Extension
It Starts With Us
Author: Phillip Long
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Extension’s Urban Ag Program Benefits Visually Challenged Students­­­­­State the SITUATION­­­Blind or visually challenged students at Kentucky School for the Blind (KSB) have little access to vegetable gardening on the school’s campus. Although food production is part of the Math/Biology/Chemistry/Engineering curriculum, safe access to available areas and tools has been a challenge. Funding from the Jefferson County Cooperative Extension Service, throu
Author: Carol Hinton
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Breckinridge County is 44% cropland, producing forage, soybeans, corn, and wheat. However, Breckinridge farmers are following the national trend by adding vegetable production for personal and commercial use. The variety of quality fresh produce is limited in the county. Racial and ethnic residents have relied on family and friends to grow vegetables that are not available in local stores. We are continuing our work with the Breckinridge County Detention Center. We ended 2017 very good. We
Author: Paul Sizemore
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Farm diversification has become a must to compete in the ever changing market place of agriculture. Owsley County Cooperative Extension Service conducted a workshop to help farmers diversify their operations and find resources to assist in developing infrastructure at their operations. Owsley County Cooperative Extension, Natural Resources Conservation Service and Kentucky Sate Small Farm Program worked with farmers to obtain High Tunnels and other Projects that would help them to Diversify. As
Author: Carol Hinton
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
SituationBreckinridge County is 44% cropland, producing forage, soybeans, corn, and wheat. However, Breckinridge farmers are following the national trend by adding vegetable production for personal and commercial use. The variety of quality fresh produce is limited in the county. Racial and ethnic residents have relied on family and friends to grow vegetables that are not available in local stores. Educational Response and Target AudienceWhen a regular cattle and forage client called
Author: Chuck Flowers
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
After making visits to homeowners and working with them on tomato issues last year. I asked if they would like to try a tomato recommended for commercial producers by UK specialists. They said yes. In looking I could not find any plants locally. I then contacted an FFA chapter and teacher to see if they would grow the seeds for the clients to try.The three homeowners divided and set out 100 plants along side of their Jet Star tomato. They were very pleased that they did not have any blight probl
Author: Keith Hackworth
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Grow Appalachia Gardening Series At the direction of our leadership, Extension has been collaborating with several community groups over the years. One such group is the Saint Vincent’s Mission Grow Appalachian Program. The program works with lower income and beginning gardeners by assisting them in the production of fruits and vegetables to feed their family. Participants are encouraged their second year of the program to market some of their excess produce and product
Author: Michele Stanton
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Kenton County Extension Horticulture planted a Monarch Waystation in its Outdoor Education Center this spring. A waystation is a purposeful, planned garden habitat designed to provide larval host plants for Monarch egg-laying and larval development, and nectar and pollen-producing plants adult butterflies need. There is considerable science behind the pretty plantings—research into larval host nutrition, best plant species, insect mortality, adult feeding preferences, planting de
Author: Amanda Sears
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Madison County residents continue to be overweight (68%) and obese (39%) which exceeds the state average.Extension promotes healthy food choices and eating five or more fruits and vegetables each day to address weight issues and recede the risk of chronic diseaseThe Madison County Extension Agent for Horticulture, other Madison County Agents and staff, as well volunteers (Master Gardener and Master Food Volunteer) conducted the Power of Produce (POP) program at each of the three farmer markets i
Author: Erika Wood
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Each year, several counties across the state participate in the bedding plant trials. These trials consist of new varieties of flowering annuals that have just been released onto the horticulture market. The purpose of the trials is to see how well these new varieties of plants perform in a garden or landscape setting. For the trial garden, there are usually 20 different varieties of annual bedding plants with ten plants per variety for a total of 200 plants. The Hopkins County
Author: Lori Bowling
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
The bi-annual vegetable field day was held at a local farm that is active with the Boyd County Farmers Market and gardening community. This year the field day featured educational stations on mushrooms, garden insects, fruits, backyard poultry and poultry processing basics. Participants of this years field day reported that they really enjoyed the locally sourced meal and the knowledge they gained on how to increase their garden production as well as information on adding new product
Author: Leann Martin
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
It is through our valued partnership with the Allen, Logan, and Simpson Community Early Childhood Council that we, the Logan County Cooperative Extension Service, seek to improve school readiness in Logan County by educating, encouraging, and engaging families. Kindergarten readiness means that each child enters school ready to engage in and benefit from early learning experiences that best promote the child’s success. The kindergarten screener measures readiness in five important dom
Author: Kendal Bowman
