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Why We Garden...

5/30/2019

 
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by Iliada Bass
 
I think the true rewards of gardening are bigger than the sum total of its many obvious and well-publicized benefits: the work-out that you don’t even feel sometimes that dispels stress, improving our heart health, mental health, and physical dexterity.  Gardening reduces our risk for a number of ailments and strengthens our immune system; but most importantly, it gives us the veggies and flowers themselves in their glory and accomplishes all this with no treadmill or prescription in sight.
 
Beyond the usual reasons - to grow our own organic herbs and vegetables, the love of nature, “it’s therapeutic for me”, or “I need to be outdoors”, there’s always a story, a very personal story. Whether being in the garden is a need to reconnect with our childhood in some countryside around the world, or just a way to balance our busy city lives, there are so many layers to this attraction that sometimes we’re not even aware of.  
 
You may have a Proustian moment one early spring when you go and plant the first seeds of the season and realize that smell of the earth brings memories of you and your grandfather walking home from the vineyard, way back.  Or you may go to have your coffee in the garden on a Saturday morning, with a slightly stiff back and thinking the garden is in good shape, no need to get down to it. But then one weed leads to another and, an hour later, you realize that your back has never been better.  Now that’s what I call therapeutic.
 
For me, dabbling around our little plots, from one plant to the next, checking each bloom or vegetable out, picking up a tiny stone, weeding relentlessly, watering and watching the little water rainbows, replanting, figuring out the rebellious and prolific self-seeding flowers can be better than meditation. Your focus is so far away from the mundane. Your world has been reduced to several important but very simple coordinates - and you’re in tune with them.
 
Yes, I want all the fresh organic lettuce, tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers, herbs, zucchini and everything else. We cannot deny the moment of pride and joy serving our garden goods to our families and friends, but the joy of actually being in your garden among your flowers and vegetables is so simple and pure that I feel it makes us better humans.
 
No, maybe we wouldn’t be able to grow potatoes on Mars like Matt Damon in The Martian if it came down to it, but, according to NASA, we can still all enjoy the “gardening glow” that plants are gifting us with through stress relief and positive sensory stimulation. Apparently, even the dirt under our fingernails can benefit our immune system via friendly bacteria in the soil.
 
Just walking around the paths admiring (or being envious of) a gorgeous bloom, sensing their fragrance, noticing some luscious tomatoes or ripe strawberries gets us on a higher vibrational level. By the time we leave the garden - we’re just nicer, and friendlier.  If nothing else, we should garden for this.

  
Please send in your own thoughts and musings.    Why do you garden?

P.S. I.S. 217 Pre-K and 1st Grade Classes Learn at RIGC

5/30/2019

 
A special shout out to members Anthony Longo, Kaz Buzno, Beverly Schutes, and Graciela Ramirez, and associate Zita Slonevsky who made these visits possible by hosting this year.  A seven to eight year tradition of spring field trips from P.S. I.S. 217 continues.  This began with 2nd graders studying with iDig2Learn (before we even had a website), and has now shifted now to Pre-K and 1st grade classes. These visits are definitely a source of joy and learning for all of us. 

Watch the video below as students who visited last year explain composting to Anthony. Be on the lookout as well for these future gardeners when they visit with their parents on weekends. (I ran into two lovely young visitors with their mom this week as they returned to guide their parent through our pathways and exclaimed at wonders like spiderwebs on pink zinnias.) A very special thank you to P.S. I.S. 217 teachers for reaching out so we can welcome all these learners.

Garden Learning Day and Zero Waste Picnic at RIGC

5/18/2019

 
Gardeners of all ages shared their learning and passions with each other on this sunny Saturday in May.  It was a wonderful day of connections and good weather after lots of spring showers.
The twenty minute workshops offered included: Gardening for Birds and Bees, Composting, Growing Varied Herbs, Composting, Landscaping ideas, Elements of Garden Design, Gardening with Native Plants, Growing Vegetables 101, Edibles: Eat the Weeds, Composting in your Own Plot, Frugal Environmental Gardening.

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