Yearly gardening program pivots to competition tackling food insecurity

Jan. 13—FAIRMONT — Grow This: The West Virginia Garden Challenge added a new twist to their yearly program, by introducing a throwdown competition with prize money on the line.

"I think it's a really cool idea and really steps it up a notch from what they've been doing, which has been individual contests and competitions," Sherry Weaver said. "And now, they've turned this into a community competition. I think it's gonna be really interesting to see how the individual counties and communities come together and what kind of gardening things happen after that."

Weaver, of Shinnston, a previous winner of "Grow This Has Talent" online contest, has been a long time gardener, since at least 2015. It was rough going at first, gardening is a skill that doesn't fall from the sky but requires patience and diligence.

However, in 2017 the WVU Extension office helped her step up her game through the inception of the Grow This program. Weaver's skill grew thanks to the seeds and knowledge Grow This provided. Weaver's efforts accelerated during COVID and now she sells her produce, along with baked goods such as pies and cookies at farmers markets.

The throwdown competition is part of the Grow This program's effort to put more nutritious food on the table and increase nutrition security across the state. The program is funded by the Federal SNAP program. Weaver said she sees the gamification of the program as an attempt to get younger people involved in gardening.

"It's not enough just to feed people, to give them what we qualify as food," Kristin McCartney, SNAP ed director and main Grow This visionary based in Morgantown's WVU Extension Office. "In order to really move forward with health and improving our communities, we need to refocus on nutritious food, and that comes primarily from fruits and vegetables, things you grow in your garden."

McCartney said the main goal was to make communities self-sufficient, and teaching people that individuals can also really contribute to building up that community resilience. McCartney came upon the idea of a competition after considering how food insecurity manifests within rural communities and how to best tackle that problem.

The COVID era provided some answers. The program expanded significantly, from 300 participants in Grow This' first three years to 25,000 when residents entered interior exile as the pandemic spread. Zackary Harold, multimedia specialist and press relations for Grow This, said an online community grew around the program as people learned how to garden with the seeds and knowledge provided by Grow This.

"We facilitate but it happens organically," Harold said. "Seeing that online community and how robust it was made us want to find a way to bring that into the real world. They were making these connections digitally. How do we connect these people in their own communities? Everybody responds to competition. The way we've set it up, county versus county, everybody wants to prove that their county's the best and we're already seeing the battle lines drawn."

Expanding nutritional resilience is important because food deserts are a large problem in West Virginia. Grocery stores can be separated by miles and miles of road, and even if one is nearby, it may not stock the most nutritious food. Harold said many people don't understand food insecurity, but he hopes the program builds empathy and understanding around that issue.

"This isn't going to fix food insecurity, but it might open people's eyes to the broader issue and then we can start thinking about ways to work toward that," he said.

Although 16,700 people have filled out the initial survey to receive free seed packets, but McCartney said, the true number that the program has reached is closer to over 60,000 people. This is due to the fact that one person might be filling out an application for a school classroom or church group.

Although the survey which provides free seeds has ended, anyone who wants to participate in the competition can still order seeds on their own and join. Harold said the program is even working with a seed catalog to create a Grow This seed packet that sells for $10. He also said participants don't have to grow kale, carrots and peppers held in the Grow This packets to participate in challenges, most of the challenges are friendly to other types of crops as well. Any gardener is welcome to participate.

Harold said a secret, fourth vegetable will be released later this year.

Weaver said learning gardening skills is important because much of West Virginia culture is based in agriculture. Her grandmother in Clay County still gardens every year. Clay County is also a food desert, going periods of time without a grocery store.

"Some will open and then they'll close down again, so being able to grow your own food, even if it's just a little bit, is gonna provide fresh food for you and your family," Weaver said. "That's less gas money you have to spend to go get the food from wherever it is. A lot of us live closer to big cities, but still most of us are out in the middle of nowhere. Being able to do that for yourself can help with the dollars in your wallet. But also in my experience, it is so good to get out in the sunshine and feel how you can impact yourself and your community."

Reach Esteban at efernandez@timeswv.com