Hello everyone. Greetings from Project Worth Outreach in Menifee County. We are located in northeastern Kentucky. My name is Alex Sanders and I am the Site Coordinator for Grow Appalachia Garden Program at Project Worth Outreach.
Alex Sanders, Grow Appalachia Garden Program Site Supervisor
We are so excited to be partnering with Grow Appalachia once again. This will be our third year partnering with Grow Appalachia. We feel the first two years have been very successful and we are looking forward to not only continuing this success but surpassing it. We have learned a lot in the last couple of years and we hope to put those learned lessens to good use this year. We are working very hard at recruiting committed families to join us and make a real difference in their families lives. We are recruiting beginning, moderate, and experienced gardeners for our program this year. We have already had one of two organizational meetings and have a complete schedule of meeting dates, topics and guest speakers in both Menifee and Rowan County. One meeting we have scheduled that is very exciting for both Menifee and Rowan County is our first ever experienced gardener forum. In this setting, our experienced gardeners will answer any and all questions from our Grow Appalachia gardeners on any garden topic. This promises to be very enlightening, not only to our gardeners but to me as well. Another meeting that awe look forward to is our last meeting in both counties is our annual potluck meals in which participants bring a dish of something grown in their gardens, It just so happens that both potluck meals will be on back to back evenings. Folks, it doesn’t get much better than that, two great meals back to back, free. Our first organizational meeting for Menifee County Grow Appalachia Garden Program participants was held on January 20 and we had 32 families attend and 27 of these families signed an agreement to participate. This is a very good start and we hope to build on this number. We hope to have 40 families participate in both Menifee and Rowan County. We had a organizational meeting scheduled in Rowan Count for January 21, but due to the wonderful weather we have been experiencing this winter we has to postpone that meeting until February 3. I have been contacting a few people in Rowan County since the postponement of our meeting and have had 19 oral commitments. We also have one community garden in Menifee and Rowan County.
Menifee County Grow Appalachia Participants meeting
As we all know, one of the major things that we need to do this year is sell as much produce as possible. Toward that goal, Our Director of Project Worth Outreach and Grow Appalachia Project Coordinator, Gail Mills, has written and received a grant request that has allowed us to build a pavilion that we call Means Organic Food Market. The Means Organic Food Market will allow all of our gardeners to have a place to sell their surplus produce, regardless of where they live, at no cost to them. Each participant will be given a certificate stating the all their produce is organically grown.
Gail Mills, Director, Project Worth Outreach & Project Coordinator, Grow Appalachia Garden Program
Means Organic Food Market
We are also busy putting together a seed order and preparing to order fertilizer. This is a daunting task but it is exciting because it signals a new year of gardening is about to begin. As much as I would like to sit here and opine I must turn my attention to the task of getting this gardening year off to a roaring start. I have gardeners to recruit, garden sites to visit, community partners to recruit, etc. A Project Coordinator, Site Supervisor and all of our Grow Appalachia Garden Program participants tasks are never completely finished. This is what makes a successful garden and successful Grow Appalachia Garden Program. Welcome to all of the new organizations to Grow Appalachia and please enjoy all of the things you are about to experience. Best of luck to all Grow Appalachia gardeners this year and may everyone enjoy a bountiful harvest.
It was exciting attending the first meeting and learning about Grow Appalachia program. I first heard of it attending Brushy Fork Institute in 2013 and I immediately was interested.
I look at my yard and I can envision a beautiful garden, even past the snow and ice we have encountered within the past few weeks. I have 2 boys, 7 and, in a few weeks, 11. I want to teach them sustainability and cultivating the imperative need of learning how to garden- in a successful manner. I have had gardens in the past, but, never really involved the boys in the process. Some unsuccessful outcomes. However, they were always amazed of the little rewards we did accomplish in growth. We already have strawberries, thornless blackberries, concord grapes, mint, and lemon balm.
What I look forward to is growing vegetables and being confident I am feeding the boys food with no GMO or any other chemicals. I am new in learning the negative impacts of chemicals used in our fresh produce at the grocery stores. I am very excited to learn and to teach the boys to grow organically and to how our hard work will benefit to a healthier diet greatly, as well as teaching responsibility and patience. I also look forward to spending quality time with my boys outside gardening which I hope, eventually, they will come to cherish and place in their memory banks for later in life.
I homeschool my youngest son, I intently search for ways to turn activities into educational activities. There is always something to learn. This is what I found online which I will be doing with both boys! “Beyond what your child will naturally learn from being outdoors, there are ways to make the gardening experience more educational for him. Help him to make a chart of his plants and teach him to predict how the flowers will change each week. Then, work on basic math concepts by measuring the plants together every Saturday. Talk to him about the principle of cause and effect as he waters the seeds and they later sprout. As the summer wears on, the cycle of life unfolds magically in front of him, from sowing seeds to growing plants to harvesting flowers and veggies.” http://www.scholastic.com/parents/resources/article/creativity-play/how-gardening-teaches-kids-to-grow
Happy gardening times ahead….