In 2018, the Johnson County Extension Council identified Gardening/Ag Production/Food Security as a priority for the Plan of Work. To address this issue, County Agent, Dianna Reed and Program Assistant, Valerie LeMaster worked with local schools to provide a three part workshop titled Seeds, Sprouts and Seedlings. In this workshop, session one covered the development of a seed from planting to seedling. As the accompanying hands-on activity, 278 students (which increased from last year's 100 4-H participants)then planted herbs and tomato seeds in germination containers. Students took home their herb containers that day. For the tomatoes, containers were then placed under an inside grow light to begin the process of growing their own vegetables. Session two of the workshop entailed a return visit to the Extension Office to transplant their tomato seedlings into larger nursery pots and learn about what a greenhouse is and its purpose for gardeners and farmers in the agriculture process. They also planted raised garden beds in hopes of plants producing fruits and vegetables. Session three consisted of plant deliveries to students at schools along a 4-H Vegetable Bucket Garden project book and the reminder to keep their plants growing once they took them home. Students were excited to have plants for their home gardening efforts, and were given information on how to continue the process of transplanting their vegetable plants to gardens or containers once they took them home.They were given SNAP recipes and MyPlate nutrition information was discussed. Lastly, they were also given pumpkin seeds and challenged to grow the largest pumpkin and report back to the Extension Office in the fall. After the students took plants home, one youth sent us pictures of them tending to their home garden and explained they were continuing the skills we taught them to grow their own fresh vegetables.

The raised beds they planted while at the Extension Office are producing vegetables that will be given away at no charge to community members who visit the Extension Office.This is the 6th consecutive year the workshop will be offered, and participation almost tripled in the 2018-2019 season. Through the partnership efforts of Extension staff, community volunteers and school personnel, these gardening education workshops have become an important medium to educate our youth and community and allow them to practice food security and agriculture production skills.