From: jim.speirs@canrem.com (Jim Speirs) To: dannys@iis.ee.ethz.ch (Danny Schwendener) Subject: A Good Garden Grows Healthy People Article #R100. ============== A Good Garden Grows Healthy People Ben Kruser The Leader, April 1990. For a lot of people, spring arrives on the first day the seed catalogue appears in the mailbox. Gardening is a preoccupation with many of us, whether we just plant some snap dragons and a few tomatoes off the back porch or we cultivate full blown plots with raised beds. Now, a new and interesting gardening trend has great potential to keep youth members Scouting through the summer. Horticultural therapy is a 30 year old profession now being fully recognized for its social importance. A horticultural therapist is trained to use indoor and outdoor gardening programs in conjunction with health care facilities that serve people who are physically or mentally disabled. They are using these programs successfully with people with visual or hearing impairments, psychiatric patients, hospitalized children and adults, and elderly people. Horticultural therapy uses gardening to improve the physical, emotional and social well-being of the participants. For example, seniors who suffer rheumatoid arthritis experience stiff joints, muscle pain, swelling, fatigue, and weakness. They must regularly go through a series of exercises to maintain the body's flexibility and range of motion. Horticultural therapy uses gardening to motivate them to move. Because it is an enjoyable activity, people are more likely to do it than to take part in conventional exercise classes. Often, gardening also leads them to gardening clubs, which build a social and emotional support base. What other benefits does gardening have and how might Scouting fit in? Here are some points of interest. Many health club facilities contend with rising costs. It is not uncommon to see them surrounded by large well manicured lawns at the same time that they face ever-higher food bills. By converting some of the surrounding land to garden, they might significantly lower food costs and increase their supply offresh seasonal produce. We sometimes forget that people in health care facilities have lives beyond their visits from Scouting's young members during the winter holidays. By involving a section in a gardening project with a seniors' home, we can give our youth members valuable experience in interacting with elderly people, increase their awareness of the problems associated with growing old, and help them develop a sense of caring and concern for others. Food and hunger are issues brought out in a garden. Young people can learn how much effort it takes to produce enough vegetables to feed one person. By cooperating, they can grow more food to feed more people. Scouts might calculate the differences in cost and nutritional value between store bought and home grown food and explore numerous questions based on their gardening experiences as well as related research. How would they survive as subsistence farmers if their garden were destroyed? In what ways can they share their surplus produce with needy families? What is their obligation as Canadians to share the nation's surplus with famine-stricken countries? You can also incorporate environmental education into a Scout garden project. As more and more agriculture land is used for housing, what will be the effects on future food production? Can land around homes be used to grow produce? How can urban wasteland be reclaimed for community gardens? How can composting home grass cuttings, leaves and kitchen scraps benefit gardens and lessen the strain on land fill and sanitation services? Getting Started Here are some suggestions to help you launch a Scout garden community service project. 1. Talk over the idea with fellow leaders and youth members. If gardening seems to be an interest, develop a list of potential health care facilities with space for a garden. Make an appointment to visit the recreational director in a likely facility. 2. At the meeting, discuss this article and horticultural therapy. If the health care person wishes more information on the subject, suggest he or she write to: American Horticultural Therapy Association, 9220 Wightman Rd, Suite 300, Gaithersburg, Maryland U S.A. 20879; or in Canada, to: Royal Botanical Gardens, Box 399, Hamilton, Ontario L8N 3H8, Attn: Brian Holley (Workshops, off-site visits, garden plots) or The University of British Columbia, The Botanical Garden, 6501 NW Marine Drive, Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1W5, Attn: David Tarrant (Tours, off-site visits upon request). 3. Scouting can do the gardening jobs health care facility residents are unable to perform. They might range from turning soil to weeding, hauling hose, and composting. Part of your discussion as the planning proceeds will be to clarify what jobs your Scouts will do. 4. Work with the facility's recreation person to develop a realistic startup budget, including costs for seeds or plants, equipment rental, water, etc. Scout labour and borrowed tools will help keep down costs. You may even find there are grants available for such projects. 5. Youth members can work out a rotation schedule for summer service hours organized around family holidays and jobs. Leaders can share Scout supervision with the facility recreation person so that your summer holiday time will not be unduly affected. Perhaps members from younger sections can visit weekly to work on prearranged garden tasks with other members of their families. 6. Above all, involve youth members as best you can in planning the garden. Facility residents may very well be capable of deciding their garden preferences. In this case, work to have your members enter into a partnership with them so that there is shared ownership. This will help motivate them to work in the garden and foster friendships with facility residents In other cases, Scouts may need to do a major part of the planning and gardening. Start small, using youth members' direction, and seek out local garden experts for advice. If you can't make suitable arrangement with a health care facility, look at the option of growing a Scout garden at the home of one of your youth members or in a community garden plot. Donate the food you grow to a local food bank, soup kitchen, or shelter. Good luck with this enterprise. I look forward to hearing about the fruits of your Scouting labour.