COVID-19 has posed challenges for Extension Outreach. Agents have had to think outside the box in terms of programming, supporting our clientele, and staying safe and healthy ourselves. The Lawrence County Extension Agent for Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR) decided to keep things positive in the community and direct peoples attention from the news to how they can learn to be more self-sufficient. During times like these, communities are looking for hope and comfort, and also how to become less reliant on big box grocery stores and more reliant on themselves for necessities such as food. 

The Lawrence County ANR Agent filmed a segment on how to start seeds at home and posted it to social media, it got rave reviews. But, then she noticed that new gardeners and even avid gardeners may not have access to seeds at the moment. Making a quick trip to the garden store isn't as easy as it use to be. To help with this, the ANR agent decided to put all the seeds that had been donated from a local store the previous year to good use. She made a post on social media advertising free seed. Seeds would be bagged and available for pickup at the Extension Office within an hour all the seeds were gone. What a success! But, how could more folks be reached? That was only 50 individuals that received garden seed. To keep foot traffic at a minimum at the Extension Office, it was decided that seeds would be mailed to interested gardeners. The social media post went viral. Over 200 individuals requested seeds in less than 24 hours. One individual stated "You are an amazing resource". Other individuals sent videos of their kids saying how excited they were to plant their seeds, and another individual sent pictures of their seedlings that they had started from the seeds they received from the Extension Office. 

Just a small gesture of seeding community members free seeds gives individuals hope for the future and helps keep their mind at ease during these trying times. Seeds are still being mailed out and folks are keeping us up to date with how their plants are doing.