Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Kosciusko County Soil and Water Conservation District received state recognition for its programming recently.
A district showcase award presentation was held Monday morning, detailing the local urban soil program and other programs offered by the district. The showcase also included a tour of the Warsaw Biblical Gardens with Pardee Gunter and Melanie Martin providing the tour and comments from Urban Healthy Soils participants.
The morning’s showcase featured Terri Theisen, Urban Soil health specialist with Urban Soil Health; Tashina Lahr-Manifold, Kosciusko County SWCD soil health specialist; Aleah Southworth, Kosciusko SWCD Conservation Program field technician; and Melinda Miller, local SWCD executive director.
Manifold talked about how the local Urban Healthy Soils program started, its programs and successes in the first year, followed by Southworth, who spoke about the present and future of the program.
Manifold noted the program, which won the local SWCD the Indiana Association of Soil Water Conservation District Award of appreciation for the success of the program, was launched in January 2022. She noted the whole program was started due to the large working groups in the southern part of the state.
She stated soil health is important to the county as it is home to more than 100 lakes, the Tippecanoe River and the Eel River. A graph noted there are 14,726 acres of water in the county, comprising 4.15% of land mass. “Soil health is vital to Kosciusko County because of how much water we have,” Manifold stated.
Kosciusko County Urban Health focuses on urban and community small scale farms of 10 acres or less. In March 2022, a local working group was established. Its goal was to provide soil sampling for free, technical assistance, host workshops and start establishing local educational materials. “We wanted to keep it simple at the start … the program has just taken foot and has really grown.”
Partners in the program include IASWCD, USDA, The Watershed Foundation, Lilly Center for Lakes and Streams, Clayton Garden Center, Purdue Extension and Indiana Master Naturalists.
During that first year, 11 volunteers were trained on taking soil tests, resulting in 17 site visits and 10 technical assistance offered. This included community gardens, home gardens, school gardens, church gardens and hospital/government gardens.
There were three programs offered that first year, Soils 101 for the volunteers, composting and “Cover Companions and Slips” with 60 total attendees.
A cover crop seed give-away of oats and radish was held in 2022. A local SWCD member donated 200 pounds of seed that were placed in 8-ounce bags. Those seeds covered 60,000 square feet of gardens.
Southworth, who was named SWCD’s outstanding volunteer in 2022, took over the program in April. She expanded the working group by inviting local producers to learn more about how to provide educational materials and resources.
Eight persons were trained as volunteers to take soil samples and the 2023 Cover Crop Giveaway saw 92 pounds of seed given out to cover 79,600 square feet or 1.8 acres.
So far there have been 33 site visits and 15 technical assistance provided, with six site visits scheduled for the spring of 2024.
Another program offered was silage tarps, available for small farms and home gardens. Beer Dairy Inc. donated a pallet of tarps which were cut down and made available.
Southworth noted the community connections that have been made since April.
She announced a two-part workshop being offered in March and summer 2024; more will be announced later.
Theisen shared the mission of Urban Soil is to focus on urban and small scale agriculture. A graph charting agriculture in the United States showed 58% of total farmland has 2,000 acres or more but is only 4% of total farms. There is less than 1% of total farmland with 1-9 acres, which is 13% of total farms.
Looking at Indiana, she pointed out 65% of the land is being farmed with 75% only in corn or soybean. Indiana is also the eighth largest ag exporter with 90% of the food is imported. “We need to look how to increase that,” she stated.
She elaborated that Urban Soil program looks at non-traditional growers, market farms, community gardens, etc. “Soil health is for everyone,” she stated.
Her presentation included the urban soil team state-wide, the four soil health principles, conservation practices and what the statewide Urban Soil Health Program provides. It was noted there are 21 working groups in the state, most of which are in southern Indiana. Theisen stated resources and newsletters are available at urbansoilhealth.org.
There was a time for question and answers from each speaker from the guests present. Those guests included district and state SWCD officials as well as local volunteers and SWCD supervisors or associate supervisors.
Before the presentation adjourned for a tour of the Biblical Gardens, Miller went over the technical and educational programs offered by the local SWCD.
