Junior Master Gardener/Learn Grow Eat Go: The Campbell County Approach

In Kentucky, at least one out of every three adults (34.2%) and children (37.1%) are overweight or obese, more than one out of every five Kentuckians (16.8%) and Kentucky children (21.9%) experience food insecurities, and one out of every three Kentuckians (29.8%) are physically inactive (SNAP-Ed, 2017). In Campbell County (population 92,488).There are 12.9% of the county who are food insecure, 13.2% of the population below poverty and 17.8% children living in poverty. Twenty-four percent of the county is physically inactive.  Youth gardening programs have shown increases in youth vegetable preferences, vegetable consumption, knowledge in nutrition and plant science, and engagement in physical activity (Spears-Lanoix, et. al, 2015). As part of a pilot project, The Campbell County Cooperative Extension Service (CES) personnel in 4-H Youth Development, Horticulture, and Family and Consumer Sciences hosted and attended the Junior Master Gardener/Learn, Grow, Eat, Go in-service held on September 19-20, 2017. At the in-service, county CES personnel were trained by the Junior Master Gardener National Program Coordinator and collaborated as a county team to develop a implementation plan for their county. 

From January through May, the Campbell County CES Office collaborated with the Newport Intermediate School to conducted an after school enrichment program using the Learn, Grow, Eat, Go curriculum in which 10 youth participated. During the program, youth engaged in hands-on activities to learn about such topics as nutrition, garden science, physical activity, food preparation, and fresh vegetable and fruit tastings.

From the Horticulture side, our 3-person team did lessons on: Plant Parts We Eat, Nutrients to Grow, Don’t Crowd Me, Paper Towel Gardening, A Place to Grow, and Rules are Rules and Schedule it. From these lessons and activities, students were every engaged and egger to learn. With the first lesson of Plant Parts We Eat, less than 50% of the students did not identify different plant parts that we eat. But after reading the book Tops and Bottoms and participating with the hands-on activity, 100% of the students were able to successful identify plant parts that we eat and included further conversation about plants as a whole. This activity opened the doors and curiosity about the food that we eat to our youth’s minds. The next lesson about nutrients really gave the children the opportunity to learn how to read and interrupt food labels into their everyday life food choices to meet the needs of their bodies. With the next three lessons of Don’t Crowd me, Paper Towel Gardening, and a Place to Grow, students engaged in math curriculum and used tools to read and interrupt information on how to best design a vegetable garden. Considering space, season, and what plants need to grow, students had to use problem solving skills to design a garden space to yield crops to harvest. 100% of the students were engaged, offered ideas and suggestions, and understood the importance of spacing plants and understanding what plants need to survive. And lastly, the students realized that gardening needs to be safe for both the gardeners but also the community as a whole. So, with that, they created Rules to keep everyone safe. This allowed students to express some of their concerns to each other and use strategies to problem solve as a whole. After planting and caring for plants under the grow lab in the class room, the children were excited to showcase their hard work by taking the flowers home. “I can’t wait to plant this pretty marigold at home and see if a butterfly will come to my house” said one of the students. And another commented, “I didn’t realize how much sugar I eat each day. I will make better choices and share with my family.”