As we wrap up our first Grow Appalachia season at Grace Covenant Ministries, we’re looking back over the past months with so much joy and gratitude!

We’ve had many successes, some failures, and endless learning opportunities. Our families have dealt with so many challenges, such as rocky soil, bugs eating their produce, tending gardens while dealing with family losses, and so much more. But through it all, they have worked together to support each other, as well as share their knowledge with those around them.

One of the many successes of our year was the partnership with the local Jackson County Community Foundation ( a local affiliate of The Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky).
The Jackson County Community Foundation provided supplemental funds to our Grace Grows program so that our garden families could grow a larger harvest to share with neighbors and other community members! This supplemental funding also gave us the opportunity to create three additional community gardens on the Grace Covenant Ministries campus (two vegetable gardens and one pumpkin patch).

These gardens were a wonderful addition to our Backyard Gardens! We harvested over 2000 pounds in our pumpkin patch and shared this with students and community members! Our families were eager to share their bountiful gardens with their friends and neighbors as well as others in the community who did not have access to locally grown organic vegetables.

We’d like to thank the Jackson County Community Foundation for funding the “Grow One Give One” Project which blended perfectly with our Grace Grows Back Yard Garden Program!

Below, we have photos of a few of our participants sharing their harvests. First is Janie and her nephew “E”, and then we have Julie!

We are so thankful for this opportunity, and we cannot wait until next spring!