Is learning to garden a way to prevent food insecurity?

A youngster in Letcher County, Ky. enjoys the family garden.
(Photo by Silas Walker, Lexington Herald-Leader)

Many rural Kentuckians struggle with food insecurity, but teaching residents how to garden might be one answer to the problem, reports Rick Childress of the Lexington Herald-Leader. "Rising food prices and a sudden cut off of Covid-related federal benefits have made it harder for many in Eastern Kentucky and other rural areas of the state to access healthy, nutritious foods. While local pantries work to bridge the access gap by providing food, other nonprofits and researchers are trying to provide more ways for folks to grow or buy more of their own produce locally."

Gardening as a way of life predates the "region's decades of coal booms," Childress writes. "Jason Brashear, interim director of the Pine Mountain Settlement School said, 'Before coal, many people in the mountains survived and thrived on subsistence farming.'" Brashear told Childress: "If we go back in our history 75 years ago, everybody gardened. Everybody had some sort of a farmstead that they produced the majority of the food that they ate in the year." As coal jobs, money and local grocery stores entered the region, the popularity and knowledge of gardening dwindled.

Childress reports, "One program that has helped many 'return back to gardening' is Grow Appalachia, Brashear said. For over 13 years, the Berea College strategic initiative has partnered with nonprofits in multiple states to provide seeds and other gardening supplies needed to make an organic garden, as well as the education on how to grow and preserve that produce." Candace Mullins, the executive director of Grow Appalachia, told Childress: "Having the resources is a huge barrier to learning how to garden. It's expensive to buy hose, seeds, fertilizer, plants — I mean, you could easily spend $1,000 trying to get a garden going for a new gardener." Childress adds, "Since Grow Appalachia started, over 7,000 families have participated and harvested nearly 7 million pounds of produce, Mullins said."

"The Pine Mountain Settlement School has been a Grow Appalachia partner since 2010 and so far this growing season, they have 45 families involved in the program who have produced over 14,000 pounds of produce. Along with receiving supplies, they also participate in educational meetings at the school. Being able to access fresh food is perhaps just as big of an obstacle as affording it," Childress reports. 

Once food is grown and harvested, it has to be prepared, which takes learning. "A University of Kentucky research project, called Laurel HARVEST, aims to educate Laurel County residents on how to cook nutritious meals," Childress writes. "Kathryn Cardarelli, a UK faculty member in the College of Public Health leading the project, said the multi-year study offers a blend of in-person and Zoom sessions on topics like preparing food, eating healthy on a budget, and reading labels."