Home Gardening, Food Preservation, and Food Preparation Plan of Work

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Perry County CES

Title:
Home Gardening, Food Preservation, and Food Preparation
MAP:
Accessing Nutritious Foods
Agents Involved:
Wooten, Gibson,May
MAJOR PROGRAM 1:
Food Preservation
MAJOR PROGRAM 2:
Accessing Nutritious Foods (general)
MAJOR PROGRAM 3:
4-H Communications and Expressive Arts Core Curriculum
MAJOR PROGRAM 4:
Home & Consumer Horticulture
Situation:

Perry County ranks 118 among Kentucky’s 120 counties on the health risk and outcomes listed in the 2013 County Health Rankings report. Obesity threatens the quality and years of life and Perry County’s obesity rate for adults stands at 38% and 17% for high school youth. Thirty-six percent of adults in Perry County report lack of physical activity. Increased consumption of unhealthy food, stress, and built environments that promote physical inactivity are largely responsible for the obesity epidemic. These conditions promote chronic health conditions such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke and some types of cancers. As a result, more are dying from heart disease and cancer and have a lower life expectancy (less than 78 years of age). 
Extension helps families gain access to food and to stretch food dollars; communities to decrease hunger; and local food assistance programs to educate recipients on healthy and safe food preparation methods. 

Long-Term Outcomes:

Save money by preserving produce from gardens or farmer’s markets. 
Save money by preparing foods at home. 
Increase family income by growing and selling produce at the Farmer’s Market. 
Construct an Annex that will accommodate gardening and fruit and vegetable production workshops, food preparation, food preservation workshops and home-based micro-processing workshops. 



Intermediate Outcomes:

Identify and utilize correct method of canning for low acid and high acid foods 
Identify and purchase healthier foods 
Expand orchards and gardens to offset family food cost and to sell extra produce at the Farmer’s Market 


Initial Outcomes:

Learn how to increase fruit and vegetable consumption 
Learn how to make wise choices in selecting foods 
Learn production practices, for fruit and vegetables 



Evaluation:

Initial Outcome: Learn correct, research-based information. 
Indicator: Number of participants reporting change in knowledge. 
Method: Workshops 
Timeline: 2016-2020 

Intermediate Outcome: 
Indicator: Number of participants reporting growing food
Method: surveys, word of mouth reporting
Timeline: 2016 - 2020

Long-term Outcome: 
Indicator: Number reporting change in practice
Method:  surveys and word of mouth reporting
Timeline: 2016-2020


Learning Opportunities:

Audience: County clientele 
Project or Activity: Food Preservation workshops 
Content or Curriculum: Food Preservation curriculum 
Inputs :Agents, specialists 
Date: Spring – summer 2019

Audience: Homemakers, General Public, Youth 
Project or Activity: Cooking Schools 
Content or Curriculum: UK Curriculum 
Inputs: Agents, specialists, community partners 
Date: 2016-2020 

Audience: Homemakers, General Public, Youth 
Project or Activity: Economical Entrees 
Content or Curriculum: UK Curriculum 
Inputs: Agents, specialists
Date: October 2018


Audience: Homemakers, General Public, Youth 
Project or Activity: Meal Planning and Prep 
Content or Curriculum: UK Curriculum 
Inputs: Agents, specialists 
Date: February 2019 


Audience: Homemakers, General Public, Youth 
Project or Activity: Mindful Eating 
Content or Curriculum: UK Curriculum 
Inputs: Agents, specialists, community partners 
Date: January 2019 



Audience: General Public  and Farmer’s Market Vendors
Project or Activity: Farmer’s Market Nutrition Education, PBPT, WIC, and Senior Voucher Training 
Content or Curriculum: UK developed materials 
Inputs: Agents, NEP assistants 
Date: Spring and Summer 

Audience: NEP/Snap Eligible Families 
Project or Activity: Lessons for program families 
Content or Curriculum: Making Healthy Lifestyle Choices 
Inputs: Agents, NEP assistants 
Date: 2016 - 2020 

Audience: Processors and Micro-processors 
Project or Activity: Homebased Microprocessor Training 
Content or Curriculum: UK curriculum 
Inputs: Specialists 
Date: Spring 2019

Audience: Fruit and Vegetable Producers 
Project or Activity: Fruit and vegetable production workshops 
Content or Curriculum: Training will be provided on production practices, marketing, pest and disease control 
Inputs: Agents, Specialist 
Date: Spring 2019 




Success Stories

Sourdough Bread Workshops

Author: Glenna Wooten

Major Program: Food Preparation

Due to an increasing interest in heritage skills, the Perry County Cooperative Extension Service set out to address one of these needs.  Many individuals and agencies teach current, trendy classes, but the need for heritage skills classes exists and the pool of those with that knowledge is diminishing.The FCS agent attended a workshop in April to learn about sourdough bread making.  The first workshop was offered in June in Perry County with 24 participants, again in August with 24 par

Full Story

Gardening Options for Everyone

Author: Glenna Wooten

Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture

In the spring of 2019, the Perry County Cooperative Extension Family and Consumer Sciences agent offered a class on Gardening Options for Everyone.  This lesson covered gardening basics such as soil, light, and drainage as well as spacing, planting depth, and caring for plants.   Since many people in southeastern Kentucky now have only one or two in the household, a large garden is no longer the best option for them.  Smaller container gardens or raised bed gardens are better opti

Full Story

Cooking with Disabled Adults

Author: Glenna Wooten

Major Program: Food Preparation

An agency for disabled adults reached out to Extension for help with teaching their clientele basic cooking skills.  The agency transports the most highly-functioning adults to the Extension office to attend hand-on cooking classes.  Clientele first learn about hygiene and the importance of proper hand washing and hair restraint. Then they were divided into small groups to work on skills such as reading a recipe, learning to use kitchen utensils, and demonstrating their use through pre

Full Story

Community Youth Garden Project

Author: Charles May

Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture

  To assist parents with bored children at home with nothing to do besides play video games all day, the Perry County Extension Service ANR Agent started a neighborhood gardening club.This involved getting children in one neighborhood interested in growing their own garden. First, with some parent’s assistance, they had to clear off an overgrown area to make a site for a garden. This involved two days of hard work but the children seemed to enjoy it especially when they saw what a nic

Full Story
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