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Success StoryBasics of Floral DesignKendal Bowman, Cooperative Extension Service Intern 2018Clark County Cooperative Extension Service When reviewing Clark County’s Cooperative Extension Service Agriculture and Natural Resource (ANR) programming, women only made up 29% of the participants between July 2017 and June 2018, while women make up over 50% of the total county population (US Census, 2010). To address this deficiency the ANR intern and Horticulture agent developed a plan to be
Author: Jamie Dockery
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
The Fayette County Extension Horticulture program offers a series of educational programs each year called The Gardener’s Toolbox. The agent teaches about a subject and provides Extension recommended seeds, plants or other resources. 2018 consisted of over 40 sessions seated 1700 residents. 2019 offers another 40 classes and we have registered roughly 4000 slots to date. When we followed up with participants from 2018 we found Eighty-five percent of those responding indicated they ha
Author: Jamie Dockery
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Like many other areas, Lexingon has a number of neighborhhods where full service grocery stores are not readily accessible. These "food deserts" often play a role in overall nutrition and well being of their residents.The Fayette County Extension Horticulture program conducts an annual Growing Community event in areas where food access is limited to encourage using fresh produce in family meals. This year's event was a collaboration with students at The Learning Center, sever
Author: Jessica Wells
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
With the ever changing outlook of production agriculture, many producers are looking to diversify their farming operations. Each year the Harrison County Extension Service holds a field day to highlight a producer in the county and to educate others on current trends, methods, and new and interesting enterprises available to producers.This year the Harrison County Farm Field Day was held at S&L Farms. S&L Farms is a highly diverse operation that produces 5 acres of
Author: Amanda Sears
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Substance abuse, of both alcohol and prescription drugs, is one of the most critical public health and safety issues facing Kentucky. Liberty Place Recovery Center for Women is a 108 bed long-term residential substance abuse recovery program which provides support and hope for women recovering from drug and alcohol addiction. The Madison County Cooperative Extension Agent for Horticulture worked with Liberty Place residents to create a healing garden at the residential site with funding fro
Author: Faye Kuosman
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
A community garden is a place to grow food, flowers and herbs in the company of friends and neighbors. For others, it's a place to access fresh, healthy food to reduce monthly food costs. While others may come to reconnect with nature or get physical exercise. This year the Woodford County Extension Agent for Horticulture partnered with Bluegrass Community Action to install the first community gardens in the City of Versailles. The garden plots were placed in two locations for easier access
Author: Amanda Sears
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Kentucky is one of the lowest ranked states for chronic health issues such as cancer and diabetes due to lack of physical activity and poor eating habits. The University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service, the Kentucky Department of Agriculture and the University of Kentucky School of Human Environmental Sciences partnered to create the Plate it up! Kentucky Proud program. This project provides healthy, great tasting recipes using Kentucky Proud products for the people of Kentucky. &
Author: Anthony Tackett
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
One area the Bourbon Extension Office continues to focus on is using a wide range of media to efficiently reach a broad community audience. Currently the Horticulture program uses multiple media platforms to advertise Extension programs including; YouTube, Facebook, direct paper mail, newspaper articles, email news lists and radio programs. The use of all these outlets in combination has resulted in an increase in local resident participation in programs that were not previously list
Author: Reed Graham
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
According to the Community and Economic Development Initiative of Kentucky, (CEDIK), the percentage of adults in Breathitt County who are obese is 39.8% with the state average being 32.9%. Research shows that eating fresh vegetables and exercising can reduce obesity rates. Gardening increases both physical activity, as well as, access to fresh vegetables. As a way to combat obesity rates, Breathitt County Agriculture and Natural Resource Agent Reed Graham conducted a gardening program for 2
Author: Kathryn Wimberley
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Situation: It is critical for a healthy and sustainable community to have contributing members of society with necessary life skills. Currently in McCracken County there is a need to learn and practice healthy habits, create and live within a budget and form positive relationships with others. McCracken County manager asked if the Fall County Extension Council (CEC) meeting could be a luncheon meeting with table decorations of fresh flowers. The addition of tablecloths and fresh flowe
Author: Lorin Fawns
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Container Gardening and Healthy Eating is a program offered to a low-income area of Mason County. Classes had been offered to adults at the community center in years past but there was little to no interest. The housing authority director was contacted about starting the program and with her approval residents were allowed to keep potted plants outside of their home. In 2017 we offered our first series with over 17 participants. In 2018 we decided to offer the series in another low-income commun
Author: Amanda Sears
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
During 2018, there were changes in administration and specialist in the College of Agriculture Food and Environment. Included in these changes were Dr. Craig Woods named as Interim Assistant Director for Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR), Dr. Rachel Rudolph appointed as Vegetable Specialist, and Dr. Mark Williams as Horticulture Department Chair.At the Horticulture Agent inservice in September of 2018, the agents wanted to plan an opportunity to introduce themselves to these ind
