initiatives

A new People’s Garden was planted in west/central Kentucky this past Memorial Day weekend.  The garden is located on the greenhouse business property of Meredith Agriculture in Elizabethtown, Kentucky.  This new People’s Garden is a project of Meredith Agriculture and Central Hardin High School FFA.  The garden is managed by a CHHS graduate member, Alex Meredith, and his father Steve.  Several FFA members, parents, and siblings of FFA members gathered to plant a 4,500 square foot garden of tomatoes, sweet corn, potatoes, squash, lima beans, and watermelons.  The produce will be donated to several local agencies that help the needy.

For working parents in isolated rural communities, quality child care is a lifeline that allows them an opportunity to obtain employment so they can provide for their families.

Today, the People’s Garden hosted a workshop about composting. Pat Millner, who has done a lot of research on composting and utilizing compost at the USDA-Agricultural Research Service’s Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in Maryland, taught it. It was fantastically fun and informative, and Pat brought in several examples of composters for us to see.

Three patient simulation dummies - an adult, a child, and an infant – are now available for students to practice on at Heart of Georgia Technical College in Dublin, thanks to USDA funding provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

USDA-Rural Development is improving the lives of the residents of Jasper County, Indiana by presenting a $15 million Community Facilities low interest loan to the Jasper County Hospital.  The funds will be used to provide new surgery and outpatient services.

USDA Rural Development Nebraska State Director Maxine Moul, staff and the residents of  Stromsburg celebrated the 40th anniversary of Earth Day recently with the announcement of more than $2.2 million in planned improvements to the City's municipal water system.  The improvements will bring the system, serving more than 500 users, into compliance with new Safe Drinking Water Act regulations.  Special recognition was given to those who were instrumental to the project as they each signed a segment of water pipe.

Brad Fisher, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service

By Amanda Cundiff, Forest Service Region 5 Partnership Coordinator and Lara Polansky, Forest Service Presidential Management FellowIn Vallejo, California, on a decommissioned Naval Shipyard called Mare Island, something good has emerged from hard times: a new community coalition to build and sustain a city garden. Home to over 110,000 individuals, Vallejo is known for being diverse, depressed, crime-ridden, and bankrupt. Since the Naval Shipyard closed and the recession hit, Vallejo has struggled with poverty, stretched city services, and troubled schools.

Today, Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan visited Aztec Manufacturing Corporation, a Romulus, Mich., auto supply manufacturer that intends to purchase new equipment as a result of loan funds guaranteed through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Submitted by Kathy Beisner, Delaware USDA Rural Development Public Information Coordinator