At Willow Haven, starting and maintaining our garden is one my favorite activities of the year. Our garden is going on its 5th year and we are hopeful it will be our best! We’ve had our fair share of ups and downs. one year we had a tree fall on our tomatoes. This year we built raised beds and were able to fill them with free compost from our local yard waste sites. The plants seem to be growing quickly so far!
Gardening is linked to wellbeing and mindfulness that can offer a lot of benefits to both staff and individuals in our programs. According to a Psychology Today article Does Gardening Boost Well-Being?:
“Recent studies suggest that daily contact with nature has a long-lasting and deep impact on health, including on depression and anxiety symptoms.”
“…some previous studies have shown that gardening can increase people's life satisfaction, vigor, psychological wellbeing, sense of community, and cognitive function. Reductions in stress, anger, fatigue, and depression and anxiety symptoms have also been documented. So indeed, gardening appears to boost well-being.”
“Getting your hands dirty, weeding, and planting can feel calming, almost like a meditation. Plus it puts you in contact with soil (which is good for your microbiome), boosts your levels of vitamin D (from the sun), and exposes you to fresh air.”
Our garden has radishes, basil, carrots, lettuce, beans, cucumbers, zucchinis, tomatoes, and peppers. We just pulled our first batch of radishes! I think this year especially, our garden will hopefully serve an important role in providing an outdoor activity for individuals and staff at Willow Haven who might be feeling cooped up because of COVID-19. It also offers a ton of education, skill building, and a sense of community for the whole program. I am personally looking forward to the green beans and peppers, as well as making some homemade salsa and pesto!
