Musings on horticultural therapy and the soothing effects of plants and nature
After a long absence, I’ve returned to giving classes at Ann’s Place. It hasn’t been from lack of desire or planning but from a combination of illness, vacation and bad weather that has kept me away for two-and-a-half months. I decide to start out with an easy exercise in making vanilla but as it takes […]
This is the second time that I have run a class on flavored vinegars. Last year’s activity attracted a large crowd who loved all of the different flavors we were able to create. But with every new activity I need to add a twist to keep it interesting as I have a few repeat clients […]
You can never tell what will grab the imagination of a client. An activity that you consider silly others will embrace as essential. Such has been the case with the grassheads exercise I did a at Ann’s Place. While everyone happily took their bald babies home, I had no idea that a few would bring […]
You wouldn’t know that it has changed seasons in New England as we keep getting “snow events,” a few times a week. The last one occurred a few days before Spring leading the vast majority of my clients to cancel out on me due to the inclement weather. The weather of the past few months […]
You can never tell how well (or badly) a horticultural therapy will be received. My last session on growing an early kitchen spring garden maxed out with a baker’s dozen of clients who crammed around the table. It appeared that some just came not expecting what to get out of the day, but the idea […]
As a teacher or mentor, after a while certain classes become old hat through repetition. Such is becoming the case with some of the activities I schedule with my clients at Ann’s Place. Last week we made fragrant sachets to kick off this year’s therapy. The winter is often a challenging time to be “horticultural” […]
When I start a horticultural therapy session, I always try to break the ice with something unexpected. It can be some freshly picked berries from nearby bushes that the birds and animals have missed or slug-free greens that I just pulled from my garden. This time of year, however, the pickings are quite slim. When […]
With a second try at a class on sachets, I got a much better turnout. Before we started to make our sachets, we went for a walk in the daffodil garden, where nearly 4,000 daffodils are planted. As we walked into the area a few clients commented on the sweet smell as we walked up […]
It’s been too long since I have last posted, which has been due to a combination of events out of my control. The first, and perhaps most relevant, is that I am between horticultural therapy programs. I am no longer working at Green Chimneys as a volunteer, as my mentor has moved on to other […]
Over the past 4 months or so I have been spending a lot of time at Ann’s Place working to build a series of therapeutic gardens. The first phase of this project is almost done after a series of delays that have been caused by the crummy weather we have had this past summer. In […]