According to the PRC Community Health Report for Lincoln County, 42.1 % of youth ages 6 – 12 are reported as being overweight/obese. The Kentucky Department for Public Health also reports that only 17% of Kentucky students consume the recommended serving of fruits and vegetables daily. In an effort to combat this prevalent issue, the Lincoln County 4-H program was awarded a $1,000 grant from the KY 4-H Foundation to support at-home gardening programs for the entire family.

The 4-H Garden Kit Project was designed for families living in Lincoln County. Partnering with the Lincoln County FCS & ANR Agents, kits included UK publications for garden education and gardening resources, a windowsill greenhouse kit with soil pellets, a grow your own salad seed kit with three different vegetable seeds, and a branded garden trowel with the UK Extension logo and Lincoln County Extension Office phone number.

In total, 95 families (281 individuals of all ages) participated in the gardening project.

Youth and families learned how to plant and care for seeds through the germination process.  Once the seed sprouted, participants were able to observe and track the growth of their plants and can also perform experiments on factors that might inhibit or facilitate the growth of their plants such as the amount of sunlight and water. Transplanting these small plants into a larger container, on into an outdoor garden space, is yet another lesson gained from this project.

Post-program evaluations indicated that 80% learned about and demonstrated how seed germination works; 74% increased their regular vegetable consumption during the project, and 90% indicated this project encouraged them to spend more family time together.

We even had one family of two youth work with their grandmother to plant an entire garden. In late August, Kaydan and Macie shared some awesome pictures of their victory garden!

Kaydan’s gigantic watermelon!

Macie even added sunflowers to her section!