Like most anyone who gardens, I enjoy being outdoors in fresh air. I like the feel of dirt, and enjoy the health benefits of skin to dirt contact as well as knowing where my produce cames from. I dug (by hand) my butterfly garden and veg garden my first year at my house, but have done less and less each year of the decade since. If I move to raised beds, I can possibly get back to it again. Cost of building them is an obstacle, though, so I'll be looking at frugal approaches to raised bed/container gardening. I also have a water issue, my well goes dry and I have water delivered for about 3 months out of the year. That has made gardening and keeping animals (I'm down to just one dog now) difficult because livestock and gardens use a lot of water! Affordable and sustainable water collection and storage for gardening ... especially food-safe water storage ... is also an area of interest.
The dairy program is at Cato-Meridian School, and the school has a very active FFA group. That might be an opportunity for a gardening program, club, whatever I could support them with. I also was drawn to the training we'll receive, to fill in the blanks of my knowledge. My main goal is to help bring educational programs, grant money, support classes - whatever will help make a difference - to northern Cayuga County, especially for those on tight budgets.