In the mountains of Eastern Kentucky, accessing fresh local produce is very important for families. Many of them work hard at gardening in order for them to have fresh produce during the summer and to make sure that they have enough to preserve for the winter months, and even sell some of their produce along the way for an additional source of income when needed to help support their families. 

The Knott County Agriculture Agent strives to assist these gardeners throughout the county by helping them learn different ways to increase their vegetable production. By providing them with various educational publications and opportunities to help guide them towards obtaining a successful growing garden. During the gardening season, the agent also introduced them to new gardening techniques and methods used to control different types of diseases, insects, and wildlife.  However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 gardening season had many obstacles for everyone to overcome in which caused many individuals to have difficulty finding ways to access the necessary supplies to raise the much-needed garden during the national mandated quarantine period. 

With that, the Extension office stepped up to assist over 150 Knott County families providing them with educational publications, various gardening supplies packaged and given out via drive-thru events, which produced over 50,000 pounds of fresh local produce. Additionally, the Agriculture agent provided several online educational classes to assist these new and old gardening families with raising a wealth of quality produce during these difficult times. Knott County is also fortunate to have a solid "Grow Appalachia Program," The agriculture agent is very involved with teaching successful gardening classes to 65 various families on growing fresh vegetables.  The program is operated through the Hindman Settlement School and has reported over 36,000 pounds of fresh produce grown through Grow Appalachia last year alone. 

The Agriculture Agent also played a vital role in the Knott County Farmers' Market operation last year. This market assisted many families in finding the necessary vegetables to preserve and plan for the times ahead. Last year the Farmers' Market broke a record number in sales as they sold over $25,000 in fresh, local, and healthy foods.  The Knott County Extension Service provided some much-needed assistance with fresh food in 2020 by reaching as many families as they could during the worst pandemic in over 100 years.