Author: Amanda Sears
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
In 2007, the Extension Service added an Agent for Horticulture to meet the change in Madison County agriculture. The Horticulture Agent quickly initiated the Pay Dirt newsletter. The newsletter disseminates timely horticulture information and advertises upcoming education opportunities. The research-based information is provided by the Horticulture Agent and University of Kentucky Specialists from horticulture, entomology, plant pathology, plant and soil sciences and other department
Author: Susan Fox
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Backyard Fruit ProductionA Less Common Fruit Class was offered in Lyon County with eleven participants. The class covered many fruits that are advertised in catalogs. Daniel Becker, Extension Fruit and Vegetable Associate, discussed the varieties and how well they are adapted to Kentucky. Participant comments included the following:The discussion of cold hardiness and chilling requirements was very interesting. I will be able to identify some wild plants now that I was very unaware of previously
Author: Bethany Pratt
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
The Jefferson Co. Agent for Horticulture Education collaborated with the Urban Conservationist with Jefferson County Soil & Water Conservation District and local non-profit, Louisville Grows to host the first Urban Homesteading Workshop Series. The goal of the program was to introduce the art of self-sufficiency via homegrown food production for people living in an urban environment. Classes met twice a month, March.-Oct. of 2018 with a celebration at the end of October. Meeting 1 was a
Author: Robert Amburgey
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Eastern Kentucky has the highest food insecurity in the United States. In Bath County, 2,020 individuals (16.7% of county population) are not sure where their next meal will come from. There is a steady increase in interest from clientele wanting to know how they can become more self-sufficient by growing their own food. Agriculture and horticulture agents in Eastern Kentucky have observed an increase in requests from small backyard fruit growers for guidance. In order to reach a large aud
Author: Mary McCarty
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Eastern Kentucky has the highest food insecurity in the United States. In Menifee County, 1,050 individuals (16.5% of county population) are not sure where their next meal will come from. There is a steady increase in interest from clientele wanting to know how they can become more self-sufficient by growing their own food. Agriculture and horticulture agents in Eastern Kentucky have observed an increase in requests from small backyard fruit growers for guidance. In order to reach a large
Author: Myron Evans
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Eastern Kentucky has the highest food insecurity in the United States. In Carter County, 4,400 individuals (16.1% of county population) are not sure where their next meal will come from. There is a steady increase in interest from clientele wanting to know how they can become more self-sufficient by growing their own food. Agriculture and horticulture agents in Eastern Kentucky have observed an increase in requests from small backyard fruit growers for guidance. In order to reach a la
Author: Keith Center
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Eastern Kentucky has the highest food insecurity in the United States. In Elliott County, 1,610 individuals (21.0% of county population) are not sure where their next meal will come from. There is a steady increase in interest from clientele wanting to know how they can become more self-sufficient by growing their own food. Agriculture and horticulture agents in Eastern Kentucky have observed an increase in requests from small backyard fruit growers for guidance. In order to reach a large
Author: Courtney Jenkins
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Saving seeds from the previous season is common practice in Kentucky. However, these seed can harbor numerous pathogens that are harmful to plants and limit grower success and yield. Magoffin County Agent for Agriculture and Natural Resources Education, Courtney Jenkins, identified a need for stakeholder education on seed treatment as a way to reduce seed-borne diseases. Surveys indicated that 61% of individuals were saving seed, but only 16% were treating seed prior to planting. As a result, UK
Author: Lorin Fawns
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Eastern Kentucky has the highest food insecurity in the United States. In Mason County, 2,790 individuals (16.2% of county population) are not sure where their next meal will come from. There is a steady increase in interest from clientele wanting to know how they can become more self-sufficient by growing their own food. Agriculture and horticulture agents in Eastern Kentucky have observed an increase in requests from small backyard fruit growers for guidance. In order to reach a lar
Author: Gary Hamilton
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Eastern Kentucky has the highest food insecurity in the United States. In Montgomery County, 4,680 individuals (17.1% of county population) are not sure where their next meal will come from. There is a steady increase in interest from clientele wanting to know how they can become more self-sufficient by growing their own food. Agriculture and horticulture agents in Eastern Kentucky have observed an increase in requests from small backyard fruit growers for guidance. In order to reach a lar
Author: Philip Konopka
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Eastern Kentucky has the highest food insecurity in the United States. In Lewis County, 2,540 individuals (18.6% of county population) are not sure where their next meal will come from. There is a steady increase in interest from clientele wanting to know how they can become more self-sufficient by growing their own food. Agriculture and horticulture agents in Eastern Kentucky have observed an increase in requests from small backyard fruit growers for guidance. In order to reach a large au
Author: Bethany Pratt
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
