Appalachia--Science in the Public Interest

Dedicated to helping Rockcastle County families grow
a healthy future for themselves and their communities.

Download Participant Application Form (PDF)

Grow Appalachia is committed to:

Identifying and organizing local families to receive support to create and maintain productive and economical home gardens.
Assisting in the development of local community gardens.
Providing educational programs to share up-to-date information about gardening.
Distributing needed hand tools, seeds, and plants as funds allow for each family.
Supporting ecosystem friendly, organic, sustainable techniques. This will see an increase each year in the health of the soil and the land’s capacity to provide for the people of Rockcastle County.
Working with families to help encourage and support local farmers’ markets for vegetables produced in excess of families’ needs.
Reintroducing local youth to the joys and skills of food production, processing, and direct marketing, as well as reinforcing the value of self reliance.

GROW APPALACHIA assists Rockcastle Co. families by:

Providing families with skills and resources to grow gardens for sustainable, nutritious food.
Teaching families how to prepare and preserve food in a healthy way.
Empowering families to share their knowledge within their community.
Supporting programs to provide food to elderly and disabled residents in need.
Supporting local farmer’s markets as a way to sell surplus food.
Exploring ways to expand food production through alternative growing methods and crops, including wild edibles, as well as helping to preserve local heirloom varieties of vegetables.

Needs to be addressed are:

Basic diet-related health concerns - obesity, diabetes, heart disease.
Limited availability of high-quality fresh produce.
Generational loss of knowledge of gardening, cooking, and food preservation skills.
Widespread economic dependency and lack of autonomy.

Planned outcomes of the project are:

Provide Rockcastle Co. families the resources and support to produce more of their own food.
Develop systems to share surplus produce with elderly and disabled folks at little or no cost.
Create and/or support systems to market surplus produce to local residents.
Families benefiting from this program will agree to help other families as they are able to maximize the impact of the program.

Please check out our brochure and flyer for more information about what Grow Appalachia is doing for the people of Appalachia.

Get Involved!

Would you like to have a garden, but need some assistance?

Would you like to have a garden but don’t have the space?

Grow Appalachia is looking for garden project participants. We can assist you with a home garden, or offer you space in a neighborhood community garden. Print out a PDF Participant Application Form here.

What is a community garden?

Neighborhood community gardens are typically located on land that is divided into plots for individual and family use. The land is made available for gardening and the participating gardeners are responsible for the planting, maintaining and harvesting their own plots, as well as helping to manage the overall site.

Have your own space and prefer a home garden?

Grow Appalachia will also assist in the development of personal home vegetable gardens.

Not interested in having a garden, but want to support local gardening?

Send in or drop off a donation to Grow Appalachia!

Join Rockcastle County’s Grow Appalachia gardening project!

Call or Email:

606-256-0077
nseaberg@a-spi.org