Cultivating hope, joy, and transformation inside prisons.
Seed & Bloom facilitates therapeutic horticulture and culinary arts classes for students at the Penitentiary of New Mexico (PNM). With groups at both the minimum- and maximum-security facilities, and an amazing team of facilitators and volunteers, we grow fresh vegetables and flowers outdoors in newly restored greenhouses and indoors in a controlled hydroponic environment. Each week, students use what they’ve harvested to develop healthy recipes, creating beautiful, delicious dishes and experiencing the full cycle from seed to table while sharing their work with the community and beyond.
Together, we’re building something rooted and alive, where healing happens through hands in dirt and stories shared around the stove.
Our Programs
Nature-Based Activities
Rooted in therapeutic horticulture, these include tending to our indoor plants and hydroponics towers where we grow flowers and vegetables inside the prison. They also include sitting under the tree in the courtyard with our students, reading poems, expressing ourselves…
Our Seed & Bloom Farm
We have grown almost 500 pounds of fresh food in four newly restored greenhouses. Our food is sold through the Santa Fe Farmers Market Institute’s Tianguis Móvil truck, which visits communities across the city with the goal of expanding access…
Culinary Workshops
In these, we prepare meals, invite students to look at grocery store prices in real time, and reflect on questions at the dinner table. These often center on food memories and sensory experiences the kitchen offers. Workshops include hours of teamwork…
Our Impact
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lbs of fresh food grown each year
Cultivated by our students-feeding a community, building skills, and restoring connection to land and self.
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meals prepared and shared annually
Meals made from seed to plate, offering nourishment, routine, and pride inside the walls.
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hands-on workshops delivered
Experiential learning in horticulture, wellness, and creative practice—rooted in care and reentry readiness.
Recent Student Stories
Student Story
“To me is a constant learning experience. From breathing exercises, poetry, artwork, greenhouse work and more to just being able to be ourselves and cooking food together while learning budgeting. This program is shaping me into a better person and giving me helpful knowledge that’s going to help me now…
Student Story
“I’ve been locked up physically for 15 years, since I was 16 years old. But mentally locked up years before that. Since being in prison there’s been moments of joy and moments of torture. None the less the pain and misery of being locked up, forgotten and treated like animals…
Student Story
“The Seed & Bloom program is the best experience I’ve had in 13 years. That’s how long I’ve been incarcerated. I don’t know how to do normal, real-life, basic tasks like cooking skills or budgeting money to cook and feel myself AND other people. Seed & Bloom has come into…
Our Partners
Your Support Helps
Your support helps Seed & Bloom grow learning, nourishment, and re-entry support.
$50
helps purchase seeds and seedlings to fully plant one greenhouse for a growing cycle.
$100
supports class materials and essential pantry supplies for students who are newly released and rebuilding daily stability.
$250
covers the full cost of one culinary workshop-groceries, printed student packets (recipes, real-time food pricing, and reflective learning prompts), and one facilitator’s time in the classroom.
Make a Donation
Your gift supports therapeutic horticulture and culinary arts classes for incarcerated students at the Penitentiary of New Mexico—transforming time behind bars into time spent growing, healing, and preparing for re-entry.