The Horticulture Agent for Jefferson County Extension has been leading a weekly gardening class at the Women's Healing Place campus in Louisville, Kentucky since 2015. The gardening classes teach women basic home gardening skills that are used to produce vegetables to supplement the three meals/day served at the center. In 2018, the Women's Healing Place wanted to expand their produce production potential by extending their growing season. The Hort. Agent involved the Natural Resource Co
Author: David Appelman
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Eastern Kentucky has the highest food insecurity in the United States. In Bracken County, 1,230 individuals (14.6% of county population) are not sure where their next meal will come from. There is a steady increase in interest from clientele wanting to know how they can become more self-sufficient by growing their own food. Agriculture and horticulture agents in Eastern Kentucky have observed an increase in requests from small backyard fruit growers for guidance. In order to reach a l
Author: Samantha Saunders
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Eastern Kentucky has the highest food insecurity in the United States. In Robertson County, 340 individuals (15.6% of county population) are not sure where their next meal will come from. There is a steady increase in interest from clientele wanting to know how they can become more self-sufficient by growing their own food. Agriculture and horticulture agents in Eastern Kentucky have observed an increase in requests from small backyard fruit growers for guidance. In order to reach a large
Author: Deborah Stumbo
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Success Story – D1 Backyard Fruit Production SeriesPike CountyEastern Kentucky has the highest food insecurity in the United States. In Pike County, 11,750 individuals (18.7% of county population) are not sure where their next meal will come from. 71% of the population of Pike County qualify for SNAP, WIC, Free School Meals, CSFP & TEFAP. There is a steady increase in interest from clientele wanting to know how they can become more self-sufficient by growing their own food.
Author: Brian Jeffiers
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Eastern Kentucky has the highest food insecurity in the United States. In Johnson County, 4,230 individuals (18.2% of county population) are not sure where their next meal will come from. There is a steady increase in interest from clientele wanting to know how they can become more self-sufficient by growing their own food. Agriculture and horticulture agents in Eastern Kentucky have observed an increase in requests from small backyard fruit growers for guidance. In order to reach a large
Author: April Wilhoit
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
For many folks in Fleming County, the best apple to use in cooking is the Goddard Apple. This variety of apple tree is named for the area of the county it was established in and for Joseph Goddard, the founder of the community. The concern for this variety, is the few trees that are left are over 100 years old and in major decline. A regional apple tree workshop was held at the Fleming County Extension office in March 2018 with participants attending from 7 counties. &nbs
Author: Lorilee Kunze
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
As Bullitt County continues to urbanize there is a need for homeowner education in landscape design. To meet this need the Bullitt County Extension Horticulture Program created a four part Landscape Design Series. The four part program covered topics such as design principles, installation, plant materials and maintenance. Outdoor living areas and landscaping improves quality of life in cities with several physical and psychological benefits. For example, just loo
Author: Annette Heisdorffer
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Consumers prefer to have the choice of growing the specific vegetable or flower variety they want. For example, some heirloom varieties of tomatoes are not available at local nurseries. This leaves the growing of the transplant to the consumer. In addition, many seeds are available to Daviess County Citizens through the Seed Library developed by the partnership of the Green River Area Extension Master Gardeners and Daviess County Public Library. To fos
Author: Andrea Stith
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Barren County is home to a population of over 40,000 residents. This class was developed after several calls and visits with homeowners, meetings with the horticulture advisory council, and seeing how many people have an interest in growing their own vegetable garden. Knowing how to grow our own food is becoming more and more important as generations move farther away from farms. Many children do not know where their food comes from so it is great to offer these classes for interested community
Author: Lori Bowling
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
The horticulture Extension program offered a greenery/wreath making program designed to provide the knowledge and skills necessary for individuals to create a holiday wreath for their home or business. During the 2week long event there were over 650 wreaths made with 552 participants from 3 states and 7 Kentucky counties. We also offer this program to the special needs 4-H clubs and over 70 kids participated in making their own holiday wreath. As a result of this community program over 95
Author: Adam Barnes
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Soil testing not just for Farmers I helped out a fun and great lady in our community with her yard. She found out that we as agents have to write success stories every year and she wrote this letter for my success story. “To whom it may concern I want to tell you how after four years of being ripped off by several people who I tru
Author: Kristin Hildabrand
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
In an effort to reach more Kentucky residents about the mission of the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service, the Agriculture and Horticulture Extension Agents created a new educational program. In the fall of 2016, a member of the Barren County Extension Council and account manager for the local radio station, WGGC, approached agents about the possibility of developing a radio show. Each show would last 5 minutes in length and give listeners a daily dose of timely research-based
