“The Kentucky Victory Garden campaign is a collaborative effort between the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, University of Kentucky and Kentucky State University to encourage Kentuckians to get in touch with their agricultural roots during the coronavirus pandemic. The goal is to teach and encourage Kentucky families to grow their own food. Gardening has proved to have several benefits including improving mental health, increasing moderate intensity exercise, and promoting family connection.”

Whitley County Cooperative Extension saw the need to provide a program for community members and educate them on the lasting benefits of gardening. These wonderful benefits would help the community to get through the current ailments of the COVID-19 pandemic. We created bags with information on creating a fall garden, nutrition education, art kits, seeds, recipes and a free cabbage plant. This program involved every program area in our office: Agriculture and Natural Resources, Family and Consumer Sciences, 4-H, Fine Arts, Nutrition Education Program, and Kentucky State University SNAP-Ed. The garden kits were given out for five days at different times and locations throughout the county and at the two extension offices. Approximately 25 bags were given to a local women’s drug rehabilitation center.

An evaluation was given to each person who received a bag to gather more information. When asked, 18% said they had never grown a garden. Of those receiving a bag, 95% said that they were inspired to grow a fall garden. This shows that Whitley County Extension Victory garden bags inspired new gardeners with this event. The participants were asked what they do with fresh produce; 43% said they eat immediately, while 32% said they preserve the fruit or vegetable.

Our whole office felt like this was a success and we touched several lives with offering this program to the community. This program inspired the Whitley County Extension office staff to do another collaborative bag, which they offered the next month. We received phone numbers and emails of everyone getting a gardening bag who wanted to be contacted with more information on gardening. Because of these garden kits, the drug rehabilitation center has discussed the idea of starting a garden at their facility.