Many Kentuckians struggle with substance use; an estimated 399,000 Kentuckians age 12 and older reported using illicit drugs in the past month (2019-2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, SAMHSA). According to SAMHSA’s annual National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services report for 2021, there are 359 substance use recovery (SUR) treatment facilities in Kentucky. It is common for some residential SUR treatment programs to use horticultural therapy with residents since gardening decreases stress, improves self-esteem and provides useful skills for residents. Nutrition education, cooking skills and resource management instruction is also greatly needed by residents as they continue to heal and transition back into their communities, but is not often provided in these settings.

The University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service’s Recovery Garden Project provides both gardening instruction by Agriculture or Horticulture Agents and classes teaching healthy nutrition, physical activity, food planning and food preparation skills taught by Nutrition Education Program Assistants. The Recovery Garden Project’s 2019 pilot results from recovery centers in seven counties found that the produce grown yielded over 2,000 cups of fresh vegetables and saved participating recovery centers approximately $1,500 in food costs. Although COVID restrictions impacted project reach in 2021, during the 2022 program year residents planted gardens in over 375 square feet at recovery centers. All participating centers incorporated the garden vegetables into meals for residents to enjoy. One Extension instructor reported, “According to the residents, our time with them is one of the best times of their week. Depending on the topic, we will see different women really caring and taking ownership of different things.”

The successes of the Recovery Garden Project have been disseminated at both the Kentucky Extension Conference and the Association of SNAP Nutrition Education Administrators during the 2022 program year, and currently a Recovery Garden Toolkit is being developed to help the project spread.