Gardening, food preservation and the dietary status of older rural Kentuckians

The goal of this study is to investigate the gardening and food preservation practices of older people in two counties in rural Kentucky and to relate these practices to their dietary intake and status. Specific objectives include describing the gardening and preservation practices of the older rural Kentuckians; characterizing gardeners and non-gardeners; describing food items grown, patterns of food grown, and patterns of food intake; and determining the relationship of gardening and food preservation, items grown, patterns of food grown, and patterns of food intake to dietary intake. This study uses data from a larger study on nutritional strategies of older people in rural Kentucky.; Two rural Kentucky counties are used for the study, Central County, with an agricultural economy, and Mountain County, with an economy based on oil and forest products. They are similar in population density, percent native Kentuckians, and in the percent of the population over 65.; Four hypotheses related to the specific objectives were tested. Support for the hypotheses was found in the following: gardeners were the younger old, in better functional status, married, living with others, and living in a single family home. Not supported were the hypotheses that gardeners would have lower income and higher education. They had higher incomes than non-gardeners and were not different in education. Supported was the hypothesis that the patterns of foods produced by gardeners would be related to specific patterns of food intake. The relationship of gardening to nutrient status was supported only for females, but the most important determinant for nutrient status was the size of the garden.; County differences were found in the growing of traditional vegetables and the consumption of the traditional core meal, with Mountain County retaining the cultural influence from the past and Central County more modern in its gardening and food consumption patterns. More information on the gardening practices of older people in the future would supply data that might be used to improve the diet of rural older people.