Growing Health: How Horticultural Therapy Is Changing Lives in Cowley County

Because storytelling is a powerful way of communicating ideas, promoting learning and fostering empathy, the Kansas Health Institute (KHI) launched a storytelling contest earlier this year to amplify the value and impact of public health in Kansas. The following story is the first of two contest entries that are being recognized and published on KHI’s blog, Transforming Public Health for the 21st Century: Bridging Theory to Practice. The story has been edited minimally to maintain the author’s original language and intent.

In Cowley County, Kansas, public health is taking root in a place many wouldn’t expect: the garden beds behind a minimum-security correctional facility. But this isn’t just about food. It’s about connection, transformation and the healing power of horticultural therapy.

At Winfield Correctional Facility, nearly 40 garden plots sprawl across a sun-filled landscape. A new greenhouse, funded through our Hunger Free Kansas mini-grant, sparkles in the background, while rows of produce, flowering plants and pollinator beds hum with life. The garden provides hundreds of pounds of fresh vegetables for local food pantries, churches and the facility’s own staff breakrooms — thanks to the installation of a commercial refrigerator that keeps everything fresh and safe for distribution.

The space is beautiful, yes, but it’s also purposeful. Staff describe how the presence of healthy, fresh produce and blooming plants improves morale and offers a sense of calm to those working long hours. It has become more than a garden. It’s a therapeutic space.

And that’s the heart of our work: using public health to create spaces where healing — physical, mental and social — can grow.

I serve as the Rural Champion for Cowley County, supported by the Kansas Office of Rural Prosperity, and as the Grant Coordinator for our Pathways to a Healthy Kansas initiative. These roles allow me to help design and implement system-level improvements rooted in local solutions.

From food pantry equipment upgrades to school orchards, every project is about removing barriers to health, while also planting seeds — sometimes literally — for long-term community wellness.

But our most transformative work has happened through our garden partnerships, especially those supported by K-State Research and Extension – Cowley County, and driven by powerful collaborators like Dora Trammell, Becky Reid and Jody Lawrence, each bringing knowledge, compassion and structure to this shared effort.

At Winfield Correctional Facility, Dora, the Activities Specialist, coordinates the garden with deep respect for the therapeutic process. She makes sure the men in custody are learning valuable skills — from composting and pest management to teamwork and mindfulness. With help from our grant funding, they now have the tools, the training and the space to grow food and find purpose.

And when fresh vegetables go into that new fridge, it’s not just about keeping food cool — it’s about creating a healthier, more connected work environment for everyone at the facility. Staff now have access to vibrant produce in their breakrooms. One said, “It just makes you feel good walking in and grabbing something fresh.”

I’ll never forget one afternoon in the Winfield Correctional Facility Garden, walking alongside one of the men as he gently pinched pests off the cucumbers in his assigned garden plot. He moved slowly and calmly between the rows, soaking in the scent of basil and tomatoes on the breeze, bees humming lazily nearby. He told me the garden was the only place he felt peaceful.

“Out here,” he said, brushing dirt off his hands, “I can think straight. I’m doing something that helps people who have it rough, and I’m learning things I can take with me. I’ve got kids. When I get out, I want to do better for them.”

Moments like that are what horticultural therapy is all about. It’s not just planting and harvesting — it’s restoring focus, reducing anxiety and creating a sense of rhythm and purpose. The men in the garden are growing vegetables, yes, but they’re also growing skills and confidence. They’re becoming better versions of themselves, with a clearer view of what they want to be on the outside.

The mission of Winfield Correctional Facility is grounded in rehabilitation, reentry and responsibility. This garden lives out that mission in the soil — teaching job skills, encouraging service to others through donations to local food pantries, and reminding people that they are not defined solely by their past.

I’ve seen this healing happen in other spaces too. At Irving Elementary School, we partnered with Extension Master Gardeners, Food Fellows and school staff to support their campus garden. One young boy — bouncing off the walls in class — arrived in the garden full of energy and distraction. But the moment he began watering herbs and pulling weeds, he settled. His teacher leaned over and said, “He needed this. We all do.”

That’s horticultural therapy again. It’s not fancy, but it works. Whether in a prison yard or a schoolyard, it helps people calm their nervous systems, focus their energy and connect to something greater than themselves.

Through our Hunger Free Kansas mini-grant and Pathways funding, we’ve invested in food and health infrastructure that improves real lives:

• Correctional gardens that support therapeutic programming and community food donations
• School orchards that teach life science, health and care of living things
• Pantry upgrades like dolly carts, fridges and shelving to help staff serve more families more efficiently
• Community kitchens that provide local food entrepreneurs with safe, licensed space to grow
• Food preservation workshops where residents learn how to store the harvest — another form of food security

In all of these, horticultural therapy is embedded — not just as a side benefit, but as a central design. These gardens, orchards and learning spaces improve mental health, increase physical activity, reduce stress and build stronger social bonds. They support reintegration, reduce stigma and create more equitable access to health-promoting environments.

In short, they’re growing more than food.

If we want to build a healthier Kansas, we need to start seeing gardens, orchards and growing spaces as public health infrastructure.

Horticultural therapy is one of the most accessible and transformative interventions we have. It belongs in schools, correctional facilities, senior centers, hospitals and neighborhoods. It fosters connection, patience, responsibility and healing. It builds skills and confidence, especially in people who have felt powerless.

In Cowley County, we’re using this approach to address food insecurity, mental health, educational inequality and even workforce wellness. Our correctional facility isn’t just a place of confinement — it’s a place of cultivation. Our schools aren’t just growing students — they’re growing stewards of health and the earth.

Public health is not always loud. Sometimes it’s just a row of carrots. A shared snack in a breakroom. A child spotting a butterfly. A man realizing he still has something to give.

That’s the story we’re telling. And I hope it inspires others to start planting their own.

About the Author

Amy Jo McWhirt is a Rural Champion at RISE Cowley, an Extension Master Gardener, Grant Coordinator, and Advocate for Horticultural Healing.