Nebraska Extension in Douglas-Sarpy Counties grows food with community partners, offers virtual gardening workshops during COVID-19

Juli Oberlander • October 1, 2021

Nebraska Extension in Douglas-Sarpy Counties grows food with community partners, offers gardening workshops during COVID-19

Photos courtesy of John Porter and the Nebraska Extension in Douglas-Sarpy Counties Facebook page

For more than 100 years, Nebraska Extension has helped Nebraskans gain knowledge and skills to help improve their lives, translating research from UNL and other universities to serve the needs of people from all walks of life.

With the onset of COVID-19 in March 2020, the need for education became even more necessary, says John Porter, urban agriculture educator and program coordinator for Nebraska Extension in Douglas-Sarpy Counties.

"The COVID-19 pandemic made the services and knowledge shared by Nebraska Extension more important and timelier than ever," Porter says. "With an estimated 16 million new home gardeners across the U.S. in 2020, home food preservation and canning more popular than ever in recent years, and children at home in need of fun and exciting ways to learn and engage, local extension experts have been going in overdrive since 2020 to meet the learning needs of Nebraska citizens both virtually and safely in-person."

In the height of the pandemic, Porter says many people turned to gardening as a way to provide fresh produce to their families and deal with boredom from being stuck at home. During that time, thousands of calls and emails flooded in with questions about plants, pests, insects, seed and plant shortages and other issues.

Porter says extension experts and Master Gardener volunteers were on-call to provide people with research-based answers. To meet the growing demand for gardening education, educators in Omaha led a statewide team of horticulture extension experts in offering virtual gardening workshops called the “GROBigRed Virtual Learning Series." The program started in 2020 and has continued into 2021.

"Thousands of gardeners in Nebraska and beyond logged on to learn about vegetable gardening, pollinators, trees, lawns and more," Porter says. "And more than ever, home gardeners and farmers turned to the expertise of Nebraska Extension professionals shared through social media, newsprint, radio and television, especially Nebraska Extension’s Backyard Farmer TV show on Nebraska Public Media."

Led by Porter, the urban agriculture program team also worked with partner Omaha Home for Boys (OHB) to provide growing space for City Sprouts, Lutheran Family Service’s Global Roots program, Whispering Roots and Refugee Women of Nebraska at OHB’s Cooper Farm in North Omaha. In 2020, Porter says the partners grew more than 12,000 pounds of produce, engaged more than a dozen interns in learning and provided growing plots for more than two dozen refugee families.

Continuing into 2021, Porter says the partnership will grow even more produce and provide spaces for more refugees and interns. Since the partnership began, Porter has conducted one-on-one consultations with local urban produce growers and home gardeners, led produce food safety training and worked with the Nebraska Extension food safety team to provide information and workshops for farmers market producers and managers in navigating protocols for COVID-19 safety.

In addition, Porter says the food safety team, led locally by Cindy Brison and Nancy Urbanec, provided virtual workshops for people preserving food at home, including sharing information on what to do as canning supplies continue to be low in stock. The team also continues to engage the public via social media and a new food preservation newsletter.

"Cindy and Nancy also lead efforts for food safety, and worked with the Nebraska Extension food safety team to provide food safety information for general issues and for COVID-19 related issues," Porter says. "Given the interest in making and selling foods at home, spurred by the adoption of the Cottage Food Bill, Cindy also created a Cottage Food course (both live and self-led) for individuals interested in selling home made goods at local markets."

Since the course began, Porter says more than 250 participants have completed the class, which will soon be available in Spanish.

Despite the difficulties resulting from the pandemic, he says Nebraska Extension has adjusted to meet the growing educational needs of adults and children.

"Our 4-H Youth Development team continues to weave opportunities for virtual and home learning into our traditional programs of 4-H clubs and county fairs," Porter says. "With programs such as 'Living Room Learning' and at-home egg hatching embryology kits, our 4-H team has engaged thousands of youth across the region in learning about STEM, careers, livestock, agriculture, college readiness and more."

To learn more about Nebraska Extension and its programs, visit the website and Facebook page.

Nebraska Extension in Douglas-Sarpy Counties offers instruction on gardening and nutrition, such as this informational guide on how to can tomatoes. Photo courtesy of John Porter

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