The onset of COVID-19 created a new paradigm for many across the U.S and Kentucky. Access to nutritious foods was more limited than it has been since the last World War. Since many people were off work, raising vegetables in a garden became more popular. Internet searches for information about gardening increased 30% during the last year, during COVID.

         To assist local citizens, the Agriculture agents and FCS program Assistant prepared kits on gardening, composting, canning/freezing produce, and the Beaver Dam Community Farmer’s Market. In 2020, we made kits which could be picked up at the Extension office and provided 800 kits to the local Food Pantry. 

         For 2021, since many of the COVID restrictions were still in place, we expanded the outreach of the gardening kits to reach 1000 people thru the Ohio Co. Food Pantry and the Fordsville Food Pantry. We also delivered 30 gardening kits to the Catholic Church for Hispanic families and made 40 kits available thru 2 Hispanic groceries in Beaver Dam. This reached a total of 1070 families with the gardening kits. Plans are to continue to attend local Food Pantry when handouts are occurring to provide information about the Beaver Dam Farmer’s Market and ow to process their garden produce for storing, with canning or freezing.

         The gardening kits consisted of U.K. & SNAP publications on preparing a garden, how to plant and maintain the garden, seed packets of green beans, cucumbers, beets, yellow squash and zuchinni squash, composting basics, and Healthy at Home information. 

         Participants will be surveyed later this fall to evaluate the success of the gardening projects, in greater detail. In conversations with Food Pantry participants, most indicated they appreciate the seed packets/information and were enjoying eating fresh produce from their garden.