Author: David Koester
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
We have had a 25 year history of making gardening possible to everyone regardless of age,health or physical limitation. 2019 saw us add 8 new garden bed designs for special needs individuals. Brighton Centers Youth Build Program received a $1000.00 dollar grant and students built 4 new raised beds while the Toyota Manufacturing Green Initiative constructed an additional 4 beds. Reasons for our continued involvement in this program are that regular gardening activities increase a sense of we
Author: Jessica Wells
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Many Harrison County residents grow a vegetable garden for their family. Although the majority of the county is rural, not everyone has a great deal of space for a garden. Clientele had expressed an interest in growing more vegetables in less amount of space. The situation was recognized by the Harrison County Horticulture Agent, which lead to offering a class on square foot gardening. Thirteen people attended the program in April 2019. When participan
Author: Jessica Bessin
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Gardening through the seasons has become a popular series of classes the Mercer County Horticulture agent started offering in 2017. The classes cover a variety of topics from early season spring crops to what can be grown in the late fall. Each class goes through production requirements, insect/disease issues, harvesting and variety recommendations. At the end of the class participants go home with either seeds or transplants.In the spring of 2019 an apple care class was offered as a part of thi
Author: Bethany Pratt
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Addiction is on the rise in Louisville and across Kentucky. Louisville hosts many recovery centers for adults in addiction recovery. One of those centers is the Volunteers of America (VOA). VOA has multiple addiction recovery programs in Louisville depending on client needs. Two of those centers, Shelby Men's Recovery Center and Women's Freedom House, sought out the help of Cooperative Extension's Horticulture Agent to help facilitate a gardening program at each of these sites. After
Author: David Koester
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
The Boone County Horticulture Program with its Spring 2019 series of classes attracted 1261 tri-state residents. This was an 18% increase over 2018 participants. 17 individual classes were held. Topics for the series were developed from our home horticulture advisory council and Master Gardeners. Council members asked for some of the classes to be offered during the day and again at night for working clientele. This request was honored with numerous classes offered twice.Evaluations
Author: Jessica Wells
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Many of the questions that come into the office to the Horticulture Agent are related to fruit trees. Due to the interest in growing backyard fruit trees in Harrison County and due to the lack of knowledge of growing them, the Horticulture Advisory Council determined that a series of classes for fruit trees should be offered in the spring of 2019. A series of 4 classes were taught featuring topics related to fruit trees. Class one focused on Where, What, When and How to Plant Fruit T
Author: Jamie Dockery
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Recent produce recalls and health issues related to our food supply have concerned many of our residents who desire to take an active role in the food they consume. Fayette County Horticulture staff and volunteers offer numerous classes about growing food and best management practices. Our classes are well attended and we receive numerous comments related to lifestyle changes. We surveyed our participants and were pleased to learn that in addition to the obvious benefits of growing produce, 43%
Author: Jamie Dockery
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Lexington is home to an educated population that values environmentally sound gardening practices. There is great demand for information related to beneficial insects and pollinators, natural pest management strategies and native plants. In an effort to encourage sustainable practices Fayette County horticulture staff and volunteers offer classes realted to these topics. When possible we provide plants or seeds to encourage residents to implement what they have learned. In a survey of participan
Author: Nicole Rhein
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
"Small" efforts for answering questions, making farm visits and providing hands on one on one trainings often go unnoticed and unrecognized but sometimes these efforts make a long lasting impression on clientele. Please enjoy this quote from a thank you letter sent to Nikki Bell, Marshall County's ANR Agent. "Ms. Nicole, Thank you for the outstanding leadership and "hands on" involvement in every aspect of the year long agricultural education, training, and successfu
Author: Faye Kuosman
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
In the past five to 10 years, researchers estimate that pollinator populations have declined between 30 to 60%, depending on the pollinator. While much of the attention has focused on dwindling honeybee populations due to colony collapse disorder, native bee populations, butterflies including the monarch, and many other pollinator species, are also on the decline. Habitat loss due to urban and suburban sprawl is one of the main reasons.In an effort to help offset the loss of habitat for pollinat
Author: Samuel Cofield
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
The Trigg County Cooperative Extension Service in partnership with the Trigg County Senior Citizens Center have worked to provide our community members with many opportunities to improve their quality of life by encouraging healthy habits. One of these projects is a community garden located by the pavilion at the senior center.2019 is the Fourth year of the garden project started at the Trigg County Senior Citizens center. The project began with an idea and a trailer load of ti
Author: Myron Evans
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
