In 2021, 17,466 Kentuckians aged 12 and older were admitted to drug and alcohol substance use centers, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). According to the 2023 Extension Community Assessment, Daviess County residents identified support for substance use addiction prevention/recovery as one of the top 15 priority issues.

Daviess Co. 4-H Agent and Daviess Co. NEP Assistant partnered with Yellow Banks Recovery during June and July to teach both gardening skills and nutrition education. The gardening, meal planning, and cooking skills learned will be useful to participants, both in the short term and after they leave the recovery center. 

Therapeutic horticulture is defined as a practice that uses living plants and gardening to improve people’s spiritual, mental, and physical health, according to the American Horticulture Therapy Association. Fourteen women from Yellow Banks Recovery attended gardening and nutrition classes. The garden consisted of seventeen types of vegetables grown in the ground at the front of the recovery center.  The produce from the garden was utilized primarily in the kitchen and paired with meals as it came in. 

Participants tended to the garden by watering, weeding, and harvesting vegetables. In addition, some residents were assigned to weigh the produce, assist with preparation, and let the NEP Assistant know when more logs sheets were needed. This aided in the participants’ substance-use recovery because gardening promotes connection with other participants, fostering social inclusion and community belonging—which are essential to substance-use recovery. All fourteen participants indicated that participating in gardening and nutrition education taught them self-care strategies to improve their recovery. Furthermore, all fourteen participants intend to “seek out positive social relationships and invest more deeply in community” because of their participation in this collaborative Extension program. 

 In addition to growing produce, the Daviess County 4-H Agent provided additional opportunities for people in substance use recovery to explore ways to build self-efficacy through participating in hands-on activities such as making butter, using fresh herbs to infuse water, pulling weeds, assessing plants, and harvesting produce and herbs. Furthermore, several participants commented that they enjoyed gardening because they “accomplished something” and “got to hang out with my girls and have fun”.

At the end of the season, 165 pounds of produce were harvested, yielding 49.2 servings of fresh fruits and vegetables, according to USDA calculations. This amounts to a $446.93 value in produce provided to participants. Medical research indicates that proper nutrition, such as increasing intake of garden fruits and vegetables, can support physical healing of damage caused by substance use and stabilize emotional states, thereby decreasing the risk of recurrence. After harvest, participants had the opportunity to consume the produce and learned about the important role of food in recovery through classes led by the NEP Assistant. Over the three months, fifty-one completed the Healthy Choices for your Recovering Body Curriculum.