us continue to grow!

09/23/2026

Last week, 150 Coffeen Elementary students spent some time in the garden! 🌱

Third, fourth, and fifth graders joined us for a morning of exploring the garden through their five senses, hand-pollinating squash, harvesting fresh produce, and tasting watermelon and cucumbers they helped grow!

We love seeing students get excited about growing, harvesting, and tasting fresh food right from the garden!

Thank you to Angela Brugger and Coffeen Elementary for another great day in the garden! 💚

09/20/2026