BEREA, Ky. (LEX 18) — It doesn’t take expert knowledge to grow your own plants in a garden. One Madison County organization is delivering resources to community members to help people start – or grow – their own gardens at home.
Sustainable Berea and Berea Urban Farm work to educate the community about the health benefits and impacts of gardening and growing food at home.
“The driving force here is if you look at the needs that the community has to be sustainable, food is basic,” director Richard Olson said. “Everybody needs that, and our food system is under some pressure now.”
“There's lots of reasons for people to at least grow some of their own food for that local food security, and we try to help households obtain the means to grow a garden and the education and the skills to do that too,” he added.
Along with educating, events like the Victory Garden Blitz – running from Thursday, April 9 until Saturday, April 11 – also connect the community to the proper gardening resources.
“The fundamental parts are the cedar raised beds,” Olson shared. “Then we provide a soil and compost to fill those beds with, as well as a bag of fertilizer and some instructions.”
This is the 12th year of the Victory Garden Blitz. Volunteers will deliver around 100 raised beds during this year’s blitz. Deliveries also include volunteers filling the beds with the soil, compost, and fertilizer.
For Olson, the blitz does more than just provide resources. It’s also a way to connect with the community.
“Going around later and seeing what the people have done with their beds and be able to talk to them,” Olson said of the best part of the blitz. “It’s especially fun when they have kids and the kids haven't gardened and you can go and they're saying ‘Look, look, I grew this.’ That that makes me feel good."
The Victory Garden Blitz runs until Saturday and Olson said they are still taking orders. If you would like to try to get a last minute order in, visit sustainableberea.org.
