Toward the end of the summer of 2020 the local Walmart donated several boxes of seed packets to the Harrison County Extension Office.  At that time, with COVID restrictions all programming was cancelled or converted to a virtual format.  In an effort to stay relevant to the community and to stay interactive with clientele during times that in-person classes couldn’t be held, it was decided to use the seed packets as an opportunity to connect with the public while still abiding by COVID guidelines.  

The goal of this program was for the Horticulture Agent and SNAP-Ed Assistant to partner up to potentially reach clientele that the horticulture program does not always reach.   The other goals were to take advantage of a free resource (donated seeds) and distribute them to the public.   Also, this project was an opportunity to assist people who wanted to grow their own vegetables and herbs for their family, but maybe didn’t have the resources or the know-how to do it.

The Horticulture Agent and SNAP-Ed assistant partnered together to offer two days of free seed giveaways.  The seeds were advertised as a mystery grab bag.  The free program for vegetable and herb seeds were advertised on the Harrison County Horticulture and Harrison County Nutrition Education Program Facebook pages as well as in the Harrison County Horticulture newsletter.  The vegetable seed bags were given out on a Friday in August and the herb seed bags were given out on a Friday in September.   On the respective day a table was set up on the extension office front porch and manned by both the Horticulture Agent and SNAP-Ed assistant.  A sign-in sheet was provided to collect demographic information from participants and business cards were provided so that people would have contact information for the office as well.  Participants were told they must wear a mask and practice social distancing while picking up the bags.  

The vegetable seed mystery grab bag included a large variety of vegetable seed packets, information on seed storage and how and when to plant vegetable seeds.  Also included were several Plate it Up recipe cards, a SNAP-Ed Farmers Market Shopping book, and a SNAP-Ed mesh shopping bag.  A link to a Qualtrics survey was also included.

The herb seed mystery grab bag included various packets of herb seeds, two Kentucky State University herb gardening publications, a small watering can, a small plastic pot to grow in, SNAP-Ed recipe cards, a SNAP-Ed shopping bag and a link to a Qualtrics survey.

Thirty vegetable grab bags and twenty-six herb bags were made.  All bags were picked up, many of whom were SNAP-Ed program participants.