According to the Community Assessment in 2019, one of the top priority needs in Magoffin County is more training for food gardening skills. In addition, consumers have become more interested in where their food comes from and how it is grown.

The Grow Appalachia Gardening Grant allowed us to have a gardening education series that began in March and ended in October. We met at least once a month to discuss several topics including the importance of soil testing, planning your garden, starting seeds, transplanting, organic methods of weed and pest management, fall crops to extend the harvest season, cover crops, heart healthy cooking, and food preservation (canning, freezing, drying.) Participants also had the opportunity to take home supplies to aid them in their gardening journey. Items like vegetable plants, fertilizers, ground cover, gardening tools, canning tools, and so much more. This allowed participants to truly use what they had learned in their gardens at home as the season progressed.

We had thirty-eight families participate in the Grow Appalachia Gardening series and had all ages from 5 to 65+ in attendance of the monthly meetings. This program not only impacted those thirty-eight families directly, but many more in the community as our participants recorded sharing over 2,000 pounds of their harvest to neighbors and friends. Participants reported growing over 9,000 pounds of produce throughout the 2023 gardening season. The participating families also reported they had canned 2,111 pints of food.