With the surge of grocery prices in recent months there has been an increased interest in our county in growing and making your own food. Along with that people enjoy the satisfaction of knowing where their food came from in addition to the fulfillment from reaping the rewards of your own hard work. Seeing this interest, I felt there was a need that could be filled in the county for education on growing your own garden.

I, along with my NEP assistant applied for the Community Garden Grant offered by NEP. This grant allowed us to purchase materials needed for establishing and tending to the community raised bed garden that we started. We also partnered with Lake Cumberland Community Action to reach a larger audience and offer more resources for participants. In addition, I partnered with Lake Cumberland Master Gardeners who were able to lead the gardening portion of the classes and the NEP assistant led the nutritional discussions.

Over the course of the 6-week series we had 22 total participants, three participants attended all six sessions and each session averaged 11 participants. Participants left with the knowledge of how to build, start, grow, care for and harvest their own gardens. In addition, they gained knowledge on making healthy eating choices and how to cook the ingredients grown in their gardens.