In 2021, 17,466 Kentuckians age 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, Knox County residents identified Spero Health Recovery Center as a priority.

Knox County FCS Agent, Kelsee Dewees and Agriculture Agent, Kelsee Dewees, collaborated with Spero Health during April to November 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. Thirteen recovery center residents participated in the garden. The garden consisted of four types of vegetables grown in raised beds.  The produce from the garden was utilized primarily for harvesting, treating the garden with pesticides and learning the need, preparing snap ed recipes with the produce and planting fall crops.  One person quoted, “this is the only food I get to eat.”

Participants tended the garden by watering, weeding, and harvesting vegetables. In addition, some residents were assigned to water the garden daily, weigh the harvest and document the weights in the log. This leadership role 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. Eight of the thirteen participants indicated that participating in gardening and nutrition education taught them self-care strategies to improve their recovery. Furthermore, nine 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 agents provided additional opportunities for people in substance use recovery to explore ways to build self-efficacy through participating in like preparing meals together to take home, learned how to use a raised bed Furthermore, several participants commented that they enjoyed gardening because “they liked working in a group.”  

At the end of the season, 21.55 pounds of produce were harvested, yielding 7.22 servings of fresh fruits and vegetables, according to USDA calculations. This is $71.72 value in fresh produce made available to Spero Health 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 Agents.