It's become clear to me through posts and PMs that there are some gardeners here just waiting for the chance to discuss gardening!
So, I was thinking... how do you use gardening, or how does it affect you if you need a break, need some respite, need to relax, need inspiration....how do you use it as a therapy tool in caregiving?
What are your activities: Do you go out and pull weeds, read a magazine, design new beds? Look through garden catalogues? Go to garden stores?
And what interests have you added to your gardening? Visit estate or garden displays? Do you go to garden shows?
Does anyone design and plant Knot Gardens? Raised bed planters? Assistive gardens? Pollinator gardens (and have you thought of ways to help the bees and butterflies?)
Are your gardens primarily for pleasure or food, or a mix of both? Do you grow plants for medicinal purposes? Which ones, how do you harvest and process them? Any suggestions?
Do you grow plants that can be used in crafts, such as grapevines for wreaths and lavender for lavender wands? Do you make herbal products such as creams, lotions, chapstick?
What else can you share about gardening and the means in which it nurtures your soul?
edenalt. If the URL is truncated, google Pine Ridge Care and Rehab.
This is a synopsis from the website on the philosophy of Pine Ridge:
Elders and their caregivers spend time daily talking about their lives. (That's assuming they're still able to do so.)
Every summer a camp is hosted for the caregivers' children. The elders pack backpacks with school supplies for the children and extended family of the employees.
Veggies grown in raised beds are used in the daily meals. Residents make such delicacies as apple butter. They make and deliver cookies to the local fire department. (I think this is a wonderful idea!)
Essential oils have been used and found to be effect in increasing appetites and reduction of anxiety.
Nothing is mentioned about bingo games.
The website was so enthusiastic and positive though that I even began to think of doing volunteer work there.
Map of Eden Alternative homes:
edenalt.
OMG, I just found one not too far from us!
IL residents are are on the Board and make decisions re: changes, updates, etc. It is impeccably maintained. Neglected to mention that straight ahead from the garden are shuffleboard courts...beyond those is the lovely spa and pool and bathing pavilion...
To the right of the garden is a lovely huge lake w/fountain....surrounded by the IL villas....entire layout is gorgeous and was clearly given much thought from the beginning.
Am seriously thinking, as I approach retirement, that I ' d like to move into an IL place in this lovely community....if I can afford it....and having sworn to myself previously, that I would never go to FL...lol...it truly is a beautiful community...and I
that aint bad in the grand scheme of things ..
So are many of us....because you made her so real to us, sharing your wonderful, outrageous experiences....what a great lady....how lucky to have you....
But understand....you can be "charmingly brash".....most of the time.....then you can be truly "brashly uncharming"....
Go to bed....know that I, for one, have faith in you mostly being that "charmingly brash" guy...full of wisdom ....hmmm...others, maybe, not so much....you can give that some thought tomorrow in the bright light of a pounding hangover.....
if you all cant define what you want , i certainly cant be expected to ..
just funnin with you people . i want you to lighten up and smile ..
not really , ive had a fun day . im trying to get used to treating myself since theres nobody else left , and myself likes a good brat with a good whole wheat brotchen roll .
I am hoping to make a naturalized area at the back of my tiny town property, and today I noticed that the jacob's ladder and sweet woodruff are sending out tiny shoots and the buds are swelling on my little serviceberry tree. Changing the environment seems frustratingly slow sometimes and I envy those who just hire a landscaper to come in and do it all, but doing it myself, gradually, is the whole point of gardening.
I miss having acres of land to play with and plan for, I miss digging the beds and preparing for planting, I miss the scent of the earth and the feel if the soil between my fingers. Puttering around in flowerbeds and planters just isn't the same.
You're not off target in thinking that plants can hear us. I've read of scientific studies in which it's been observed that plants do communicate with each other to warn of insect predators. I haven't yet read of any studies supporting the theory that they can communicate with us, or at least hear us. But I do fuss over them and try to make them happy!
I think there's been and will continue to be a resurgence in growing one's own food, not only for the purity of food compared to commercial food with its chemical additives, but because of the bonds with nature that are formed.
Raising chickens also seems to be practiced on a more widespread basis. I'm surprised to read on gardening forums how knowledgeable some nonfarming folks are about the lives of chickens.
"...gardening connects us to nature and eternity like nothing else can, finding and coaxing growth in even the most sterile seeming environments, connecting to the universal cycle of life."
That's such a beautiful, poetic and insightful observation.
Re: the pheasants, is there a wild population in your area? You never know, there could be some descendants of those little chicks out there somewhere!
Partridge is a game bird in some areas, here it is more of an upper foothills / mountain bird, si.Ilario to the quail.
Pheasant is very good, I am not a fan of duck.... it tastes more like beef liver.
I totally missed that Stacey's partridges were in a pear tree :)
If I were worried, (and you planted so many) I would dig one up and take a look. Re-check if you faced them up the right way? Don't you think there would be a little green growth showing underground?
Don't ask me which way is up-Sorry, I just don't know. Anything with bulbs in my garden grew by itself-I didn't even plant them there!
We will all be waiting to hear!
The good news is that the bouganvillas are doing nicely. We are killing the grasshoppers that were eating them. Poor, ugly things. Is it okay to kill them, or should we try to co-exist? They really creep me out.