Hi DUG! My name is Janna and I’m originally from New York City but have been living in Colorado for almost four years. I love all the classic Colorado activities like hiking, camping, and skiing, but really I just love being outside and will do it any chance I get! My favorite activities are cooking (especially with stuff I get from the garden), doing crossword puzzles, reading in the park, and laying around with my cat Smudge.

Growing up in the city, I didn’t have space to garden so when I moved to Denver, I wanted to find a way to do it even while living in an apartment, and that’s how I found DUG! I started as a SPOT volunteer for the garden at DCIS Fairmont, working on the school garden, and then eventually got a plot of my own at that same garden.

I love the community that DUG cultivates. Volunteering is a great way for me to do something I love (gardening and adjacent activities), while also meeting really cool people in my home community. I have loved getting to know not just the DUG staff but also the network of volunteers and community members that are a part of this organization. Volunteering with DUG gives you the opportunity to flex your introvert or extrovert – you can hunker down on a building or gardening project, or you can work at a plant sale chatting with people all day! It is the perfect way for me to get away from my desk job and connect with the world around me.

Last year I volunteered to distribute free seeds at a brewery in RiNo. It was such a cool experience to get to chat with the folks coming in. I remember there was one community member picking up seeds who knew a ton about root vegetables and after we got to chatting, they helped me workshop a plan for my carrots that year, since I had a lot of trouble the year before. It was so cool that I wasn’t just there to hand out seeds and answer questions, I was actually able to exchange advice and stories with a community member.