“To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.” – Audrey Hepburn.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website gardening offers many physical and mental health benefits for children and adults.  Included in those benefits is increased physical activity, skill building, and access to healthy fresh fruits and vegetables. 

Through a generous donation from a local farm supply store and the Muhlenberg County Cooperative Extension Service presented the Let’s Grow Together project to families in Muhlenberg County, KY.  Families received Grab and Go Gardening Bags with materials to start their own vegetable gardens at home.  There were five different sets of Grab and Go Gardening kits, 500 total kits were distributed to families in Muhlenberg county. The Kentucky Nutrition Education Program Growing Your Own:  A Beginners Guide to Gardening publications were included in the various kits, along with vegetable seeds for planting their own gardens, Plate It Up Kentucky Proud Recipes, and SNAP-Ed recipes to use with their garden harvest.

 Seeds were also shared with forty local extension community partners and supporters as an outreach to encourage continued community partnerships and engagement.

 During the time when local parks and other recreational activities were closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak, this gardening project promoted many aspects of growth and education in youth and adults in our community.  Gardening Research.Com produced a gardening survey that stated that there was 11% increase in 2021, with more American families raising some of their own vegetables.  

Since the Let’s Grow Together project our Farmer’s Market Association held a successful Plant Swap, and has seen an increase in vendors at the Farmer’s Market.  Through a partnership with the Agent for 4-H Youth Development and the SNAP-Ed Nutrition Education Program Assistant Senior a 4-H Gardening club with ten new members and have started a youth community garden.