Jefferson Co. community gardens offer immigrants farming opportunities

By Matt Ernst, independent writer

Ten community gardens administered by Jefferson County Cooper-ative Extension are growing more opportunities for new Louisville metro residents to raise their own food - and start new urban farm-ing ventures.

The gardens appeal to immigrants resettling in the Louisville Metro from Asia, Africa and the Americas. “A lot of the people looking for land happen to be immigrants to the U.S. They were farmers where they were previously and are looking for that connection to the land,” says Bethany Pratt, Jefferson County Extension Agent for Horticulture.

Jefferson County Extension and Common Earth Gardens, a program of Catholic Charities of Louisville, Inc., co-manage three community gardens. At the 15-acre 7th Street Garden, gardening families come from six different countries and three language groups (Somali, Ne-pali, Spanish). The Southside Garden, with just over 100 plots, has gardeners from at least four major language groups, including im-migrants from Congo, Cambodia, Myanmar, Nepal and Kashmir. Families are specifically growing to feed their families at both these gardens.

Some families also want to supplement incomes gardening, too. “We have some gardeners at all 10 of our gardens who do some selling on their own to their neighbors, to ethnic grocery stores,” notes Pratt.

What’s insideFinneseth joins Hort Council ... 3 Weather outlook ................ 4

Coming upJune 7 - Cultivation and Weed Control in Organic Systems Field Day, 1 to 4 p.m. EDT, at the UK Horti-culture Research Farm. For details, see Page 5.

June 13 - Vegetable Produc-tion Field Day, 10 a.m.- 2 p.m., 5902 Parina Road, Brooksville, KY. For more information, see Page 5.

June 18 - Southern Illi-nois Summer Twilight Se-ries meeting, Blueberry Hill Farm, Cobden, IL. For de-tails and registration infor-mation, click here.

June 19 - Accessing Crop Insurance for Organic and Diversified Farms webinar, 3-4:30 p.m. EDT. For details and to register, click here.

July 26 - UK Horticulture Twilight Tour, 6 p.m. EDT until dark. For details, click here.

May 2018Brett Wolff, EditorChristy Cassady, Editor/Designer

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Cooperative Extension Service University of KentuckyDepartment of HorticultureN-318 Agricultural Science CenterLexington KY 40546-0091(859) 257-1477Fax: (859) 257-2859extension.ca.uky.edu

Educational programs of Kentucky Cooperative Extension serve all people regardless of economicor social status and will not discriminate on the basis of race, color, ethnic origin, national origin, creed,religion, political belief, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, maritalstatus, genetic information, age, veteran status, or physical or mental disability. University of Kentucky,Kentucky State University, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Kentucky Counties, Cooperating.

“Through our relationships with these gardeners, we know who’s selling things, who has more of an interest in being a full-time farmer.”

Incubator Farm Program, horticultural challengesThose relationships led to a new Incubator Farm Program, a co-effort of Jefferson County Extension and Common Earth Gardens. The Incubator Farm is at the 7-acre farm site located in West Louisville off Miller’s Lane, land owned by the Municipal Sewer District. The land is being cultivated by seven farm business teams. There are 21 Somali-Americans on the teams; most have family con-nections.

It is the first year in the three-year Incubator Farm Program, which is seeking to help the teams devel-op successful urban farming businesses. Business consulting and marketing training is provided by the Kentucky Center for Agriculture and Rural Development (KCARD) and Navigate Enterprise Center, a part of the Jewish Family & Career Ser-vices in Louisville that specializes in working with immigrant business development.

Land access for both incubator farmers and com-munity gardeners continues to be a challenge for those wanting to grow food either for families or as a business enterprise, says Pratt. “We have a group of Nepali farmers that would love to start a farm business as a group. But access to land close to where they live is a challenge.”

The diverse gardeners are also bringing new crops and growing techniques to the area. “We see a lot of dif-ferent varieties of things. I have gardeners growing tea and ginger in the field us-ing shade structures they are building to protect the plants,” says Pratt. “Our Ne-pali group at 7th Street grows a lot of unique squashes and gourds, a lot of luffa and bitter gourd,” she says.

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“They’re both cucurbits but they have different re-sponses to disease and insects than a cantaloupe or melon or squash; they actually tend to be more disease resistant. And when they do get affected, we see different responses on those plants.”

More than food, moneyCommunity garden programs have wide-ranging benefits, especially for immigrant participants. “At the community garden level, there’s a lot of sharing that happens – plants, equipment, seeds, knowledge,” says Pratt.

