Eating healthy on a budget
By Jon Huang
Eating fresh produce is one of the most intimate ways we can connect with the earth and one another, and when we know the growers and the place it’s from, it adds to the benefits. Mountain Springs Church, near Woodman and Marksheffel, is one place where this has played out.
“When you’re caught between a rock and a hard place between very expensive healthy and very inexpensive bulk food, it can have dire consequences on your physical health, emotional health and your spiritual well-being because the reality is when you eat well, you feel well and when you feel well, you do life well,” said Chip Mattingly, a former oceanographer and current missions pastor at MSC.
In 2016, the director of the Fresh Start Center, the church’s food pantry program, lamented the lack of fresh produce available to hand out to people. It was from this need that the MSC’s onsite aquaponic garden program began. Today, the garden continues to grow, donate and sell fresh herbs and greens to the local community. Mattingly said about 85% of the produce is donated to FSC to give to food insecure citizens.
In addition, on the first Sunday of each month, the church also hosts its monthly Garden Market where congregants can donate in exchange for some of the program’s produce. The event uses all its proceeds for the garden’s operating costs. The volunteer program, also open to the public, enlists about 90 people. The garden produces about 20,000 lettuce heads a year in addition to other vegetables, producing a weekly harvest 50 weeks out of the year.
Aside from the financial barriers to eating fresh, Mattingly admitted that it took folks, including himself, time to get used to eating fresh produce and learn new ways to eat them, but the program has introduced people to new items like arugula, green onions, kale and bok choy. The garden’s mission has enhanced the program’s success.
“When they make that donation for the produce items they want, it goes for a greater cause, to serve the community and those less fortunate, and to kind of pay it forward,” he said.
Mattingly had his own experience with transitioning his diet toward less processed foods. He is a heart attack survivor and has family members with Hashimoto’s Disease, an autoimmune condition in which the body damages the thyroid causing thyroid hormone deficiency. He said eating a healthier diet was essential. While he still enjoys the occasional potato chip, eating healthier has reaped rewards.
“When you eat junk food, there’s a ripple effect with your body, but when you eat healthy and unprocessed foods, the body works the way it’s designed to work … and you feel better, rest better (and) definitely sleep better,” he said.
After eating healthier for a while, if he ate much junk food, such as traveling on vacation, the negative effects on his body were more noticeable. For him, improving his eating habits has been a process, but after seeing the benefits, it’s one that he wouldn’t trade and one he encourages others to pursue.
The first monthly Garden Market in 2025 will be Jan. 5, and is open to the public. Interested in volunteering in the garden? Check out the https://familyrestorationcenter.org/aquaponic-garden
More sources for the budget
Check out https://ranchfoodsdirect.com/ for daily meat discounts on quality raised meat. Monday is meatloaf; Tuesday is buy four get one pound free of ground beef or pork (which start at $6.19 and $4.39 respectively), Wednesday is 20% off bone broth. Thursday is 20% off beef roasts and Friday is 20% off fresh pork (excluding bacon). Bundled packages are also available, as well as some ready-to-bake roast kits. Daily discounts apply to both of their locations on Fillmore in Central Colorado Springs and Town Center Drive, just west of Powers and Highway 24.
Ahavah Farms also offers a year-round Community Supported Agriculture program that prioritizes organic and regenerative farming methods. Recently, they started offering customizable vegetable shares. In addition to pick up locations in Monument, Peyton and Colorado Springs, they also offer door-to-door delivery options. For those on food stamps, they provide discounts and for those in more dire straits, check out https://www.ahavahcommunity.org.
