Starke County Jail Offers Green Thumb Gardening Class as a Part of F.A.R.M Program

Posted on March 7, 2018
Author Jacque Ryan, WKVI

According to Starke County Sheriff Bill Dulin, more than 30 jail inmates recently started a gardening class instructed by Starke County Purdue Extension Educator Phil Woolery.

Sheriff Dulin shared that a total of 32 inmates will be attending the month-long class where Woolery will teach lessons about agriculture, horticulture and other skills related to botany.

He said the “green thumb” gardening class is a part of a Starke County Jail program called F.A.R.M., which is an acronym that stands for Focusing A Recovery Mindset. He said the goal of the programs is to give inmates the opportunity to learn a set of skills that they can use when they integrate back into the community.

Sheriff Dulin said that according to the most recent statistics, the F.A.R.M Program coupled with the Substance Abuse Program has 78 graduates, counting the current class. Of those 78 individuals, only 9 have re-offended resulting in a 15 percent recidivism rate. Dulin commented that the Starke County Jail’s recidivism rate is tremendously lower than the national rate which is currently at 67 percent.

3/29/2017 Registration Deadline for Dining With Diabetes Cooking School

This April and May Starke County Purdue Extension will be partnering with the IU Health Starke Hospital to provide a 5 week Dining with Diabetes cooking school for members of the community.

This program includes:

• Planning meals and snacks with delicious and healthy recipes
• Cooking demonstrations and food sampling
• Motivation and support – connect with others who are living with diabetes
• Ideas for being more active
• An understanding of how diabetes affects your overall health

And so much more! For more information or to register for these classes please call the Extension office at 574-772-9141.