The Grow This: West Virginia Garden Challenge is looking for gardeners to participate in a short documentary about the free seed program.
Produced by the West Virginia University Extension Family Nutrition Program, “Grow This: The Documentary” will follow five families as they learn to produce food in their own backyards.
Interested growers can fill out a short online survey. Family Nutrition Program staff will then sort through the submissions to select the families with the most compelling garden stories.
“Our growers come from all different walks of life. And they come to us with all different levels of gardening experience. Our program is about making gardening accessible for everyone. We’re making this documentary to tell that story,” said Kristin McCartney, Extension specialist and SNAP-Ed coordinator with the Family Nutrition Program. “Gardening creates opportunities for deeper connections around food and heritage. We want to capture these moments as well as document the successes and struggles of gardening in modern society.”
No gardening or filmmaking experience is necessary for participation. Thanks to grant funding from the Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation, families selected to participate will receive camera equipment and ongoing training from multimedia specialist Zack Harold, an award-winning filmmaker and journalist.
“The Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation (TGKVF) is excited to partner with the Grow This project to tell the stories of families and their gardening experiences,” said Stephanie Hyre, TGKVF’s Chief Program Officer. “As part of TGKVF’s inaugural Narrative Power grantee cohort, we believe that WVU Extension’s documentary will empower residents to both produce their own food and their own narratives.”
Click here to fill out the participant survey by Wednesday, March 19 https://wvu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_dnxn2bGKLaKkqua.
Participants will be chosen from TGKVF's service region: Kanawha, Boone, Putnam, Lincoln, Fayette and Clay counties.
The Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation gift was made through the WVU Foundation, the nonprofit organization that receives and administers private donations on behalf of the University.
Seed sign-ups are closed for 2025, but you can still follow along with Grow This on Facebook, Instagram and through its email newsletter.
WVU Extension Family Nutrition Program’s work is supported by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) from the USDA Food and Nutrition Service.
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CONTACT:
Zackary Harold
Multimedia Specialist
WVU Extension Family Nutrition Program
304-550-2186; zackary.harold@mail.wvu.edu
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