140 individuals attended the Annual Farm and Family Field Day that was held at Gary and Marcella Clay’s farm in Olive Hill on October 11, 2018. The Field day is co-sponsored by the Carter County Extension Service and the Carter County Conservation District. A farm is chosen each year to showcase one of Carter County’s Farm Operations and provide educational opportunities for the whole family. Vegetable production in Hi-Tunnels was this year’s featured program. Hi-Tunnels allow
Author: Adam Leonberger
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Crime, pollution, and storm water management continue to be major issues in urban areas across the country. A 2012 study in the journal Landscape and Urban Planning, Vol 106, Issue 3, found a 10 percent increase in urban tree canopy cover was strongly correlated with a 12% decrease of robbery, burglary, theft and shootings. In addition, the US Forest Service published a study in 2006 within the journal Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, Vol 4, Issues 3–4 estimated that US urban trees rem
Author: Adam Barnes
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
A Nontraditional Audience A nontraditional audience was one of the topics that was brought up in our Agriculture Advisory Council this winter. Livingston is a very rural county, the 2007 Census of Agriculture reports that there are a total of 492 farms in Livingston County. The report also states that 36% of Livingston County income comes from livestock, forage, and grain production. Also in Livingston County there are four towns and some qui
Author: Jay Hettmansperger
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
The Garrard County Ag and Natural Resource Agent was ask to present a program on straw bale gardening at the Lincoln County Library. The program demonstrated how to plan and set up a straw bale garden. Sixteen home gardeners attended the program. Twelve of the 16 attendees had heard of straw bale gardening and 4 had tried straw bale gardening in the past. All the participants received a book on straw bale gardening and one hundred percent of the attendees reported they could se
Author: Jay Hettmansperger
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
The Garrard County ANR agent has been conducting a fruit tree grafting class every spring for several years. Many of the participants have attended several of the programs. A survey of these repeat participants shows that they have been very successful in grafting and growing the apple trees they received from the program. The survey showed that 85 percent have 6 or more trees surviving in their home orchard. They have used the knowledge gained from the program to care for and harves
Author: Sheri Crabtree
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Pawpaw is a native fruit to Kentucky; therefore many small farmers harvest fruit from wild pawpaw trees in woodlands or farmland for sale at local farmers markets, or homeowners may grow seedlings on residential lots. Wild and seedling pawpaws produce fruit that is small and low yielding compared to improved cultivars. Wild and seedling trees may also have poor flavor and texture to the fruit, leading to poor consumer acceptance of the fruit. Two pawpaw grafting workshops were held in Frankfort,
Author: Adam Huber
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
The Allen/Simpson County Fruit Tree Grafting Workshop was held in Allen County. This workshop was provided to participants from Allen & Simpson County Extension Agents for Agriculture and UK Horticulture Specialist. Attendees were able to gain knowledge of grafting techniques, get hands on demonstrations, graft their own trees and learn about various fruit tree varieties available in our area. With the help of Allen and Simpson County Ag Councils and stakeholders in the community we wer
Author: Stephen Lewis
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Having volunteers are a critical component to the effectiveness of county agents. They significantly increase an agent’s ability to reach target audiences and affect change in the community. Volunteers often come from the same areas they work in and see extension agents as a resource to provide education and opportunities that they otherwise may not have access. Technical training and research-based information from University extension programs can provide skill and experience that volunt
Author: Stephen Lewis
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Bates Community Development Corp (BCDC) is a nonprofit that provides social services to the community for the purpose of combating blight and deterioration in Louisville. They have several programs to “compassionately meet human needs”, one of which is a Dare to Care food program. Recently BCDC was the recipient of a high tunnel greenhouse through the National Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) with the intention of using it to grow food and teaching children gardening skills durin
Author: Alexis Amorese Sheffield
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
The Boyle County Extension Horticulture program continues strong support for consumer horticulture programs and information in response to direct consumer demand. Numerous education activities, including classroom style presentations as well as hands on demonstrations, were presented to over 200 local residents this year. Focus areas included areas related to local food systems, natural resources, improving the local environment and personal food production. Over 25 farm and site
Author: Philip Konopka
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Growing crops on plastic and using drip irrigation is not a common practices used on our farms in the region. Due the planned hemp crop that will be grown using this technology, a plastic culture field day was planned to share information with area growers. Over 100 growers from 11 Kentucky counties and 2 Ohio Counties attended a regional field day in Bracken County that highlighted the requirements, machinery, and methods used for Plastic Culture crop production. Each segment
Author: Sharon Flynt
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Wanting to formally thank not only volunteers and patrons for their support during the past year, but also coordinating partners, and legislators, a Holiday Open House was planned by agents. The event was envisioned as an occasion where the cooperative extension office opened our doors not only to our volunteers, patrons, and coordinating community partners, but to the public, in general, especially those to those who do not normally access our services.The event started with spreading the word
