Hello from Clay County, Kentucky! Clay County Cooperative Extension Service (Clay CES) is proud to be a new member of the Grow Appalachia family as of the 2022 growing season. We’re looking forward to providing you all with a snapshot of how our season progresses through these blog posts.

First of all, we would like to note that we are truly grateful to be building off of the foundations already laid by others. Clay County has had a longtime Grow Appalachia site in the Redbird community, and Clay CES staff have been proud to work with them over the years. In fact, it was the positive experience we’ve had assisting the growers at Redbird that inspired Clay CES to sponsor a Grow Appalachia site in the Bullskin Creek community of northern Clay County.

The Bullskin Creek site has had its first meeting of the year, and it was great. This initial meeting gave us an opportunity to discuss garden planning, with a big emphasis on the importance of soil testing. The first meeting was very dynamic, with a lot of conversation shared between members. Speaking of members, we’d like to note that there is an awesome mix of folks participating in Grow Appalachia at the Bullskin site. Some folks have been gardening most of their lives but are looking for new information that will take their production to the next level, while other participants have never grown a garden before the 2022 season. Regardless of prior experience, everyone in the group is incredibly excited to begin producing more of their own food.

In closing, we at Clay CES would like to express our gratitude to Grow Appalachia for the opportunity to bring a new site to the Bullskin Creek community. We know the program is going to have a great impact, and are humbled to be a part of this process. Thank you to everyone in the Grow Appalachia family for this opportunity, and for your awesome support as we’ve helped get this new site up and running. Please stay tuned in the coming months. We’re looking forward to keeping you up to date with what’s happening in our community!