When residents walk through our doors for the first time, I sometimes hear things like, ‘Wow!  This is great!  I didn’t know you guys existed.’  Residents appreciate what we do in Extension Horticulture: classes, programs, soil testing, plant disease ID, free vegetable seeds, publications, individualized information, and more.  If I can get someone to attend that first class or other event, I feel they come back.   Getting them here the first time that is the challenge.  In a county of 165,000 people, in a metro area of over 2 million, there are many competing voices, and I don’t want us to get lost in the din.

Recently I invited UK specialist Shawn Wright up to teach a class with me on Forest-farmed Herbs.  The purpose was two-fold: first, to share with would-be producers and gardeners the various native medicinal plants that can be grown in a woodland setting.  My second purpose was to bring in people who had not previously taken advantage of Extension resources.  The topic was specifically targeted to both those goals.

The first goal was easier to reach: In a two-hour evening class we taught participants about not only the well-known plants such as ginseng and goldenseal, but also introduced them to over a dozen more less well-known native medicinal plants native to this local area. 

The second goal, to bring in new clients, was harder to achieve.  I advertised the class on two local radio stations; sent out informative emails to community email lists apart from our own email lists, to residents of 7+ counties; included the class on a Kenton County mailer that is distributed to every known household in the county, posted it to Facebook, and more.

The results were encouraging.  Forty-five people came; 36% percent were first-timers to Extension.  Participants completed evaluations, and the results were positive.  They rated the quality of the instructors highly and reported increased knowledge of the materials presented.  68% percent of respondents said they would explore the topic further on their own; 54% said they would look over their woods to find growing sites; 21% said they planned to order seeds and plants for next spring, with 16% already doing it, and another 41% considering it. All in all, I call that a success.