Adopt a Crop Success Story

In Anderson County, there are several, mostly small scale, fruit and vegetable growers except for one large producer.   The local farmers market here is small but growing, and educational opportunities around fruit and vegetable production are limited to the schools which are closed during the summer when most vegetables are growing.  Additionally, most education around fruit and vegetable production happens at higher grade levels.  The Anderson County Extension Agents, in partnership with Anderson Community Education (A.C.E), Early Childhood Center, Anderson County Middle School, and Kentucky State University have prioritized educational programming around fruit and vegetable production for local families. 

Several educational programs, as well as community events and individual meetings, have been implemented by the Agents and other groups.  These programs include a picnic in the park, virtual meetings, and growing sessions. Growing sessions have allowed families to sign up to produce vegetables in one or more of eight raised beds gardens at the Extension Office.  Virtual meetings have given families and partnering agencies information on the production aspects of the crops in the garden beds. Picnic in the park was a program for families to come and experience a variety of local food learning opportunities, from seed sorting and planting to picking a raised bed to adopt and getting cooking recipes for their crops. 

Adopt a crop has eight families participating, with a total of 19 participants ranging in age from 7 to 30+. These eight families have visited their garden beds at least once to plant, weed, and harvest their crops. Through individual meetings with families, they have indicated that they have a better understanding of fruit and vegetable production in terms of starting seed or buying transplants, protecting crops from diseases and bugs, when to plant and harvest certain crops, and how to space different varieties of crops to maximize their space. 

Families have indicated that future programming on water conservation, irrigation, and soil amending would be beneficial. They are also interested in learning more about preparing crops in meals as well as storing crops through fermentation, canning, and freezing.