The Woodford County Extension Agent for Horticulture collaborated with the Woodford County Public Schools English Language Learner District Interpreter and the English Language Learner Instructional Assistant to offer a raised bed gardening program to Hispanic families in the community. There were a total of 12 families that attended for a total of 28 attendees. Families were given a raised bed garden kit that contained the wood, screws, soil, and plants needed to start a 4’ X 8’ raised bed garden. There was an activity for the children as well, which included pots and seeds of summer vegetables that they planted and took home to care for along with the instructions to do so. 

Many of the participants live in duplexes and apartments and the Horticulture agent and collaborators of this program helped to get permission for the families to have a raised bed garden since it takes up a small space. This enables the participants to have a garden and grow their own produce for their families. 

The long-term goal of this program is to enable families to share stories, successes and failures, recipes and community around the gardens. We will meet again in late August to share recipes using the produce from the raised bed gardens. Next year new participants can join and receive a raised bed garden and participants from the previous year will be invited to share their stories. There was talk amongst participants about possibly joining the farmers market in the future as well.