“I have a strong relationship with native plants, they take care of me,” Jasmine Singer said as she looked over the native edible plant basin she helped build. “We are supposed to take care of the land and that is where my values stem from.”
Jasmine joined Watershed Management Group (WMG) as a Sustainable Built Environment Apprentice, alongside Nicole Parks, and together they have worked on projects that bring nature back to urban spaces. The native edible garden they built at WMG features cholla, chiltepin, banana yucca, ocotillo, jojoba, and evening primrose. The garden educates the public about plants native to the Sonoran desert that have been traditionally eaten by indigenous people and can be incorporated into our diets today.
The WMG Apprentice Program helps people from diverse backgrounds gain job experience in environmental fields. The first cohort of eight apprentices kicked off last summer, and thanks to donor support, five new paid apprenticeship positions will be hired this summer.
Nicole hopes that the new native edible basin at WMG will encourage people to build relationships with plants and learn from them.
“It’s an intimate, beautiful relationship with plants that can really provide for you, specifically, plants that fit this region,” Nicole said. “It makes you think about how much rain has there been? What season are we in? It really gets you in tune with things that are much larger than just yourself.”
Nicole moved to Tucson from Honduras when she was eight. Since graduating from the University of Arizona in 2020 with a degree in environmental science, she has been pursuing a career in conservation and is thankful that the Apprentice Program is helping her on that journey.
“It’s allowed me to make a lot of really good connections and just remind me that I'm not alone in the way that I think,” Nicole said. “Especially during these political and economic times, it's amazing to be around people that remind me that I'm not the only one who cares like this.”
Jasmine became interested in the opportunity at WMG after reconnecting with her Indigenous heritage and becoming interested in sustainable agriculture.
Jasmine is Diné (Navajo) of the Kinyaa'áanii/Nakai clans and her family lived in the Grey Mountain area of Northern Arizona until they were encouraged to leave the reservation for the promise of the “American Dream,” and the Indian Relocation Act of 1956 led Jasmine's relatives to Tucson.
Her grandparents instilled in her a love of native plants, and now she is using that passion, alongside the skills gained at WMG, to pursue a degree in Applied Indigenous Studies and Agriculture at Northern Arizona University.
“I am so thankful for the community that WMG has created collectively,” Jasmine said about her experience at WMG. “It’s really shown me what a community can do with the same values and goals.”