Adults may wish they were kids again when it comes to some of the activities in the children’s area at the Bluegrass GreenExpo, held recently in Lexington, Ky.: Yep! That last one offers yet another use for last season’s discarded seed catalogs. Garden Activity Instructions Jessica Ballard, who created the project, is enrolled in the Sustainable Agriculture Program at the University of Kentucky; the booth was sponsored by the program. Her project is simple: “Lots of folks got quite creative,” says Ballard. “I even had a lady tell me that she did something like this when she was deciding on how she would landscape her yard. She took a bunch of pictures of shrubs, flowers that she wanted and tried out her design on paper first. Lotta fun.” Studying Sustainable Agriculture in School At the moment, Ballard educates young people (and the public) about local food, local food programs, and organic gardening and farming. She says, “I would most love to offer hands on learning experiences in the garden by possibly helping to establish some classroom gardens or working in community gardens. I am also interested in getting involved with agritourism efforts.” University of Kentucky College of Agriculture Sustainable Agriculture Program. The
Grab a scissors, paper, glue and a stack of the most colorful catalogs you can find. Then create the garden of your dreams.
Ballard’s career goals reflect her passion: She says, “I’m interested in owning and operating my own self-sustaining farm in the future with veggies, livestock, and perrenial crops.”
Environmental stewardship
The goal is to promote systems that integrate all three. Students may also have an interest in local food production through minimal impact or organic farming systems, and raising social awareness of environmental and economic costs associated with many conventional agricultural practices.
