The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly affected our communities.  Empty shelves at the supermarket, and growing concerns for food insecurity has shifted the consumers focus toward the farm stand and self-sustaining agriculture.   The Grant County Extension Service has started several new initiatives to increase food security in our community as well as encourage families to learn how to become self-reliant and supplement through small personal gardens.

A Green Thumb program was planned as an effort to further raise awareness of local food systems and increase youth participation in the local farmers market.  Representatives from Grant County Cooperative Extension Service, Grant County Chamber of Commerce, Grant County High School Culinary Arts, Williamstown High School and Grant County High School FFA Programs, Williamstown Main Street Merchants Association and Grant County Farmer’s Market supporters collaborated to host a meal to showcase local farm products.  

Agents and extension leaders began working on a "Make Someone Smile Day" where we were able to give away 900 Zinnia plants to local residents to help brighten peopled lives during the pandemic.  About 325 families received plants.  We also planned a second give away, passing out around 200 tomato, cucumber, zucchini, cabbage, pepper, and cantaloupe plants to encourage many families to start their own garden so that they could have a reliable food source of their own.   In addition to the plant starters we also mailed out over 575 seed packets to youth and adults encouraging them to start their own gardens! One parent of a child who received seed packets expressed how excited their child was to receive the seeds.  They shared, “We are planting every seed we receive!”  They also shared that their child was so excited to start their first garden.  

In addition to encouraging the community to become self-sufficient in growing their own foods, we also focused on preserving the foods that they had grown.  The Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) program offered virtual canning classes, which taught participants the basics of food preservation and canning.  Participants were able to learn the basics of food preservation as well as receive step by step video instruction on how to can salsa and make Jam from the produce that they had grown themselves.  

To continue to encourage self-sustainability and food security the Grant County Extension Office worked and promoted the statewide victory garden program.  Our Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed) and Agriculture and Natural Resource program along with several extension leaders began working with families and established a victory garden.   To date we have harvested about 7 bushels of green beans, 9 bushels of tomatoes, 2 bushels of black eyed peas, cantaloupe, cabbage, peppers, watermelon, cushaw, pumpkin, and proceeds from the garden have been donated to local free kitchen as well as individuals seeking fresh fruits identified by our SNAP assistant.