And the community gardens primarily are sited on vacant, non-buildable property. The 7th Street garden and the Incubator Farm property are on Municipal Sewer District property. “There are 30-foot diameter pipes underneath the ground at those sites. If something were to happen to that pipe, the sewer district could come in and exca-vate.” That’s a unique caveat for those gardens, but the 7th Street Garden has been in existence for 10 years without an issue.

Matt Ernst is an independent agricultural writer un-der contract with the CCD and a former UK Extension Associate in Ag Economics.

Photos courtesy of Louisville Community Garden Network

Jefferson County Extension Agent Bethany Pratt, second from right, checked in with farmers at the Miller’s Lane Incu-bator Farm in West Louisville about their crop plans and planting progress in early May.

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Bitter gourd

From the Kentucky Horticulture CouncilThe Kentucky Horticulture Council (KHC) board has announced Cindy Finneseth as KHC’s new executive director.

“On behalf of all the Ken-tucky Horticulture Council members, we’d like to wel-come Cindy as the next ex-ecutive director,” said Todd Ryan, KHC chairman and owner of Valley Hill Nurs-eries in Springfield, KY. “Cindy has a unique set of skills and experience to provide the leadership and vision needed for KHC to continue to promote horticulture within the state. Our member organizations face many challenges in a complex and dynamic industry. Cindy will be perfect for recognizing our needs and directing our resources for maximum results.”

“KHC is important in helping develop economic opportunities, facilitating effective dialog regard-ing relevant legislative and regulatory issues, ed-ucating the public about our industry, and influ-encing the direction of horticulture research and education programs that benefit our industry,” said Finneseth. “I look forward to supporting the expanding number of specialty crop operations across the state.”

Dr. Finneseth comes to KHC after working at the Kentucky Center for Agriculture and Rural De-velopment (KCARD), where she assisted produc-

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ers in launching and expanding agribusinesses as well as determining enterprise feasibility and funding strategies.

“Production of food, value-added products, and non-food crops as well as businesses providing turf and landscape services, creates jobs in both our rural and urban communities,” said Finneseth. “Kentucky horticultural enterprises are known for producing and delivering high quality products and services.”

According to Mac Stone of Elmwood Stock Farm in Scott County and chair of the Organic Associa-tion of Kentucky, “Cindy’s energy and excitement for horticulture will help weave the industry to-gether and cultivate new opportunities for Ken-tucky producers.”

Finneseth is a native of Whitley County and a graduate of the University of Kentucky. At KHC, she will draw on her academic background in plant and soil science and prior work at the uni-versity and in private industry focused on imple-menting innovative technologies and educational programs to improve assessment of seed quality and productivity in field production and post-har-vest handling.

The Kentucky Horticulture Council (KHC) is a 501(c)-5 non-profit organization established to support specialty crop grower groups in Ken-tucky. KHC is supported through grants and the Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund. To learn more, contact KHC at 859-490-0889 or info@kyhortcouncil.org.

Cindy Finneseth

Be sure to check out the following new podcasts available on the Center for Crop Diversification website. Hear from Kentucky State Apiarist Dr. Tammy Horn Potter about beekeeping in the com-monwealth. Also listen to the experiences of Eliza-beth Hendricks Montgomery with cut flower pro-duction at Three Toads Farm in Winchester, Ky. You can find these and other podcasts at http://www.uky.edu/ccd/training/podcasts.

The CCD continues to update its profiles and fact sheets. Updates in the past month include Bell Peppers (CCD-CP-87), Broccoli (CCD-CP-88), Kohlrabi (CCD-CP-102), Microgreens (CCD-CP-104), and our fact sheet, What to Think About Before You Plant (CCD-FS-2). The latter gives an overview of marketing options, insurance/risk management, market research, certifications, etc., for specialty crop growers.

Check out CCD’s resources: new podcasts, updated profiles

Finneseth new executive director of KY Horticulture Council

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By Joshua Knight, Senior Extension Associate, Horticulture

As we move into the final weeks of the spring season, the NOAA Long Range Out-looks are predicting warmer and wetter than average weather across the com-monwealth for June. Many field growers in the Blue-grass region have had some difficulty in getting into the field due to the saturated conditions. Annual growers can take comfort that while the forecast calls for weather favorable to biological pest pressures, the unusually late freezes and frosts will prob-ably buy them some relief in the early part of the growing season.

