By Amanda Paschall Carroll County Extension Agent
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee presented the Friends of the Carroll County Library a check for $2,000 on May 17th, 2023 during the community garden groundbreaking. During the groundbreaking, 15 community members were present.
The objective of this grant was to build more accessible gardens to residents in rural communities. This grant is a two-part project. Part one will create 4 new beds in addition to the 4 current beds at the library. Three of the four current garden beds are utilized by Carroll Academy for educational purposes. The other beds will be utilized to educate our community about raised bed gardening, succession gardening, harvesting, and preserving canned and frozen food and also provide fresh produce to residents in our community.
Along with the BCBS sponsorship, Clarksburg FFA donated plants for the gardens including okra, squash, tomatoes, and cucumbers all grown by students of the Clarksburg FFA program. Nick Foster donated topsoil and Tractor Supply donated bags of potting soil and compost.
The second part of the grant will provide 4 raised beds across from Huntingdon Primary.
Currently, Huntingdon FFA students are working on the property to build and enhance an outdoor classroom for the k-3rd grade students to utilize during the upcoming school year.
Partners in this project also include UT Extension, Carroll County 4-H and Ag Mentoring Program, and the Carroll County Library. Contact the Carroll County Library for more information on upcoming programs. The next program will be gardening basics on Friday, May 19th at 3:30pm.