The majority of families in Knott County rely heavily on raising gardens in order to supplement their food needs throughout the year. The rest, who are unable to garden, depend on the farmers market. Both use the produce, consisting of fruits and vegetables, to preserve and supply food for their families enjoyment and nourishment.

 During the catastrophic July flood, the extension office received numerous calls about families losing their gardens. Each call was a request to discover if financial assistance might be available for the loss of the gardens they had spent so much time and money preparing for bountiful harvest. The Knott County ANR agent encouraged them to apply for the Family Flood Relief Grant through the Foundation of Appalachia KY. The agent also informed them about more opportunities the extension office would be working on in the near future.

 The Knott County Farmers Market Pavilion was flooded beyond use, and also all of the Knott County farmers market vendor lost all of their crops from the flood. As farm organizations began seeing the desperate need for fresh local food, and the devastation being dealt with, opportunities began coming to fruition. North Fork Local Foods, Community Farm Alliance, Kentucky Cooperative Extension,Grow Appalachia and many other groups came together with support. The World Central Kitchen and the LEE Initiative had been working on flood relief by feeding devastated families hot meals and had decided to sponsor farmers markets. Each farmers market was given $25,000 dollars to support families with fresh produce, and to allow farmers market growers to purchase resale produce to help them to support families at the markets.

 Working with the Hindman Settlement School who is the fiscal sponsor for the Knott County Farmers Market, the Knott County Extension Service hosted the markets at our office to help our vendors distribute fresh produce to families in need. The Knott County ANR agent, extension staff, market manager, Community Farm Alliance staff, and numerous volunteers organized these markets. In total, 4 weekly markets supplied and distributed over 10,000 pounds of fresh produce, meat, and eggs, and donated produce from various farms. 

In total, over 200 families were provided farm fresh food, and the 7 farmers that had lost their crops from the flood received $25,000 dollars directly to help supplement their loss by buying and distributing the produce through resale. The opportunity to help our local farmers, and to have fresh produce for 200 families provided some comfort during such tough times was definitely an inspiration to our community.