Long Range Forecast infor-mation is available at the UK Ag Weather Center.

Daniel Becker is an Extension Associate for Vegeta-ble and Small Fruit Crops based at the UK Research and Educa-tion Center in Princeton. He at-tended Southern Illinois Uni-versity Carbondale, receiving an M.S. in Plant, Soil, and Agricul-ture Systems with a specializa-tion in Horticulture. Extension duties include conducting on-farm consultations for fruit and vegetable growers in Western Kentucky; working with Extension professionals to deliver county-level grower meetings and field days; and conducting activities in support of regional master gardener programs on fruit and vegetable topics. He works with prospective, newer and established growers in all aspects of production, including the coordination of a number of plasticulture vegeta-

Weather expected to be warmer and wetter than average

Extension Associate Becker helps vegetable, fruit growers in Western KYble and high tunnel demonstration plots.

In addition to outreach, Daniel’s activities include planning and implementing on-station vegetable cultivar trials. Past years’ trials have included fall cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, and fall-spring broccoli production. A colored and Romanesco-type cauliflower trial is planned for fall 2018. Other demonstrations include dwarfing sweet cherry rootstocks and high density upright fruit-ing offshoots (UFO) training system, and blueber-ry adaptability to fruit production in containers. Multi-state coordination efforts include an IPM cucurbit downy mildew sentinel plot and fungi-cide sensitivity trial. Growers can contact Daniel by phone at 270-365-7541 ext. 262, and by email at daniel.becker@uky.edu.This work receives support from the Kentucky Agricultural Devel-opment Fund via a grant from the Kentucky Horticulture Council.

Daniel Becker

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Thanks for reading!If you know someone who would enjoy our newsletter, or you’re not subscribed yet your-self, visit www.uky.edu/ccd/newsletter and click “Subscribe Now.” Or call Brett Wolff at 859-218-4384 , or Christy Cassady at 859-257-1477. Stay up to date with the Center on Face-book at https://www.facebook.com/Center-forCropDiversification/

Christy Cassady, Extension Specialist

From the Organic Association of Kentucky and OEFFA

Developing an effective weed management sys-tem integrated throughout the production process can reduce weed pressure and labor costs.

Join the Organic Association of Kentucky and the University of Kentucky Department of Horticul-ture and Center for Crop Diversification from 1 to 4 p.m. EDT on June 7th for a Cultivation and Weed Control in Organic Systems Field Day, which will provide an overview of the mechanical and cul-tural controls used on the 30-acre UK Organic Farming Unit, hosted by Mark Williams and Kristi Durbin.

Through discussion, handouts and demonstration, participants will see the entire weed control sys-tem while gaining deeper understanding of how to combine strategies to effectively control weeds, including crop rotation, cover crops, mulching, bed preparation, stale seedbed cultivation, scale-appropriate cultivating tools, and between-row and in-row cultivation.

The field day is geared toward production farmers and will highlight mid- to large-scale farm cultiva-tion and weed control. It is part of the Ohio Eco-

Organic cultivation/weed control field day set for June 7th

A finger weeder provides between-row and in-row culti-vation at a depth of 1 inch.

Photo by Mark Williams, University of Kentucky

logical Food and Farm Association 2018 Sustain-able Farm Tour and Workshop Series.

UK’s Organic Farming Unit, located at the UK Horticulture Research Farm, 4321 Emmert Farm Lane, Lexington, has produced and sold certified organic fruit, vegetables, flowers and herbs for more than a decade. This highly diversified farm markets through a community supported agricul-ture program, farm stands, and wholesale chan-nels, and is used to train students in a farming ap-prenticeship program.

Cost is $5 for OAK members, $10 for non-mem-bers. To register, click here.

A Vegetable Production Field Day will be held on Wednesday, June 13th, at 5902 Parina Road, Brooksville, KY. The field day, which will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. EDT, will feature such topics as high tunnel management, plasticulture vegetable production using biodegradable mulch, Uba Tuba peppers, vegetable disease evaluation and insect trapping and management.

The field day is presented by the Bracken, Fleming, Lewis, Mason and Robertson County Cooperative Extension Offices. Please contact Bracken County Extension Agent David Appelman at dappelma@email.uky.edu or 606-735-2141 by June 11th to regis-ter. Click here to see the field day flyer.

Bracken Co. vegetable field day will feature variety of topics

Department of HorticultureN-318 Agricultural Science CenterLexington, KY, 40546-0091