Kentucky is one of the lowest ranked states for chronic health issues such as cancer and diabetes due to lack of physical activity and poor eating habits. The University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service, the Kentucky Department of Agriculture and the University of Kentucky School of Human Environmental Sciences partnered to create the Plate it up! Kentucky Proud program. This project provides healthy, great tasting recipes using Kentucky Proud products for the people of Kentucky. 
 
 

While the Plate it up! Kentucky Proud committee is primarily composed of Family and Consumer Science Agents, the Madison County Cooperative Extension Agent for Horticulture serves as a gardening advisor to the group. The Horticulture Agent provides gardening information to be shared on the group’s Facebook page starting in mid March and going through October. The posts are called “Gardener’s Insider Guide”. The goal of these posts is to encourage Kentucky residents to grow a garden in order to increase access to vegetables and improve their diets. 

A few of the most popular topics posted were when to start a garden, disease control, gardening in small spaces and harvesting. 

Below are two examples of posts:

• Did you know strawberries ripen 30 days after they flower? The best time of day to pick is in the morning. When harvesting, be sure to leave the strawberry’s “green cap” and stem on. This will lead to a longer shelf life. 

• Have a limited amount of space to garden? Check out the publication, “Gardening in Small Spaces” from the University of Kentucky for some great ideas on nontraditional gardening!

  http://www2.ca.uky.edu/agcomm/pubs/ID/ID248/ID248.pdf

  
  

Including horticulture related posts on the Plate it up! Kentucky Proud Facebook page has helped to expand the project and reach new audiences. The sixteen horticulture posts throughout the growing season reached 33,775 people. That is an increase in 23% from the previous year.