The Northfork Local Food Grow Appalachia Garden Program jumped into March and April feet first!  Participants were able to welcome Spring with cabbage, kale, Brussel sprouts, collards, pea seeds, onion sets, seed potatoes, and fertilizer!  We were overjoyed to offer a community seed swap during our March meeting – THANK YOU to our member, Kendra Dixon, for donating a literal BOX filled with a variety of seeds!  Diane Whitehead, who initiated our community seed swap, provided cookies and apple cider (which was a welcome warm up on what ended up being a VERY cold day). Our ..read more

This month has started out very good for us here at St. Vincent Mission, we have been able to help with fencing for 6 families. I had one of my participants write me a small story about here move here to the Appalachia’s. My name is Ginger and I moved to Southeast Kentucky with my family in 2023. We left behind several large gardens and arrived here on raw rocky mountain land. We brought with us a ton of dreams, our chickens, rabbits, pots of herbs, baby trees and flowers to use here. It was daunting to think of starting over but we are thrilled to be making our home here. Our f ..read more

March 28th was a busy day for foodways on Hindman Settlement Schools campus, but the weather was perfect for a full day of community engagement. The highlight was the annual seed shower, thanks to the support from DAR Chapters and other friends from near and far. We were able to offer a large variety of vegetable, fruit, flowers, and herbs. These seeds were beautifully displayed on the dining hall tables, ready to be shared with our community members and Grow Appalachia participants that are eager to begin their gardening endeavors. It was a wonderful opportunity for community members to meet ..read more

The wait is over. Spring has arrived here at the Owsley County Farm To School Gardening Program. The dogwoods are blooming, the crappie are running and the fields are plowed, planting has begun, and excitement abounds. It has been said that perusing seed catalogs is somewhat like looking at the Christmas Wish Book Catalog as a child. Garden Planning We had a record crowd sign up for our program, forty-five eager participants, for our Garden Planning Workshop, hosted by our Ag Agent, Paul Sizemore, at the Owsley County Extension Office. Our participants learned about selecting garden locations ..read more

In the world of gardening, raised garden beds have become increasingly popular due to their numerous advantages. Whether you opt for collapsible plastic containers or sturdy cedar boards, the elevated design of these beds offers many benefits for both plants and gardeners. In this blog post, we will explore the advantages of raised garden beds and how they can enhance your gardening experience, particularly when combined with organic growing practices. The Benefits of Raised Garden Beds: Improved Soil Quality: Raised garden beds allow you to have better control over the soil quality by adding ..read more

Soon we’ll be hearing stories from our gardeners, but first we thought we’d share a little behind the scenes from the GrowOV greenhouse because It’s transplant time! Each year, in addition to starting transplants for our own farms and spring plant sale, we seed starter plants for our backyard gardeners. This year we are offering three varieties of tomato (a roma, a cherry, and a slicer), three varieties of peppers (a lunchbox, a jalapeno, and a bell), and one variety of eggplant. We fill lots of trays with soil blocks, label them carefully, then put a single seed in each one. This tim ..read more

The Local Foods Team at High Rocks has diligently been working on our Ruby Grow Garden. With 2 high tunnels, the team has been cleaning beds, prepping soil, and planting. The team has been planting onions, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, broccoli, and cauliflower. Due to the high tunnels, we continually had a supply of beautiful lettuce and spinach. On Feb.27, a Garden Planting Workshop was held. Soil amending based on soil test, prepping soil, and planting were discussed. Information on planting times and plant hardiness were passed out. The participants talked about water collection technics. P ..read more

This past month, we have been busy!  We ended our Winter Farmers Market season on the last weekend of March and have shifted to Market-To-Go, our online ordering platform. Our gardeners submitted and received feedback on their garden maps, where they were instructed to think about plant spacing, stacking tall plants on the north side of their gardens, and to companion plant to think about ways to maximize their space. Most of our gardeners are gardening in a 5’ x 20’ plot.  Several of our gardeners this year had sites that needed raised beds, so we spent time getting materials and ..read more

After debating the subject whether the proper wording was cole or cold crops we decided to do a  little research and what we found was that the proper word was cole is borrowed from a wild plant called colewart or field cabbage — hence, coleslaw (not cold slaw).  The term “cole crops” refers to leafy brassicas, with waxy leaves, plants such as broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kale, turnips, rutabaga, collards and kohlrabi. Cold crops are plants that you can plant and they will thrive in cool or cold weather. They can be planted before the threat of frost has pa ..read more

Lower Price Hill is a dense, urban neighborhood where most residents live in multi-family rental units, lacking space or permission for personal gardens. Community garden spaces offer these families the opportunity to engage in gardening activities. However, Community Matters and our partners at Habitat for Humanity have been committed to increasing homeownership rates in the neighborhood. Over the past five years, this partnership has helped build 6 new homes. Owning a home not only provides more space but also the freedom to garden. Several of these first-time homeowners are now home garde ..read more