Appalachian Sustainable Development received $15,000 from Grow Appalachia to continue its Grow Your Own program, which empowers families to grow their own food and earn income from home grown produce sales. Since 2012, participants in this program have grown more than 160,500 pounds of produce. ASD provides seasonally appropriate training, technical support, seeds, plants, tools and tilling services. Virtual workshops provide foundational agriculture education on how to plan, plant, grow, cook, and preserve fresh produce. Home and community gardeners grow food for their households, to supplement their income and to share with neighbors and local food banks.
In 2021, ASD will recruit 20 families to attend a variety of virtual workshops. Ten or more families per teaching site will break new ground as home gardeners, growing food to feed their families. Five third year individual gardeners per site will participate in a developing mentor program. Mentors will assist with workshop preparation, provide hands-on gardening and food production demonstrations and conduct basic site visits for new gardeners. Fourth year participants may attend workshops, demonstrations and volunteer hours but will no longer receive supplies. Experience is not necessary and a limited number of scholarships and fee waivers are available. A first year fee of $25/family is required at the time of enrollment. Second year participants will be charged a $20/family renewal fee. Register at: https://asdevelop.org/ or contact Chelsea Goulding: [email protected].
Chelsea Goulding, ASD’s Agriculture Education Program Manager explains, “The Grow Your Own program has been a staple in this region for years. In 2021, ASD will continue to meet participant’s needs, especially in this current era as regional food pantries are experiencing drastically increased need. While following strict CDC guidelines, we plan to give people more ways to participate and help us grow the program. By doing so, they see how and where they can fit into the local food system. Moving forward, our food access programs will focus on ‘a lifetime of healthy eating’. We meet folks where they are and provide them with effective tools for health, wellness, and financial success.”
Grow Your Own participants often struggle with finding, consuming and being able to afford fresh, nutritious produce. Many live below the national poverty level (31%), have disabilities (37%), and struggle to provide for their families on a single income (23%). With support from Grow Appalachia, ASD provides these families an opportunity to take ownership of their own food sovereignty through foundational agriculture education aimed at small-scale intensive four-season production of home and community gardens.
