For More Information, Please Contact us at:Mercer County Extension Office • (859) 734-4378 • mercer.ext@uky.edu

1007 Lexington Rd, Harrodsburg, KY 40330

REPORT TO THE PEOPLE

Mercer County 2020

DID YOU KNOW... Mercer County had 54 youth improve communication skills through completion of a speech or demonstration.

4-H Clubs Engaged, EmpoweredCommunities

Local FoodSystems

Farm Management

JUST A FEW OF OUR PROGRAMS

Website: mercer.ca.uky.edu

Facebook: @MercerCountyExtension

Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way we are reaching out to the youth of Mercer County. To continue to keep youth engaged in 4-H and create opportunities for youth to continue to learn, we have offered 4-H Grab n’go kits. We offered a variety of projects that focus on S.E.T., horticulture, communications, and family consumer science related projects youth can complete at home. The projects were also developed as age appropriate activities for both regular 4-H members and 4-H Cloverbuds. One of the main goals was to keep youth busy and engaged, for both their mental and physical health. The kits included step by step written instructions and/or instructional videos; we also provided supplies to complete the projects. These projects allowed youth to learn a variety of different skills from using tools, to learning about science and how things work. We have distributed a total of 1026 kits from March through June.

Micheala, Braydon and Mackenzie Howard picking up a 4-H Grab n’go project.

4-H YOUTH DEVELOPMENT

AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCESMercer County Extension and Future Farmers of America (FFA) partnered with Mercer County Fair & Horse Show to develop a plan allowing the county to continue with its long-standing tradition of the county fair. 4-H and ANR agents worked with FFA advisors to develop a set of guidelines for livestock shows. They worked with the County Health Department and County Judge Executive to get the plan approved.

One key piece was requiring pre-registration of all entries (livestock and floral hall) through online entry. This allowed shows to run more efficiently, keep staff/volunteers/exhibitors safe and increase transparency. This system will allow results to be published faster and reports to be completed faster. The Mercer County Fair & Horse Show collaboration is a major part of economic development efforts by the Extension Office and is an important economic driver for our community. This was one of few county fairs conducted in 2020 and even with restricted numbers of exhibitors and entries, it matched or exceeded previous years.

Number of producers who incorporated best management practices recommended by Extension

186

125 Number of producers adopting practices to improve profitability

Number of youths who have improved their communication skills by completing a speech, demonstration, or other public presentation54

52 Number of youths who indicated they like helping people in their community

Mercer County youth competing in the 2020 pig show.

FAMILY AND CONSUMER SCIENCES

HORTICULTURE

The Mercer County Extension Agent for Family & Consumer Sciences (FCS) delivered the workshop “Meal Kits: Are They Worth It?” for eight counties across central Kentucky. Emphasis was placed on understanding benefits and drawbacks of incorporating meal kits into lifestyle and financial goals.

Additionally, a video was created and shared to social media for those unable to attend in person. This video was posted February 7, 2020 and reached 1,134 people as of July 15, 2020. While exposing clientele to educational information is important, it is always significantly more impactful when they engage with our resources – 152 people watched, reacted to, or shared information on their own social media account. This number is greater than the number of individuals the agent would have been able to educate in traditional face-to-face format.

Fresh to Table is a program that brought multiple community groups within Mercer County together to provide fresh locally grown produce to low income families. The Mercer County Horticulture Agent partnered with Mercer SNAP assistant, Mercer Schools, Heart of KY United Way, Mercer Community Endowment and Mercer County Farmers Market to accomplish this goal.

Throughout the summer children would visit the farmers market once a month and receive a bag of produce valued at $20. Recipes that correlated with the produce and veggie vouchers were also given out with each bag. Of the participants surveyed, 70% are adding foods into meal planning as a result of exposure to a new vegetable, from these bags. All participants plan to supplement shopping at the farmers’ market with their regular grocery shopping. This program not only provided local produce to children, but exposure for the farmers market that helps support our local growers and economy.

Number of hours KEHA members volunteered in community service (non-Extension) activities/events

8800

74Number of those who are comfortable addressing community issues through local leadership

Number of participants engaged in home and consumer horticulture programming3000

200 Number of volunteer service hours completed by Master Gardeners

FCS Extension Agent, Luci Hockersmith, sharing lesson workshop via Facebook.

June produce bag provided to each family through the Fresh to Table Program

Educational programs of Kentucky Cooperative Extension serve all people regardless of economic or 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, marital status, genetic information, age, veteran status, or physical or mental disability.

• 37,770 Kentucky youth applied the skills they learned in 4-H to home, school, or community.

• 5,510 Kentucky producers implemented sustainable practices they learned through Extension programs.

• 6,121 Kentucky families grew a garden using Extension resources

• 17,504 Kentuckians reported improved lifestyles through a focus on proper nutrition, disease and injury reduction and comprehensive health maintenance.

... just a few ways Extension supports Kentucky

University of Kentucky Cooperative ExtensionS-107 Ag Science Center NorthLexington, Kentucky 40546-0091(859) 257-4302

NUTRITION EDUCATION PROGRAMThe Mercer County Nutrition Education Program assistant partnered with Mercer County Intermediate School to provide 20 students with a container garden. Each student was given a container filled with soil to grow their garden and plants, including tomato, sweet pepper, jalapeno pepper, cilantro, and onion sets. The plants were chosen by participants in order to make salsa. Weekly lessons on plant care, nutrition and vegetable recipes were available for viewing through Google. They were taught the life cycle of plants, how to care for the garden and how to check for insects and disease. Recipes were shared for them to utilize their garden produce, including a video on how to prepare salsa.

Fifteen of the participants made the salsa and enjoyed it with their families. One child stated they were so excited to try the vegetables they consumed them before they had time to make salsa. The youth expressed interest in participating next year with even more vegetables.

Children and youth improved ability to choose foods based on federal dietary recommendations30

24 Adult participants eat more fruit each day.

Mercer NEP assistant recording video with planting instructions for the container garden and distributing materials to students.