Author: Charles May
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
This spring the Perry County Extension Service in cooperation with the Perry County Conservation District conducted its’ annual series of fruit and vegetable grower’s workshops. Since beginning this series, seven years ago, the workshops have continued to grow to the point people had to be turned away the last five years because of space limitations. More than 150 people attended the workshops. The Perry Count
Author: Anthony Tackett
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Demand continues to be strong for Extension educational direct service outreach from both commercial operations as well as homeowners involved in horticulture activities. Here, educational service outreach includes activities supported by Extension such as direct site visits, lab services, soil testing, plant disease diagnosis, weed/insect identification, etc. Much time during the past year has been dedicated to these educational outreach activities. Over 1100 phone consults w
Author: Kimberly Leonberger
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Agriculture and Natural Resources and Horticulture Extension agents throughout Kentucky assist growers and homeowners with a wide range if plant problems on an array of specialty crops. A survey of agents indicated that in an average month, agents assist an average of 18 stakeholders with issues related to plant diseases, disorders, and unknown plant problems. Identification of plant disease can be difficult, and a survey found that agents spent an average of 24 hours per month (15% of total wor
Author: Kimberly Leonberger
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Agriculture and Natural Resources and Horticulture Extension agents throughout Kentucky assist growers and homeowners with a wide range if plant problems on an array of specialty crops. A survey of agents indicated that in an average month, agents assist an average of 18 stakeholders with issues related to plant diseases, disorders, and unknown plant problems. Identification of plant disease can be difficult, and a survey found that agents spent an average of 24 hours in an average month (15% of
Author: Kimberly Leonberger
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Agriculture and Natural Resources and Horticulture Extension agents throughout Kentucky assist growers and homeowners with a wide range if plant problems on an array of specialty crops. A survey of agents indicated that in an average month, agents assist an average of 18 stakeholders with issues related to plant diseases, disorders, and unknown plant problems. Identification of plant disease can be difficult, and a survey found that agents spent an average of 24 hours per month (15% of total wor
Author: Kimberly Leonberger
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Saving vegetable seeds from the previous season is common practice in Kentucky. However, these seeds can harbor numerous pathogens that are harmful to plants and limit grower success and yield. Kentucky county Extension agents have identified a need for stakeholder education on vegetable seed treatment, as a way to reduce seed-borne diseases. This need arose from a survey that indicated more than 81% of individuals were saving seed, but only 15% were treating seed prior to planting.In order to p
Author: James Morgeson
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
The most extensive class series the Horticulture Agent does each year is the Gardener’s Wheelbarrow Series. Each year over 400 people attend the 25 classes taught twice once in the morning and once in the evening for the convenience of the public. Many of the class topics each year come at the request of participants in the series however some topics are covered because of the need to disseminate timely horticulture information from the University. In 2018-2019 some topi
Author: James Morgeson
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
The horticulture agent was asked by the State Homemaker President to present a gardening class at the state meeting after she had attended one of his gardening classes. With some discussion with several homemakers it was determined that the most popular topic was succulents. The popularity of the succulent class surpassed what the room would hold so the registration was closed weeks before the class at 50 people. The morning of the class it was standing room only with over 60 p
Author: Sharon Flynt
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
The Growing Gardeners classes are a series of gardening programs created and conducted by the Scott County Cooperative Extension Horticulture Program. For the year 2018-2019, of the many the series’ classes offered, a group of them specifically addressed the inexperienced gardener’s needs.The classes focused on starting seeds, easy to grown seeds and plants, planting seeds or transplants, alternative gardening techniques, proper garden placement, growing materials and containers, soi
Author: Kimberly Leonberger
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
When landscape or garden plants begin to show symptoms of a problem, or commercial crops start to decline, homeowners and growers want to know quickly what is causing the problem and what to do about it. Often the first step toward answering these questions may be contacting the local County Extension office. When Extension agents are not able to quickly diagnose the problem, they may submit a plant sample to one of the University of Kentucky Plant Disease Diagnostic Laboratories. A survey
Author: Amy Aldenderfer
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
The Gardener's Toolbox Series is a part of the Hardin County Cooperative Extension Service’s horticulture classes to address a gardener's need for more information.The classes vary in their length and subject matter. This year topics included: Wrapping the gardening season, Making a Mosaic Pot, Plants for Fall Color, Draping a Hypertufa Pot, Vegetable Gardening 101, Attracting Pollinators, New Plants for 2019, Water Gardening in Containers, Creating Herbed Butters, and
Author: Amy Aldenderfer
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
