Mondays at the Market

The local farmer’s market is a staple in many small towns across the country, and this holds true for Garrard County. Farmers and producers set up at the farmer’s market every Monday evening to sell their locally grown crops to families from all parts of the county. The Garrard County Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP-Ed) Assistant saw the farmer’s market as an opportunity for her to have a booth to promote both Garrard County Cooperative Extension Services as well as educate families about balanced nutrition. 

The SNAP-Ed Program Assistant noticed more and more families visiting her booth, so she decided to begin a youth nutrition program called Mondays at the Market where she would teach youth about MyPlate. During this program, 10 Garrard County youth learned the importance of choosing MyPlate when building their meals, and to eat the colors of the rainbow, which they could choose different fruits and vegetables right there at the market. The youth also learned about the importance of water and the need to choose water more often than sugary drinks. Appropriate reinforcement items were given to each participant during the program.

After one of the Assistant’s weekly lessons, one parent sent the following message along with a picture to the Garrard County 4H Agent: “Thank you to Lisa for the "healthy choices" program at the farmers market today, our girls had a good time learning about sugary drinks and different flavored waters to try without all the sugar! They enjoyed picking out some fresh salad with their veggie bucks and came home to make a salad on their My plates with all the different food groups! Looking forward to the following weeks!”