Local Working Groups

Hosts an annual Garden Walk to bring community members to backyard growers’ homes and learn about their soil health and crop management. They visit a larger market farm annually for their Farm Tour. In 2024 they launched the Bucket Brigade – a spin-off program they initiated to give away tomato plants in buckets to food pantry goers.

Rehabbed a high tunnel with their Parks Department to use for backyard conservation gardening workshops and to grow food for donation. They provide composting, cover cropping, mulching, and weed management events to see practices hands-on.

Hosts an annual Soil Summit to bring together growers and conservationists around soil health. They have organized a few Deep Dive seminars on nutrient management and cover cropping, with Small Farm Tours to facilitate networking and on-farm learning.

Created a four-week series YardSprouts, with focus areas on pollinator habitat for beneficial insects, season extension, cover cropping, compost, mulching, and more. Their group has done more than 20 site visits. “Your help setting up our S.O.I.L LWG has allowed us to reach a completely different audience that we would not otherwise have reached.” – NRCS District Conservationist.

Partnership between the SWCD, The Watershed Foundation, Lilly Center, Master Naturalists, Garden Center, and local volunteers. Their group has provided 85 site visits and soil tests since 2022. They have had great success with the “Soil Health On The Small Farm” series, which featured successful market farmers who shared their experiences using conservation practices.

Strong partnership between local Purdue Extension Urban Ag Educator and SWCD, and community leaders. A local resident provides free site visits and soil tests. They have offered deep-dive seminars on nutrient management and cover cropping, soil contamination, and best management practices.

Their focus on site visits and soil tests has reached hundreds of growers and advanced conservation farming to backyard, community, and market gardens throughout the Southwest counties. In 2024, they put on the Farm Vitality workshop, during which they had 100 people hear from Jesse Frost of the Living Soil Handbook and No-Till Growers.

Launched in mid 2024, the group has done site visits and soil tests for 10 producers. The funding USH provides has allowed the group to provide these services to their community. “Thank you USH for all you have done for us!”

Launched in 2024, the new group’s site visits and soil tests have expanded their network of backyard producers and increased the visibility of SWCDs in their communities.