In a response to an overwhelming number of applicants for the Hardin County Extension Master Gardener program and the number of applicants that did not want to complete the volunteer portion of the program, the horticulture agent developed the "Science of Gardening" program. This program offers all the science-y goodness of the Extension Master Gardener program without the volunteer hours requirement (and the title of Master Gardener). Session topics included: Botany, Soils
Author: Kara Back
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
One of the challenges of the Master Gardeners' program is finding volunteer opportunities to fulfill the required hours needed to be certified, or continue to be certified. This however, has not been the case with the Taylor County Master Gardeners. Long before the Master Gardeners' program began, Clay Hill Memorial Forest reached out to the extension office for help with their educational facility, which is owned by Campbellsville University. They were desiring to have a pollinator gard
Author: Bethany Wilson
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Pulaski County is a growing community. It is projected that by 2020 Pulaski County’s population will be 71,036 or 11% more than our current population. Many of these incoming residents will benefit from home horticulture programming Gardener’s Toolbox classes were held focusing on various home gardening topics. Eleven Gardener’s Toolbox classes were scheduled and an additional 14 home horticulture classes and events were conduc
Author: Michele Stanton
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
One of the challenges in teaching horticulture is that there are so many bad examples of plant care practices in the landscape. People want to take good care of their yards and gardens, but as they copy what they see around them they may end of doing more harm than good—and not realize it. This is not restricted to my county, or Kentucky, or the Midwest. Everywhere I go, I can take pictures of glaring plant mistreatment. A common example is the mounding of mulch around
Author: Roger Mollette
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
The Martin County Extension Service is well aware of the importance of educating the youth of Martin County on all the different aspects of agriculture. For the seventh consecutive year we have provided plant science activities at every elementary school during Earth Week. This year we added the Middle school to the programming efforts. We also added partners to the program to make it more expansive. We were joined by Martin County Farm Bureau and the Soil Conservation District This year 1,100 y
Author: Roger Mollette
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
The Martin County Extension Service works with The Grow Appalachia organization and together they address food insecurity for families focused on organic gardening practices.The Grow Appalachia program has successfully created opportunities for fresh produce to be grown and used/preserved by families in the program. This program allowed the Extension Service to assist twenty-three families to produce and preserve food produced from their gardens. Many of these families could not have
Author: Chadwick Conway
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Many families today enjoy fresh local food, but don’t have the time, space, and resources to grow a traditional garden. The Knott County Agriculture Agent has been working with several different community groups and centers on how to construct raised bed gardens over the past several years. Also many homes and community centers have poor topsoil due fill around their building or homes and many are built on reclaimed mine sight which have very limited topsoil. This spring
Author: Kelly Jackson
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
The Christian County 2020 Vision Plan, prepared by the local Chamber of Commerce, is a plan to guide improvements in the community and bring together multiple community partners in a unified approach to achieve progress. One goal of the vision plan seeks economic growth through more retail opportunities. Another goal is to enhance recreational opportunities that bear a low user cost to the average citizen. Utilizing Master Gardener volunteers, the Cooperative Extension Service in Christian Count
Author: Lori Bowling
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
The Boyd County Extension Agent for Horticulture partnered with the NEP Specialist in Boyd County on a program to teach headstart and first graders about how to raise their own vegetables. This was a lesson that followed the 6 week program they had with Organ Annie about how healthy eating affects our major organs. Leaf lettuce was the crop chosen for this lesson so that the kids would see a pretty quick result from planting seeds. The horticulture agent went into each classroo
Author: Lori Bowling
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Every May the Horticulture program and the Master Gardeners in Boyd County host a Garden Shed Herb Day that is aimed at educating participants on the many uses of herbs as well as how to raise them and incorporate them into everyday landscaping. This year the focus was on the benefits herbs play in the landscape as plants but also as natural deterrents for wild life that destroy our landscaping. They learned what plants to use and where to place them to be the most effective. There w
Author: Christan Miracle
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Working together with Lebanon Elementary Schools 5th grade class we had a successful classroom garden. I was approached at the end of the school year last year by a teacher with the need of some help with her classroom garden. She just wanted some grow lights to use for the garden but then we developed a plan to grow a few different types of vegetables and herbs in the classroom for her students to watch and learn from. Her main problem with the garden when I started helping was that the plants
Author: Heather Graham
Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture
Home grown vegetables is one of the the many things to look forward during the summer months. In Eastern Kentucky, there is heritage and tradition surrounding the family garden- what is grown, how it's grown, etc. It is common for people to save their seeds, especially of the heirloom varieties, from one year to the next. This helps to keep the tradition of the family garden alive, and can also help to reduce the input costs of the garden (not having to purchase seeds). Heriloom varities can
